My House of Horrors

About ten minutes prior, the ghost fetus scenario was still relatively ‘peaceful’. Chen Ge only went to put on some make-up and hurried to the other scenarios to get some other employees, and when he returned, the world had completely changed. The moment the door was opened, Chen Ge even thought for a split second that he had returned to the world behind the door. His brain moved quickly, and many possibilities entered his mind. In the end, the figures of those two visitors from Xin Hai appeared in his mind’s eye.

“There has to be some problem with that couple from Xin Hai. Could the change to this scenario be related to them?” Initially, Chen Ge suspected that they were unique visitors, but now he believed that things were not as simple as he imagined. “Before they cause more trouble, I have to go and locate them.”

Summoning his employees, Chen Ge held the comic and rushed into the scenario. To prevent the black fog from continuing to spread, he even had Xiaoxiao guard the black iron door, telling her that no matter who came, she had to keep the door closed. The black fog had completely enveloped the Voiceless Small Town, and it was continuing to spread to other places. Pale human faces appeared on the walls of the buildings down the streets. When they saw Chen Ge, they kept making these horrible screams. It sounded both like a cry for help and a plea for mercy.

“The closest hidden path to the world of the black fog from the entrance is the Soundless Home. Don’t tell me some of the visitors were so unlucky that they somehow stumbled their way into the hidden scenario through that sub scenario?” Chen Ge took out his own phone and called Tong Tong’s number. He soon got Tong Tong’s reply. When he saw Tong Tong’s message, Chen Ge’s expression became confused and befuddled.

“The place has not been infiltrated by outsiders? If that’s the case, why did the scenario turn into a state like this?” Tong Tong appeared to be incredibly busy with something else. The messages that he sent to Chen Ge were succinct and simple. “Or have they successfully evaded Tong Tong’s surveillance?”

Chen Ge knew the chance of that was very slim, but after completing the black phone’s Trial Missions so many times, Chen Ge was trained to see things from the worst possible scenario. That was how he was always prepared.

Knocking on one of the doors, Chen Ge whispered outside of it. “Brother Peng, are you in there?”

The wooden door creaked open. Wu Jinpeng appeared at the door with his hand over his bruised forehead. “Boss? Why are you here? You have entered the scenario as well?”

“Why are you injured?” Chen Ge’s tone changed immediately. There had never been an accident where his own employees were injured in his own haunted house, albeit the injury in this case was just a bump to the forehead.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I was too nervous when I opened the door, and I accidentally rammed into the door.”

“Was it because someone was purposely blocking the door?” Chen Ge was a very astute person, and he was very familiar with those haunted house designers’ dirty tricks.

“Boss, you can ignore this small injury. Just now, a series of horrible screams came from inside the scenario. I am not kidding you, it sounded like I was right at a slaughterhouse. You’d better go and take a look. I am very worried that something serious has happened.”

“Okay, but you’d better stay here and do not go anywhere else. I will be back in a minute.” The black fog on the street thickened by the second. Chen Ge ran without stopping to the Soundless Home. He first glanced at the missing person’s report by the entrance. The boy in the picture had gone missing. “Where has Tong Tong disappeared to?”

Entering the building, Chen Ge confirmed that this was the place where the black fog originated. He pushed open the door of the first room. The scene that greeted him was a room that was soaked in blood. It felt like a rain of blood had fallen right inside the room. After he found the mirror that was left on the ground, Chen Ge tried to communicate with the lingering spirit of the student from the School of the Afterlife that resided inside it. He had the student open the door of the red snail for him. Inside the hidden path, the black fog ebbed and flowed like a palpable wave. A middle-aged woman was lying supine on the steps. Due to extreme shock, she was totally unconscious.

“The black fog can invoke the deepest and darkest fear inside a living person’s heart. She stumbled her way into the world of black fog without even experiencing the one-star scenario. The fact that she could run so far is already a miracle in and of itself.” Chen Ge dragged the middle-aged woman out of the scenario and had the lingering spirit of the student hurry and go call the doctors from the underground morgue. “Tell them to stop scaring people for a moment. We need them to get over here to examine the situation. I believe we have an emergency on our hands. There might be several people that are unconscious.”

