My House of Horrors

Blood leaked out from the windowpane, contaminating the painting on the wall, making it look more sinister than before.

“Even if I am facing death, I am not going to deprive you of your freedom. Furthermore, I’ve been supposedly living without a shadow for so many years already, but haven’t I been surviving just fine? There is a solution to every problem, and I’m sure that there are other ways to resolve this issue.”

Chen Ge was an optimistic person. Even though he was not particularly handsome, there was something about him that attracted other people’s attention, giving those close to him some semblance of hope.

The expression on Xiao Bu’s face did not change. The blood on the wall repeated that question again and again like she was trying to make sure that Chen Ge had thought this through. For those who had been repeatedly injured, they would rather suffer more pain than choose to put their faith in other people. This was because they realized that the feeling when one realized that one’s trust had been misplaced was far greater than the pain of knife cutting through one’s body.

“Let’s talk about that later. You have met my parents; did they tell you anything? Like what they planned to do next, the place that they might have been going to?”

At the very beginning, Chen Ge had invested everything that he had into the Haunted House because he wanted to keep the only thing that his parents had left him around. He wanted to protect it with everything he had. Searching for his parents had become his goal, so now that a lead was sitting before his eyes, he was going to grab onto it tightly.

Xiao Bu seemed to know that Chen Ge would ask such questions. More blood leaked out from the window, and another bloody sentence appeared on the wall. “They did not tell me directly where they were going, but they did mention Xin Hai Central Hospital during their conversation.”

“The cursed hospital? One of the two four-star missions that was given by the black phone.” Chen Ge leaned against the wall and fell into deep thought. “The shadow is related to the ghost fetus, and my parent’s disappearance is related to Xin Hai Central Hospital. Both of these are four-star scenarios… I do not have any real need to tackle them yet. Other than that, the four-star scenario at Western Jiujiang—School of the Afterlife—is going to expire soon. After leaving Li Wan City, I should attempt that first.”

For the Trial Mission in the black phone, the rise of one-star meant a momentous increase to the mission’s difficulty. Honestly, Chen Ge did not have full confidence he was ready to tackle a four-star mission.

“Never mind, it’s not the time to deal with these things yet. I should focus on the issue at hand first.” Chen Ge moved toward Xiao Bu. He was already very close to the girl, but Xiao Bu showed no sign of evasion or even annoyance. This caused Fan Chong, who was watching from the side, to sweat profusely. After all, that was an actual Red Specter.

“Did my parent leave any information with you about the shadow? Something like his weakness or something similar?” Chen Ge wished to get more information from Xiao Bu, but Xiao Bu’s reaction gave him more disappointment. The blood on the wall started to move again before changing to form that fateful sentence. “One without shadow is not long for this world.”

The child should know more than what she is saying. I wonder why she refuses to come clean with me. Chen Ge stood up. Fan Chong had been baffled when he heard Chen Ge call Xiao Bu, but after he gave it some thought, it was true that the Red Specter was indeed just a young girl.

“What should we do now?” Chen Ge turned to look at Fan Chong. The latter had a helpless smile on his face.

“Don’t ask me. The question that you posed me earlier is one that I normally direct at you.”

Fan Chong had already told Chen Ge everything about the game; now he needed Chen Ge to make the decision.

“Those human stains are a big obstacle. Compared to Specters, they are more like evil intention that is purposely cultivated by someone. They are made from pure evil intention, and there is nothing human about them anymore.” These things had no value to them at all. Specters might be affected should they came into contact with the stains, so Chen Ge had been unwilling to have his employees take this risk.

“A Specter can consume and digest them. The stronger the Specter, the more curses they can consume without even being affected. If that is your concern, I can help you open the way.” The blood on the wall moved to form this sentence. Xiao Bu came up with the solution to deal with the human stains. “A small number of curses can be suppressed. Only a large number of curses will affect the Specter negatively.”

“You call them curses?” For some reason, Chen Ge was reminded of the four-star scenario given by the black phone—The Cursed Hospital.

“The thought that remains after death can transform into many different things—lingering spirits, curses, the supernatural, and so on. These stains are curses, built purely from bad luck and evil intention.”

“What will happen if a Specter consumes too many curses and assimilates with the curse?” Chen Ge asked.

“They will become a new curse. The stronger the Specter, the more sinister the curse that they will transform into.” The blood on the wall kept changing. Xiao Bu had not spoken a word, and she maintained this method to communicate with Chen Ge.

