My House of Horrors

“That was two days ago, wasn’t it, or was it yesterday?” Xiao Qing looked at the innocent-looking Chen Ge, who had his hands over his head, and he felt a headache coming. He did not know how to report this to the captain.

“Was that yesterday? It doesn’t matter, as you saw, I was investigating the culprit of the children kidnapping case.”

“That’s why you trespassed into a civilian’s home and broke all of the water pipes with your hammer? Mind telling me what the relationship between the two is?” Xiao Qing and the other officer relaxed after they saw Chen Ge. They knew that Chen Ge was not crazy. His way of thinking was certainly different from a normal person, but he was definitely on the side of justice.

“That will be very hard to explain. If Captain Yan is here, he should be able to understand it.” Chen Ge namedropped Captain Yan to use as a shield, and he quickly changed his tone to become weak and apologetic. “But destroying someone’s property is definitely bad. I will compensate everything at its original price.”

He flashed an apologetic smile at the middle-aged man, and that caused the latter to shiver. The man before him now and the man earlier were like two completely different people. The people present had no idea what Chen Ge was thinking.

Trading several hundred RMB for a water ghost? This is such a good deal!

After negotiating with the man, Chen Ge was led out of the building by the two officers.

“You said earlier that you were investigating the child kidnapping case. What’s that about?” Xiao Qing had made a big break in the previous case, but unfortunately, his captain had refused to allow him to follow the crime team and always set him up with the normal cases. The situation had really been grinding his gears.

“That’s right. There is a special ed. school near this area that had a missing child. After my investigation, I realized that there were other people at the school other than the students and teachers. I followed the trail, but it went cold at this building.” Chen Ge naturally would not tell the police about the water ghost. He came up with a believable story and pushed it onto the officers.

“Was the child found?”

“Yes, but the child suffers from a hereditary illness that causes her to be mentally different. Combined with the shock, you won’t get any answers even if you question her.” Chen Ge carried his backpack and walked between the two officers. “You seem to be very interested in this case.”

“Compared to the case, I’m more interested in you.” Xiao Qing asked for Chen Ge’s number. For some reason, he felt like, if he followed Chen Ge, there would be big cases to uncover.

After returning to the school, Chen Ge arrived to see the two teachers being carried away by the ambulance. They had been found inside the toilet cubicle. Their clothes were dripping wet, and their faces were frozen in fear like they had just lived their worst nightmare. The strangest thing was that the doctor discovered a large amount of water in their throats and lungs. No one knew what had happened to them after they fainted.

Wen Wen’s aunt was there as well, and the headmistress and the teacher were apologizing to her. A bad guy had sneaked into the school—the administration had to bear some responsibility.

“The female teacher and the girl’s aunt can prove that I’m a good person.” Chen Ge very naturally stood next to them and placed himself in the ranks of the victim. After asking around, the bespectacled teacher vouched for Chen Ge. She said that there were indeed other people at the school, and it was Chen Ge who broke the window to save her and Wen Wen. However, to everyone’s surprise, when the police wanted to take Wen Wen’s aunt’s statement, the woman was extremely uncooperative. She kept scratching her arm and the back of her hand like the minute pain was necessary to help her cope with fear, to help her calm down.

“What are you afraid of? The revenge from the culprit? We’re the police, and I can guarantee that we will eventually catch the culprit.” Xiao Qing had no idea what was happening. After he consoled the aunt, he walked toward Wen Wen.

The girl was not crying or making any trouble. She was silent, standing alone in the shadow of the wall. No matter who went to hug her, she would attack that person like an animal.

“Officers, thank you, but we don’t want to pursue this case anymore.” After a long time, Wen Wen’s aunt voluntarily gave up on the investigation. Her face was pale as she kept turning around to look into the school like there was a man-eating demon hiding in the shadows of the corridor.

“You are going to let the culprit that harmed the child escape just like that?” Xiao Qing could not understand the aunt’s logic. “If we don’t capture the criminal, he might harm other children in the future. This is not only about you anymore—please help us by cooperating with the investigation.”

“There’s no need. There’s really no need! Wen Wen, let’s go.” The aunt reached to grab the girl’s hand, but to everyone’s surprise, the girl reacted like a spooked feral cat and waved her hands wildly, scratching her aunt’s hands until they bled.

She refused to let anyone near her as she curled up in the shadows. Her cute face turned savage as her eyes darted about, and her chest rose unevenly. She was desperately in need of security.

“Wen Wen? I’m your auntie!” The woman wanted to try again but was stopped by the police.

“Is the child acting up? Do you have her medicine?” Xiao Qing felt that the case was not as simple as it seemed.

“The medicine is at home. I’ll take her home now!” Wen Wen’s aunt wanted to grab the girl by force, but naturally, the police would not allow that before getting to the bottom of the truth. Seeing as everyone was about to snap, Chen Ge removed his backpack. He walked around Xiao Qing and Wen Wen’s aunt as he took out a shampoo bottle.

“What are you doing?” This strange action attracted the attention of the teacher and the other officer.

Chen Ge ignored them and squatted down one meter away from the girl. He told the girl, “Your big sister is here. No one hurt her, and I know that she has her reasons for doing those things. She is as kind-hearted as you, and the two of you are the real victims here.”

Holding the bottle, Chen Ge slowly approached the girl. “You share the same body, so you should have some kind of special bond with her. Try to summon her, you should be able to get her to respond.”

The girl raised her hand in semi-disbelief and touched one end of the bottle. Chen Ge did not know whether the girl could sense her sister’s presence or not, but at least she had somewhat calmed down.

“No matter what happens, I will help you and stand by your side.” Chen Ge slowly picked the girl up from the ground. “Everything is okay now…”

Wen Wen slowly returned to normal. Her small hands grabbed the end of the bottle, and she buried her face into Chen Ge’s chest like she was afraid of seeing other people. When Chen Ge picked up Wen Wen, the black phone in his pocket vibrated.

Chen Ge took it out and clicked open the message.

“Different choices lead to different result. The special visitor has left, and you have made your choice. Congratulations for lowering the hostility of the Twin Water Ghost.

“Two-star trial mission Twin Water Ghost activated!

“Please arrive at Eastern Jiujiang Dam before midnight tonight!

“Mission requirement: Alone, you have to salvage the elder sister’s body!”