My House of Horrors

The boss was plotting against Chen Ge, but who was to say that Chen Ge was not plotting against the boss as well? Three of the four had fallen for the trap. With the number’s advantage, the boss thought that they could make their move. He had no idea that for the group that he had received that night, ninety-nine percent of their combat ability came from Chen Ge alone.

Chen Ge did not act rashly when he first entered the hotel because he was cautious of the trump cards the boss might have, like the gun of a police officer and the Red Specter inside the fridge. Now, both parties believed that they had the upper hand, so their faces were all smiles.

The man might have the gun hidden away, and since there is a limited number of bullets, he might not employ it unless it is an emergency. Therefore, I need to apprehend them as soon as possible. I need to break their hands before they can do anything—that is the only way I can stop them from using the gun.

The way Chen Ge dealt with a problem was very straightforward. To prevent an accident from happening, he often resolved an issue by dealing with the source.

“Stop resisting us. We come in peace. We just want all of you to play a little game with us.” The boss thought that he had the power to make the shots so the expression on his face was very relaxed. “I believe that you have already noticed the problem with the chair. The venom on it would slowly make you lose your immunity and mobility. You’ll eventually die under the ravages of extreme pain.”

The boss took out a glass of clear water from his pocket. There were blood vessels moving inside it. “I only have one antidote with me. Of the four of you, only one will survive.”

“Your threat is hollow toward me because I am not infected by the venom.” Chen Ge pulled open the zipper of the backpack and reached his hand into it.

“Very soon, you’ll end up like them. I advise you don’t resist anymore. It is meaningless and pointless. This is to save you from losing an arm or a leg, and that might give you an unfair disadvantage in the upcoming game.” The folds of fat on the boss’ face were jiggling violently from excitement. He seemed to enjoy having living humans turn on each other. That feeling of taking all the beauty in the world, slamming it on the ground, and stomping on it gave him an improbable rush.

“Game? What kind of game do you wish to play?” Chen Ge was interested when the term ‘game’ mentioned. His Haunted House needed more means of entertainment. A normal game did not match the atmosphere inside the Haunted House, but games that were designed by mad people? That would be perfect.

An eerie Haunted House coupled with murderers’ favorite game, the visitors’ scream was already reverberating in Chen Ge’s mind.

“There are many games like cutting the cake, fighting for the chairs, and hide-and-seek.” The fat boss thought that he had a firm grip over the situation, so he patiently explained the games to Chen Ge.

Cruel game rules and a gaming experience meant to elicit the maximum screams from its participants. Just hearing the description made Chen Ge feel uncomfortable. “If I copy the rules fully, the visitors might send themselves to the hospital, but the basic rules of some of these games are not bad.”

“Visitors? What are you talking about?” The fat boss and the chef were only several meters away from Chen Ge.

“Oh, my apologies. I am used to having many of my friends with me, so I cultivated the habit of talking out loud.” Chen Ge did not explain too much to the boss about the relationship between having too many friends and talking out loud. He had drained the fat boss of his value, and Chen Ge was planning to remove his disguise as well.

“You’re bullying me two against one, and both of you are armed with sharp weapons. Even though I’m on the weaker side, I’m not going to go down so easily.” Chen Ge gritted his teeth and snarled dangerously.

“Actually, compared to using venom, we prefer to deal with fresh kills. The more you struggle, the more exhilarating it’ll be for us!” The fat boss could not stop laughing. His whole body was shaking, turning him into a quivering meat mountain.

“The more the victims struggle, the more exhilarating it’ll be for you?” Chen Ge waited from the fat boss to walk toward him before revealing his smile. “Then it’s perfect because you’ll be in for much exhilaration tonight!”

Tossing the backpack away, Chen Ge gripped the handle that was shaped like a human spine. He raised the hammer high and swung it heavily on the fat boss’ chess.

Bang!

Chen Ge confirmed that the fat boss was a living person because the blood that he spat out was still warm. “Well, is that exhilarating enough for you‽”

Considering that the meat on his body might soften the blood, Chen Ge raised the hammer again and hit with the maximum strength that he could summon. The fat boss’ large body was unable to suffer the blow and crumbled to the ground. Without taking a break, before the chef at the back could respond, Chen Ge rushed forward to break the fat boss’ arms and one of his legs.

Even though he had the upper hand, Chen Ge would not let his guard down. He was not sure if the fat boss was carrying any gun on him, so he opted for the safest method. Now that he had lost both of his arms, even if he was armed with a pistol, the boss would have much difficulty operating one.

Cruel, cunning, cautious, and determined—that was the impression that Chen Ge had left on the chef. He was still considering the type of menu he could make with the few guests when he saw his boss being hit with the hammer until he spat out blood!

