My House of Horrors

Blood leaked out from the edges, dying the whole door red. Chen Ge held the hammer in one hand and pushed the blood door open. The world before his eyes turned cloudy, and his body was enveloped by a red mist; it felt like he had walked into a viscous liquid. Waving the hammer, Chen Ge took a shallow breath, and the smell of blood sucked into his nostrils, making him slightly uncomfortable.

“Whenever I enter the world behind the door, I’m weirdly worried like something inside this world is calling me.” Chen Ge called out Xu Yin to follow behind him before he felt better. “The world behind the door should influence Red Specters somewhat. This place is filled with various negative emotions, stacked with human despair. The longer one stays here, the greater the resentment will become, making it more difficult to seek salvation.”

With Xu Yin’s company, Chen Ge felt confident. He pushed the doors to each room open, but he could not find Men Nan.

“Where did he go?” Chen Ge walked to the end of the corridor and saw the door that led to the electrotherapy room. “Last time I was here, this is where I met Men Nan.”

He pushed the door open. The cold bed was covered with various blood red equipment, and all the equipment’s circuit was connected to an old man’s head. Chen Ge glanced at it and realized that the man was familiar. The old man was the former director of the Third Sick Hall. He had escaped to the world behind the door with the patients to ambush Men Nan because he suffered from a terminal disease.

“How are you doing, old director?” Chen Ge walked over with a friendly smile like he had happened across an old friend. The old man looked much weaker and tired, but even in his condition, when he heard Chen Ge’s voice, his eyes flew open.

“You…” He saw Chen Ge and remembered the incredibly violent female Red Specter, and the words that he wanted to say got stuck in his throat.

“What’s wrong? What do you want to tell me?” Chen Ge sat down next to the old man’s skull, and his tone was light like he was visiting a neighbor. The old man glanced at Chen Ge, and his eyes turned like he was coming up with a plan. However, he soon saw Xu Yin, who walked out from behind Chen Ge.

“Another Red Specter?” The red eyes glared at the old man—the evil intention in Xu Yin’s eyes was on full display. It felt as if with a command from Chen Ge, the old man’s head would be torn into pieces.

Collecting his thoughts, the old man looked at the pair of bandits, and his voice sounded even weaker. “Why are you back here?”

“Where is Men Nan’s main persona? I have something to ask him.” Chen Ge was not worried about the old director’s trick. He might have plenty of dirty tricks, but in terms of power, he was no match for a Red Specter.

“He should be on the fourth floor now. The windows there have been broken, so he’s fixing them.” The man spoke quickly like he was trying to make Xu Yin and Chen Ge leave as soon as possible.

“You should know the consequence of lying to me.” Chen Ge believed that the chance of the old man lying was low, but he was a cautious man.

“Why would I lie to you?” The old man sighed. He had a feeling that Chen Ge was merely seeking a reason to annoy him.

“If you say so.” Chen Ge led Xu Yin out of the room and walked past the patients that filled up the corridor to the fourth floor. Once he exited the stairwell, Chen Ge noticed that something was wrong. The mist on the fourth floor was much thicker, and the smell of blood in the air was pungent.

“Has there been an accident? Have the people from the society been here?” Chen Ge pushed open the doors on both sides carefully. When he almost reached the end of the corridor, he saw a small figure walk out from one of the sick bays. The shirt that was dripping with blood was a great contrast to his babyish face. He was surrounded by the blood mist like he was the one that caused it.

“Chen Ge?” The mist gently dispersed, and when Men Nan raised his head and saw Chen Ge, he frowned. Honestly, he did not know why he frowned, but he knew that whenever he saw this man, trouble would not be faraway.

“I heard from the director that you’re here, so I came to see you.” Chen Ge glanced inside the room that Men Nan had just walked out from and saw the window in the room seem like it could not be closed.

“Just say whatever you want to.” Men Nan might have looked like a child, but his IQ was beyond normal. He was a genius, but he had grown up inside a mental hospital, so his worldview was different from others.

“You’re being too aloof now.” Chen Ge led Xu Yin to walk toward Men Nan. “You do not have much family in Jiujiang, and I can be considered your only friend, so isn’t it normal for me to come visit you?”

Stopping beside the boy, Chen Ge squatted down to put himself at Men Nan’s eye level.

“We’re not friends. I have no friend and don’t need one.” Men Nan took steps back like he was cautious of Chen Ge. “You came to find me because of that Specter behind you, right? He’s missing a heart before he can become a Red Specter. You don’t know how to do that, so you came to ask me.”

Before Chen Ge said anything, Men Nan had already guessed everything. Men Nan took another few more steps back to maintain a safe distance from Chen Ge. “There exists a small set of normal Specters that have the potential to become Red Specters. Such ghosts normally have a great resentment at time of death and are highly aggressive. They are very murderous or in other words, extremely dangerous, uncontrollable maniac.”

“But aren’t you a Red Specter, too? How come I feel like that description doesn’t fit you?” Chen Ge looked at Men Nan, who had sidled away from him like he was afraid of him.

“I was talking about ghosts like him who have the potential to become Red Specters. People like myself who pushed open the ‘door’ will naturally turn into a Red Specter after death.” Men Nan let slipped a great secret.

“I didn’t know that. Then doesn’t that mean each door represents a Red Specter?” Chen Ge stood up. He had a feeling that he would be able to get a lot of useful information from Men Nan that night.

“I don’t know how doors are formed, but I can be sure every door has at least one Red Specter behind it.” Men Nan glanced at Xu Yin. “For people like him who are about to become a Red Specter, there are only two methods. Make him become the owner of a door or feed him a fully-established Red Specter.”

“Isn’t that too difficult?” Chen Ge shook his head; both methods were too hard. He had a door at his Haunted House, but he did not know anything about the world behind it and did not dare explore it.

Eating a Red Specter was even harder. Other than the story, he only knew three Red Specters at Jiujiang—the female well inside the well at Coffin Village, the woman at the tunnel, and Men Nan.

Each Specter was more malicious than the one before it. Men Nan looked the weakest, but the boy was the cleverest. Even the reason he told Chen Ge this information now could be a test.