My House of Horrors

Other than the tape and newspaper article, Chen Ge found many other hints about Xu Zhenzhen inside the office. For example, in a broken photo frame left in the corner of the bookshelf, there was a picture of a father and daughter, but both of their faces had been blocked out. There was the man’s will inside the table’s drawer, and it did mention the name Xu Zhenzhen. There was not one picture of Xu Zhenzhen, but the mention of the girl’s name could be found all over the Haunted House.

Tian Teng Medical School is using a real case to design their Haunted House. Aren’t they afraid of evoking the real Xu Zhenzhen? Haunted Houses were natural locales where negative energy gathered. It shied away from sunlight and was the perfect hiding location for spirits and ghosts. They say dreams are reflections of real life. Every day, people in the Haunted House are calling Xu Zhenzhen’s name, what if she heard them?

Tian Teng Medical School had no idea what they had done. They had completely replicated a real case inside their Haunted House and used all the real case’s information as hints. It might have looked clever to others, but Chen Ge thought that they were playing with fire.

There are ‘gods’ everywhere. Even if you don’t believe in them, you don’t need to go and actively taunt them.

Even though Chen Ge was brave, it was undeniable that he had never been incautious of the unknown. It was why he would prepare extensively before going on any Trial Missions. He had finished half of Tian Teng Medical School, and the light in the corridor was getting brighter.

It’s time to leave.

Chen Ge was not sure if Xu Zhenzhen was inside the Haunted House, but he knew his target. His focus was to clear the Haunted House, and that was the only thing he was going to do. After another round, Chen Ge returned to the tape recorder. When he got close, he could hear something that sounded like muffled crying. It was soft and seemed to come from inside the recorder.

The ghost inside the tape is coming out? Chen Ge took one step back and reached one hand into his pocket to hold the ballpoint pen while his other hand shoved the ‘dead body’ on the table lightly. He was afraid that accidents might happen, and he did not have the time to look after this actor.

However, to his surprise, he only nudged the person lightly when the man leaned to his side and collapsed onto the floor.

What happened? Is it Xu Zhenzhen? He had seen real ghosts before, and he knew this could be the sign that a real ghost had appeared. Am I that lucky? Even when I’m visiting other people’s Haunted House, I ran into a ghost!

Chen Ge started to panic when he was reminded of his Specter’s Favored title. He immediately rushed forward to help the man on the floor. He wanted to save the man before it was too late. The actor died from playing dead? What kind of story will that make‽

As Chen Ge squatted down to grab the man’s hand, a human head stuck out from underneath the table. The actor had been using his body to block the space from Chen Ge’s sight. It was so close that Chen Ge did not have time to evade. The human head rammed right into his chest. His heart raced and only calmed down after several seconds.

Chen Ge looked at the mannequin head in his arms and the ‘dead body’ on the ground, and it dawned on him. “Brother, are you trying to get revenge for humiliating you at the nursery?”

When the ‘dead body’ was collapsed on the table earlier, his face had been hidden from view. Now that his face was revealed, Chen Ge realized that the man had not even changed his make-up. His face was smudged with fake blood. He placed his finger under the man’s nostrils. After making sure there was a breath, Chen Ge stood up. He did not plan to stay there any longer; it was time to leave.

He walked to the tape recorder and pressed the stop button. He pressed it multiple times, but the tape kept playing. He tried other buttons, but there was still no response. It can’t be stopped?

Chen Ge could not leave the tape inside Tian Teng Medical School, but taking it with him would be stealing. When Chen Ge was operating the recorder, the light crying slowly became louder, and there were some other sounds mixed into it. It sounded like electrical current but very muffled.

Chen Ge tried to remember the introduction to the tapes. About one second later, a voice appeared on the recording. It could have been male or female, and it only appeared for mere seconds.

Someone is talking? What is he trying to say?

This was the first time Chen Ge had communicated with the tape. He did not dare take this lightly; after all, this was a ghost that had been given to him by the black phone. He listened patiently, and the voice reappeared soon.

“Pain…” Mixed within white noise, the voice sounded unreal. As the tape continued to play, the voice became clearer.

It’s a man’s voice, and it sounds young.

He focused his hearing on the tapes and suddenly the play button on the recorder pressed downwards. Chen Ge turned to look at the ‘dead body’ on the floor. The man had also heard the noises inside the recording. He silently reached into his pocket to press on a mini controller. However, it was too late to stop the recorder now. The baleful specter inside the tape had awoken. Even if he pressed all the buttons, it would be pointless.

“So painful…”

The voice inside the tape continued to grow as if the baleful specter was slowly losing control. The only thing Chen Ge could think of doing then was to leave with the tape recorder.

Following his inability to stop the recorder after several tries, the ‘dead body’ on the floor opened his lips to say, “What’s going on?”

He sat up with the fake blood flowing down his face.

“Something wrong with your equipment?” Chen Ge could not possibly say that he had inserted a baleful specter into their recorder, and now he could not remove it.

“I suppose so.” The actor was unsure as well. He reached out to grab the recorder, but before his finger touched it, a blood-curdling scream could be heard coming from the recorder.

” So painful! ”

The actor shivered, and he pulled back his hand like he had been shocked.

“What are you so scared? Isn’t this a set-up by your Haunted House?” Chen Ge stood before the recorder to prevent accidents from happening.

“I was there when we recorded the tape; we didn’t record anything like that!” the ‘dead body’ said seriously. He took out his phone and asked inside a chatroom, “Who tweaked with the tapes inside the director’s office?”

There was no answer, but in this short period, the voice coming from the recorder turned mad. It was filled with endless hate and resentment.

” So painful! So f*cking painful! ”

It sounded like there were actual knives poking holes in his body, and he was trying his best to stop the wounds but could only look on helplessly as more wounds appeared on his body. The actor’s body was shaking. At that moment, he was truly afraid.

“Your Haunted House sure is courageous to use an actual incident to design your set. Weren’t you afraid that the spirit might return to haunt you?”

Chen Ge purposely lowered his voice as he stared at the actor.

“I hear people say you shouldn’t repeat a dead person’s name willy-nilly, whether verbally or in written form. Otherwise, bad things might happen.”

“Stop!” the actor yelped. He told everything that had happened inside the office in the chatroom. Then with forced confidence, he told Chen Ge, “Just a technical accident. It’ll be fine.”

Just as he said that, there were footsteps coming from outside the door. The ‘pregnant ghost’ that Chen Ge had seen earlier rushed into the room with terror on her face!

She was holding a piece of paper in her hand, and she was gasping for air.

“Ah Rui? Why are you here?” the actor asked nervously. He was already panicking, and it only heightened when he saw the female actor.

“There’s something on the note! I saw it accidently.” The woman placed the note before the actor. “She is back!”