“Can something like a curse be controlled? Based on what you said, these curses will ruin everything in their sight. They cannot be manipulated at all, but somehow, the shadow has managed to do exactly that. How did he do it?”

“I have no idea. Perhaps the shadow has his own method, or perhaps the shadow itself is a curse.” The bloody words on the wall left Chen Ge with another shock.

“The shadow itself might be a curse?” The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more likely it became. His parents would not have lost his shadow for no reason. He had probably been cursed when he was young, and then his parent somehow channeled that curse into his shadow. However, he did not share his speculation with others—he kept them to himself.

“If the shadow itself is a curse, then it should be clear why he chose Li Wan City as his lair. He wants to make use of the deep curse and resentment buried underneath this small town.” The curse was the shadow’s trump card, and it was the problem that blocked Chen Ge’s way.

“You don’t need to be overly worried about this. Even the curse is unable to control itself, so the control that the shadow had over it is more likely some kind of trigger. It could not manipulate the curse to its heart desire. I told you earlier, the curse is made from pure evil. They will attack everything in sight until everything is turned into a curse. There are many strange and weird things in Li Wan City. They should be able to help us distract part of the aggression. So, we only need to depart from Li Wan City before everything is turned into the curse.”

Chen Ge looked at the bloody words on the wall, and the emotions in his eyes softened. Since Xiao Bu was willing to communicate so openly with him, it meant that their relationship was getting closer.

“Alright, we should leave this place first. We’ll decide what to do once we assess what’s happening outside.”

Inside the room, Fan Chong studied Chen Ge and Xiao Bu, and the fat on his body kept shaking.

He knew that Chen Ge was an ally, but he could not shake the fear from his heart. The sight that he was seeing was too peculiar. A man holding a murder weapon standing next to a Red Specter without her limbs. The Specter did not speak a word, and the man kept reading the changing bloody words on the wall with kindness and gentleness in his eyes.

“How did I get into this mess? I just want to go home…”

With Chen Ge leading the way, the group arrived at the elevator. “There are so many rooms here. Are we sure we haven’t missed anything?”

Looking at the closed doors, Chen Ge asked with a smile on his face, “Xiao Bu, you have stayed here for so long. Did you make any friend with the neighbors? We can bring them with us.”

Xiao Bu shook her head—she still needed time getting used to Chen Ge’s overt kindness. Chen Ge pressed the button to summon the elevator. Once the door opened, Fan Chong’s hands went to close his nose and lips. The interior of the elevator was filled with blood and knife marks, and the group from before had completely disappeared.

“It’s fine, you’ll get used to it.” Chen Ge had no idea why he would say that to console Fan Chong. The few entered the elevator. They slowly reached the surface, but the strange sounds from the surface had already disappeared. Returning to the first floor, as the elevator doors opened, Chen Ge armed himself with the hammer. The lobby was eerily quiet. There were no screams or cries for help. Strangely enough, there was no blood pool or dead bodies either.

“Where are all the people?” Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to look around. The blood fog had gotten even thinner than before. Occasionally, he caught glimpses of shadows wandering the streets, and they were all moving in the same direction.

“Something is attracting these human stains.”

“All the curses are moving toward the door.” Xiao Bu still had not said a word. She raised her arm, and the words coagulated literally from the fog in the air. As the door-pusher, she was the real owner of the blood fog, but that had been forcibly taken away by the shadow.

“How much fog can you take back from the shadow?” A plan started to form in Chen Ge’s mind.

“About half. My limbs and head are hidden by the shadow outside of Li Wan City. It is outside of the territory that I can influence. Furthermore, the shadow is in possession of my heart, and he wishes to use that heart to control the door.” Every single word was pulsing with Xiao Bu’s pain. The readers, Chen Ge and Fan Chong, felt their hearts wrench from knowing her story.

“No wonder the shadow built the ghost apartment outside of Li Wan City. Li Wan City is used to collect despair and negative emotions while Ming Yang Residence is used to suppress Xiao Bu, to get Xiao Bu to follow his orders. He sure has ironed out the details.” Chen Ge told Xiao Bu to stop controlling the blood fog for now so that they would not attract the shadow’s attention. “A few of my friends have left Li Wan City to go in search of the ghost apartment. I believe that they will return with your limbs and head in no time. After that, you should surprise the shadow with your return, and we’ll work together to vanquish the shadow.”

Chen Ge’s plan was probable, but Xiao Bu did not appear to be that optimistic. “You are unable to kill him.”

