My House of Horrors

“Are there any other methods? The only spot that has not been dyed red for Xu Yin is his heart, so I’m sure this is a unique situation, right?”

When Chen Ge was speaking, Men Nan had been staring at him. After confirming Chen Ge did not have the intention to murder him, his expression softened a lot.

“There are indeed other methods, but compared to these two methods, it is more troublesome.” Men Nan only reached the top of Chen Ge’s knees, but he did not sound much different from an adult. “Normal Specters need to attach themselves to something to ensure that they will not dissipate as time goes by; however, Red Specters do not have this concern. The reason is because a Red Specter has a heart.”

“Heart?”

“Or the ghost’s equivalent of a heart.” Men Nan sighed. “Or anger, or vengeance, or resentment, when a certain emotion reaches its maximum, it will become a Specter’s heart. This heart will aid them in leaving the object of possession and enable them to exist in the physical world. The baleful Specter behind you has consumed enough ghosts, but he has not found his ‘heart’. If he can find that ‘heart’, then he can easily become a Red Specter.”

He glanced at Xu Yin, and the young face was filled with confusion. “The Specter you have is mixed with different kinds of emotions. There is despair, pain, regret, and a desire that I cannot understand. It is rare for a ghost to have so many intertwining emotions, and that should be the reason he is not yet a Red Specter.”

Hearing Men Nan say that, Chen Ge realized that Xu Yin was indeed different from other Specters. He listened to his order fully and did not ask for anything in return. At Fang Hwa Apartments, Xu Yin almost sacrificed himself to stop the society’s Red Specter. Chen Ge wondered, why would Xu Yin be so committed? Just because he had once saved him?

It appeared like Xu Yin was forcing himself to believe everything that Chen Ge said; he trusted Chen Ge unconditionally like he was trying to prove a point. Chen Ge could still remember the first time he saw Xu Yin. At the time, he had just been slightly stronger than a normal ghost, and he could not even defeat the thin monster from the society. However, even when he was at his weakest, as long as Chen Ge gave the order, he would follow it without considering the consequences like he was seeking death.

“The greater the pain, the stronger he becomes. Perhaps I’ve been underestimating Xu Yin.” Chen Ge felt like he had a need to have a chat with Xu Yin, but not there. Men Nan’s main persona was very clever. Before he joined the Haunted House, Chen Ge did not want to reveal too many trump cards to the boy.

“The simpler the emotions, the easier one can become a Red Specter. Similarly, when a negative emotion has reached its full potential, one can become a door-pusher.” Men Nan felt like he has said a lot that night, so he waved at Chen Ge. “I still have something else to do, so I won’t be walking you out. See you again.”

“It’s not often that I come to visit, why are you so insistent to chase me away? After all, I did save your life.” Chen Ge walked closer to Men Nan with Xu Yin.

“What are you doing?” Men Nan became alert immediately.

“Don’t worry, I just want to make a comparison.” Chen Ge pointed at his shadow. “There is another Red Specter living in my shadow. Can you tell how she became a Red Specter?”

Chen Ge had always been curious about Zhang Ya. Because of her disappearance, the scream factor for Western Jiujiang’s Private Academy instantly dropped by one-star. Therefore, before Zhang Ya swallowed the old director and the Red Specters from the society, she could already hold up the entire three-star scenario on her own.

Men Nan stared at Chen Ge’s shadow for a long time, and his face suddenly turned very nervous. “I can sense something familiar from the Red Specter in your shadow. She should be similar to me. We both pushed open a door when we were alive.”

“Zhang Ya is also a door-pusher?” Chen Ge thought back to Zhang Ya’s history, and he shook his head. “The place that she haunted doesn’t have a door though.”

After Chen Ge said that, Men Nan’s expression became even more nervous. He slowly retreated into the blood mist. “My feeling is never wrong. If she is not the door-pusher then she must have consumed a door-pusher!”

Men Nan’s body slowly dissipated. He realized that he was afraid of Chen Ge. This man was like a walking monster den. “I’m warning you, don’t have any silly ideas. The door-pusher can garner two hundred percent power in the world behind the door.” Men Nan thought about it and probably realized that number was still not enough to fight Zhang Ya, so he changed his words. “The door at the Third Sick Hall has been broken by those few mental patients. If I’m not here to watch over the door, the consequence would be unimaginable.”

Chen Ge had always been curious about the world behind the door, so he followed Men Nan’s words and asked, “What kind of consequence? The monsters behind the door will escape into the real world?”

“You’re underestimating the world behind the door. This blood red world is filled with various negative emotions and the memories abandoned by living humans. If the door is not closely watched over, these things will slowly seep into the real world. As the gap deepens, something very scary will appear.” Men Nan led Chen Ge into the room where the window could not close. The window frame was intertwined with blood vessels that knitted into human faces. “I cannot mention their name in this world, but you only need to know they are different from normal Specters.”

Men Nan pulled a vessel from the frame, and it made a human scream. He passed the vessel to Chen Ge as if he was trying to tell Chen Ge something. When he touched the blood vessel, a despairing and painful memory flooded his mind. The memory’s owner had a face that was similar to the one formed by the vessels. He had been chased before being horribly murdered.

“Each blood vessel is a horrible memory.” Men Nan leaned on the window and looked into the world. “This is a fully blood red world.”

Men Nan tried to tell Chen Ge something, but he did not dare say it in detail. Chen Ge did not quite get it, so he could only commit what the boy had said to memory. Chen Ge still had many questions to ask Men Nan, but the boy did not have the patience and quickly sent Chen Ge out the door.

Whenever Men Nan opened the door, he would be vulnerable for a period of time. Chen Ge memorized that as well. That seemed to be the weakness for the door-pushers.

After leaving the Third Sick Hall, Chen Ge walked on the highway for a long time before he ran into a kind person. The man dropped him somewhere close to the city, and Chen Ge called for a taxi to drive him to Mu Yang High School.