My House of Horrors

The employees of the Haunted House threw themselves into work, some were correcting memory, others were draining out the curse, while the rest were preparing the scenarios to welcome the new day of business.

“These living humans from the cursed hospital will prove to be great trouble. No matter sending them to the police or the hospital, if I am just a bit careless, I might get suspected by the police.” Chen Ge thought about it before he came up with his own plot and helped them edit their memory one by one. Of all the living humans, only two were exception. One was Haunted House manager, Zhang Jingjiu and the other was Zuo Han. Zhang Jingjiu had chosen with determination to help remind Chen Ge even when he was facing death, that was a bond that was literally tested by death. Zuo Han had proven himself to be an enormous help to Chen Ge when they were trapped at the cursed hospital. He had cooperated greatly with Chen Ge to obtain extremely valuable information.

Chen Ge did not pressure either of them, he had them make the decision on their own. In the end, both Zuo Han and Zhang Jingjiu chose to retain their memory and Zuo Han even voiced his intention of joining the rank of Chen Ge’s haunted house. His adventure with Chen Ge at the cursed hospital was the best interview, Zuo Han was definitely a rare genius but because he was such a genius, Chen Ge did not want to waste his talent. The two made a promise that Zuo Han would be considered a part time worker at the Haunted House while working full time to pursue a career in forensic science. Speaking out for the death and defending the right of the living, these unique experiences would aid Zuo Han to become the best forensic doctor.

Chen Ge had Zhang Jingjiu and Zuo Han organize the rest of the living humans. He went to borrow the bus New Century Park used to ferry the visitors around the theme park and he planned to drive them all back to Xin Hai City. People who were believed to have gone missing for years suddenly returned to the real world. It was unknown whether their family was still around and whether they could pick up where they left off. But these were not things that Chen Ge would need to worry about anymore. He had rescued these people from hell and that was already a lot more than he could have done.

When the living humans were sent into the bus, Chen Ge used the opportunity to take out the black phone from his pocket. Ever since he returned to real life, the phone that had already been repaired would not stop vibrating. Sliding on the screen, Chen Ge looked at the string of unread messages on the black phone. “This all feels so familiar.” After knowing the real truth, the feeling that Chen Ge had when he looked through these messages had completely changed. He reached out to click open the message.

“Congratulations Red Spectres’ Favored for completing 4 star trial mission—The Cursed Hospital!

“You have managed to survive until dawn. Unlocking the all new 4 star scenario—The Cursed Hospital!

“Mission completing rate reached 95 percent, obtaining the reward of the hidden mission—the underground 19 floors of the cursed hospital.

“The Underground 19 floors of the cursed hospital (special infrastructure): Curse, spectres, nightmare, the deeper you venture, the more dangerous it will be. When you turn back to look, you will realize the way back has already disappeared.”

When he saw the first mission reward, Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath. “These 19 floors under the hospital would not lead one directly towards the red city, would it? Then again, probably no one will be able to challenge all 19 floors anyway…. Right?”

“You have successfully found your parents, optional mission 1 completed, acquired one chance to heal a broken soul (used).

“You have successfully provided salvation to Patient Number 1, Optional Mission 2 completed, obtained a complete body and soul (used).

“You have successfully killed the hospital director, Optional Mission 3 completed, possessed the scenario of the cursed hospital behind the door (used).

“Congratulations Red Spectres’ Favored for possessing three 4 star scenarios in your Haunted House at the same time! The Haunted House will officially upgrade to become Castle of Nightmares after the expansion for the cursed hospital scenario is complete.

“Castle of Nightmares: This is a city built at the edge of nightmare. It connects human hearts to reality. It is a hiding place for both despair and salvation.”

After reading all the mission rewards, Chen Ge did not switch off the black phone but continue to access the rest of the app. There were many new spectres’ names that were added to the tab of Haunted House’s employees. After the adventure at the cursed hospital, most of the spectres had willingly accepted the Haunted House as their own home. Other than that, Chen Ge also took a gander at the mission tab. All the lower level quests had been cleared away. Of the entire quest tab, only a blood red mission remained. He reached out to touch it and the screen of the black phone was instantly dyed red by blood without any warning. “The last 5 star mission—the Castle of Nightmares has been forcibly triggered, there is no time constraint to this mission. Completing parts of this mission will grant intermittent reward, the mission will be considered over only once all the black fog has been cleared away.”

His eyes scanned the screen. Chen Ge realized this last mission that he triggered no longer had the term ‘trial’ inside it, this mission was Kindness’ real purpose all along. However, Chen Ge did not mind that much about these missions now. He looked through the rest of the phone and finally found the thing that he was looking for at the contact list. The black phone’s contact list had been sealed up before this but after it was fixed by Kindness, there was an additional number in the contact list, this should be a very special number for Kindess. “You have saved so many lost souls at the red city but I am not as great as you, the only soul that I can try to save is yours.” Chen Ge memorized that number. “I will remember your connection to this family, as long as I am alive, your lingering spirit with the family will never dissipate.”

