My House of Horrors

The boy’s voice travelled very far. After Chen Ge heard that, his face was pale. Currently, the ‘crazed murderers’ gathered at the end of the corridor were busy ‘hacking up a body’. With the call from the boy, the people on the whole third floor knew that he was there. “Big brother, you have sweated a lot. Is this place that hot for you?” The little boy was definitely doing that on purpose. There was cunning and guile in his eyes but his face took on an expression of pure innocence.

Without stopping to take the time to wipe away the sweat on his forehead, Chen Ge’s first reaction was to turn and run. His reaction was already very fast, this was also definitely the best solution in that moment. He turned and prepared to escape but before Chen Ge could take any few steps, he saw the doors that were burnt on the third floor being pulled open one after another. Human faces that were as pale as those of the door poked out from behind them.

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“Big brother, where are you going?” The boy still refused to leave Chen Ge. He stuck close to Chen Ge and had a huge smile on his face. The figures filtered out from the room. There were students in school uniforms and strange people with handicaps. They had blocked the way of Chen Ge’s exit.

[What should I do now?] Cold sweat slid down the bridge of his nose. Even though Chen Ge’s brain was spinning at the best of its ability he still could not figure out the solution to this conundrum.

“Haven’t I told you to stay in your room?” The saw grinded against the wall. The middle-aged man called Ol’ Zhou was coming towards him. His pairs of eyes that did not contain that living emotions stared at Chen Ge coldly, “Now you cannot leave even if you want to.”

Chen Ge did not anticipate that this apartment building that appeared so empty would have so many people living in it and most of them were staying on the third part that was ruined in a fire.

“I believe this is a huge misunderstanding.” Even under that extreme situation, Chen Ge realized he was still perfectly collected. He looked at the saw the middle-aged man was holding with both of his eyes. The chains of the saw had splinters on them but no trace of blood at all. This proved that the man had not used the saw to injure anyone but he had been using it to cut through some wooden materials.

“Misunderstanding?” The man with the surname Zhou had his smile slowly turn crueler. It was as if he could perfectly read into Chen Ge’s mind and knew where to apply the most pressure. “Then tell us. What is the misunderstanding that we have?”

“Actually I am the same kind of humans as you.” There was a basis behind what Chen Ge said. He was friends with Zuo Han and Zhang Wenyu and thus the friends of his friend had a high chance of being his friends. Furthermore, this bunch of tenants had nailed the doctor from the cursed hospital to the wall, they were not definitely sharing a good relationship, similarly, the enemy of my enemy could be persuaded to become my friends. Chen Ge spoke it in a sincere tone but when the people around him heard him, they did not react too much.

“I am telling the truth.” Chen Ge wanted to explain further but he was interrupted by the middle-aged man. “You are the same kind of humans as us? But who ever told you we were humans in the first place?”

The boy who was following behind Chen Ge was giggling happily. He seemed to have a penchant for scaring people and he had been trailing behind Chen Ge. The tenants gradually closed their ranks around Chen Ge. Suddenly a familiar voice came from the corridor of the second floor. “All of you need to calm down! He is not your enemy, in fact he was once your best… friend.” The author came to the third floor. He contemplated for a long time before he settled on the term, friend. In reality though, he could not name precisely the connection between Chen Ge and the tenants, they were like colleagues, friends and even family.

“Zhang Wenyu?” When they saw the author arrive, the tenants parted for him to walk through. Ol’ Zhou also put down the saw that he was holding. “Of all of us, only you have remain most of your memory, you remember this man?”

“I only share a normal relationship with him, I have met him only a few times but I can tell you for certain that he is very important to all of you.” The author walked to stand before Chen Ge and nodded with admiration. “I really did not expect you to come here, if someone had given me the same choice, I believe I would rather live in the fake blissfulness.”

“Who exactly are you? What is the meaning of the name Zhang Wenyu? Why can I find up to ten thousands of patient’s list with Zhang Wenyu’s name on them inside the hospital?” Chen Ge had so many questions in his mind. “Why our memory have all been tempered with but you are the sole exception?”

“It was inconvenient to answer those questions outside, the reason I have invited you was to tell you the truth.” The author stood among the tenants. He raised his arm to point at the people around him. “Now in this apartment, other than yourself, everyone else, including myself, are all dead people.”

“Dead people?” Chen Ge was not surprised when he heard that revelation. He was merely reminded of a word that Zhang Ya once said. That day when they parted, Zhang Ya said that she had dreamed that she was living inside a city filled with dead people and she even claimed that Chen Ge was the only ghost with warmth inside the city.

