My House of Horrors

The soil at the ceiling continued to peel. This place appeared very unsafe, like it could fall at any moment. With no other discovery, Chen Ge prepared to leave.

The door that connects both worlds often appears for a minute after midnight. I wonder if this door retains that property. Perhaps I can find the time to come back to look.

The police had sealed the door and did not discover the secret of the door. It was probably because they had missed the opening. After all, the police had regular working hours, and no one would go back to the crime scene for no reason at midnight.

Calling Xu Yin, Chen Ge exited the tunnel, closed the door, and replaced the closet. Looking at the art pieces inside the room, and thinking about the dolls’ clothes inside the iron cage, Chen Ge’s mood began complicated.

Despair is something natural, and life is already hard enough. Why are they doing something as meaningless as this?

Chen Ge checked the room again, but he came up with nothing. He jumped out from the window and then closed the window that had lost the glass.

I’ve completed the mission for The Hearse, returned the e-bike, and inspected the secret room at Jiang Long’s place—that’s everything that I set out to do. Guess it’s time to go home.

Looking at the time, Chen Ge realized that it was 3 am, the time when the night was darkest.

I’d better drive the bus back before the sun comes up. If I run into any traffic police, so much trouble will follow.

The black phone had said that it was best to use the hearse after midnight on a rainy night. Chen Ge remembered that closely—he did not want the police to tow his bus on his first day on the road.

Fan Chong’s home was on the top floor. Chen Ge found it too troublesome to climb up again, so he used the phone to call Fan Chong down instead. The phone rang once before it was answered. “Brother, why did you break the man’s window! Didn’t you say you just wanted to go take a look?”

“I checked the surroundings—there was no surveillance.” As Chen Ge stood by the building, the rain began to ease up.

“No, how is that related to surveillance?”

“I also wanted to clear the murder case; the family of the victim need their justice. And most importantly, the murderer is still on the loose, and new victims might soon appear. Think about it, you’re living in this type of danger every day, aren’t you afraid? Furthermore, if I break one piece of glass to save one or more lives, compared to human lives, is a simple pane of glass more important?”

Fan Chong did not know how to counter Chen Ge. He thought about it and somewhat agreed with the man.

“By the way, before I cracked the glass, I ended the call, so how did you find out about that?” Chen Ge was one who paid attention to details. It was the reason he had managed to survive so many Trial Missions.

“I’ve been watching you from upstairs. If something happened to you, I was ready to call the police.”

When Fan Chong said that, Chen Ge lifted his head to look up. The room that was on the leftmost side on the opposite building had a faded light coming from the window. Fan Chong was standing next to the window, and he held the phone in his hand. When he saw Chen Ge look up, he even waved at him.

“Boss Chen, I’m really impressed. You dared to jump into a cursed home at 2 am,” Fan Chong said and waited, but there was no reply from Chen Ge. He looked down. Chen Ge had the phone beside his ear, but the man looked petrified. He stood where he was with his head titled upward.

“Boss Chen? Why aren’t you saying anything?” Fan Chong noticed the anomaly about Chen Ge, and he started to panic. “Don’t scare me! Are you alright? F*ck! I told you not to go to that place already!”

“Stop talking for now.” Chen Ge’s voice came from the phone. Perhaps it was psychological, but Fan Chong felt that Chen Ge’s voice seemed different from before.

“What’s wrong?”

“Maintain your posture and remember, do not turn back no matter what happens!”

This was the first time that Fan Chong had heard Chen Ge use such a stern tone, and he promised quickly. “Okay, I will not turn back.”

He said so, but his heart could not resist the urge to turn back. Fan Chong felt a chill run up his spine, crawling right up to his brain.

“Boss Chen, is there something behind me?”

“You’re fine. Now use your hand that is holding the phone and slowly reach behind you.”

“Like this?”

“Yes, go a bit further. Perfect. Maintain that posture, don’t move.” Chen Ge stood under the building, and his eyes were narrowed as he kept his gaze on Fan Chong’s room. The weak light came from inside the room, and Fan Chong stood at the window. He gripped his pajamas with one hand, and his other held the phone that he had extended behind him. Not far away from his phone was a girl in a red shirt.

The black hair fell on the red shirt. The girl did not have any clear facial features but several dark holes. She had no eyes, nose, or teeth. Her limbs were covered by the shirt. There was no way of telling her age, appearance, or height. Everything about her about was a mystery.

“Red Specter…”

“Red? Boss Chen, what’s going on? Don’t scare me! I promise that I will not tell anyone about your trespassing!”

“Stop talking! Let me try to communicate with her.” Chen Ge arranged his thoughts. The Red Specter that had suddenly appeared in Fan Chong’s room was probably Xiao Bu. Chen Ge already had the suspicion that the child was hiding at the deepest part of the game.

“All the children in the game are called Xiao Bu, and all the tragedies happened to Xiao Bu—there has to be a reason for that.” Chen Ge took up the phone and stated his stance. “Don’t act recklessly. What do you want? What do you desire? You can tell me.”

In the bedroom, neither Fan Chong nor the Red Specter behind him moved. Time seemed to have stopped. Realizing that the girl did not have any intention of harming Fan Chong, Chen Ge continued. “I have not experienced your pain before, so I cannot say I can understand you fully, but I beg you to give me a chance. Perhaps we can sit down together and talk this out.”

Fan Chong’s body was shaking. He listened to Chen Ge on the phone and felt like either he had gone mad or Chen Ge had gone insane. “Brother, who are you talking to?”

Chen Ge ignored Fan Chong. He would not dare stay in the same room with a Red Specter without help, but Fan Chong had done that.

“I’ve seen many children like you, or perhaps their experience was nothing compared to yours, but with my help, they found a new direction in life.” Chen Ge had played Xiao Bu’s game before. He looked through his backpack and found an old phone and called out the phone spirit, Tong Tong.

“Can you see the boy beside me? His story is included in that game, so you should know about him. I helped him fulfilled his wish and helped punish those who hurt him. You can ask him to confirm these details.” The phone spirit understood what he was supposed to do. He nodded and tried to smile, but probably because he had not smiled for a long time, the smile was rather ugly.

Listening to Chen Ge, Fan Chong looked at the empty space next to Chen Ge. “What do you mean? How come there’s another one? How many people are in my room?”

The girl seemed to have met Tong Tong before. She tilted her head to the side. After a moment of consideration, she lifted her sleeve. There was no hand. One could only see her sleeve wave several times at the window.

Minutes later, blood started to leak on Fan Chong’s window, and the blood slithered to form words.

“You will die if you come back to Li Wan City.”