Just how shameless and cunning did one have to be in order to hide such a large iron hammer inside the backpack and carry it by one’s side‽

The chef’s eyes skipped with uncertainty. The cleaver that he held in his hand looked like a child’s toy in comparison to the iron hammer. He was combing his mind to come up with a solution. While he raised his head, he accidentally caught Chen Ge’s eyes.

The scary and cruel gaze caused him to shiver. Just as he thought that Chen Ge was about to tell him something, Chen Ge raised the hammer and lunged toward him. The man did not waste any time with words, and he was careful enough to not allow the chef to catch him off-guard.

Everything moved too fast. Before his brain could come up with a solution, the pain was already parsing though all of his body. The cleaver in his hand clattered to the ground. The chef looked as his arms weakened and his fingers released. It was an out of body experience.

“I…” The chef wanted to say something, but Chen Ge was not going to give him the chance. He was too careful to allow something like that. Before he gained control of the entire situation, he would not waste time with words and allow his opponents to disturb him with their words as well. With another few whacks from the hammer, even the chef collapsed to the ground.

“Alright, now is the time for you to speak. Tell me, where is the antidote that can help them recover their mobility?” Chen Ge first grabbed the antidote away from the fat boss’ grasp. Staring at the blood vessels wiggling inside the glass, he was reminded of the battle that he had a long time ago at Coffin Village with the ghost stories society. At the time, Wu Fei had been holding a bottle of blood vessels similar to this one.

“I…”

The chef was about to say something when the fat boss yelled loudly over him, “Don’t be tricked by him!”

“I haven’t even given you any promises, and other than that, I’m not one to go back on my word.” Chen Ge squatted down before the fat boss and started to search his body. The chef held his words in, causing his face to go red, but in the end, he still did not say a worthwhile word.

“If I were you, I definitely would not give this glass of medicine to them.” Even though the boss’ arms were incapacitated, a piece of his sternum was caved in, and blood kept pouring out from his mouth, his attitude was forceful and tough.

“Why?” Chen Ge knew about the fat boss’ trump card. He was probably waiting for the old man to use the teeth to summon the Red Specter.

“Can you really trust the words of your enemy? Actually, this is a glass of venom as well. I wish to enjoy your most despairing emotions; I would have the four of you kill each other and rewarded the final victory with this antidote that is actually a bottle of venom. Then, I’ll enjoy the gloom of despair falling over his face as he slowly perishes from this world.” The fat boss’ mad raving was loud and booming. His eyes kept flitting to the door of Room 1.

“This is such a coincidence because I too enjoy the look of despair on people’s faces.” Chen Ge reached his hand into his pocket to pull out a piece of black cloth. He opened it before the boss’ eyes, and inside the cloth sat many smooth teeth. “You keep glancing at the room, is it because it is the place where these things are hidden?”

The fat boss instantly went quiet. He tried to cover up the shock that was travelling through his body, but he was betrayed by his facial expression.

“Tell me, where is the antidote?” Chen Ge swung the hammer around. “My patience is limited.”

Both the boss and the chef were silent. After one minute, the boss opened his lips slowly to say, “I can tell you where the real antidote is, but you have to promise to let both of us go. Take your friends and leave this place after you obtain the antidotes.”

“No problem. Honestly, I have no interest in either of you at all.” Chen Ge was telling the truth. All he was doing was for the sake of the Red Specter inside the hotel.

“The antidotes are kept at a very secure location; I’ll bring you to them myself.” The boss’ face was filled with regret and sadness. He did appear like a man who had surrendered. “Mind giving me a hand?”

Chen Ge had shattered both of his arms and one of his legs, he could only hop now.

“Don’t play tricks on me. Tell me the place first, and I’ll consider whether to bring you there or not.” Chen Ge searched the chef and discovered that he was carrying another bottle of the antidote. Perhaps these two bottles were prepared for themselves.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. They’re in the drawer of the third room after you turn left on the stairs leading to the second floor.” The fat boss cooperated fully. The chef next to him had a flat expression like he was purposely making that face to prevent Chen Ge from getting any information from him.

“They’re on the second floor?” Chen Ge thought back to Xiao Bu’s game, and he did not think that he had even ventured up to the second floor. To prevent any unsightly accident, Chen Ge incapacitated the chef before helping the boss get to the second floor. The room that the boss described was actually his own room. The room was decorated with many old pictures, but strangely enough, all the pictures were of the boss and a woman.

“Is that your mother?”

“Yes, I have a bad relationship with my father, so I only keep pictures I have with my mother.” A happy smile appeared on the fat boss’ face. “My mother is very pretty, the prettiest person I know. Perhaps if there’s a chance, I can take you to meet her.”

