My House of Horrors

After hearing the doctor’s stories, Chen Ge understood that every passenger on the bus had their own sad past. They had secrets buried inside their heart, and the last stop that the bus was heading toward in the middle of the night was for that last piece of hope. This was a bunch of sad people—Chen Ge wondered if he should tell them the truth.

If he did not, they could still try to survive with that bit of hope, but if he did, these passengers might collapse from losing that last hope.

The final destination of the hearse is Li Wan City, the place that is influenced by the world behind the door. It is filled with evil and despair. All their effort is destined to be in vain. I cannot allow them to sink deeper into this abyss. These people deserve to be treated better.

Telling them the truth might cause them to collapse, but if he also provided them with new hope, then things would be different. After giving it some thought, Chen Ge decided to use his own method to help them.

The doctor noticed that Chen Ge had started to space out, so he asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Chen Ge did not answer. His brain was turning and the stories of Wang Qi, Xu Yin, and even Doctor Gao appeared in his mind. He could fool them easily by taking these people’s experiences as his own.

“It’s fine if you don’t feel like sharing it. Perhaps we might see each other again on this bus.” The man’s eyes scanned Chen Ge, and his lips moved slowly. “This is your first time on this bus, right?”

“Yes.” Chen Ge nodded.

The doctor nudged closer to Chen Ge and lowered his voice. “When you arrive at the place and someone asks you to choose between giving and accepting, remember to choose accepting.”

“What do you mean?” Chen Ge noticed the problem easily. “I just want to find my friend, and I need to give or accept something? Brother, what is really at the last stop?”

The doctor turned his head and looked around before he spoke. “There is a ghost apartment in the small town. You can hear the voice of the person you’re looking for inside the building. If you wish to meet them, then you have to give up something.”

Chen Ge memorized what the doctor said in his heart. He had revealed some important information—there was a ghost apartment in Li Wan City. He answered back in whisper, “Brother, I just want to see my friend. Do I need to give up something for that?”

“There is no free meal in this world. If you want to meet your friend, then you have to either accept something or give up something.” The doctor was a kind-hearted person. He removed the glove and pulled up the sleeve. There was a red thread around his wrist. “This is to ward against evil. Whenever I enter the ghost apartment, I choose to accept. Every time I leave, there is a certain heaviness on my shoulders like something is on my back, following me out.”

Chen Ge knew what kind of acceptance the doctor was referring to. No wonder the doctor was radiating coldness and was so weak. The culprit used these despairing people to feed the ghosts, to use them as vessels.

This was similar to the members of the ghost stories society, but there was a small difference. These passengers had no idea that their bodies had become homes for ghosts and that their emotions had become food for ghosts. They had no power to control the ghost and could only accept everything passively.

“Then what happens when you choose to give? Why won’t you let me pick that?”

“That’s what the father next to us chose. Initially, you only needed to give up your nails or hair, but as time progresses, the things that you need to give up become worse, like teeth, fingers, your conscience, and the kindness in your heart.” The doctor’s voice was low. If Chen Ge did not have Ghost Ear, he would not have been able to hear it.

“Even the conscience can be given up?”

“They will have to go to the small town to do some things like stealing, mugging, or killing some things. After you choose giving, you’ll realize that you’ll slowly become someone that you cannot recognize.” The doctor saw how curious Chen Ge was, and the lad did not look the least afraid, so he did not want to explain anymore. “You only needed to remember that those who chose to give, after they have given everything, will stay inside that building.”

“Meaning, in the end, they will give up themselves?” Without heart, humanity, and memory, they had lost their identity. Chen Ge realized that these people whom the doctor mentioned were similar to the crazed murderers inside the game. They were cultivating darkness and highly aggressive.

If the game represents the world behind the door in Li Wan City, then those who chose to give probably end up being sent into the door.

Those who chose to accept became vessels for monsters and were slowly being consumed; those who chose to give eventually became monsters behind the door.

Chen Ge compared the methods of the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang and the ghost stories society. The society had people control the ghosts to investigate how to take control over the ‘door’, but the situation in Eastern Jiujiang was completely different. The culprit had the ghosts control the people and then continued to feed the ‘door’ nutrients—this made the already open door more chaotic in nature.

If Doctor Gao was the epitome of both rationality and madness, then the culprit at Eastern Jiujiang was a complete monster. They no longer viewed human beings as human beings and tried their best to ruin everything that was good about humanity.

This sure is a scary enemy. Chen Ge understood many things from his conversation with the doctor, and he slowly calmed down. The shadow at the fresh water plant managed to cross swords with the healing Zhang Ya. Could the shadow’s body really be an existence above Red Specter?

Chen Ge would run every time that he saw a Red Specter before this, but with Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin’s growth, he had overcome his fear of Red Specters. However, something scarier than that had appeared soon after.

He had no idea how powerful the enemy was. Thinking about the fact that his parents had disappeared in Eastern Jiujiang, Chen Ge suddenly felt unsettled. He looked at the e-bike parked in the middle of the aisle, and he grumbled to himself, “Have I been a bit too high profile recently?”

The woman in the raincoat was a Red Specter, and she knew that her child was on the bus, but she still did not dare get on the bus—this went to show her terror due to the culprit. I’ll need to reassess the enemy’s ability since they are able to scare a Red Specter.

Chen Ge grumbled to himself. The doctor next to him thought he was spooked by the stories he scared so he consoled him. “You’ll be fine if you choose to accept. Perhaps you’ll be able to see her before the burden becomes too much.”

The doctor’s wish was really simple. Chen Ge did not want to see the kind man walk step by step into the darkness, and he decided to use his own method to save these people. “Actually, I know another way that you might be able to meet them, and you don’t need to pay such a horrid price.”

“What kind of way?” The doctor’s brow rose. He was interested.

Turning around to look the doctor in the eye, Chen Ge said, “Have you heard about the ghost stories society?”