My House of Horrors

“Looks like not everyone is on your side. Some are willing to help me.”

Both Chen Ge and Ying Chen had opened their eyes and viewed this bloody and cruel world head on. They had stopped running away and hiding from it. The addition of more and more Red Specters pressured Ying Chen. The whole building was shaking. The dead bodies in the wall started to break down en masse. Every dead body was a warm bed for extremely deep curses and resentment. The world behind Ying Tong’s door appeared to have been turned into a farm for the ghost fetus to curate and breed curses. The curses in this world were far more intense than any of the worlds behind the door that Chen Ge had been to.

“Chen Ge, there is only one real face on Ying Chen. That real face among the many fake ones is his true weakness.” Ying Tong had reopened his eyes and found his confidence. Compared to Ying Chen, the boy felt like Chen Ge was more like his elder brother. Even in a completely dark world, even when he was unable to see anything, Chen Ge kept painting a beautiful picture of a colorful and wonderful world for Ying Tong.

To Ying Tong, who had survived in darkness and despair, Chen Ge’s words solidified the confidence in his heart, and that made him able to face his past and the truth. In a way, it was Chen Ge who used his life to help Ying Tong open his eyes. The world behind the door was made from the door pusher’s memory. The words that Chen Ge told Ying Tong, the later would never forget. In fact, he would remember them in his heart, and they would become a pool of warmth that he could pull from for the rest of his life.

The boy did not turn into someone like Ying Chen. If anything, it was already very impressive that he had been able to survive until now with his sanity intact.

Actually, during their previous conversation, Chen Ge had understood Ying Tong’s thoughts. This child had bet everything on his fourth attempt to escape. If he failed again this time, he might really choose to surrender. Aichmophobia, claustrophobia, ligyrophobia… his three previous escape attempts had left a deep mental scar on Ying Tong’s mind. But even so, he did not concede. Just on that alone, it made him a much stronger person than most adults.

The dead bodies who were dangled by the black curses grabbed at the tunnel lady’s son. They hugged the huge appendages and tried to stop the monster before them because this was the justice that they had been led to believe. When their eyes were blinded, everything these people saw was a mirage, and that was a skill that Ying Chen had mastered. From just the appearance, the tunnel lady’s son indeed looked more like a monster than anyone else present. From the perspective of an outsider, when they saw this giant spider chasing after Ying Chen, they would definitely believe that the giant spider was the evil one.

But was that really true?

Ying Chen was a master manipulator, and he was very good at taking advantage of these psychological blind spots. By editing the videos, he could inverse good and evil. He could go around tormenting cats without any punishment. To make matters worse, he published these videos on a cat lovers website and gained money from advertisement through it. He manipulated the world and used many different faces to hide the heart that was broken from the very beginning. Once again, Chen Ge could feel the pain that Ying Tong must have gone through. His freedom was limited, and he was not allowed to speak up. After the small number of people who knew the truth were killed, there was only darkness that lingered in his world. After all, there was no proof that told him otherwise.

“Don’t you worry. I will peel down all the faces that Ying Chen has.” Chen Ge narrowed his eyes as he stared closely at Ying Chen. The b*stard was still feasting on the curse. He sneaked behind the ‘crowd’ and used the surrounding dead bodies as cover. This was similar to how Ying Chen had forced the relative away from their home. When he still was not confident, he would be able to murder the relative, making use of the people around him. He was truly the perfect representation of someone who would stoop to the lowest of the low to achieve his goal.

“The biggest difficulty in this world should be encouraging Ying Tong to open his eyes. The ghost fetus has already missed the perfect opportunity to kill me.”

Of the nine children and their doors, only one of them hid the real ghost fetus; the remaining eight only had the ghost fetus’ lingering spirit possessing a certain object. This object would not make any conscious decisions. It would only follow the rules behind the doors. All their actions were following the rules set up by the memories of the door pusher.

As Chen Ge’s understanding of the doors grew, he had started to learn how to make use of the rules behind the door. The blood red world was connected to the real world through the door pusher’s memories. By finding the memory connection between the two worlds, one would be able to find the solution from it. Therefore, to gain the initiative in the world behind the door, the first thing one needed to do was get to know about the door pusher’s past. Only by understanding that would one be able to understand and empathize with the deepest pain that was hidden in the door pusher’s heart.

With the cooperation of multiple Red Specters, blood leaked into the building. A shade of red entered the eyes of those zombies. Chen Ge chose the most direct method to take control of this world behind the door. This door was made from Ying Tong’s memories, and since Ying Tong was on his side, he was totally capable of doing something like that.