Bringing the other employees, Chen Ge came to the bottom step of the hidden pathway. He picked up the chain that blocked the door to stop it from closing completely. “Someone purposely used this as a stopgap to prevent the door from closing, he did not want the door to close. Why would he do something like that?”

Pushing open the black iron door, Chen Ge stepped into it. Chen Ge did not need to wander in that far to see that all the mannequin monsters inside the world of black fog had gone berserk. Endless curses and twisted memories clung to their bodies, turning these mannequins into different kinds of items of possession. It was as if they had all come alive with their own will.

“What is going on?” The ghost fetus’ scenario recorded the entire life of the ghost fetus. All his memory and curses were being handled by the red high heels. The fact that all the curses and memories had gotten out of control meant that the emotions of the red high heels were currently a little bit unstable. Chen Ge called the red high heels’ name softly. Perhaps she had heard Chen Ge’s voice. The black fog appeared to calm down slightly, and the monsters that were covered in curses stopped rampaging.

Chen Ge cut his way forward and soon saw the red high heels in person. The bandages on her body had fallen off quite a bit, and her skin that was tattooed with the curses was exposed. The woman possessed a breath-catching beauty about her, one that would be called a tragic beauty. At that moment, the red high heels was standing in the middle of the black fog. A small figure was blocking before her while behind the small figure were two unconscious fatties.

“Why is Tong Tong together with Liang Er and Liang San?” Chen Ge quickly hurried over. After some asking around, he realized that Liang Er and Liang San had accidentally stumbled into the hidden area not five minutes into the start of the game and encountered the red high heels, who was experiencing the ghost fetus’ former memories. Initially, the red high heels was too busy to even care about them, but the two brothers walked toward the red high heels themselves and even started to critique her appearance. If their comments were positive, like saying how beautiful and captivating she was, perhaps she would have let them go peacefully. But as fate would have it, Liang Er directly called the red high heels something disgusting.

The reason for the red high heels’ death was still a mystery, but she appeared to be a woman who was obsessed with beauty when she was alive. Even in her Bloody Heart Mission, there was a hint given by the black phone—’Am I beautiful?’

One could say that Liang Er was extremely unlucky. Of the many words in the English language, he had chosen the one that would perfectly anger the red high heels. It was little wonder that he ended in the state that Chen Ge found him. The difference between a Top Red Specter and a normal person was still too large. The red high heels did not even need to do anything, and the curses in the black fog would automatically seek out the people who had angered her and evoked the deepest and darkest terrors residing within their hearts.

In other words, Liang Er and Liang San were knocked out by their innate fear. During the whole process, the red high heels had done only one thing and that was to turn her head to look at them. After knowing the whole process, even Chen Ge thought that Liang Er and Liang San truly were lucky in their own way. He gave Liang Er and Liang San a quick inspection. Thankfully, the red high heels did not intend to harm them; she just wanted to teach this pair of siblings a lesson.

After consoling the red high heels, Chen Ge had her continue to stay in the world of the black fog while he left the scenario through the hidden pathway with Tong Tong. Tong Tong was truly given a fright of his life earlier. The kid thought that the red high heels was going to murder the brothers, and that was why he had stood before them to stop her from doing so.

“To be able to open the hidden path inside the Soundless Home, there has to be a real impressive character among this batch of visitors. Tong Tong, did you manage to see who opened the hidden pathway?”

“Brother Xiao Jun.”

“Sun Xiaojun?”

“Yes, yes.”

Chen Ge was as confused as he could be. He had not told Xiaosun the location and the method to open the hidden pathways, but Sun Xiaojun had magically managed to open the secret pathway within five minutes of the start of the game and sent the visitors from his team into it. “Is this the power of the cursed seed?”

After hearing the description of what Tong Tong saw, Chen Ge could take a guess at Xiao Sun’s intention. He only had good will in his heart, but the result that he caused was probably something that Xiao Sun himself did not expect. A butterfly in the Amazon rainforest might flap its wing several times, and perhaps two weeks later, a tornado would ransack South America. Xiao Sun was the person with the powerful butterfly effect. The young man himself was a simple-minded person, but it was also this naivete that enabled him to do something incredibly scary with serious repercussion without even intending or knowing it.

