Chapter 1184 - When I have Possessed All the Goodness (3) (2in1)
Chapter 1184: When I have Possessed All the Goodness (3) (2in1)
Chen Ge and Zhang Ya chatted for a long time before they left the restaurant. The two of them stood under the yellow streetlight and looked at the city around him.
“Your leg is still recovering, I should accompany you home.” After the ghost make up had been removed, there was an arresting beauty about Zhang Ya.
“No, I should do the gentleman thing and send you home first. It is already getting quite late, I will be very worried if I let you go back home on your own.” Chen Ge stopped one of the cabs and entered it with Zhang Ya. The two of them got into the backseat. Perhaps because the driver was there, neither of them said another word after they got into the car. One was silently looking out the window and the other had the head lowered, studying their own hands. When they arrived at the residential area where Zhang Ya stayed, Chen Ge also exited the cab with her. He only turned and left after he watched Zhang Ya walk into the building. Watching Zhang Ya disappear into the building, there was an inexplicable feeling that crowded Chen Ge’s heart. It was not entirely affection, underneath the sweetness, there was a stinging trace of pain. “The reality is too beautiful, I have not had a dream in a very long time already.”
He walked down the pedestrian walkway. Chen Ge did not wish to take a cab, he wandered around the city aimlessly. The city before him was busy, and beautiful but he felt like he did not belong to this place. It felt like he was someone that was forgotten by the rest of the world.
“I think I will take a break tonight and have a good rest instead.” At around midnight, Chen Ge only arrived at the Haunted House. He very expertly opened the gates of the Haunted House, pulled back the curtains and entered the staff breakroom. The white cat was lying on the table, biting on the box that contained the cat kibble. When it saw Chen Ge, it immediately jumped to the side, as if trying to say it had nothing to do with the kibble that scattered all around the floor. “I seem to have encountered this multiple times already. I feel like I have been staying for a long time inside this room.”
Joy was alluring and arresting. Initially Chen Ge thought he could quietly deal with everything but only now he realized he was not as strong as he thought. He could openly deal with all kind murderers and strange curses but when he was inside the same cab as Zhang Ya, he would feel extremely nervous.
“What is the thing that I have been aiming for?” Lying on the wooden bed, Chen Ge felt like his whole body was sinking into the bed. His body was enveloped by warmth, the fatigue of his body was slipping away and drowsiness slowly arrived to claim him.
The morning of the next day, Chen Ge was awakened by the alarm. He entered the bathroom to wash his face. He studied his own reflection in the mirror. “I did not have any dream again yesterday night.” This was the first time Chen Ge had a very good look at himself after he had woken up. Sometimes, he could not even have a clear recollection of how he really looked like. “When I was at the hospital, Doctor Gao would come and ask me every day whether I had a dream or not and what kind of dream it was? Is dream that important to me?”
Chen Ge did not quite understand it, for him, dream was just a dream, it was not part of his delusion and it did not seem to have too deep of a connection with the reality either. When he washed his face, the water splashed on the mirror. When Chen Ge reached out to wipe away the water stain, suddenly he saw that the door of the cubicle in the mirror was slightly left ajar. A flash of lightning struck his mind, he whipped his body around to look at the slightly open door of the cubicle.
Slowly using his strength, Chen Ge pushed open the door of the cubicle further, there was nothing inside the cubicle. He sighed in relief and the heart that was stuck at his throat sunk back to its natural place. “Everything about this world feels normal yet at the same time, things feel so out of place as well.”
Chen Ge left the cubicle door ajar and left the bathroom. He was ready for a new day of work. The theme park opened punctually at 9 am. Before the theme park even opened for business, there was already a long queue of visitors outside the gates, some of the youngsters were even there purposely to visit the Haunted House.
“Xiao Chen, from now on, we will help you clean the Haunted House together, your leg is still injured, do not try to hog all the works, I am worried that you will tire yourself out.” Zhang Ya’s mother was very kind towards Chen Ge. It felt like she had treated Chen Ge as one of her family already.
“It is fine, even the doctors have said that more exercise will be helpful for my recovery.” Chen Ge brought the white cat into the third floor scenario. The midnight killer that he played had become the main attraction of the Haunted House. Speaking of which, this was where things got a bit strange. There were many visitors that had visited the third floor scenario but the visitor’s description of the murderer was all different. Some of them said they said a blood-loving madman on the third floor, he was crazy, mental and over the top, it felt like he was going to tear everyone that he ran into. Some of them said they encountered a friendly visitor into the third floor. After getting to the know the person and allowing him to join the team, for some reason, the team was slowly disintegrated from the inside.
Chen Ge had mastered the style of different killers and he could switch between them at will. He was the same person but he could give different impression to different batches of visitors. Furthermore, due to the dim lighting inside the Haunted House, so most of the visitors felt like the scenario was hiding several actors.
During the afternoon break, Chen Ge walked out of the Haunted House and he planned to go to find Zhang Ya to ask her some questions. He had just pulled back the thick curtains when he saw a few young people surrounding Zhang Ya, they appeared to be reasoning with her.