Probably due to the larger size, the tunnel lady’s son and the boy with the stench had attracted the attention of the majority of the walking carcasses. The remaining Red Specters slipped through the crowd, and none did this better than Xiao Bu. When any bodies got close to her, they would be turned into a puddle of stinky blood. The strength of this girl had exceeded Chen Ge’s expectations. The whole building was echoing with howls and screams. To Chen Ge’s surprise, Xu Yin and the red high heels appeared at the other end of the corridor. They sensed that Chen Ge was in danger. When they broke through the barrier of this world, they had gone to assist him as soon as possible.

With more and more people joining his side, Chen Ge gained more confidence. Other than that, Chen Ge realized that Mr. Wood and Miss Red were not hapless victims either, especially Miss Red. The woman was about the same age as Ying Chen. She had a small frame, slender arms, and her dress was soaked in blood. She was the only tenant from this building that was covered in blood. She was as powerful as a Red Specter, but different from a normal Red Specter, she did not have the ability to control the blood vessels, and the curses that only worked on the living did not affect her either. When she was standing beside Ying Tong earlier, Chen Ge did not feel anything, but once she made her move, Chen Ge realized that compared to a human, Miss Red was more like a cat, an elegant, graceful cat that was covered in blood.

“Miss Red?” This Miss Red only sided with Ying Tong, and she had never left his side. She was hostile toward everyone; she was not that willing to approach even Mr. Wood and Auntie Wu.

This was the first time that Chen Ge had encountered such a strange person. Chen Ge wanted to know just what kind of memory had conjured up this Miss Red.

“Perhaps Miss Red is a unique Red Specter outside the door.”

With that in mind, Chen Ge decided that after he left this place, he would go and help provide salvation to all of Ying Chen’s victims, to give them the justice that they deserved.

The spider and the stench had held back most of the dead bodies. The remaining dead bodies posed no threat to Chen Ge. Their distance to Ying Chen was drawing closer. The predator had become the prey, and the wind of the battle had shifted.

“After Ying Chen drains the whole building of its curse, he will be impossible to deal with. I cannot allow him to do that.” Chen Ge had made the decision to kill him. Even though he realized that he was inside the world behind the door and the Ying Chen before him was just a part of Ying Tong’s memory, that did not mean that Chen Ge was going to let him go so easily either.

It was too dangerous. From the moment he entered this world to when he opened his eyes, the whole process did not last that long, but there was danger at every step, and one wrong move would have cost him his life. The highly intense chase and the strain on his nerves had exhausted Chen Ge both mentally and physically. Since he finally had the upper hand, he had to remove every possible source of evil, and he would not give the enemy any chance to make a comeback. There were too many dead bodies in the way, and Ying Chen had hidden himself among them. Even the Red Specters were unable to locate him in such a short amount of time, but Ying Tong could.

Ying Tong knew about Ying Chen’s real personality, so no matter how Ying Chen tried to hide, Ying Tong would be able to single him out easily. With the cooperation of so many Red Specters, Ying Chen was finally cornered. He stopped before the door to his own house on the seventh floor. The corridor was blocked from both ends, filled with blood vessels and spider web.

“You…”

Ying Chen opened his mouth to say something, but Chen Ge was not going to give him the chance. If he was going to kill the man anyway, why waste time listening to his last words? If anything, giving a person like this the chance to leave his dying words would seem like such a disrespect to the innocent victims that he had killed. “First I will tear your soul into pieces behind the door, and then I will report the real you to the police.”

With the addition of the spider boy, Chen Ge’s tactics became more dynamic and strategic. This Red Specter could steal from the dead’s memory to create dreams. That power still worked behind a different person’s door. After all, the monsters behind the door were weaved from the memory of the door pusher. In other words, as long as the spider boy was around, the Specters and monsters that were not Red Specters posed no threat to Chen Ge. They would be molded and changed according to the spider boy’s wishes and whims.

The tunnel lady’s son specialized in group fights. After he had held back most of the dead bodies, Chen Ge’s employees could go after the others without worrying about the need to cover their back. Before Ying Chen had the chance to absorb the curse from the building, he was already surrounded by a group of Red Specters. Chen Ge did not give him any chance to stall for time; he did not even give him the time to speak. The only thing Chen Ge wanted to do was kill him and get this over this; this was the first time that Ying Chen had faced an enemy like that. If he was not given the chance to speak, how was he supposed to manipulate others?

The faces on Ying Chen’s body were torn off one after another. Ying Chen’s body was crumbling, and it was only being connected by the black threads that were made from the curse.

“Chen Ge, I see it now.” Ying Tong kept his eyes focused on Ying Chen, who was not far away; his eyes had never shone so bright. “His real face is hiding inside his heart!”

When Ying Tong said that, Miss Red slipped through the crowd, and her bloody hand pierced Ying Chen’s heart. The sharp fingers punctured Ying Chen’s chest, and the face in his chest was ripped open.

