My House of Horrors

“Visitors so early in the morning?” Chen Ge walked toward the gate. The guard was a very cordial person. In fact, this was the first time that Chen Ge had seen him in an argument.

“This is not an issue of tickets. The theme park is not yet open, and the employees aren’t here yet to operate the attraction. Even if I allow you to enter the park, there’s nothing you can do!”

Even from a far, Chen Ge could hear the old guard’s voice. He jogged over and saw that next to the guard house was a little girl and a middle-aged man who looked rather blank in the mind.

The man toyed with the money in his hands. His expression was off, and his words came intermittently. His voice was strange, and saliva even dripped out from the corner of his mouth. “Play, my daughter, wants, play, long time.”

“Brother, the park will open in another half an hour. You only need to wait for a while. If I let you in now and something happens to you, I won’t be able to shoulder the responsibility!”

The guard had his points, but the man shook his head vehemently like he could not understand the guard.

“Money, enough money, we want play.” The man seemed to have difficulty controlling his tongue. It was a difficulty for him to even speak, and whenever he did, the muscles on his face shook. He did not seem to understand why the guard was stopping him. He gripped the money and shoved it to the guard.

“How come you don’t understand?” The guard held his head. “Such a big problem so early in the morning, there sure have been many weird things happening around Jiujiang lately.”

“What’s happening? They… are they visitors?” Chen Ge walked out from the park and studied the two. The middle-aged man appeared mentally-challenged, and the girl was reticent. Her facial features were slightly off, but her eyes were clear, hiding a faded trace of fear. The girl seemed to suffer from the same illness as the middle-aged man.

“These two insist on going into the park. I’ve explained to them that the park opens at 9 am. I just need them to wait a little while longer, but they refused to listen to me and think that I’m discriminating against them. Am I someone who would do that?” The guard was only doing his job.

After hearing that, Chen Ge grasped the situation immediately. He stopped before the man and the girl.

The man thought that Chen Ge was the owner of the park. He grumbled incoherently before pushing the money to Chen Ge. As if afraid that Chen Ge could not understand him, he kept pointing at the Ferris wheel in the park.

“Okay, I’ll handle this.” Chen Ge smiled at the guard. He accepted the money from the man. There were coins, but they totaled up to the price for two tickets. It was clear that it had not been easy for them to collect this amount of money.

“You have more than enough. The ticket price for children is only half, here.” Purposely treating people with disability differently was a great disrespect. The most respectful way was to treat them as he would anyone else. Chen Ge wanted to return the money to the man, but the man did not dare to accept it. He even became agitated. His throat made a loud noise, but no one could tell what he was trying to say.

“See, we can’t even communicate with him. He thinks we’re trying to harm him.” The guard sighed helplessly.

“It’s fine. I’ll just give them a tour around the park.” Chen Ge did not force it. He patted the man’s shoulder lightly to get him to follow him. “Most of the attractions will open at 9 pm, but before that, we can walk around the park first.”

“Xiao Chen, be careful. Since we’ve already accepted their money, they’re visitors. Do not let them enter your Haunted House!” The guard was really concerned about the man and his girl. Chen Ge might appear trustworthy at times, but those who really knew him understood how unreliable he could be.

“Don’t worry.” Chen Ge waved his hand, and the three entered the park. Inside the empty park, a small part of the employees were performing maintenance on the attractions. Other than the man and the girl, there were no other visitors on the road.

“Ferris wheel and the merry-go-round only open at 9 am, and before the opening, we have to inspect them first.”

“She, my daughter, wants play…” The man gestured. It was obvious that he did not understand Chen Ge’s meaning.

“Your daughter?” Chen Ge lowered his head to look at the little girl. She was very shy and hid behind the man. Walking next to the father and daughter, Chen Ge could see the old shirt that was hidden under their white-washed jackets. They were from a poor family.

“Where are you from? Did you come to New Century Park just to play? Are there any attractions that you have to go on? I grew up here, so I’m very familiar with this place.” Chen Ge talked slowly, and as he talked, he gestured with his hands. After a long time, the man finally understood his meaning.

“East… east…” The man repeated the same word twice before apparently cursing. “Damn.”

At the time, Chen Ge did not catch onto its significance.

“Is it Eastern Jiujiang?” Chen Ge was slowly leading them to his Haunted House. “Currently, only the Haunted House is open for business—this is my baby. If you want to enter it, I can accompany you.”

The special visitor that the black phone had detected seemed to be one of these two, but considering their physical condition, Chen Ge did not plan to have any ghost scares them. He just wanted to have them walk around the scenarios and see if he could trigger the mission on the special visitor.

The middle-aged man stood where he was like he was trying to decipher what Chen Ge had said. However, his daughter walked out from behind him like she was very interested in the Haunted House.

“Since I’m not yet officially open for business, I won’t take any ticket money.” Chen Ge touched the little girl’s head, and for some reason, he was reminded of Xiao Bu. Pulling back the curtains, Chen Ge led the pair into the Haunted House. “I have many scenarios here…”

Before he finished his introduction, the girl ran up to the steel door that led to the underground scenarios. She squatted down and kept her eyes glued to the door.

This girl, can she sense their presence?

The man waddled to catch up to his daughter. Chen Ge thought about it and decided to test them out further.

“Do you want to go down there to play?” Chen Ge thought that he sounded quite scary, but to his surprise, the girl raised her innocent face and then nodded seriously.

“This girl sure is unique.” Chen Ge used both hands to push the door open, and cold air rushed out.

“Don’t wander off, and stay behind me.” To take care of this pair, Chen Ge even turned on all the lights in the corridor.

Entering the underground was like entering a different world. The middle-aged man was unsettled, and he gripped the girl’s hand tightly while sticking close to Chen Ge.

The girl’s reaction, however, was different. Her clear eyes were filled with open curiosity.