My House of Horrors

“My mother was one of the children adopted by him.” Yin Bai’s eyes were very pretty and clear. “My mother was an abandoned baby, and she was weak from a young age. Her condition only got better when she was adopted by my grandfather. She was brought up by him and stayed by his side until she was twenty and met my father. They had a simple wedding, and soon, I arrived.

“After she gave birth to me, my mother’s physical condition deteriorated, and my father’s attitude toward her also slowly changed. Then father’s company closed, and he was left with plenty of debt. He was chased by moneylenders and had to leave me and my mother so that he could avoid them. He always told us that the lenders would not trouble a woman and a newborn and only dared to sneak home every few days at midnight. This continued for a few months until father stopped communicating with us and never returned home.

“Caring for a child while being threatened through the closed door, the home being splashed with paint, mother finally collapsed. The doctor called grandfather, and it was only then that he knew how bad the situation was. It was not common at the hospital for the older generation to take care of the younger generation. Mother got worse. Her last wish was to see father one last time. It was not for love, but she wanted to give him a slap and ask him a question. Her wish became her dying wish. The day that she died, it appeared like grandfather grew older before my eyes. Then I started living with grandfather, going to school, studying.”

As she lowered her head, Yin Bai said, “It was not my intention to cause trouble for him. I didn’t mean it.”

From Yin Bai’s story, the old headmaster of Mu Yang High School was a kind person. Evil and desire were not seen in him at all; this strengthened Chen Ge’s need to meet the man.

“Your grandfather is a good person. Do you know where he is now? I wish to meet him.” If he knew how to leave the School of the Afterlife, then Chen Ge would have nothing to lose.

Yin Bai shook her head. “He lives outside the school, but he always shows up when I’m at the edge of my rope, and whenever I see him, I’ll feel much better.”

“Understood.” Chen Ge did not press. Chaos was coming to the school; the old headmaster would come to protect his granddaughter, so all he needed to do was wait. “You’d better get a good rest. I won’t disturb you anymore.”

Closing the curtain, Chen Ge was thinking about the old headmaster. The latter had avoided him several times already, but that should stop soon. Leaving Yin Bai’s bed, Chen Ge suddenly realized something. When the girl was talking about her past, there was no mention of Yin Hong at all. It was as if this person did not exist in her life.

Yin Hong is in the family portrait, so why did the child purposely leave her out? What happened to this pair of sisters?

Chen Ge felt like what had happened to Yin Bai probably had something to do with Yin Hong.

Once the old headmaster is found, everything will be solved. I’ll forget about it for now.

Remembering Yin Bai’s bed, Chen Ge even thought about taking Yin Bai with him so that he could guard her personally. But considering that the doctor might not approve of that, he gave up that thought. He continued to do his round. When Chen Ge passed the last bed, a heavy stench of medicine came from inside. Pulling open the white curtain, Chen Ge looked at the bed; there was a normal looking boy lying in it. All his limbs were bandaged, and his eyes were hollow as he stared at the ceiling. Even when the curtain was pulled back, he did not react. The child seemed to be isolated from the outside world; he was a veritable zombie.

“Yan Fei?” Chen Ge was unsettled, seeing the boy in this state. The child was like a normal person; he was a caricature of the public. “I know that you’re not feeling well, and I’m not here to tell you to get over it. I’m just here to tell you that I’ve helped you get revenge. I taught the bullies a lesson. After school, I will teach them a much deeper lesson.”

He used different method to converse with different people. To get close to Yan Fei, this was the tactic employed by Chen Ge. When he said that, Yan Fei still showed no reaction. It was as if the boy was no longer interested in anything. Chen Ge tried to say something else, but no matter what, Yan Fei did not respond. His body did not even budge. Unable to communicate, the mission given by Chang Wenyu was harder than he had thought.

Standing next to the bed, Chen Ge was about to reach his hand through the bed to check what the real problem with Yan Fei’s body was when the door not faraway was opened. The doctor had come out. With limited time, Chen Ge pulled his hand back and looked at Yan Fei with some regret.

“Darkness is there. Even if you ignore it, it will not disappear. If you do not wish to be consumed by darkness, turn yourself into light, and shine on all the darkness. I know that you can hear me, and I know that you once resisted. Now I am taking your former seat. I will help you complete the things that you are unable to do. An eye for an eye—after I’ve punished those that need it, I will return.”

Yan Fei’s situation was more serious than Chen Ge had expected. He had completely isolated himself. He refused to speak to communicate. Perhaps only with a knife on his neck would he realize that he was still alive.

“You are not wrong, and I’ll prove it to you.” Chen Ge wanted to change this school, and for that, he needed to change the students’ perspective first. When encountering school bullying, silence was not going to solve anything. Only by stepping forward could one protect oneself and others. If all the students could do that, school bullying would be stopped before it had a chance to grow.

Chen Ge did not think that all the students would be like him. He merely wished to set an example. A man who dared stand up to violence at school. Walking out from the nurse’s office, Chen Ge returned to class. The teacher glanced at him but said nothing. When the school bell rang to signify that school was over, the teacher was the first to leave like he had something important to do.

After the teacher left, the few students from the last row rushed out. They pointed at Chen Ge like they were planning something.

Out of kindness, Lee Bing took a big risk to pass a note to Chen Ge. “Do not go home alone today. Tell your parents to come fetch you.”

“If my parents really come here, they will level this place, but unfortunately, I haven’t seen them for a long time.” Chen Ge sat at his table and slowly put the textbooks away.

“I’m not kidding you. There are too many of them! You have broken the game rule, so they will all gang up on you!” Lee Bing was nervous; he could have seen Chen Ge’s bad ending.

“Don’t worry, I might have more people with me.” Chen Ge put the last textbook into his bag and strode out from the classroom.