My House of Horrors

“My Haunted House in Jiujiang is quite reputable—search for it online if you don’t believe me. It is the best place to work if you’re in the theme park business. When we return, I’ll give you the necessary training, and I hope that you’ll eventually fall in love with this career.”

After the ghost employees, Chen Ge also gained three living employees. Unlike Xiao Gu and Xu Wan, these three knew about what had happened in Li Wan City, so their way of thinking was different from normal, and Chen Ge would not worry about letting them help him handle the underground scenario.

“This world is not as simple as it looks. The reason I did not want the rest of you to help me earlier is because my Haunted House is a resting place for some homeless spirits, so…”

“We understand!” The few understood Chen Ge’s concern. After witnessing the strange phenomenon at Li Wan City, they could understand Chen Ge’s issue fully.

“That would be perfect.” Chen Ge decided to arrange them to oversee the underground scenarios and deal with emergencies. As the Haunted House continued to expand, the underground scenario would only get bigger, and so would the number of visitors that they would receive. Chen Ge could not handle all that alone.

“After the sun rises, you should rest for a while and go report your safety to your family,” Chen Ge said that and turned to look at Scissors and the doctor. “One of you came to find your elder brother, and the other came to find your wife. Afterward, I’ll lead you on a search around Li Wan City. Hopefully, we can find them.”

Hearing that Chen Ge wanted to help them find their family, Scissors nodded heavily in appreciation, and even the doctor’s expression softened in that moment like a huge boulder had been eased from his heart. “Thank you.”

“It’s what I should do.” Scissors and the doctor did not have any family left, but it was different for the drunkard. It was a pure accident that he had gotten the last bus on Route 104. From a certain perspective, he was no different from a normal individual.

“My house is in Xin Hai City. After the curse on me is somewhat under control, I wish to go home.” The drunkard scratched his head. “I might not look like it, but I come from quite a wealthy family. However, after my mother passed away, the relationship between me and my father has turned a bit icy, so I’ve been living alone in Jiujiang all these years. After what happened tonight, I think I’ve understood something. Life is too strong for regret; I think I want to go home to have a chat with my father.”

“Wait, you’re a rich young master?” Scissors and Chen Ge really did not expect such a background from the drunkard.

“Don’t you think it’s quite rude to call people that right before their face?” The drunkard held his forehead—he could already see how interesting his future would be. “We should start this over. My name is Zhang Jingjiu. As you can see, I’m not that good with liquor, but for some reason, my clients like to call me Wine Bibber. I dabbled in real estate and white wine sales.”

“I do have a name given to me by the orphanage, but I do not like it that much, so you should just call me Scissors.” Both Scissors and drunkard made simple introductions. When it was the doctor’s turn, he shook his head like he had something that he was not yet ready to share. Chen Ge did not dwell on this for too long. They followed Xiao Bu back to Li Wan City to meet up with Fan Chong.

“Boss Chen!” Fan Chong was overjoyed when he saw Chen Ge, but underneath that happiness was a worry, he had no idea what had happened to his brother, Fan Dade.

“Your brother will be fine, I’m sure of it.” After consoling Fan Chong, Chen Ge led his employees around Li Wan City. With the ostensible reason of helping Scissors and the doctor find their families, Chen Ge searched the entire small town. He did not find anything left behind by the ghost stories society. The Specters that lived in the buildings had all escaped silently after the shadow left.

After a long search, neither Scissors nor the doctor’s relatives were found, and they appeared rather low-spirited.

“Since the shadow has been dealt with, we’ll keep returning to this place. Eventually, we’ll run into them.” Chen Ge did not know whether it was right for him to say that or not, but he felt like, to be alive, one had to be have hope, so he figured that it was alright.

“It’s time to leave. We’ve been being the door for far too long already. It’s time to go out.”

The mission in Li Wan City had provided Chen Ge with a lot of information. Other than unlocking the scenario and increasing his number of employees, he knew some information about the four-star mission, Ghost Fetus.

The ghost fetus that grew inside the shadow’s chest was probably how the ghost fetus would look at birth, and Chen Ge had memorized its face in his brain.

The few returned to Fan Chong’s residential area. Chen Ge had Xiao Bu be prepared to open the door. He then placed the fainted Lee Zheng in the adjacent room. He started comparing notes with Scissors and the rest before they dealt with the questioning from the police. In terms of that, Chen Ge was truly a master.

…

Inside an old building on the eastern side of Li Wan City, a family of three was forced into a corner. The panicked-looking man was about forty. He was squeezed next to a woman with no expression, and a boy stood next to them.

“The shadow is already dead. What are we still doing here? If you’re that interested in them, just kill them, or you wish to continue the game of hide-and-seek?” Bei Ye squatted on the ground while holding a knife. A thin young man stood next to him.

“I will repeat myself—I am different from you.” Jia Ming held the boy’s face and studied it closely. “Yes, it is him.”

“What are you talking about?” Bei Ye walked over and that scared the boy for quite a bit.

“When the shadow was possessing my body, he did many crazy things, and because of that, I knew quite a bit about the shadow’s secret. He once tried to place part of his body inside the mother core and used that to try and determine the maximum threshold of curses and resentment a living human could contain. In my memory, he succeeded twice. The one time led to the creation of the ghost fetus, and the other time created a little monster.” Jia Ming’s eyes that looked at the boy and the unfeeling woman were creepy.

“You’re saying that this boy is part of the ghost fetus?” Bei Ye had no idea what Jia Ming was up to. The only reason he had agreed with work with Jia Ming was because the latter knew many of the shadow’s secrets.

“After the successful trial, the shadow pulled back the curse and resentment, but even so, there must be some remnants inside the boy. He possesses the curse with the same origin as the ghost fetus. Thus, he should be able to sense the fetus’ location. Just because of that, we have reason to bring him with us.”

“Are you sure? This boy looks a bit too normal.”

“This is the best disguise. If not for his mother, I really wouldn’t have recognized him.” Jia Ming picked up the man and told his parents, “It is because of this boy that we’re not going to kill you, but I hope you’ll listen to our orders and help us to train this boy, to make him understand how to control the resentment and curse inside him.”

“No problem,” the man promised quickly. He lowered his head, and venom coursed through his eyes.

“Let’s go then. I know the location of the other door in Eastern Jiujiang—we can leave from there.” After saying that, Jia Ming led them into the blood fog.