My House of Horrors

Chen Ge was serious. Normally, when a parent heard that their child might be involved in a murder, they would be firm that it would not be the case, but more than that, the main concern on Nurse Yu’s face was worry and fear. In other words, in Nurse Yu’s mind, it was not outside the realm of possibility that her son had done something like that.

The first few children that the ghost fetus had chosen were harmless. In fact, they could be seen as kind and friendly. They resisted the ghost fetus, believing in the light in their heart. But not everyone preferred light in this world. Some did not need the seduction from the ghost fetus, and they would be heading toward the abyss. If the ghost fetus had possessed such a person, it would be difficult to deal with. In the previous worlds, Chen Ge found a source of light to aid him, but in these kinds of darker worlds, he would be targeted by everything, and there would be no help for him.

“I will give you time to think about it. I’ll wait for you outside the hospital.” Chen Ge looked into Nurse Yu’s eyes. “Evading the problem is not solving the problem. This is not an official police visit, so don’t feel too much pressure.”

“I still don’t think my son would be involved in any murder cases. There has to be some misunderstanding.” Nurse Yu slowly calmly down.

“Don’t worry, I also don’t think he is the killer. I just have some questions to ask him.” Chen Ge tried to get Nurse Yu to relax. “Please bring me to him as early as you can. We don’t have much time left.”

Nurse Yu did not quite believe Chen Ge, but after seeing so many news articles about Chen Ge, her impression of him started to change.

“I will ask for the rest of the day off. Wait here for a moment.” Nurse Yu ran back into the hospital. Ten minutes later, she came out in a casual outfit from the side door. “I’ll bring you to meet him, so you can talk to him in person. If you can see him now, you should understand why I am so confident he is not involved in a murder case.”

The two took a cab to a residential area at Eastern Jiujiang. The environment looked quite nice, if a little isolated. There was almost no one around, and the parking lot was quite empty.

“There are many such residences in Eastern Jiujiang. During the economic boom, they built too many apartments, but most of them aren’t even filled these days.” Nurse Yu did not feel like chatting. Her voice was tired and weak, her eyes filled with worry. “I live on the twenty-third floor. Sorry, the elevator is a bit slow.”

Ten minutes later, Chen Ge arrived at Nurse Yu’s home. When the door opened, a faded stench drifted out. The stench was not that of food going old, trash molding or flesh decaying. It was a very unique smell like a person had started to rot from inside their soul.

“Sorry, the place is a bit messy.” Nurse Yu stepped into the room. She took the dirty clothes on the sofa into the bathroom before inviting Chen Ge in.

“Your place is quite big.”

“It looks big, but the layout is not that normal.” Nurse Yu did not even take her shoes off and started to walk toward the room at the back. “Yu Jian? Are you inside?”

While Nurse Yu went to call her son, Chen Ge studied the house. Even though the house was big, it was pitiably sparse. There were two pairs of slippers on the shoe rack, one female, one male. “Only Nurse Yu and her son live here in such a big house? Where’s the father? Earlier, the nurse called her son Yu Jian. She has the same surname as her son. Could it be that the child has no father?”

Nurse Yu knocked for a long time, but there was no response from the son.

“Is he not home?” Chen Ge walked toward Nurse Yu. He saw a tray placed before the room’s door. On it sat a bread and a glass of fresh milk.

“He didn’t even touch the breakfast, this child…” Nurse Yu picked up the tray and headed back to the living room. “Ever since he dropped out of high school in his second year, he has been like this. I have no idea when he will come out of his shell.”

“Refusal to communicate, hiding within himself, this is not a good sign. When a person is trapped with their own thoughts and no others, they are more prone to doing some extreme actions.” Chen Ge sat next to Nurse Yu. “I am not scaring you, but after taking a look around your house, I feel like things are more serious than I expected.”

“I’ve done everything I can. I did take him to a psychologist before, and he had taken some medication, but it did not seem to help.” Nurse Yu sighed helplessly.

“Can you tell me in detail how things reached this state?” Chen Ge knew that only by understanding the backstory could he know what he was dealing with. “If possible, don’t hide anything. I guarantee in the name of the state’s crime unit that I will not leak the information of your family to a second person.”

“Yu Jian was just like a normal child when he was young. He was healthy, cute, and very bright. He was a very fast learner, but from a moment, I realized the kid…” Nurse Yu’s face was twisted in concern. “How shall I put this? He doesn’t seem to understand the concept of repaying people’s kindness. For example, the neighbor’s kid would give him a candy, and he would throw it on the ground. The kids were building a sand castle by the beach, and they invited him to join them, but he went over to trample the sand castle.”

“That is more than not understanding how to repay kindness. It’s a show of malice.”

“It’s not that.” Nurse Yu shook her head. Like most parents, they did not like others to talk bad of their child. “Yu Jian is a very gentle kid. He just does not know how to express love. Or rather, the way he expresses it is very different from others. I have asked a psychologist about this before. He said that he could not see the concept of love in Yu Jian’s mind. He has a normal temperature, and his heart is pumping warm blood, but his consciousness of self is icy and cold.”

“He is lacking the concept of love?” Chen Ge was reminded of the words in the rental home at the old city. Love was something that the ghost fetus needed. He believed that one of the main reasons a human being was a human being because they knew how to love and gain love.

“The doctor said he suffers from a rare illness called Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Even though it manifests itself as a psychological problem, in reality, it is a biological sickness. My son is not abnormal. It’s just that his brain is sick.”

“I didn’t say that your son is abnormal. Other than that, I have to inform you that you’ll not find a better psychologist in Jiujiang other than myself.” Chen Ge did not know much about psychology, but he remembered clearly how Doctor Gao acted. The confidence seemed to come from within.

“You’re a psychologist too?”

“Many adult psychological deficiencies are related to their childhood growth. In their understanding of the world, there was a small accident.” Chen Ge sat up and looked into Nurse Yu’s eyes. “I still say the same thing. Please do not hold back. Only by telling me everything that Yu Jian has encountered can I really help him.”