My House of Horrors

“After Chang Wenyu took my left eye, I became similar to the monster from inside the mirror. She shattered my hallucination. I was not Lin Sisi but Zhang Ju; the scary-looking monster from inside the mirror was myself.”

With his wound bleeding, Zhang Ju’s shirt was half dyed red, but the scarier thing was that the blood vessels that had started to weave on his shirt still continued to increase in number. Chen Ge had initially thought Zhang Ju was just a Half Red Specter, but he soon discovered that he had greatly underestimated the young man. As his memory was awakened, the blood on Zhang Ju began to intensify as it proceeded to color his whole body red.

“I was pulled into the mirror, and Chang Wenyu who stood outside the mirror held my left hand. Her lips opened and closed, and I believe she was saying, ‘One last one left.’

“My left eye started to change in her grasp. The memory of my life flashed in the pupil. When she took my left eye, she also took all of my hope.”

Drip drop…

Zhang Ju’s blood dripped on the corridor. Footsteps echoed down the block, but no matter where they looked, there was no one coming.

“What kind of world is it inside the mirror?” Chen Ge asked softly.

“Red. There is just red; everything is red.” Zhang Ju’s description reminded Chen Ge of the scenario behind the door of the three-star trial mission.

“Then, how did you return from that place?”

“The other me from inside the mirror, he was covered in blood. He wanted to consume me. Before I could give it some thought, my legs carried me away. I ran for a long time before I realized that inside the mirror was another school. It was completely deserted, or at least, it looked that way on the surface.”

“And then?”

“I never even survived the first night. The other me from inside the mirror caught me.” A trace of confusion appeared in Zhang Ju’s eyes. “In my memory, he killed me, but when I reopened my eyes, I had returned to this school and lost a major part of my memory, becoming part of the school.”

“In other words, your memory was tampered with after you died?”

“I guess you could say that. I have no idea what happened in between. I believe you’ll need to go to the red world if you really want to find out the answer.” Zhang Ju did not seem to be lying. Even though he looked scary, his expression was sincere.

“I think I get it,” Chen Ge said softly. “Normally, the door is the only way to enter the blood world, but there is a Specter far more powerful than we can imagine in this scenario. He could be a Greater Red Specter. This Specter uses mirrors as a medium to isolate another world from inside the blood red world. This other world is this school that we’re in. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Every club member shook their head.

“I’ll give you a simpler example. After pushing open the door, we entered the blood red world. But inside this blood red world, we found a mirror, and when we touched the mirror, we entered the world inside the mirror.

“If we compare it to dreaming, it should be easier to understand. Normally, once we sleep, our consciousness enters a dream world, but if we start to dream while inside a dream, what happens? We enter a dream inside a dream.

“Blood red world is constructed from despair and negative emotions, and the world inside the mirror is more like a ‘dream’ created by the door-pusher.”

Chen Ge used an elaborate example to explain the situation to the students. As he did so, a crucial problem that he had was answered. When he woke up, he had lost contact with all of his workers, and the black phone was missing, which placed him in a very dangerous situation. It had been confusing him. How did the owner make that happened?

The black phone aside, Zhang Ya was hiding in his shadow, but at that moment, his shadow had become very normal; Zhang Ya was not with him. From this point, it could be understood that it was not his real self that had entered this school. Just like Zhang Ju had said, when he looked inside the mirror, there was another him. One was kind and gentle, the other cruel and ruthless; the combination of both was the real him.

I should have run into the same problem as Zhang Ju. Part of my persona is trapped inside the mirror, and the other part outside the mirror.

This was all Chen Ge’s speculation, and he was not confident that he was one hundred percent right. It was like he was walking in fog, and the only source of light was himself.

“Chang Wenyu once used the mirror in the library, so after visiting the toilet, the next stop is the library.” Chen Ge voiced his thought.

“Why do you wish to go there when everyone gives the place a wide berth?” Zhang Ju could not understand Chen Ge. His memory had just woken up. Various thoughts swirled in his mind, and his gaze was rather blurry.

“Compared to this place, I prefer the blood red world because that place is more realistic.”

Chen Ge’s word proved that he was no ordinary person. Zhang Ju thought about it and agreed. “That’s perfect. I wish to know what has happened to me as well. Theoretically speaking, I should be dead, right?”

After getting that response from Zhang Ju, Chen Ge sighed in relief because Zhang Ju would be a welcomed aid.

“Come, let’s head to the toilet first.” Chen Ge’s group had stayed in the corridor for a long time. Thankfully, nothing strange had happened.

“Zhu Long, can you see the change happening to Zhang Ju? His face… is so scary now.” Zhou Tu did not dare get too close to Chen Ge and Zhang Ju; he felt like they were both madmen.

“At this time, I can only trust Mr. Bai. Zhang Ju’s change also proved that he hasn’t been lying to us, right? We are on the path to regain the memory that we’ve lost.” Zhu Long did not look so well. He gritted his teeth, and his hand that held the phone was white.

“If you say so.” Zhou Tu turned to glance behind him. He was too afraid to leave on his own. “I must have been mad to agree to join a club like this.”

He summoned the courage to pick up the blade on the ground, but as he did so and his view was inverted, he saw that there was an upside-down human head looking at him from down the corridor.

No wait!

To be more precise, the upside-down person was looking at Zhang Ju and Wang Yicheng, who was on Chen Ge’s back!

Zhou Tu’s knees went wobbly from the shock. If not for Zhu Long, he would have collapsed.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“There’s someone behind us! There’re a lot of people who are following behind us!” Zhou Tu’s voice was shaking.

“Where?” Zhu Long turned to look. They were the only ones on the empty corridor. “Are you hallucinating?”