That sentence would have sounded perfectly normal if said by a friend, but Chen Ge was not close enough to the boss to be invited to meet his mother. Plus, Chen Ge could not tell whether the boss was telling the truth or not—the woman in the pictures might not even be his mother.

“The antidotes are in here.” The boss had Chen Ge open the drawer. Inside were three sealed glass tubes and there were gray sediments inside them.

“You sure?” Chen Ge put all the sealed tubes inside his backpack and carried the fat boss back to the first-floor lobby. He walked to the dining table and placed the three sealed tubes on the table. “Can you still understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes, my mind is working perfectly fine. I simply cannot control my body.” The drunkard had just witnessed Chen Ge take down two enemies on his own, so his attitude became much friendlier.

“These three tubes were taken out from the boss’ room. He said that they are the antidotes, but I don’t think things are that simple.” Chen Ge then took out the two bottles that he had found on the staff and placed them on the table. “We cannot skip over the fact that the boss might be lying, and these two could be the real antidotes. Unfortunately, the boss only has three bottles of them. I am unable to find any extra. If we use one as an experiment, we won’t have enough antidote for everyone.”

Then, Chen Ge ran to pick up the white cat, which was looking at the scene, hiding in a far corner. He held the cat’s little head in his arms. “You’ve consumed similar blood vessels in Coffin Village. I’ll open these two different ‘antidotes’ in a bit, and I’ll need your help to identify the correct antidote.”

Chen Ge had no idea whether the white cat understood him or not. He first opened one of the tubes that contained the gray sediments and placed it before the white cat. A faded stench wafted out from inside the tube, and the white cat struggled to escape. Closing the cap, Chen Ge put it away and grabbed the glass with the blood vessel.

Just as he opened the lid, the white cat seemed to smell something. Its ears perked up, and the dual-colored pupils stared at the glass in Chen Ge’s hand. When Chen Ge fully opened the glass, a wail escaped from the glass, and the blood vessels inside started moving like they were trying to wiggle their way out. The white cat’s eyes became blood red like something inside its blood was being activated. It tried to leap at Chen Ge’s hand.

Chen Ge quickly screwed the glass shut, and then the cat finally calmed down.

“These blood vessels are able to attract the white cat’s attention, so they’re definitely abnormal. They might be similar to the stuff the ghost stories society’ member retrieved from behind the door.” Chen Ge screwed the lid tight and placed all the containers together. “My cat had an extreme reaction to the bottles with the blood. Personally speaking, I think the ones with the blood are the real antidote, and the boss was lying to us.”

Chen Ge voiced his thoughts, and the three passengers each had a different reaction, which he saw them clearly. “The choice is in your hands. I will not intervene, but I hope you’ll consider it carefully before you make your choice.”

“I believe you.” The first to make the choice was Scissors. He used the last remnant of his strength to grab the glass filled with blood.

“The brighter the color, the more unsecure it is. That has always been the rule in the natural world. I’ve studied pharmacy and medicine before, and there is no way I am able to convince myself to consume blood that appears to be alive.” After some hesitation, the doctor finally pulled one of the tubes with the gray sediment to his side.

Two passengers had made the choice, so the drunkard was the only one remaining. He had full trust in the doctor and Chen Ge, but at that moment, their opinions split, and he did not know how to decide.

Psychologically speaking, he was more leaning toward the gray tube, but he felt like the boss might be playing some reverse psychology trick, purposely making the antidote look like venom.

Three minutes passed in his contemplation. The sound of the knocking at the entrance grew. With the threat of the door being crashed through at any moment, the drunkard finally made his choice. He picked up the last remaining glass with the blood.

Now, who was going to try it first? That was another test human nature. After all, the first tester was putting their life on the line for the experiment.

“I guess I’ll be the first tester.” Scissors struggled to sit up. “Can you help me open the lid?”

“Sure.” When Chen Ge walked to the man’s side, Scissors took the chance to whisper to Chen Ge. “My phone is my left pocket of my pants. All the information about my big brother is inside it. If I’ve made the wrong choice, I hope when you come across him, you’ll be able to lend him a hand. Of course, that is if you happen to come across him. I don’t need you to purposely go looking for him.”

“I promise.” Chen Ge’s admiration for Scissors grew. A truly courageous person was not one who said that they were not afraid of anything but one who had the courage to make a decision that they would not regret even though they might be shaking like a leaf inside.

“Thank you.” Scissors raised the glass to his lips and tipped it back. The blood in the glass appeared to actively slither into his throat following the echoes of someone’s faraway cries.