My House of Horrors

The sentence left on the gate was meant to sow chaos. Whether the sentence was telling the truth or not, the sentence would plant the seed of suspicion inside their hearts, slowly breaking up their temporary union from within.

“This does appear like what the shadow would do, so he probably really did leave this behind.” Jia Ming nudged Lee Zheng’s shoulder. “He likes to hide the truth in the lie and the lie in the truth—the shadow is very good at psychological tricks like that. It’s not dissimilar to people who tell you what they’ll play during rock-paper-scissors. The shadow has a penchant for psychological warfare. He has possessed innumerable people, seen the darkness inside many people’s hearts, and lived through endless lives; he is a psychological master that no one can surpass.”

“Then do you think that the shadow is currently among us or not?” Lee Zheng gripped his gun tightly. In this unknown environment, only the gun could bring him some semblance of security.

“Based on my understanding of the shadow, he probably has already assumed the identity of one of us.” Jia Ming slowed down his words. “Anyone here could be him, including you and me. And I can tell you in assured tone that the one that he assumed will be the person that you suspect the least.”

“The person that I suspect the least?” Lee Zheng looked around the group before his eyes landed on Chen Ge. Of everyone there, he knew Chen Ge the best, and he had confirmed that Chen Ge would never be the shadow.

“When you think it is him, it will never be him; but when you think it is not him, then he will take you down when you least expect it. He will never give you a chance to resist,” Jia Ming said darkly.

“You’ve said so much, but it all amounted to nothing. How come it feels like you’re merely purposely trying to confuse me?” Lee Zheng furrowed his brows. “You’re just trying to clear the suspicion away from yourself, aren’t you? To prove your innocence, you decided to drag everyone else into the mess.”

“I’ve told you many times, the shadow has already left my body. Why won’t you believe me? There is not a good person here. The two of us came from the outside world, so we are familiar with each other. Thus, in this situation, we should abandon our preconception and get to know each other again.” Jia Ming did not trust anyone other than Lee Zheng. He had been possessed by the shadow before and knew firsthand how scary the shadow could be.

“Let’s not forget you’re the reason I’m here. So, this could be your plan from the beginning, and you’re showing me these things on purpose. You want me to mistake Chen Ge as the shadow and then have me be your witness,” Lee Zheng replied coldly.

“I had no choice when I lured you here. If I did not follow the shadow’s instruction, I would not be alive, talking to you now. The shadow is much scarier than you can imagine and also much crueler. Those who are deemed useless to him are killed without hesitation. Do you know that? From his perspective, anything that cannot be used by him in this world could become his impediment, so killing them is the most suitable choice.”

“I still cannot trust you fully, unless you can help me find the shadow.” Lee Zheng lowered his voice. “The shadow lived inside your body for several years, so you are the one who understands the shadow the most. Who do you think he has taken the identity of now?”

“The biggest possibility is Chen Ge. Think about it, how can there be so many coincidences? We happened to come here, and we happened to run into him? He was trying so hard to prove his innocence earlier, and he had me lure you here to be his character witness. Things really cannot be clearer.” Jia Ming shrugged. “This Chen Ge is a fake one; he plans to turn the false Chen Ge into the real Chen Ge because, after killing the real Chen Ge, he’ll be the only one left, thus assuming the identity of the real Chen Ge.”

With the repeated persuasion from Jia Ming, Lee Zheng’s gaze started to change.

“Actually, you should have realized this sooner. Have you ever considered this questions—why would the shadow have the appearance of Chen Ge, and what is his purpose of doing all these things?” Jia Ming sighed in relief when he saw Lee Zheng’s conviction being shaken. “Of everyone here, we are the two who entered this place together, so we only have each other to trust. Other than yourself, anyone here can be the shadow.”

“I still cannot trust your words so blindly, but I will find a chance to test this guy.” Lee Zheng looked at Chen Ge, and his gaze was complicated.

“You can test him all you want, but I hope you’ll remember this. The shadow will transform into the person that we think is the least possible. He flits through the gaps in human hearts. We are no match for him, and the only way to survive is to not become his enemy.” Jia Ming knew about the relationship between Chen Ge and Lee Zheng. He was trying to persuade Lee Zheng when his eyes accidentally wandered to Lee Zheng’s shadow.

“The person you least expect…” Jia Ming’s eyes suddenly widened. He quickly turned his head around to pretend to look elsewhere to hide the panic in his heart.

“What’s wrong with you? What is it this time?” Lee Zheng pushed the barrel of the gun into Jia Ming’s back.

“It was nothing. I thought I saw something running through that building earlier.” When Jia Ming spoke, he did not turn his head around. His heart was quivering with emotions.

The more impossible you think it is, the more likely the shadow will be that person. I personally lured Lee Zheng here, and from my perspective, he is the only person that I can trust, but seeing this from another perspective, could it be that he has taken the bait on purpose? Use me as a meat shield to disguise himself? Actually, he is the real shadow, and I am the temporary pawn that can be abandoned at any moment. No one will believe the words of a criminal, especially when he is detained by a police officer.

The more Jia Ming thought about it, the more afraid he became. It felt as if cement had been poured into his neck, and it was unable to move. Now, he lacked the courage to even look at Lee Zheng—he was afraid that he might accidentally expose his weakness and ruin the shadow’s plan.

“Now is not the time to ramble among ourselves. Let’s go in. Even if the shadow is one of us, it won’t make too much of a difference.” Chen Ge disliked this kind of guessing game. If not the presence of familiar individuals, he would have used his most familiar method of elimination to find out the truth. Ignoring the sentence on the gate, Chen Ge was the first to step into the residential area.

“I know the door is on the first floor, but as for the actual room itself, we’ll need to search further.” The tattooed man followed behind Chen Ge. When he entered the area, the skulls on his arm all showed fearful expressions.

Chen Ge had been to Fan Chong’s home several times, but the layout of the buildings there was different from the one in his memory.

“This place seems to have retained its look from several years back.” Chen Ge looked at the surface of the buildings, which was corroded by the blood fog. He could make out a few unclear words. “Li Wan Hospital’s family apartments? This residential area once had this name, did it? Li Wan Hospital refers to that private hospital in the town, right?”

“That private hospital was built much later—the real Li Wan Hospital was taken down decades ago,” the tattooed man explained. “Li Wan City once had a hospital that specialized in the treatment of infectious diseases, but it was closed down for some mysterious reasons. Some of the more important labs have been moved to join Jiujiang People Hospital and a hospital in Xin Hai.”