“Why?” Chen Ge pressed to find out the reason, but Xiao Bu did not answer. No matter what Chen Ge asked after that, Xiao Bu stopped answering him. The few walked down the streets of Li Wan City. Xiao Bu was very familiar with the layout of Li Wan City; this was the door that she had pushed open, so theoretically speaking, the world behind the door was formulated from her memory.

With Xiao Bu’s aid, Chen Ge and Fan Chong avoided all the dangerous pitfalls and arrived at Fan Chong’s residential area. About eighty percent of the small town’s blood fog was gathered there, and the scary thing was that the curses that had gathered for who knew how long at Li Wan City was present inside the blood fog as well.

They morphed into black threads to entangle around a figure who was standing in the middle of the blood fog. The black threads chained said figure to the ground, refusing to let him to take another step.

“Xiao Bu, how many curses can a Red Specter support?” Chen Ge was afraid that Xiao Bu was not going to answer, so he added, “The man who is fighting the shadow now can be said to be the scariest presence among Red Specters. He once shouldered all the negative emotions behind the door on his own. Could a presence like that resist the accumulative curses gathered in Li Wan City?”

Xiao Bu shook her head. “No, but he should be able to resist the curses for an extended period of time.”

“Understood.” Chen Ge waved for Fan Chong to follow him. “Then, we’ll let them fight it out for now.”

“We’re only going to hide and watch from the sidelines?” Fan Chong was confused. “They are stuck in a stalemate. This should be perfect opportunity for us. Be it to escape or to launch an ambush, we should be doing something!”

Chen Ge came with promises of killing the shadow, but once they arrived at the scene, Chen Ge looked around and suggested that they find a place to hide. That did not feel right.

“We’ll make our move after they have finished the fight. These two have access to too many secrets. We mustn’t let our guard down. Furthermore, the longer they drag this out, the better it will be for us. Once we find the missing pieces of the door, we’ll have the upper hand. We’ll strike then.” Chen Ge looked at the blood fog that had gathered there. “Neither of them can be called an ally. Therefore, the only victory solution is to defeat both of them.”

“You plan to vanquish both of them at the same time?” Fan Chong held his heart. He did not dare to ask anymore question; things were fast getting out of his understanding.

“The shadow is able to contest Doctor Gao’s power by using the blood fog and the curses buried in Li Wan City. If he does not possess any other trump cards, he should be the first to fall.” Chen Ge understood that the curse needed some time to work its evil magic, and in that opening, Doctor Gao should be able to take down the shadow.

“The shadow? Doctor Gao? Sounds like you’re familiar with both of them.” Fan Chong did not expect Chen Ge to answer, and he kept his voice to a low whisper. The flyer for the ghost story society was on Xu Yin, but Doctor Gao probably felt the flyer’s approach, and he became more violent. In the blood red ocean, the chains continued to lash out, creating consecutive echoes of metal clangs.

“How did Doctor Gao become so strong? What did he experience behind the door? Has he consumed many Red Specters?” Chen Ge could not get it. When he was at Coffin Village, the ghost inside the well had also grown tremendously strong after she entered the door, but she was different from Doctor Gao. All she wanted was to be reborn as a human, so she did not focus completely on getting stronger.

While he was focusing on resolving that mystery, Chen Ge’s own phone suddenly vibrated. He quickly took it out to see. It was an unread message. “It’s from Tong Tong. Have they succeeded?”

However, after reading the message, all Chen Ge could do was frown. There was only a short message. “So many children! Quick, come!”

“Looks like something has happened over there.” Chen Ge put the phone away. Without wasting any time, he called after Fan Chong and Xiao Bu. They ran toward the outskirts of Li Wan City.

Just as Chen Ge made that decision, the blood sea behind them suddenly exploded. A shadow that looked suspiciously like Chen Ge slithered away, rushing toward the ghost apartment at the fringe Li Wan City.

The blood fog dispersed, and the voice that seemed to come from hell itself echoed in everyone’s ears. “Chen Ge…”

The white doctor’s coat was completely dyed red, and the red was even brighter than blood.

Heavy, thick black chains curled around the white coat. The man’s lower body was dissolving into blackish-red blood. He was heavily injured, but he did not seem to register the pain.

Slowly looking up, his eyes that had once been filled with brilliance were now completely red. Chen Ge and the shadow were both reflected in his pupils.

“Chen Ge…”

Doctor Gao!

Picking up speed, Chen Ge rushed down the distance. “It looks like he has lost his mind, but how did he manage to remember in his condition? Is it because I’ve left too deep an impression on him?”

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