“Argh!” All the faces on Ying Chen started to wail in pain. Then the features started to melt like ice cream left in the sun. It turned into a baby, but this baby had exceptionally beautiful eyes; they shone like jewels.

“The ghost fetus!” Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. This thing had been controlling everything from behind the scenes. He had the capability of stopping the tragedy from happening, but not only did he not do that, he kept adding to the resentment inside Ying Chen’s heart and kept pushing Ying Tong deeper and deeper into despair.

“Do you hate happiness that much? Why do you wish to turn everyone into something just like yourself?” Chen Ge wished to have a conservation with the ghost fetus, but this thing that possessed Ying Chen was merely a lingering spirit of the real thing. The majority of the curse inside the building had not been absorbed, but Ying Chen would not have that chance to do so anymore.

The group of Red Specters tore him into pieces, and they literally shredded his soul and shared it among themselves. Cracks appeared on the walls, and the dead bodies that were the building blocks started to collapse. However, perhaps because there were still so many curses, this world took its sweet time to crumble.

After witnessing Ying Chen’s death, the knot inside Ying Tong’s heart was completely unraveled, and light resurfaced inside his eyes. He led Mr. Wood and Miss Red to go searching for Miss Dress, while Chen Ge stood at the spot where Ying Chen had died.

When the curse dispersed, it left behind a picture. He reached down to grab it. Chen Ge gave it a good look. He remembered that it had been a picture taken by his father a long time ago. The picture was of a flower field bursting with color. The young Chen Ge stood in the picture with a rather nervous expression. He appeared to be afraid of being stung by the bees that buzzed around him. The sun fell generously on him. Chen Ge and the shadow were making the same pose at the camera.

“You have witnessed the beauty of this world before.”

As he put the picture away, the building had started to collapse for real. Chen Ge hurried to summon his employees to search for his backpack and Doctor Skull Cracker’s hammer. When Chen Ge’s returned, he realized that the red high heels was madly consuming the residual curses inside the building.

The blood red high heels had an added pattern of some strange black stripes. Just a glance at it could make one’s hair stand on end. Of all the Red Specters, only the red high heels was not afraid of the curse. That was probably because her own power was related to the curse.

During Chen Ge’s various interactions with the ghost fetus, the red high heels had technically been the biggest winner. The other Red Specters fed on negative emotions, but she alone gained all the curses of the ghost fetus. After constant accumulation, the presence that the red high heels gave off started to have a paradigm shift. None of the Red Specters, including Xiao Bu and the tunnel lady’s son, were willing to get too close to her.

This Red Specter that specialized in curses gave off a very unsettling feeling.

“If this continues, she might become the next Top Red Specter.” Chen Ge had no idea how strong the red high heels was after consuming so many curses. All he knew was that even if it was the ghost fetus’ curse, the red high heel would be able to consume and digest them.

“Just what did she experience before she died?”

The red high heels had ended up following Chen Ge initially because she was afraid of Zhang Ya, but later, her attitude toward Chen Ge had started to change, especially after Chen Ge started the ghost fetus mission.

“After this ghost fetus mission is over, I should have a sit down with the red high heels, and hopefully, she will be willing to share her past with me.”

The red high heels was a woman covered in bandages from head to toe. Her appearance reminded Chen Ge of that cursed hospital.

After gathering everything, Chen Ge met up with Ying Tong on the seventh floor. They stood there and watched as the red high heels consumed most of the curses inside the building. The dead bodies turned into dust, and before the building collapsed, Chen Ge held Ying Tong’s hand as they pushed open the black iron door together. They took one step forward, and the world spun.

…

Opening his eyes, Chen Ge found himself sitting on the ground. Fatigue washed over him like waves.

Hearing the noise, the kid who was asleep in bed fiddled awake. He curled up at the corner of the bed with his eyes closed. The boy was very cowardly, and through the weak light, Chen Ge could see some not so obvious wounds on his face.

“Ying Tong, do not be afraid.” Chen Ge’s soft voice appeared in the room. “I am Chen Ge. I promised that I would save you from this place.”

The name Chen Ge was exceptionally meaningful to Ying Tong. It meant that everything that had happened in his nightmare was real. He tried his best to open his eyes, but probably because he had spent too much of his life with his eyes closed, he was very unused to it.

“It will be fine. Take your time. You have the rest of your life to see the world.”

After a brief rest, Chen Ge stood up. The black phone in his pocket kept vibrating, signaling the arrival of multiple messages, but Chen Ge did not reach into his pocket to read them.

Instead, he pulled out the Doctor Skull Cracker’s hammer from his backpack. With a smile on his face, he opened Ying Tong’s bedroom door and slowly padded his way to Ying Chen’s bedroom.