My House of Horrors

The woman blinked several times before she fully regained consciousness. She gripped Chen Ge’s sleeves, and the first sentence out of her lips was… “It split open. The person’s body split open!”

“Huh? Slow down. There’s no need to rush.” Chen Ge patted the woman on her back and slowly helped her to sit upright.

“After you left with the two children, the six-headed monster was torn apart by the village’s ghosts, and throughout the process, the black robe didn’t move a finger.” The Zhu woman’s body was weak, and her words came slow and stunted. “After the village’s spirits shared the monster, they turned their attention to the black robe, but the moment they got near, they screamed and ran away.”

“The ghosts were afraid of him?”

“Yes, red blood started to seep from his body, and after the robe was peeled off, I saw that he was carrying a dead woman on his back.”

The woman’s description made Chen Ge think of himself, but Zhang Ya had been hiding in his shadow. “When he pulled off the black robe, did you see his face?”

“No, actually, it felt like it was the female body that yanked the robe off.”

“Are you sure it’s a female body? Not a female ghost in a red outfit?” In Chen Ge’s mind, the difference between a female body and a female ghost was still big.

“I can still tell the difference between something like that. However, there’s something unique about that body that is different from all the dead bodies that I’ve seen before.” The Zhu woman tried her best to explain the situation, but since she had spent her whole life cooped up in Coffin Village, the words just could not come to her as easily. “The body looked like it had been dolled up. It looked more like a display than a body.”

“The society is indeed filled with mad people.” Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something and he asked, “Was the body beautiful?”

So far, other than Wu Fei and Wang Shenglong, only Han Bao’er was still unknown. The comment of the Third Sick Hall’s doctor about this female patient had been— Just how harsh must God be to make a woman as beautiful as this?

Chen Ge paid attention when he saw this message. Xiong Qing was made into a Red Specter, so Han Bao’er might have been made into something else. It’s hard to understand the world of the crazies.

“I don’t think you can call the body pretty.” The woman also did not understand why she was being asked to judge a body’s beauty, but she suddenly stopped. “I almost forgot, the body didn’t show any sign of decay, but the skin looked weird, radiating an aura of death.”

The more she described, the stranger it became. The thing No. 10 was carrying seemed to be different from everything he had seen so far.

“What happened next? Why did all of you say the person split open?” Chen Ge was curious about this.

“The woman’s body was made up from numerous red threads, and regardless of whether it was living or dead, she shoved everything into her mouth like food. When she ate, her lips could split until here.” The woman pointed at her ear. “The woman’s body could split open any place it wished. In a way, she looked like a moving body of lips.”

Listening to the Zhu woman’s description, the monster sounded like a Red Specter, but if it was a Red Specter, there was no way the Zhu lady and the villagers could have survived.

“So why did the monster leave?”

“The black robe wanted to capture the baby before turning to deal with us, but right then, someone entered the village.”

“Was it the police?”

The woman shook her head. “It was a doctor. He was wearing a white doctor’s garb, and many playing children surrounded him.”

When this image crossed his mind, Chen Ge was weirded out. “A bunch of children circling the doctor?”

“All those children are ghosts. They seem to treat the doctor as their father.” Now that the woman said that, it reminded Chen Ge of someone—Doctor Chen from Jiujiang’s Children’s Home!

“The doctor looks around forties, has a square face and thick eyebrows?”

“I was too far away to tell.” The woman thought about it. “After the doctor entered the village, he headed right for the black robe. They seemed to be nemeses.”

“Did they exchange any conversation?”

“No, when the black robe saw the doctor, he immediately left. We were attacked by the children following the doctor. However, they did not harm us; they merely knocked us out.”

“One last question. Was it you who transferred the babies from the ancestral hall to your home through the secret tunnel?” Chen Ge stood up and prepared to leave.

“You even know that?” The woman did not deny it. “Whenever the female ghost returns for the annual massacre, only my place is relatively safe.”

“I heard that from the old lady. Is she your family?” Chen Ge asked, but there was no answer. He turned to realize there was a weird expression on the woman’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“My grandmother passed away a long time ago; you couldn’t have spoken with her.”

Even though he had suspected that, Chen Ge’s heart still skipped a bit.

“But don’t you worry, she probably had something she wanted to tell you.” The woman signaled for Chen Ge to inspect the western side of the village. “Before I fainted, I saw the black robe and the doctor heading that way.”

“The gunshot came from that side as well. They probably ran into Ol’ Wei and Master Bai.” Chen Ge was worried about the almost-retired police officer and quickly rushed ahead. He ran for a while and started to hear the sound of a baby crying. Following the voice, he saw Master Bai and Ol’ Wei collapsed next to a dirt wall with the basket between them.

They were not injured, and to Chen Ge’s surprise, Ol’ Wei’s gun was sitting snugly in his holster. Chen Ge lifted the gun to take a look, and there was a shot missing.

“There is no slug around here. Did the thing that was shot get taken away?” He stayed on guard beside Ol’ Wei and Master Bai until they woke up.

It felt like a nightmare. Master Bai could still remember some of the details from the night before, but the situation with Ol’ Wei was slightly more complicated. He looked worried and kept telling Chen Ge that something scary had happened to him. When Chen Ge asked him about it, he had no recollection of said event.

Ol’ Wei was clearly traumatized. He had forgotten everything that had happened in Coffin Village, but he kept saying that something was not right.

The night dispersed, and the sun was coming up. Chen Ge received the message that his mission had been completed.

“Congratulations, Specters’ favored! You’ve completed the random three-star mission—Coffin Village! A new scenario has been unlocked!

“You have successfully completed the mission within the allocated time. Congratulations for winning the reward—Seamstress’ Wedding Dress!”