My House of Horrors

Inspector Lee lowered his voice, and the tension returned. “Explain to me clearly, what is really happening?”

“It’s definitely not a murder this time. I just want to take a look at her information.”

“Are you kidding, do you think we can provide that kind of sensitive information to a citizen? If there’s nothing else, I’m going to hang up.”

After Inspector Lee hung up, Chen Ge felt rather hopeless. Just as he was trying to figure out what to do, his phone vibrated. It was a message from Inspector Lee. “The case files definitely cannot be released to the public, but you can come over at around 7 to 8 pm, and if your case is serious enough, I can help you take a look at the files.”

Chen Ge understood it immediately after reading the message. There were probably too many people at the office, and he could not promise him anything with so many eyes and ears around him.

“Uncle Lee, do you have any records on Mu Yang High School? What happened to force the school to close down? And why are there so many supernatural stories surrounding it?”

After some time, Inspector Lee’s reply came. “The school was built on top of a crematorium, so the land was very cheap. However, due to the taboo, no one wanted to purchase it. Later, it was purchased by a short and rather rotund old man who had the surname Chen. He built a private orphanage on the site.

“A few years later, Jiujiang established societal construct related to childcare, and so the old man transported all the age-appropriate children to the government-supported orphanage. This meant that there was a bunch of older kids who were left behind at the orphanage. To solve the education problem for these kids, the old patron visited many schools, but none wanted to accept them.

“Running out of options, the senior purchased the textbooks and started teaching the children himself. This story was picked up by the local news and thus alerted the relevant government bodies. After some discussion, the orphanage was changed into Mu Yang High School, and those children adopted by the senior became the school’s first batch of students.”

Before reading the messages, Chen Ge had not expected Mu Yang High School to have such a complicated history. “Inspector Lee, can you find out how many students there were in the first batch? Do you have that kind of information?”

After twenty minutes, Inspector Lee called him directly. “Xiao Chen, I’m now in the filing room. Most of files related to Mu Yang High School have been taken away by the city station since the murder case has been solved.”

“Uncle Xu, I just want to confirm one thing. Among the first batch of student, were there any girls by the name of Chen Yalin and Wang Xin?”

“Let me take a look.” Inspector Lee flipped through the pages before answering. “When Mu Yang High School was first built, there were twenty-five students, and they were all originally from the senior’s orphanage.”

“Twenty-five?” This number was close but not exactly the same as the number of uniforms.

“Indeed, but…” Inspector Lee hesitated. “There is only one survivor, the girl you mentioned, Wang Xin.”

“The rest of them came into some kind of accident?”

“Unfortunately, initially Chen Yalin was found hanging in the bedroom for unknown reasons, and then other than Wang Xin, who shared the same bedroom with her, the remaining twenty-three people went on a school trip, but the bus veered off the road and fell into the dam. All of them died, including the driver.”

“Twenty-five people with one survivor.” Chen Ge was reminded of the twenty-four school uniforms, and he slowly understood why the lingering spirits of the twenty-four students had returned to the classroom. It had a much deeper meaning to them; it was their home.

“Is there anything else? If not, I have to go back to work.” Inspector Lee had already done a big favor for Chen Ge.

“One last question, is there a way for me to contact the child who survived?” Chen Ge had confirmed that this Wang Xin was the person that the Pen Spirit was looking for.

“Wang Xin was hospitalized due to the trauma of Chen Yalin’s incident. Afterwards, I heard that a kind couple adopted her. You can find out more from the adoption website. Since Wang Xin’s case is so unique, there should still be records of her.”

After hanging up, Chen Ge followed Inspector Lee’s suggestion and logged onto the website. He searched for half an hour before he found Wang Xin’s name; the person who had adopted her was a Madam Gu.

After clicking on Madam Gu’s profile, he realized that she had posted many threads on the forum requesting for help. Chen Ge just wanted to know a bit more about this Madam Gu, but as he studied her threads, his expression changed.

Wang Xin seemed to have fallen victim to some kind of psychological illness and Madam Gu had gone about asking for professional help. In the end, it was a doctor with the surname Gao who had come to her aid.

This Doctor Gao’s resume was printed clearly on his profile: Senior psychologist, tenured lecturer at Jiujiang Medical University.

Could there really be such a coincidence? Chen Ge hesitated for a moment before giving Gao Ru Xue’s father a call.

“Hello?”

“Doctor Gao, I’m Gao Ru Xue’s friend. We discussed a boy’s condition last night.”

“Has the boy’s conditions stabilized?”

“I’m not sure about that, but I’m calling because of another case today.” Chen Ge thought about it and decided honesty was the best policy. “Have you treated a girl by the name of Wang Xin?”

Doctor Gao was surprised. “How do you know about that?”

“I know the reason behind Wang Xin’s psychological problem, and I can save her. Can you please give me her address?”

“You can save her?” Doctor Gao denied his demand immediately. “I’m sorry, but I cannot give away my patient’s information.”

“Doctor Gao, Wang Xin is in very deep pain. As her attending physician, you have to know how much suffering she is in. She must be tormented by fear and nightmares. Can’t you give me a chance, please?”

Doctor Gao was silent for a very long time before sighing. “How about this? I will accompany you. We will meet at the gate to Fang Hwa residential area.”

“Okay, see you there!” This was the best result Chen Ge could get.

Forty minutes later, Chen Ge finally met Gao Ru Xue’s father in person. He was a middle-aged man with a fit physique and plenty of charm. After a simple introduction, Doctor Gao led him to one of the large buildings.

“Can you really solve Wang Xin’s issues?” Doctor Gao was most concerned about this.

“I know the reason to her sickness, so I have fifty percent confidence that I can solve it.”

“That is more than enough; she’s also a special patient. The anti-depressants and medicine aren’t working so well, but I simply couldn’t find any other symptoms in her.”

The pair rode the elevator until the 14th floor. One of the doors was opened. Doctor Gao had called the patient’s family before they arrived.