My House of Horrors

“This diary came from behind the door?” Chen Ge knew that Ol’ Zhou would not say something like that to trick him. He placed both of the diaries that he had found at Nightmare Academy on the table.

“Boss, I suspect that the success behind Nightmare Academy is because the boss took a lot of inspiration from this diary when he was designing the haunted house. The content of the diary records the scenarios behind the door very clearly, and the boss practically recreated the whole scenario behind the door in real life,” Ol’ Zhou gave his own opinion.

“Could it be that the boss of the Nightmare Academy has entered the world behind the door?” Those who managed to survive a trip to the world behind the door were definitely not normal.

“We’ve interacted with the boss of Nightmare Academy already. He is just a normal person with a heart weaker than normal, so I sincerely doubt that he has been to the world behind the door. He probably found this diary by accident.” After Ol’ Zhou gave his analysis, he turned the diary to the last page. “The handwriting in this diary is all different; it is written by different individuals, and some of the pages have been torn apart. However, that is not that important. The important thing is that Xu Yin and I found this inside the diary…”

Ol’ Zhou pointed at the bottom of the diary’s last page, where several words were written—I, Die, One Three, School of the Afterlife, Run.

The phrases did not seem connected, and it was hard to tell what the writer was trying to convey. Ol’ Zhou and Xu Yin saw the term School of the Afterlife, and they knew that their boss had been trying to find information on this school.

When he saw the terms School of Afterlife, even the glow in Chen Ge’s eyes changed. “School of the Afterlife? Could it be that this diary was taken out of the door at this phantom school?”

“That is highly probable, but I think that we should ask the Haunted House’s boss in person to find out the truth.” Ol’ Zhou scratched his head. “The man is probably still at the hospital. Since he was the last person left inside the Haunted House, Xu Yin and I decided to play with him for a while.”

“There’s no need to worry. The police did brief me a bit about the boss’ situation. They told me that he is not in mortal danger, so we should get moving to the hospital to find him.”

School of the Afterlife was the first four-star Trial Mission given by the black phone. The time limit to unlock the mission was almost up, but Chen Ge was not confident that he could complete it. Xu Yin was injured, and Zhang Ya was hibernating. It was very dangerous to commit to a four-star trial mission in his current state. However, Chen Ge was unwilling to give up on this mission. The futuristic theme park was about to open for business, so if he stopped working on his Haunted House, the customers that he had gathered over the few months prior would most likely abandon him.

This was why he had been researching the School of the Afterlife so much. Be it to attempt the trial mission or to abandon it, he would require plenty of information before he came to a decision.

“You’ve been here the whole afternoon—did you find anything else?” There was another purpose that Chen Ge had asked Ol’ Zhou and Xu Yin to stay back. He wanted them to examine this location.

Ol’ Zhou shook his head. “Even though this building is situated at a strong Yin location and shields itself from the sunlight no matter the time of the year—which means that the Yin energy is heavily pooled here—since it is situated on Xin Hai Central Street where people come and go much too often, there are no ghosts or monsters that linger here.”

“It has been built in the middle of a busy city, but it is also a place where lingering spirits can stay for a long time. The location of this Haunted House is perfect.” The more Chen Ge stayed there, the more he fell in love with it. “When I return, I seriously need to talk to Director Luo about this.”

Chen Ge shoved both of diaries into his backpack. He summoned back Xu Yin and Ol’ Zhou and silently sneaked out of Nightmare Academy.

“I need to find a way to wake up the boss of Nightmare Academy as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Doctor Wei is busy manning the fort at the Haunted House, or else this could easily be solved.”

When he was at the police station, Chen Ge had overheard the name of the hospital where the Haunted House workers had been admitted. After he left the underground parking lot, he hailed a cab to rush to that hospital.

This hospital in Xin Hai was huge. There were a lot of patients. Chen Ge walked around for a long time before he found an officer standing on duty outside one of the sickrooms.

The actors from Nightmare Academy are inside this sickroom? Chen Ge pretended to walk past the sickroom, but when he passed the glass window in the door, his pupils narrowed as he used Yin Yang Vision. Almost everyone is in there, but how come the boss is nowhere to be seen? Is he still in the emergency room? That’s impossible. Ol’ Zhou and Xu Yin are both so kind, so they wouldn’t have harmed him so seriously.

Chen Ge knew his employees well, and he placed his trust in them. Before arousing the officer’s suspicion, Chen Ge went to accost the officer. He asked with a face filled with worry and anxiety, “Sir, is my big brother alright‽”

Hearing that breath that was catching in Chen Ge’s throat and seeing the worry on Chen Ge’s face, even though the officer was confused, he did not turn Chen Ge away. “Who is your big brother?”

