My House of Horrors

Chen Ge looked at the screen with superhuman focus. The wheel gradually slowed until the needle stopped at one of the results.

“Lucky Spin completed, congratulations for having won a Rare Special Item: Cursed Love Letter (Chance of Winning: 3/1000!)

“Her eyes exposed, cheeks white as ash, the moment she fell off the building, she became the taboo of the school. In red dancing shoes and a blood-dyed uniform, even her name became something that was only uttered in frantic whispers. People pretended that she didn’t exist, until one day, someone started receiving her love letters again.

“Getting a Baleful Spirit on your first Lucky Spin, unlocked Rare Title: The Specters’ Favored.

“The Specters’ Favored: When you equip this title, there’s a chance you might receive help from the specters.”

Looking at the information on screen, Chen Ge felt like his head was spinning.Cursed Love Letter? A 3/1000 chance of winning it? The Specters’ Favored? Before resolving the matter with the creature in the mirror, now I’m blessed with another one‽ I don’t even know whether I should consider myself lucky or unlucky.

He regretted cursing himself before activating the lucky spin. Chen Ge, get a grip of yourself! This is not the worst yet; drawing a Baleful Specter doesn’t mean it’ll appear instantly. Perhaps there is still time to salvage this, maybe I should go light an incense at the nearby temple.

He pocketed his phone, and his fingers brushed up against something papery in his pocket. He lowered his head and was shocked to see a yellowed letter poking out of his pocket. With a bad feeling settling in his stomach, Chen Ge pulled out the letter carefully, and there was only a single, simple sentence written on it that was braided using hair: “I like you.”

What the f*ck! Please, tell me what you like about me, and I’ll change from this moment on!

The handwriting on the paper had a nice curve to it; it would look quite nice if not for the fact that it was braided from hair.

Chen Ge stood in the West House, holding the letter in his hands. He mumbled to himself, “Who would have thought the first love letter I’ve ever received in my life would be something like this…”

“Boss! What are you grumbling to yourself in here?” Xiao Wan came in from behind him after she was done fixing all the stuff in the Main House.

“It’s nothing; I’m just thinking. If someone knows his life will end soon, is it right for him to give up on materialistic pursuit to focus on leaving some good deeds in this world?” Chen Ge raised his head to look at Xiao Wan in dead man’s make-up. “For example, to do his best to help produce the human race’s next generation.”

Chen Ge was obviously just rambling, but Xu Wan looked at him as if in deep thought, and her face turned serious with contemplation.

“Xiao Wan, don’t tell me you’re thinking about saying yes? Thanks, but I’m not ready yet. Then again, we’ve worked with each other for a long time already, and we do make a great team. I guess if you insist, I suppose I wouldn’t have said no…” For some reason, Chen Ge felt weirdly nervous.

“No, Boss, it’s not that. I’m just curious how you managed to have two shadows following you.” Xu Wan pointed behind Chen Ge. “Is this some new thing you’ve invented?”

“Two shadows‽” Chen Ge whipped his head around and saw two shadows, one big and one small, encroaching upon him before finally melding into one. “What the f*ck!”

He yanked Xu Wan out of the Haunted House immediately.

Chen Ge finally relaxed when he felt the sun on his skin. He did not give Xu Wan any explanation as he collapsed onto the steps.

“Boss, you’ve been acting very out of sorts lately, is it because of the financial pressure?” Xu Wan sat down beside Chen Ge. “Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be fine. By the way, what do you want to have for lunch? I’ll go buy something for you.”

Listening to Xu Wan’s words of comfort, Chen Ge also did not know how to answer. He forced a smile and said, “I’ll just have the same as you, but before you go out, remember to remove your make-up, lest you scare the canteen workers.”

“Understood.”

After Xu Wan left, Chen Ge pulled out the love letter again. I saw the two shadows joining together with my own eyes; if this is a sign that I’ve been haunted by the specter, does it mean that it’s hiding in my shadow?

Chen Ge looked at his shadow unblinkingly. With The Specters’ Favored title, I have a chance to earn the aid from the specters, so in way, winning a Baleful Specter might not be as bad as I thought.

At least that was what Chen Ge told himself on the surface. He knew internally, the reason a Baleful Specter was called a Baleful Specter was because they died with great anguish. They radiated sin and curses. If he was slightly careless, he might easily end up dead in a ditch somewhere.

After lunch, Chen Ge stood in front of the Haunted House, handing out flyers. There were quite a number of park visitors, but none wanted to enter the Haunted House.

Bored out of his mind, Chen Ge opened his video sharing app page and realized there had been a few new private messages. Deleting the trolls and advertisement, Chen Ge personally replied the remaining messages. Soon, he came across a message from He San.

The honest-looking young man surreptitiously came to contact Chen Ge, telling him his school’s forum had been exploding. After they found out that his Haunted House had played such a big prank on the beauty of their course, many students had stated the desire to level the Haunted House. Someone had started a thread to form the warring party, and it had more than a handful of volunteers already.

“It’s nice to be young,” Chen Ge commented with upturned lips. In his mind, however, there was already a vision of hormonal youths quivering in a group trapped inside his Haunted House.

“After completing the Trial Mission, I’ll have them try it out to see how scary the 1-star scenario really is.”

The thought of the Trial Mission made Chen Ge turn serious. He only had a one-time chance to complete this mission. If he failed, the chance of unlocking that scenario would forever be lost. He looked through the phone to memorize all the available information.

Knowing one’s enemy is winning half the battle. Therefore, the first thing Chen Ge did after confirming the mission venue was to look up everything he could about the place on the internet.

“Jiujiang City Western Countryside’s Ping An Apartments.”

Keying in the name of the location came up with nothing initially. After flipping through the front few pages, Chen Ge finally found something related to this apartment listed on a secondhand house sale website.

It was a complaint saying that the seller had the intention of obscuring the truth. In reality, this apartment was a literal haunted house. After peeling off the fresh coat of paint, there were signs of dried blood, and every night, the apartment would be filled with the disgusting smell of decay.

No one answered the complaint, and it was soon swamped by other more interesting threads. Chen Ge looked at the time of posting, and it was nine months ago.

Staying overnight at a haunted house and having to look for a hidden murderer… Sigh, this is a bit harder than I thought. Chen Ge had studied toy design; he was a complete amateur when it came investigation and self-defense. The hard part is not staying at the haunted house but what if the murderer is just living next door to me and jumps at me at night‽