My House of Horrors

After the bus charged into the blood fog, the sound of heels disappeared, and the expression on the smiling man’s face froze. Things had gotten so out of control that even the ghosts had no idea how this would end.

The rain slid down from the bus windows. When the fog touched the bus, it would transmute into tiny blood vessels attaching themselves to the exterior of the vehicle. From the outside, it looked like the old bus had been given a new paintjob. Turning back to look, the road from whence they came had already been swallowed up by the blood fog. They would not be able to return even if they wanted to now.

This place is still different from the actual world behind the door. In the fog, the buildings haven’t been completely dyed red. If I’m not mistaken, the process that is happening here is not completed yet.

As the man who had caused this to happen, Chen Ge was the calmest. His fingers dangled outside his pocket, and when the bus charged into the blood fog, the black phone vibrated several times.

The situation could change at any minute, so he did not plan to take out the phone to look yet. He decided to wait until he reached a safe location first. Based on Chen Ge’s previous direction, Tang Jun headed toward Fan Chong’s home. However, as the blood clotted around the vehicle, the bus started to slow down. Even if Tang Jun slammed on the pedal, the speed did not pick up.

“What is happening?” All the passengers in the car demanded an explanation, and the pressure on Tang Jun grew. He had followed Chen Ge’s order, but now, the collective anger of all the passengers was directed at him. Gripping the steering wheel, Tang Jun was really afraid that Chen Ge might abandon him.

As a spirit who only knew how to drive a bus, it was really not worth it to make enemy out of the smiling man and the red high heels. The car slowing down was not good news for Tang Jun. He failed to complete the mission that his boss had given him, and now he had to suffer the wrath of the passengers—he had offended people on both ends.

He did not know about Chen Ge’s plan and had never thought about asking for it. It would be lying to say that he did not feel any regret.

“Where do you plan to take us?” the middle-aged man demanded with an outraged face. He struggled loose from Chen Ge’s grasp and went to step on the brake again. This time, Chen Ge did not stop him. The bus was already running slowly, so Chen Ge did not see the point of stopping the middle-aged man.

“Stop the f*cking bus!” The middle-aged man stepped on the brake and started to fight for control of the steering wheel. Out of his instinct as a bus driver, Tang Jun attempted to push the man away. The wheel spun in the tussle, and the hearse veered from the road, careering toward the rails by the roadside.

“Be careful!” Chen Ge screamed and moved forward to push the middle-aged man away, replacing him. When he was in the blind spot of all the passengers, he signaled for Tang Jun to open the door and leave immediately. Tang Jun grasped Chen Ge’s signal and decided to trust Chen Ge one last time. After Chen Ge got hold of the steering wheel, he gritted his teeth, shoved the driver’s door open, and jumped out.

“Hey, where are you going‽” Chen Ge’s scream was the loudest. He slammed on the brake, and before the car stopped properly, he grabbed his backpack and jumped out, following the driver.

“Stop right there!” he yelled at the top of his lungs as he gave chase.

“Stop running after him! Quick come back!” The doctor knew about the danger lurking in the blood fog. He wanted to stop Chen Ge, but he failed. After turning the corner, even though Chen Ge was screaming for Tang Jun to stop, he yanked open the backpack and pulled Tang Jun back into the comic.

“Stop chasing the man!” The doctor’s voice echoed from behind him. Chen Ge jogged backward to the bus.

“Where’s the driver?” The middle-aged man’s expression couldn’t have been uglier.

“I failed to catch up to him. This was probably premeditated. After all, he’d even figured out his escape route already.” Chen Ge had just finished when the middle-aged man barreled forward to grab Chen Ge by his collar. “This is all your fault! If you didn’t stop me earlier, we wouldn’t have ended up in this godforsaken place!”

“You’re blaming me? Do you know how fast the bus was travelling earlier. During the physical altercation, if both you and the driver had lost control of the bus and it knocked into the nearby building, do you know how dangerous that would have been?” Chen Ge had a point as well.

“Damn, damn, damn!” The middle-aged man slammed his fist against the bus. He gripped his hair so tightly like he was going to pull it out, and his expression was colored with despair. “To escape from these things, I’ve already sacrificed my daughter, and today, I even brought my son with me, so this is just perfect. Wonderful, it’s all f*cking over now!”

“Sacrificed your own daughter?” Chen Ge’s brow rose. He had encountered many bad guys before, but one like this middle-aged man… that was truly his first experience dealing with someone like that. The middle-aged man’s emotion was unraveling—he wanted to vent the anger in his heart, and the kind-looking Chen Ge became his sole target. A string of words that would have caused this author to be banned sprayed out from his lips.

Forming a great contrast to the middle-aged man was Chen Ge, who was respectful and polite. His eyes jumped over the man to look at the little boy who was frozen solid in fear. There were several bruises on the boy’s arm. He wanted to take a look at what was happening, but he did not have the courage to do so. He peeked up occasionally and quickly moved his head down whenever he noticed that someone was looking at him.

“How could you even do something like this to such a cute little boy?”

“This is for his own good. If we are unable to shake that thing loose, my whole family is going to die!” The more he spoke, the angrier he got. He grabbed Chen Ge’s collar again. “This is all your f*cking fault!”

“If you use other people’s despair to rescue yourself from your own despair, you’ll only end up gaining more despair. Only by resolving the problem from its roots will you be able to seek true salvation.” Chen Ge seized the man’s hands. “This is the second time you’ve grabbed my collar; I hope there won’t be a third time.”

“It’s pointless for us to argue among ourselves now. It’s much more productive for us to try to come up with a solution instead.” The doctor came out to act as the mediator, standing between the middle-aged man and Chen Ge. “There has to be someone who gave the driver the order to suddenly change his route and drive the bus into the blood fog. I’ve taken this bus many times in the past, and there has never been an accident. That driver is just a small lackey, so it is someone else who is out to get us.”

The doctor’s analysis was correct, but due to a lack of information, the direction of his analysis was wrong. “The last bus on Route 104 cut through Jiujiang, connecting its eastern and western sides. This is in service of the mastermind in Li Wan City, so it is probably the intention of said party that we’re stuck in this blood fog. There is probably something or someone he needs on this bus.”

“You’re right, that’s what I think as well. Even if the hearse had stopped at the bus stop, the mastermind would have just found another way to force us into the fog.” Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and stood next to the doctor.

“The mastermind in Li Wan City? You sure know a lot of things.” Seeing the doctor stand up for Chen Ge, the middle-aged man’s tone softened because he was outnumbered. “Then, tell me, what do you think this so-called mastermind is after?”

“He probably wants to deal with a certain someone who is standing here with us.” The doctor’s words caused Chen Ge’s heart to skip a beat, but when he turned around, he noticed that the doctor was actually staring at the smiling man.

“Every one of us carries our own secret, like the man next to you. He once massacred a whole bus of passengers, ruining the mastermind’s plan.” Since he was the reason they were dragged into this mess, the doctor thought it was pertinent to expose the smiling man.

Maintaining the creepy smile on his face, the smiling man’s neck extended, and his eyes that were crawling with black lines turned to focus on the doctor. “I’ve killed a whole bus of people, including the driver, leaving no survivors, so… how do you know about something like that?”