“What is going on here?” Chen Ge sidled up to Zhang Ya’s side. He scanned the few youngsters and for some reason, felt they looked familiar.
“Before we came, we heard there was an activity at your Haunted House, those who can clear 3 scenarios at one go will be able to get the reward of 10000 RMB, so the few of us purposely came and bought the ticket to come challenge it.” The young man who spoke looked honest and kind, “But this lady is telling us the activity is already over.”
“The activity is indeed already over, but if you really want to make things interesting, I can put my own 5000 Rmb on the table to play with you.” Chen Ge said with a smile, he was like a big brother next door with a sunny personality that was both good at sports and study. “If you can clear the scenario successfully and manage to do so without a scream over 120 decibels and then the reward money of 5000 RMB will be yours but if you fail, then you have to help promote the Haunted House among your family and friends.”
If they won, they would get 5000 RMB, if they lost, there was no punishment, in other words, there was nothing for them to lose. Therefore, the few youngsters agreed to the condition easily.
“Chen Ge, don’t act too rashly.” Zhang Ya silently pulled on Chen Ge’s clothes. “They are all students from Xin Hai Medical University, some of them have performed autopsy on real bodies before, they will not be so easily scared.”
“Xin Hai Medical University?” Chen Ge thought for a while and then turned to the two students who led the group. “Do you mind telling me your names?”
“I am He San and this is my senior, Gao Ruxue.”
Chen Ge’s eyes swept the students before him before his eyes landed on Gao Ruxue. The moment he saw Gao Ruxue, a strange scar on the back of Chen Ge’s hand started to bleed. Pulse of pain entered Chen Ge’s heart like someone was tacking pins on the back of his arm.
“Chen Ge, your arm is bleeding!” Zhang Ya pulled Chen Ge to her side.
“It should be an accident inside the Haunted House. I probably brushed against something sharp, it’ll be fine.” Chen Ge had been curious about this scar on the back of his arm as well. His broken leg had almost recovered but this small scar on the back of his arm shown no sign of recovering at all. Now it had started to bleed again, this was very abnormal.
[Gao Ruxue is related to the wound on the back of my arm?] He buried this thought deep inside his mind. Then he rearranged his expression back to normal and very passionately led the few students into the third floor scenario. Half an hour later, Chen Ge walked out of the Haunted House with a heavy frown on his face. “Zhang Ya, I am going to need your help.”
Seeing the deep frown on Chen Ge’s face, Zhang Ya felt a quick unease. “None of them screamed?”
“Yes.” Chen Ge scratched his head. “They all fainted before any of them let out a peep. I cannot drag all of them with just my own, will you come and help me?”
With their eyes twitching, Zhang Ya and the nearby visitors all took in a cold breath. They took a whole 20 minutes before Chen Ge and Zhang Ya managed to transport all the students out from the third floor of the Haunted House. “We should deposit them under the tree shade where the wind is breezy. I have already performed heart resuscitation on them and I have checked their vitals. They are fine, there is no need to worry.”
“Why are you so familiar with all these things?” All three members of Zhang Ya’s family hurried out. Chen Ge made so many people faint at one time, even the management of the theme park was spooked when they got the news. But thankfully, Chen Ge knew where to draw the line. After they were carried out from the Haunted House, He San’s gang woke up one after another.
“Right on time. It is same as how I calculated.” Chen Ge looked like everything was within his control. When the students left, he did not forget to remind them. “Please come back to visit us more in the future!”
The popularity of the Haunted House grew and the business became more and more lively. Even Zhang Ya’s father who initially had some opinions about Chen Ge now could not help but praise Chen Ge whenever he ran into his friends. He even said it was his own eye in business that noticed Chen Ge’s talent in the first. After one more week, the business at the Haunted House slowly stabilized. Chen Ge’s mind appeared to be a wealth of endless good idea, he could always come up with new designs. The Haunted House became one of the most popular attractions at Xin hai Theme Park and it had gained a fast growing following on the internet, the overall income had quadrupled its original earning. Everything was moving towards the right direction, Chen Ge got to know many new friends, the pain in his memory was slowly washed away by the passage of time and light slowly returned to his eyes.
Whenever he was free, Chen Ge would go and find Zhang Ya, he was like a shadow to her. The two of them worked together in the day and had their meals together. After work, Zhang Ya would accompany Chen Ge to do his physiotherapy. Chen Ge’s broken leg already recovered to a state where it hindered his movement no more. After they had worked together for quite some time, Zhang Ya also realized Chen Ge appeared to like to be with her, but she quite like this kind of feeling.
They continued to work together until the last day of the month. The Xin Hai theme park needed to conduct machine maintenance and inspection. Coincidentally the day was raining so the management decided to close the park for the day.