“Indeed, ghosts exist for real, at least that is the case in this city.” The author had Chen Ge stand together with Ol’ Zhou and the rest. “You used to run a Haunted House and these people were your employees, the relationship you shared was like that of a close family.” The author’s words once again proved Chen Ge’s previous suspicion, the cruel memory that was locked in his brain was the real memory that actually belonged to him.

“What else do you know?”

“The reason none of you can remember this thing is because your memory has been swallowed up by a piece of mouth. This is a kind of power that even I cannot fathom.” The author shared all the memory that he had about Chen Ge with everyone. He did not hide anything. “I will tell you something that might cause you even more despair. This whole city is like a prison and all of us are inmates that are trapped here. I do not know the way to break out of here but I know the key to doing that lies in you.” When the author spoke, he kept his eyes on Chen Ge. “You have chosen us, and that means that you have actively abandoned the false bliss. From the moment you stepped into Ping An Apartments, your life is going to welcome a big change.”

Combined with what the author said, Chen Ge was reminded of the information revealed by Doctor Sun. The hospital had prepared two kind of treatment methods for Chen Ge, the first was for him to murder everyone that was important personally and pushed him over the edge of madness and then trapped him deep inside the hospital. The second was to wipe away all of Chen Ge’s past memory, provide him with a fake happiness and turn him without him knowing into a happy living doll that could be toyed freely by the hospital. Under the cooperation by Doctor Sun, currently the treatment method adopted by the hospital was to make him lose himself in the fake goodness but once the hospital knew that Chen Ge had not really submerged himself in the false bliss and was actually planning how to resist every single moment, they might change their treatment method at any moment.

The most disgusting about the hospital was after giving Chen Ge the best possible sweet nightmare, they would personally come to tear down and dismember the happiness, that way the despair and pain inflicted on Chen Ge would be deeper and heavier.

“After I have chosen you, would anything happen to Zhang Ya?” Even though he was in steep danger, the first person that came to Chen Ge’s mind was still Zhang Ya. The month that he had spent away from the hospital was the happiest moment of his life. That strange feeling that something that was rare to him even in his previous memory. When the name of Zhang Ya was brought up, the entire apartment immediately sunk into silent, the noisy tenants all had their mouths clamped shut. They looked at each other. They were quite confused, they could not explain to themselves why the name would brought upon a sudden flash of fear on them.

“Zhang Ya is the boss of the Haunted House inside the Xin Hai Theme Park, yes?” The author though did not feel anything too special about the name Zhang Ya. “I would lie to you but there is no meaning in that. I can tell you for sure that tragedy will definitely come after her. Everything and everyone that you value now will be entangled in tragedy and misfortune.”

“I have an idea.” Chen Ge raised his hand and pointed at the doctor that was pinned to the wall at the end of the corridor. “But before I say anything, do you mind moving that doctor away first?”

“It is fine, his eyes and ears have lost their uses already. There is nothing for you to worry about, just tell us what you wish to.” The boy called Men Nan sidled up to Chen Ge. He used the most innocent voice to say the cruelest thing.

“Both me and Zou Han came from Xin Hai Central Hospital and my condition is much serious than his. I will give you a direct example, he was supposed to take two instances of medicination per day and half a pill every time. There was a period when I have to take four times of medication per day and five pills each time…” Chen Ge shared the experience that befall him at the hospital with everyone. Other than the 7 glass jars and Doctor Sun, he did not hide any other details. “The few most important patients and the doctors are all related to me somehow. After I come to this place, I have a sense of familiarity when I see all of you, I even suspect this whole city is built to ‘treat’ me.” Chen Ge’s words caused the tenants to sink into silence. If another person came here and said these words, they would probably be turned into a dead body by now but Chen Ge was different.

When all the tenants saw Chen Ge, they had an indescribable feeling that rose within them. It was as if they were willing to harm Chen Ge from the bottom of their hearts. Ol’ Zhou had pretended many times to not see Chen Ge and the reason behind that was because he did not want to drag Chen Ge into this. Even though he had lost his memory, his instinct told him to protect Chen Ge from harm. That was in itself a very unusual thing. Now combined with what the author had said, all the tenants started to think about this seriously.