“He’s the boss of Nightmare Academy! I heard that something bad happened to him. How’s he doing?”

“You are Shang Guan Qing Hong’s younger brother?” The officer tried to calm Chen Ge down. “Your brother’s condition is not looking so good—he is in deep coma. Following his doctor’s suggestion, we transferred him to Jiujiang City to seek better treatment.”

“You’ve sent him to Jiujiang?” The shock on Chen Ge’s face could not be hidden, but he reacted very quickly. He swiftly added, “You refused to let him seek treatment at the biggest hospital in Xin Hai but transferred him to a hospital at a small town. Based on my knowledge, the medical standard there is much lower than Xin Hai! Are you treating my brother’s life as some kind of joke?”

“Please calm down. Yes, the overall medical standard of Jiujiang is not as good as Xin Hai, but in treatment of trauma and coma, they are the experts.”

“You aren’t lying to me, are you?”

“You can look it up online if you want. The hospital’s name is Jiujiang Central Hospital. They have a care unit that specializes in fainting cases.” After obtaining the information that he wanted, Chen Ge excused himself from the officer, and he was ready to leave.

“Wait a moment!” Seeing Chen Ge’s back, the officer suddenly felt that this young man look familiar; he seemed to have met him that afternoon.

Without turning around, Chen Ge rushed into the crowd and escaped into the stairwell when the officer was not looking.

This officer has such a good memory. I was almost recognized by him.

To prevent another encounter with the officer, Chen Ge headed to the second floor. He wished to take a detour around the first floor before leaving, but he only took a few steps, and something caused him to stop. There was someone sitting on the bench outside of a private sickroom, and the man was looking at him with a strange look on his face.

“Boss, didn’t you go to visit a Haunted House? Why are you at the hospital?” The man who was sitting outside the private sickroom as none other than Zhang Jingjiu. That morning, he had asked Chen Ge for a day off because his father was ill and he wished to return to Xin Hai to visit him. Since Chen Ge wanted to visit Nightmare Academy, the two had taken the same train to Xin Hai.

Chen Ge did not dawdle on this question for long. He could not possibly tell him that the hospital was actually his third stop because he had taken a detour to the police station before going there.

“How’s your father doing?” Chen Ge sat down next to Zhang Jingjiu and glanced through the window into the sickroom.

“He’s fine, I…” Zhang Jingjiu sighed. “Sometimes, I feel so useless. I should have returned earlier to see him. Earlier, we had a very long talk. Even though decades of conflicts could not be resolved just like that, at least both of us have taken that first step.”

Staring through the window, Zhang Jingjiu looked at the old man in bed who was asleep. “When I was young, I saw him as an unreasonable b*stard with a horrible temper. He had meetings to attend every day and disliked coming home. Now that he’s fallen, seeing him lying in bed, I suddenly realized that, even for someone as strong as him, they will eventually grow old.”

Silently turning his head away, Zhang Jingjiu took a deep breath before continuing in his usual tone. “I’m sorry, I haven’t seen him for so long so…”

“It’s okay, I understand.” Chen Ge patted Zhang Jingjiu’s shoulder lightly, but he did not say anything. He just quietly stayed by his side. After Zhang Jingjiu reached adulthood, he had lived in Jiujiang alone. Other than the father inside the sickroom, he did not have any other family, so Chen Ge was the only other person that he could unload on at that moment.

When it was almost 6 pm, Zhang Jingjiu called a nurse over and handed her a letter. He asked for her help to hand it to his father, and then he left with Chen Ge.

“Boss, when we were coming down earlier, why did the police officer keep looking at you?”

“Shouldn’t you care more about the fact that there is police presence at the hospital?”

“Oh, ya! Why are there police officers in the hospital? Was there a big case?”

“Perhaps.”

The two took the last train back to Jiujiang. Once they left the train station, Chen Ge and Zhang Jingjiu took a cab to go back to Western Jiujiang’s New Century Park. Chen Ge had been away for the whole day, so he was worried that something might have happened at the haunted house.

Zhang Jingjiu went along to offer help. After all, he had missed work for the whole day, and when he went to visit his father, Chen Ge had even given him a large sum of money, telling him to buy something for his father. To be honest, Zhang Jingjiu was very touched.

When they arrived at the park and entered the haunted house, Chen Ge realized that his worry was unnecessary. The operation in the day did not have any problems. Xiao Gu and Xu Wan had left work after cleaning the bathroom. Scissors had followed Uncle Xu around the theme park to help whenever he could, and Uncle Xu had used the opportunity to introduce him to the other workers. This was Uncle Xu’s kindness toward Scissors. Scissors did not like to speak and preferred to be alone. Unlike Xiao Gu, if no one guided him, he would probably not interact with the other workers at the theme park for the rest of his life.