Putting the black phone away, Chen Ge went to check up on his parents. They still had not awakened but they already looked much better than when they were still behind the door. Chen Ge had Luo Ruoyu temporarily take care of his parents. After giving some information to his employees, he carried his backpack and got onto the theme park’s bus. On the surface, it looked like Zhang Jingjiu was driving but in reality, the bus was controlled by Tang Jun who had a wealth of experience when it came to motor vehicles. It was unwise to get on the highway considering he had a bus filled with missing persons. So when Chen Ge’s group reached Xin Hai, it was already afternoon. He once again summoned out Zhang Yi to edit part of the passengers’ memory and then he had his employees personally escort each of them home.

“I help whenever I can, this is the most that I can do for them.” Chen Ge patted Zhang Jingjiu on his shoulder. “Jingjiu, you have gone through a lot for me this time. From now on, you will be the owner of the Haunted House’s Xin Hai Branch, I will leave the business in your capable hands. Make me proud.” Chen Ge drove the bus to Nightmare Academy. After leaving behind a few spectres to aid Zhang Jingjiu in his business, Chen Ge hurried over to Xin Hai Police Station. After giving the law enforcement some clues about the cursed hospital, he stopped by to try to inspect the police’s case progress. After ensuring the police investigation did not target him, Chen Ge had the idea of staying behind to help the Xin Hai police but when he switched on his own phone that had died from lack of battery with the charger provided by the Xin Hai police, he realized he had received multiple messages during the period when he was among. Some of them came from Director Luo, Lee Zheng as well as Xu Wan and the other Haunted House employees.

After he clicked open the messages, Chen Ge’s heart immediately jumped to his throat. When Xu Wan and the gang arrived at the Haunted House this morning, they stumbled across Chen Ge’s parents who were lying unconscious in the staff breakroom. Xu Wan immediately contacted Director Luo, they decided on the spot to send Chen Ge’s parents to the best hospital at Jiujiang. Being given the news that two people who were supposed to be missing had suddenly returned, Lee Sanbao and Captain Yan who were responsible for their cases were given the shock of their lives.

A few police cars blocked the entrance to the theme park early in the morning, the sight had given quite a lot for the visitors to talk about. Actually, the news that missing persons had been found was nothing special, the key issue here was the victims were Chen Ge’s parents. Once the Jiujiang police made the connection that Chen Ge, the man who had single-handedly filled up two of the rooms at the police station with case files, had been searching for his parents, they got panicked instantly. Their subconscious told them that something big was about to happen. In fact a criminal psychologist attached to the Jiujiang Police Station even named this phenomenon as the Chen Ge Effect.

The police cars cleared the street and the patrols guarded the crowd. Those who did not know probably thought there were some kind of super criminals lying inside the ambulance. The recovery lasted from morning until late night. Chen Ge’s parents finally awakened from their coma. Everyone was calling to reach Chen Ge but Chen Ge’s own phone had already died a long time ago due to a lack of power. It was not until now that he was caught up to the latest news. After biding farewell to the people at Xin Hai Police Station, Chen Ge rushed through the night to head back to Jiujiang. He had the taxi driver drop him directly at the hospital. It was already past 10 pm at night but second floor of Jiujiang People’s Hospital was still bustling with people. Some of them were law enforcement, others were employees from the theme park and haunted house. Both parties stood at the sides of the corridor. They were all dressed in their uniform, giving off an imposing presence.

“The boss is here!””Boss! Over here!””Chen Ge! Where have you been? Why do you only get here now?”

Walking through the crowd, Chen Ge stopped before the ward. He grabbed the door knob of the door but he felt the lack of courage to push open the door. He had not hesitated this much when he was dealing with Red Spectres at the world behind the door. Taking in a deep breath, Chen Ge slowly pushed the door open.

His eyes focused on the bed. When Chen Ge saw the pair of couple in patient’s garb resting in bed, his eyes turned red almost immediately. An indescribable joy and grievances filled up his heart. The corner of his lips tremored but he found he had lost the ability of speech. It was as if the moment he opened his mouth, the waterworks would start running.

“Chen Ge, what’s wrong with you? There is no need to cry, we simply have not met each other for one night.” Chen Xiao sat up from his bed. Just like normal, he walked openly to Chen Ge’s side and curled his arm around his son’s neck. Then he used his other hand to close the door of the ward.

“We have not met each other for just one night?” Chen Ge looked at his father next to him. “Does neither of you remember anything anymore?”

“We only remember we had an argument with you about the Haunted House yesterday night. You said you do not wish to take over the Haunted House because you want to go and pursue a more lucrative job opportunity at a bigger city like Xin Hai.” Chen Xiao said with as much levity as he could muster. He tried his best to make this whole thing appear as light-hearted as he could but his red-rimmed eyes had belied many things. Chen Ge’s mother walked over as well. She did not speak. She merely gave Chen Ge a tight hug and refused to let go.

