My House of Horrors

Before doing the Trial Mission for the Third Sick Hall, perhaps I should place a stray cat inside Mu Yang High School scenario to test the theory. If it works, then it’ll be an additional way to deal with creatures from the other side. Even with this information alone, Chen Ge felt that his journey that day had been worth it. Glancing at the young man, he passed the rusted key to him. “Have you seen this key before?”

“I have.” The young man nodded. “Every sunrise, I would return to Room 303 to clean the animal carcasses, and there was this one time when I found this key in one of the items of clothing.”

“Did the man in dream mention anything related to this key? Like a special door or room?”

The young man thought about it before saying, “When they were talking to themselves this one time, I believe they mentioned something related to a key.”

“What was it?”

“One of the faces said that he had left something important behind in the third room and that the pathway hidden behind the cupboard wasn’t locked. They shouldn’t have left through the front door; that way, they wouldn’t have been exposed.” The young man had a vague recollection of the memory; after all, he had heard all this in his dream.

“The third room?” Chen Ge was reminded of the paper note left behind by his parents.

The third room in the third sick hall!

Could they have been talking about the same place? If they were, then this information is invaluable! The pathway behind the cupboard is not locked; this can be my escape route when necessary!

Chen Ge could not tell whether the young man was lying or not. He maintained the same expression while he memorized all the information. After asking a few more questions, making sure there was nothing else he could have known, Chen Ge exited Room 302 and returned to Room 304.

“How is Men Nan doing?”

“He’s asleep, but he’s running a fever. I’ll bring him to the hospital tomorrow and try to reach out to his family.” Doctor Gao sat beside the bed. “You’d better go and rest; I’ll stay here and look over him. I’ve placed the doll on the sofa. There are some bandages under the table, so remember to take care of your wounds.”

“Okay.” Chen Ge realized that Doctor Gao was a nice person who knew how to take care of others. He walked to the sofa and saw Xiaoxiao that was lying on her back with her stomach poking out like she was unable to move from eating too much.

“This little thing.” Chen Ge set the alarm for 7 o’clock. Hugging Xiaoxiao, he soon fell asleep. For some reason, he had a restless sleep that night. He kept repeating the same dream, and in the dream, he was trapped inside a maze-like building and was being chased by something. There was imminent danger. He held a key in his hands and tried it on all the doors, but none of them worked.

…

“Wake up.”

Chen Ge’s eyes flew open because someone was shaking him. He saw Doctor Gao standing beside the sofa holding a weak-looking Men Nan. Chen Ge looked out the window; the sun was coming up. It was about 6 am.

“Men Nan’s temperature is still running high; we need to take him to the hospital. This room feels weird, so I think we’d better leave together.” Doctor Gao had not slept, so his condition was not so good, and Men Nan was even worse; it seemed like he could collapse at any moment.

“Okay.” Chen Ge shoved the stuff into his bag and reached out to hold Men Nan’s other arm. “Be careful.”

“Thank you for your help last night…” When they exited Room 304, Men Nan suddenly turned to Chen Ge to say and repeated, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Chen Ge answered reflexively, but then he realized that Men Nan’s tone and mannerism seemed weirdly feminine. When he turned back to look, Men Nan had lowered his head.

When they arrived at the hospital and ensured that there was nothing dangerous about Men Nan’s situation, Chen Ge left. Sitting in the taxi, Chen Ge took out the black phone. He had received the message; he had completed the mission.

“The player reached the mission venue on time, found the victim’s cause of illness, and managed to survive until sunrise. One-star Trial Mission completed! A new scenario has been unlocked. Player can manipulate the props inside the set freely using the interface available on the phone!

“Trial Mission completion rate more than ninety percent, unlocked this mission’s hidden item—Self-perceptive Key.

“Self-perceptive Key (13 Malice Points): Mental patients are often lacking in the power of self-perception. They are unable to tell their current mental health condition, causing them to think they are fine, thus refusing treatment. When similar symptoms appear in you, this key can help you once.”

The hidden item for this mission is the key I found? Chen Ge placed the rusted key in his palm. What does it mean by saying similar symptoms appear in me? Is it telling me indirectly that I have a mental illness?

When Chen Ge reached New Century Park, it was around 7 pm. The difficulty of one-star missions is not that hard; I don’t feel as tired as I normally would.

It was still early, so he decided to pay the mannequin workshop a visit. The mannequin heads that he had made should have been ready. Chen Ge sent a message to the boss, and to his surprise, the reply came back surprisingly soon. The boss asked for Chen Ge to come immediately.

Did something happen? Perhaps it is because I did not follow the Dollmaker’s Talent fully; after all, I was missing some tools then.

This was the first time Chen Ge had used that skill. He was afraid of an accident, so he rushed over immediately.

When he arrived, he saw the boss standing alone outside the glass door, holding the key, but he appeared to be afraid to walk in.

“You’re already here? Then, why won’t you go in?” Chen Ge walked toward the man. If some outsiders saw this, they would probably think that he was the boss.

The fat on the boss’ face jiggled as he reached out to point inside the workshop. “Can I cancel your order?”

“No way, you’ve already accepted my down payment.” Chen Ge looked through the glass into the workshop. When his eyes swept across the counter where he had left yesterday’s half-finished products, his breath caught in his throat.

The twenty-four detached heads with weirdly humanlike expressions were all turned to stare right at the entrance. Chen Ge almost grabbed his mallet to swing at the door. This scene was indeed impactful; no wonder the boss did not dare go in alone.

“They do look realistic.” Chen Ge patted the boss’ shoulder. “Open the door, will you? After finishing the bodies, I’ll leave.”

“You sure are humble. Twenty-four heads, each with different expressions, and all turned toward the door, but realistic is all you have to say? When I came early in the morning, I almost lost my soul being scared by them!” the boss said with a pout. “I came early to check on your filler and leakage but… sigh . I’ll probably be reminded of this scene every time I open the door; now I’ll need to rent the place no matter what.”