“Today, we can finish earn a well-deserved rest.” Zhang Ya removed the ghost make up and changed into a pretty dress that she seemed to have prepared earlier. She ran into the prop room to find Chen Ge. “Chen Ge, today the them park is closed, do you have any plan for the rest of the day?”
“The management is going to maintain the equipment today, so the workers might come in the afternoon to inspect the machines. I will stay inside here to deal with the props.” Chen Ge sat amidst a pile of plastic ‘arms’ and ‘organs’.
“It is rare that we get a day off and you plan to spend it inside the prop room?” Zhang Ya bent over beside Chen Ge. “Would you like to go to the movies?”
“Well, is there a good horror movie recently released?” Chen Ge answered without lifting his head. The white cat at the side could not watch this anymore. It licked its claws as if considering whether it should give Chen Ge a swipe to help him along.
“Why are we going to watch a horror film when the horrors are already playing around us every day?” Zhang Ya grabbed Chen Ge by his arm. “Come on, don’t just stay inside the house. You need to take in the fresh air once in a while.”
“wait a minute, I still have a red paint on me, I am afraid that I will dirty your clothes. Hey! Wait a minute…” Zhang Ya did not release the grab on Chen Ge’s arm and the two of them walked out of the Haunted House sharing an umbrella.
“Tsk, tsk, it is nice to be young.” Zhang Ya’s father stood at the window at the second floor of the Haunted House and he had been quietly watching everything. After that lamentation, he turned to look at the other window. Zhang ya’s mother was standing there. “Honey, it’s rare that we get a day off, how about we too go to the movies?”
“The management is coming to check the equipment in the afternoon, you better go and inspect all the props. Fix those that need to fix and patch up those that need to the patched.”
“But, honey, this is such a rare day off…”
“Go!”
…
Chen Ge had a liking to rainy day, but he had no idea why he liked the rainy weather. He had no recollection of the reasoning behind it. After the movie was over, the two of them walked for a while inside the mall. Zhang Ya even picked out a set of clothes for Chen Ge. When they walked past a diy shop, Zhang Ya dragged Chen Ge into it. This was a place where the customers could make their own key chains, phone casing and there was a spot for couples for make soft ceramic dolls.
Once they stepped into the shop, the owner came over to welcome them. She selected a quiet spot for them and then started to introduce the items available in the shop. After listening to the introduction, Zhang Ya decided to make the doll with Chen Ge. The owner took out the catalogue that contained many different cartoon images. There were detailed instructions but before she could start with the lecture, Chen Ge had already finished pinching out the shape of the doll in his hands.
“Your boyfriend has such handy fingers!” The owner was shocked. Compared to Chen Ge, suddenly she felt like she was just an amateur. “Which character are you making?” The owner looked through the catalogue but she could not tell what Chen Ge was making. “Are you not working according to any of the corresponding images? You are making the dolls from the images in your mind? Are you sure this is the first time you have done this?”
“I will never forget her look. Unfortunately I am still quite an amateur at this, even if I have used every skill that I know, I can only recover 1 percent of her beauty.” The ceramic doll in Chen Ge’s hand was slowly taking on shape. She was wearing a red dress and holding a love letter, this gorgeous woman captured in ceramic was none other than Zhang Ya.
After being fed a mouthful of dogfood, the shop owner very cleverly made herself scarce. Before she left, she even presented Chen Ge and Zhang Ya with two cups of drinks. They were on the house.
“Zhang Ya, this is for you.” When Chen Ge was making the doll, his hands appeared to have awakened some kind of muscle memory. This small ceramic doll appeared to have come alive, it had fully represented Zhang Ya’s arresting beauty.
“Are you sure?!” Zhagn Ya looked at the doll happily. She carefully placed it beside her but after studying it for a while, she started to feel a headache coming. “I also need to make one for you as well!”
Half an hour later, Zhang Ya selected a rather passable Chen Ge doll among the bunch of ‘broken limbs and snapped necks’. She very embarrassedly placed the doll before Chen Ge and then lowered her head to focus on her drink. The two of them sat together and they were very close together. Time passed by without them knowing it. They had finished making the dolls, key chains and then went for a meal together. They had done many things they wished to do. Night was coming and the rain showed no sign of slowing down, if anything it had only gotten heavier.
There was not that many people on the road. Chen Ge and Zhang Ya shared an umbrella. Initially Zhang Ya was just holding Chen Ge’s hand but slowly, she leaned onto Chen Ge’s shoulder.
“Should I walk you home?”
“How about… we walk a bit further?”
Rain slid down the leaves and the umbrella. The water puddles by the roadside reflection the neon lights of the buildings. Chen Ge and Zhang Ya walked down the street at the old city.
“Chen Ge…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Actually, after I have met you, I would have horrible dream every night.” Zhang Ya leaned on Chen Ge. “They are very scary dreams, in the morning, my parents died in a car accident, and I am myself lying in a pool of blood. In the dream, I was wearing a skirt covered in blood and wandering inside a hospital. I would dream about the different side of this city where it was filled with dead people and in the city, you are the only ghost with temperature and warmth.”