“Uncle Xu, was everything fine this morning?” Chen Ge did not expect to see so many workers at the theme park even though it was already so late. They were hurrying with the decoration to prepare for the imminent holiday.

“Without you around, the place could not have been calmer. It is much better than before.” Uncle Xu looked like he was in a good mood.

“Big fish can only survive in tumultuous weather. We can’t be satisfied with a calm environment.” Chen Ge had Zhang Jingjiu go and help the workers. He entered the Haunted House and returned the Specters in his backpack back to their posts.

It had been a very interesting outing. It proved that he could go on in the morning to do his own thing without worrying about the haunted house. “My workers have already familiarized themselves with the rules, so I can leave this place to them.”

After walking around all the scenarios and ensuring that everything was fine, Chen Ge summoned the doctors into his comic and left New Century Park again to head to Jiujiang Central Hospital.

…

Slowly opening his eyes, the hospital’s white glow landed on his face. Nightmare Academy’s boss, Shang Guan Qing Hong, pursed his dry lips, and several seconds later, his consciousness slowly returned.

His head felt very heavy, and the world was spinning slightly. He tried to raise his hand and finally managed it after a few attempts.

“Where am I?” He turned his neck with some effort. Shang Guan Qing Hong realized that he was lying on a hospital bed, and two doctors were standing next to him.

“This is Jiujiang’s Central Hospital’s special care unit. You have been unconscious for a whole afternoon. We attempted many methods to resuscitate you,” the lead doctor told Shang Guan Qing Hong to stay quick. “Take a good rest, we’ve contacted the police from Xin Hai City. They will probably arrive tomorrow.”

“The police? Why did you contact the police?” Shang Guan Qing Hong held his own head. He felt like he had just experienced a particularly realistic nightmare.

“We do not know the exact details. We are doctors, and our responsibility is merely to help people. Stay here and rest. Based on our previous experience, long-term comas like yours usually include some aftereffects, and you’ll need some time to get used to it.” The doctors explained a little bit more before leaving. Yet, Shang Guan Qing Hong had no idea why he was at Jiujiang Hospital.

“Boss, did you also go to visit his haunted House?” A familiar voice came from the adjacent bed. Shang Guan Qing Hong turned to his side and saw a man with a feminine face looking at him with a bitter smile.

“Lee Changyin? Why are you here as well?” Shang Guan Qing Hong had not expected to find one of his own workers at the hospital.

“This room is specially designed to treat the visitors from New Century Park. Not only me, everyone here is a victim of that haunted house.” Lee Changyin pointed at the other beds, and only then did Shang Guan Qing Hong realize how big the room was. It was a combination of three sickrooms.

Shang Guan Qing Hong felt rather embarrassed that his weakness had been exposed to the others, but he soon realized that there was no mocking in these people’s eyes. Instead, there was plenty of pity and understanding.

What is this sense of camaraderie?

With a dry cough, Shang Guan Qing Hong struggled to sit up. “All of you fainted in Western Jiujiang’s Haunted House?”

The other patients all nodded.

“Changyin, you got here earlier than me. Can you give me an introduction?” Shang Guan Qing Hong winked at Lee Changyin.

“The patient in bed one, the one nearest to the window, is Fei Youliang. He was this unit’s first patient. By now, he has almost fully recovered, but do not mention anything related to relationships around him, or he will act up instantly.

“The uncle in the second bed is an engineer from the futuristic theme park, and he suffers from night terrors…”

“In the third bed…”

Lee Changyin introduced them one by one, and his voice was laced with pity. It almost caused Shang Guan Qing Hong to shed tears. This whole room was filled with victims, and their experiences kept getting worse and worse.

“Alright, that’s enough.” Shang Guan Qing Hong looked at all the patients in the room, and his fists slowly tightened. After a long time, he finally said, “We have undergone the same experience. We are all the victims of that haunted house, so we cannot allow this to go unpunished!”

Shang Guan Qing Hong was a boss. He had experienced many big events, and he would not surrender so easily.

“What do you plan to do?” the engineer from the futuristic theme park asked. He felt like Shang Guan Qing Hong was different from other patients.

“I think that we should cooperate together. We are all victims. We can write down our separate experiences and then find some flaws or weakness in them.” Shang Guan Qing Hong’s eyes slowly narrowed and sharpened. His words attracted the interest of all the patients.

“Brother, what is your name?” Fei Youliang was the one who had basically recovered. Normally, he looked and acted no different from a normal person.

“Shang Guan Qing Hong.”

“Even from your name, I know you’re meant for great things.” Fei Youliang wanted to say something else, but his eyes suddenly caught sight of the window outside the room. His body shivered involuntarily, and he could barely believe his own eyes.