“The hospital wants to treat me for some reason, they have planned two kinds of treatment methods for me, if one of them turns out to be ineffective, they will immediately switch to another. My idea is for everyone to conduct their investigation in silence and I will of course cooperate to the best of my ability. On the surface I will continue to act like I am still submerged in that haze of fake blissfulness.” Chen Ge said with determination. “After we have obtained more than enough clues, or possess actual power that we can use to rival against the hospital, only then we will go up against them and come clean with what we have been preparing.”

“That is not a bad idea but the hospital will not give you that chance.” The author walked into the deep end of the corridor and picked up a copper nail from the ground. “Do you see this doctor nailed to wall? Ever since Zuo Han escaped from the hospital, the hospital workers made their move immediately. After Zuo Han accidentally injured one of the hospital workers pursuing him, the night doctors from the hospital joined the ranks pursuing him. These night doctors might look like normal humans on the surface, but actually they are all ghosts, extremely scary ones too.” The author raised his hand and pierced the copper nail into the doctor’s chest. Blood leaked out slowly. After a certain amount of blood had flowed out, black thin threads started to appear out of the doctor’s body. “All of you have your memory consumed already so you do not understand how scary this thing is. When both parties have not torn down the truce between them, they will still maintain their everyday normalcy but once the hospital become serious, just the few of us will not be enough to form even a smidge of resistance against them.”

Even though he had already suspected something of that case, when Chen Ge saw the black threads that burst out from the doctor’s chest, he still felt discomfited by them. But he was also thankful that when he was at the hospital, even though it had crossed his mind many times to deal with the doctors and then made his escape forcefully, he was now thankful that he did not go along with that crazy plan. He had been taking on a disguise or else he would not even have the chance to trick the doctors residing at the hospital.

“The few of us are no match for the enemies at the hospital, then we should go look for more people, I am sure there are more than us who have problem with the hospital other than ourselves, staying inside this city.” Chen Ge was reminded of the whole cupboard full of patient’s list.

“There are indeed many people who have problems with the hospital but the problem is those people are even more crazier and scarier than the hospital.” The author appeared to be the first person to have escaped from the hospital, he was very familiar with the darker side of this city. “The accomplish some kind of goal, many times they would try their best to maintain at least a surface rules and regulations but these people are not the same. I believe you have seen Zuo Han already, yes?”

“Yes, I have. In just one short month, it is as if he has changed into a completely different person.” Chen Ge looked around him but he did not notice any trace of Zuo Han at all.

“When Zuo Han was forced into a corner by the night doctors from the hospital, he ran into a woman. The woman said she would make a trade with Zuo Han and she would help Zuo Han escape from the danger.”

“And that was how Zuo Han lost his left eye?”

“Yes, the condition that she gave for her help was for Zuo Han to surrender his left eye. You can go to find her for help but the premise is you have to be prepared to sacrifice your own body.” The author thought that by saying that, he would give Chen Ge a second thought about what he had happened but who knew after Chen Ge gave it some thought, he asked seriously, “What is that woman’s name and where can I find her?”

“No one knows her name, everyone calls her Single Eye, she is hiding inside an abandoned hospital at the western countryside.” The author shook his head. “The three scariest spectres at this city are respectively Single Eye, Cursed Lady and Scarlet. Compared to Single Eye and Cursed Lady, Scarlet is more persuadable. If you really wish to go down this path, then you should be able to find her at Li Wan Street at the eastern countryside of Xin Hai.”

Chen Ge memorized the names of these three ghosts. “If I have made three contracts with these three ghosts at the same time, does that mean I will have the chance to face the hospital head on?”

“I cannot tell for sure, perhaps we will have 10 percent chance.” The author persuaded Chen Ge patiently. “Before you even think about something like that, consider this. If you make three contracts with three ghosts at the same time, it is like you are putting your life on the line as a bet, even if there is a 10 percent chance for you to win the bet, in the future you will become a broken monster.”

“If we have already reached that point, what is there for me to lose even if I have become a monster.” Chen Ge’s answer was sharp and quick.

“Perhaps there is still another method. All the ghosts in this city have lost their memory. To attain their memory, there are two methods, the first one is to kill the people that have stripped them of their memory and the second is for them to consume each other and then piece the lost memory in their mind back together. The person who has stolen our memory is extremely cunning and wicked, his goal is for us to murder each other. But this also proves something indirectly. Even though in the past we might not be best friends, at least we are of the same stance.” The author hoped the Chen Ge would calm down. “You cannot treat them as enemy, if everyone come from the same point of view, then it means that there is a chance for you to persuade them to lend their help to our causes. Remember that.”