My House of Horrors

Being recognized by the officer on duty, this was something that Chen Ge did not expect. He coughed once and explained himself immediately. “When I was on my way to Eastern Jiujiang, I happened across a child kidnapping case. You know about the kind of person that I am; I have a strong sense of justice. So, after a dangerous bout, I finally managed to rescue the boy.”

“Those with real justice will never say that they have justice.” The three officers at the police station had all gathered. One of them had aided Lee Sanbao when they handled the murder at Mu Yang High School and had an impression of Chen Ge. “I cannot make a decision about this. Our superintendent and Inspector Lee said that as long as the case involves you, we have to inform them before we can make a decision.”

“It’s not even a murder this time; it shouldn’t that serious, right?” Chen Ge still had something else to do. His original plan had been to drop off the boy and leave immediately.

“In your eyes, only murder cases are serious, huh? That’s a very dangerous way of thinking.” The officer called Inspector Lee, and two officers remained. One led the boy to the other side of the room while the other stayed with Chen Ge on high alert.

Several minutes later, the officer who called Inspector Lee walked out from the office, and he looked at Chen Ge strangely.

“What did inspector Lee say? Can I go now?” Chen Ge had not slept all night, and the theme park was opening at 9 am—he wanted to rush back to catch a little sleep.

“I’m afraid not.” The officer dropped the file on the table. “Yesterday at 9 pm, a pair of young parents came to report their son’s disappearance. The picture of their boy is similar to this boy that you found.”

“Isn’t a good thing‽ I’ve saved your time; you can just return the boy to his family.” Chen Ge was confused. “Is it because the parents want to thank me in person? There’s no need for that.”

“No, we wish to get your cooperation.” The officer opened the file. There was information of several children. “These are the children who have gone missing from Western Jiujiang over the last few months. There is a similarity in all these cases—they all happened on a rainy night. We’ve been following this case, and through our investigation, witnesses said that they saw a middle-aged lady around the crime scene. Last night, when the boy disappeared, someone saw the same lady around the area.”

“Many cases?” Chen Ge knew that these cases were related to the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang, but he wondered why the culprit needed so many children.

“Yes, these cases are horrible, and around the area where the disappearance happened, there is such a story. According to the story, whenever it rains, a middle-aged lady carrying a basket will appear. Due to her natural deficit, she is unable to carry a child, so she was chased out of the family by her family. From then on, she hated men and children and would use many different ways to lure children into tunnels and then take them away.”

“Doesn’t that sound like typical urban legend? They’re rarely real.” Chen Ge did not expect the officer to suddenly bring that up.

“Sometimes, local story and urban legend are based on real life event. We cannot believe them fully, but we cannot brush them off either.” The officer looked at Chen Ge. “There are seven cases of child kidnappings, and this boy is the only one who has been found. You’re the only one who has interacted with the suspect, so I need you to stay.”

“Fine, I will try my best to cooperate.” Chen Ge knew that he would be unable to leave, so he poured a glass of warm water for himself and sat down. “Then again, it’s one thing for me to cooperate, but you can’t keep asking me to do free work. At the beginning, when I provided the key clue to solve the murder at Ping An Apartment, at least the city awarded me with 50,000. Now, I don’t even get a medal or certificate, much less money, isn’t that a bit wrong?”

Seeing how shameless Chen Ge was, the officer did not even know how to respond. “Don’t worry, all you’ve done will be recorded by the department. In the future, we might award you the title of best citizen or one of the top ten youths in Jiujiang or something like that.”

“Are you for real? Then, does it mean I can get on the television?”

“Just help us with the cases, and eventually, those things will come.”

“No problem, but when the time comes, you have to help me deal with the reporters. If they have to interview me, please do it at the entrance to my Haunted House. That is a kind of promotion,” Chen Ge said seriously.

Half an hour later, Inspector Lee arrived, and Chen Ge gave him the story that he had prepared. He said that he had ridden an e-bike alone to Eastern Jiujiang. When he passed a bus stop, he saw a middle-aged lady hugging a child, looking like she was waiting for someone. He was worried about them because of how dangerous it was for a mother and a child to be waiting alone at night.

He stopped and offered to give them a ride home. During the conversation, he noticed how weird things were. The boy was not asleep but unconscious. He prepared to call the police, but coincidentally, his phone had no battery.

Then, the middle-aged woman escaped because she knew that she had been exposed. Chen Ge chased her for a while before returning to the boy because he thought that the boy’s safety was more important. The boy had been unconscious when he was on the bus, so Chen Ge was not worried about being exposed by the boy.

When he was done, the officers were in disbelief. He went to ride his bike, and he came across a child kidnapping case. This man before them, from a certain perspective, could not be viewed as a normal person anymore.

After giving a description of the middle-aged woman, Inspector Lee agreed to let Chen Ge go. He knew that Chen Ge had to operate the Haunted House in the morning. At 7 am, Chen Ge was sent back to the New Century Park in a police car. When the guard saw Chen Ge walk toward him, he forgot how many times he had seen Chen Ge that day.

It’s almost the park’s opening time; I don’t think I can sleep anymore.

Following a cold shower, Chen Ge changed into a set of clean clothes and gave the place a brief clean. When he was done, Chen Ge took out the black phone to study the Trial Missions.

These new Trial Missions are in Eastern Jiujiang; I have to go there if I want to expand the Haunted House.

Xiao Bu’s advice warned me away from Li Wan City, but she did not say I cannot go to Eastern Jiujiang. This means the best solution is to avoid Li Wan City for now and only go there after I finish the other three-star scenarios and gather all the ‘people’.

Even with Zhang Ya and Xu Yin, Xiao Bu still thinks I have no chance. Looks like my ability is still lacking behind compared to the culprit in Eastern Jiujiang.

Chen Ge thought about ways to make up the difference.

I have to unlock Yan Danian’s last ability as soon as possible. There’s also Bai Qiulin—he has consumed Xiong Qing and gained a dyed heart, but the increase in power is not obvious. He needs to consume more ghosts.

After going through all the members of the Haunted House, Chen Ge realized that, not counting Zhang Ya, he was even less powerful than the ghost stories society. If Zhang Ya and Xu Yin were held back, he would be in mortal danger.

The number of workers that I can depend on is still too little.

Chen Ge thought about it and opened the black phone. He looked at one of the options.

I can get new Specters from spinning the wheel, but the problem is, if I win another two Specters, then my title will be upgraded.

With Xu Yin and Zhang Ya by my side, normal Specters don’t pose much threat to me. It befits my current Specters’ favored title. I can approach them and communicate with them.

But if this title upgrades, does that mean I will attract more dangerous existences to me? What if Zhang Ya and Xu Yin are unable to handle it? Doesn’t it mean I’ll return to a life of cowering in fear and terror?