Obviously they were merely pretending to have lost their memory. The pain that they had suffered over this past year was something a normal person could never even attempt to fathom, however they did not wish to apply more pressure on their son and they did not wish for their son to take on the pain on their behalf. They had not done anything wrong, if anything they had done everything within their power to try to fix everything but their eyes that looked at Chen Ge was filled with heartache and pain. The couple who knew that truth, also knew very well that how much pain and despair Chen Ge must have gone through to rescue them. A normal person needed to rescue people from deep inside the cursed hospital which was inhabited by several Demon Gods, that was almost impossible but Chen Ge had done it!

Chen Xiang could not manage some semblance of normal conversation but Chen Ge’s mother had some trouble controlling her own emotions.

“The painful days are finally behind us. By the way, you guys have not visited our current Haunted House, right? During the period when you were asleep, I have given the place a total make over. In fact our Haunted House is now the top in the business in the entire country. I have also just opened a branch at Xin Hai.” Chen Ge switched the subject. He had a gentle smile on his face as he gloated like a child.

“Our Haunted House can become the top in the business in the entire country?” Chen Xiang was too submerged in the joy of the reunion to really catch what Chen Ge was actually saying.

“yes, let us go home now. After we enter the Haunted House, I am sure you will be in for a great shock.” The doctors had already examined both of their bodies, they were in tip top condition. They were released out from the hospital that night. After thanking everyone who came over to visit them, the family of three got into a taxi. Along the way, they chatted about many things and Chen Ge finally found out the real reason behind his parents’ disappearance. Other than using Kindness’ body to influence the red city, the hospital director also made use of the connection between the shadow and Chen Ge to silently plant a curse on Chen Ge. At the time, Chen Ge was at the fringe of death. Both Chen Ge at the red city and in real life were impacted. If this was allowed to continue, both Chen Ge’s kindness and evil spirit would be facing a big problem. Chen Ge’s parents were cornered, and that was why they had decided to work together with Chen Xiang inside the red city to launch a counter attack.

When they reached the Haunted House, it was already about 11.30 pm. There was no one at the theme park, the lights were all off and the place was completely deserted. Seeing the Haunted House which had not changed that much, Chen Ge’s father adjusted the sense of anticipation in his mind but he did not voice it out loud. But he had underestimated Chen Ge. If there was anything Chen Ge had learned from Doctor Gao, it was the ability to read people’s mind. Just from the micro expression, Chen Ge managed to see through Chen Xiang’s thought.

“Dad, the real change is inside the Haunted House.” Chen Ge pulled back the gates and pulled up the curtain. Hearing Chen Ge’s words, Chen Ge’s mother pinched her husband on his back and then even glared at him. Chen Ge’s father shrugged rather innocently. They followed Chen Ge into the Haunted House.

“Most of the employees and the new scenarios are situated underground.” Chen Ge removed the chains from the Howling Door. He pushed with both arms and the door that led underground yawned open. A chilling breeze leaked out from deep underground. The temperature inside the Haunted House dropped almost instantly.

“Underground?” The three of them walked down the steps. Then they heard a rehearsed greeting. “Good evening, boss!”

They glanced down the horizon. The underground city below the Haunted House appeared to stretch down the horizon. And there were so many kinds of lingering spirits, baleful spectres and Red Spectres residing in the city. There were so many of them! Even Chen Ge’s parents who had been through a lot had frozen on the steps. Were they still outside the door?

There were ghost students, doctors, teachers, gambler, manga artist, there was even a ghost director.

“Uncle, Auntie, nice to meet you!” Before Chen Ge’s parents could snap out of it, the employees sent them another wave of greeting. Chang Gu was at the side controlling the lights and directing the crowd. Picking the headless woman’s head that had fallen to the ground due to excitement, Chen Ge very naturally placed the human head back into headless woman’s embrace. He was very satisfied with his employees’ reaction. He had done a great job at business management.

The scene before their eyes was a lot to take in. While Chen Ge’s parents were still digesting the information, Chen Ge came over to them again. “Dad, mum, actually there is something else that I need to tell you, I have encountered a very nice girl. Perhaps tomorrow all of you can go out for a meal together.”

With the gentlest smile on his face, Chen Ge turned back to glance at his own shadow. “She is a very nice girl, but before you meet you, I think you better get mentally prepared.”

“You have already given us a surprise like this, what else can shock us anymore?” Chen Xiao and Chen Ge’s mother, Xu Meng stood at the steps, they were hesitating whether to continue moving down the stairs or not.

“Then I will call her out now?” Chen Ge turned to address his shadow and called out softly, “Zhang Ya, why don’t you come out and meet my parents?”

Ripples started to form on the dark shadow. Then the entire New Century Theme Park started to shadow. A terrifying presence that could not be hidden had suddenly appeared.