My House of Horrors

“That is the thing from the red city?” Using ‘thing’ to refer to ‘someone’ whom he had just met was very impolite, but after meeting Doctor Gao who had entered the red city, he no longer viewed the monsters from the city as ‘people’ that he could communicate with. Crying and munching echoed in many people’s ears. Before seeing them in person, many students were already afraid.

“Chen Ge, this is not good—the school’s consciousness is split. These students won’t hold on for too long.” Yin Hong knew the school very well. “The door attracted the spirits and souls of despairing children. Some of them are wandering souls while others have their physical bodies in real life—only their spirit is trapped behind the door. Those students are very weak, and they are the basis and foundation of the school.”

Chen Ge understood what Yin Hong meant. The foundation of the school was actually very weak. It was simply not noticeable normally, but now that there was this chaos, the school’s consciousness had revealed its own weakness revealed. That would attract more monsters.

“After all, the school’s consciousness is a Greater Red Specter. There are many things we do not understand about that. We can’t underestimate the red city, but that doesn’t mean we should underestimate the school’s consciousness.”

A Top Red Specter was already very scary, much less a Greater Red Specter. He felt like even though the school’s consciousness had collapsed due to the internal fighting between the painter and Chang Wenyu, there was still something that it had held back.

“The door’s managed to grow to such a size without a door pusher, so it won’t have placed all its hope on the children.” Bai Qiulin was always in support of Chen Ge. It was not that he did not want to help the students, but from his perspective, other than his fellow employees, any other people there could turn out to be an enemy, so there was no reason to risk their lives for those people.

“But…”

“We have to find Chang Gu first. We’ll discuss the rest later.” Chen Ge had Xu Yin guard beside him as everyone headed toward the education block where Chang Gu and the doctor were. “To hold the painter back, Chang Wenyu has paid a heavy price. Even though her heart is still there, she will need some time to recover to her prime form. This is my chance.”

Red fog rolled into the school. The black plants that looked like dried arms crawled into the buildings through the broken windows. The school looked like a heart with shriveled capillaries. The students ran for their lives down the corridors. The students who hid in the classrooms were not doing so well either. The black things knocked against the windows, and more cracks appeared on the glass.

“If you do not wish to die, come with me!” Chen Ge saved as many students as he could. Lingering spirits and Specters wailed around the school. The sanctuary that had once provided a haven for ghosts now turned into a cage covered in briar. With three Red Specters opening the path, Chen Ge’s group reached the first floor of education block in record time. The blood fog rushed in from the broken gate, and the thickness was even heavier there.

“Found them!” At the turn in the corridor to the nurse’s office, Yin Hong stopped the doctor and Chang Gu. With blood in his left eye, Chang Gu was covered in blood and had only one last breath left.

“A living person has opened the door. Even if he does not die, he will be in serious trouble.” Chen Ge stared at Chang Gu in the doctor’s arms. “Leave us Chang Wenyu’s brother and go.”

Chen Ge did not dawdle and specified his reason for being there.

“Are you guys the other trump card she’s prepared?” The doctor was fully red. He had resisted the attack from the school, and he was not in a good condition.

“If you are not willing to go, you can stay as well.” Chen Ge’s stance was clear; he would stop at nothing to have Chang Gu.

“Don’t mind me. I hope Chang Wenyu can fulfil her promise.” Doctor dropped Chang Gu on the floor, but his eyes wandered to Bai Qiulin, who was standing behind Chen Ge. “The mirror that your friend is carrying looks very familiar.”

“Do you want to take a look at it?”

“Nah, I just want to remind you, there is a mirror just like that in the last room of the nurse’s office. There is a demon trapped inside that mirror. He is filled with lies and is very scary. He is a madman that escaped from a certain hospital.” The doctor slowly retreated. “If you do not want anyone around you to be harmed, it is best to not believe anything he says.”

The doctor was referring to the non-smiler inside the mirror. After he said his piece, he disappeared down the corridor.

“Such a dangerous character.” Seeing the doctor depart, Yin Hong sighed in relief. She did not wish to fight the doctor. As one of the earliest students at the school, she was familiar with how scary the doctor was.

“The man made you feel unsafe?” Chen Ge realized the problem with the doctor too. When he got close, Xu Yin and the headless woman had both stopped him.

“Who can guarantee they won’t be sick forever? Plus, he is the school’s only doctor.” Yin Hong seemed to be hinting at something. “Who is this man? He is still alive after opening the school gate.”

“He is one of my friends.” Chen Ge squatted down before Chang Gu. “I have done everything you siblings asked me to. Now, can you tell me where Chang Wenyu is?”

The dying Chang Gu saw Chen Ge. He opened his lips, but nothing came out. Black blood leaked out from his lips. His body temperature was scarily low. Using all the energy he had left, he only managed to raise his hand to point at the painter behind the mirror.

“She hid her heart in the campuses constructed by the painter?” When Chang Gu heard Chen Ge, he shook his head and kept pointing at the painter.

“Only the painter knows? Or…” Chen Ge’s eyes twitched. “She hid her heart on the painter?”

Chang Gu still shook his head, and his finger was on the painter until he lost consciousness.

“Boss, what should we do now?” Bai Qiulin looked at Chang Gu on the ground and hesitated. He worried that Chen Ge might do something dangerous.

“We will go back to Mu Yang High School to ensure that the well is working fine, and then we’ll wait.” Chen Ge gripped his fists. “Now is not the most dangerous hour; there is no hurry to leave.”

As Chen Ge’s group retreated to Mu Yang High School, the crying and munching from the gate disappeared. A third figure appeared in the fog. From afar, there was nothing special about him, but this last figure stood between the other two.

“There is really an ownerless door.” The man’s coarse voice appeared from the gate. When he spoke, even the wind stopped blowing, and everyone at the school could hear him clearly. After watching it for some time, the man took a step into the School of the Afterlife.

Once he took that first step, it was as if some kind of seal had been broken. The gate slammed against the wall. The man moved into the school. Many harried screams appeared, and the blood mirror that corresponded with the front gate collapsed at an incredible speed.