“I appear to have underestimated the potential of the cursed seed. No wonder the black phone specifically warned me about him. After all, even the Demon God ghost fetus eventually gave up on Xiao Sun.” Walking out from the building, looking at the black fog that slowly enveloped the whole ghost fetus scenario, Chen Ge did not feel as nervous as before. If anything, a new plan was hatching in his mind. “The cursed seed and the cursed hospital, how come I feel like they are natural enemies of each other?”

Xiao Sun had indeed caused a certain degree of damage to the scenario, but Chen Ge would not blame Xiao Sun because this was his own fault. As the manager, he had to first reflect on his own mistakes. Everyone had a position that was suitable for them; it was the same for Xiao Sun. If Xiao Sun only knew how to destroy and create ill will to both his friends and enemies, then the ghost fetus would not have left him in the world behind the door where he was hiding in.

“It was my mistake for underestimating Xiao Sun’s potential. He deserves a much bigger stage for his talent to shine.”

Walking down the street, Chen Ge continued to move forward. When he arrived at the Haunted Avenue, Chen Ge’s heart skipped a bit. The Haunted Avenue was the only scenario left behind from Yu Jian’s world. Chen Ge also had no idea why this was the only locale that was left from such a large world. Only after some time had he realized that it probably had something to do with Zhang Ya. This avenue was the street that he and Zhang Ya had been walking on in Yu Jian’s world. They walked on this street to go home, and they bade their last farewell on this street. This bus stop had recorded every lovely moment that they had shared.

“The visitors won’t have gone to destroy the words and pictures carved on the platform, right?”

This sub scenario had a special meaning for Chen Ge. He led Tong Tong and the other employees to rush into the black fog. When they passed the bus stop, they only saw a platform that was covered in stained blood and a drizzle of bloody rain.

“The memory with Zhang Ya has not been destroyed, but a big problem appears to have occurred to the red raincoat.”

Chen Ge did not dare stay for long lest something worse happened. Chen Ge hurried to the White Orphanage. He opened the hidden door directly and sighed in relief. Xiao Bu was hiding inside the hidden room at the White Orphanage making blood dolls. This Specter who was from Li Wan City that could unleash the power of a Top Red Specter was not angered in any way.

“Have you seen Sun Xiaojun?” Chen Ge whispered to ask.

Xiao Bu stood up from the red blanket that she had placed on the floor. She put down the doll she was making and shook her head confusedly.

“Then that’s fine. Keep on doing what you’re doing.” Seeing Xiao Bu in this state, Chen Ge wanted to go over to ruffle her hair. Sometimes, Chen Ge would have these illusions about Xiao Bu like thinking she was his own daughter or thinking Xiao Bu was very cute, like Xiaoxiao.

As he was about to leave, Xiao Bu reached out to grab Chen Ge’s sleeve. The girl showed Chen Ge the blood dolls that she was making. The faces of the two dolls kept on changing until they took on a similarity of the two visitors that came from Xin Hai. The male and female stood next to each other, and the man appeared to be talking to himself. “The evil spirits have gone out of control, and blood rain continues to fall. As I expected, no living person can reform the departed, not even their son.”

The man’s expression was chilling as he kept repeating this sentence. The man had probably said something else, but Xiao Bu had only recorded this sentence.

“Xiao Bu, where did you hear him say this?” Sitting back down on the red carpet, Xiao Bu changed into a more comfortable posture. She leaned down lazily in the corner, and her finger went up, pointing at the roof above them. The couple probably did not expect a Top Red Specter to be able to rein in her presence so perfectly and was playing with dolls down in the hidden room at the bottom of the White Orphanage.

“Understood.” Chen Ge nodded and then led the other employees out. Sun Xiaojun had accidentally hit the target this time. There were indeed people with malicious intentions hidden among the visitors, but Xiao Sun had done things that these people would never have the guts to do.

…

The visitors were gathered at the entrance to the cafeteria. Blood rain fell on their bodies. Ma Feng, who had understood the severity of the situation, had Sun Xiaojun walk at the front of the group.

“Earlier, we heard horrible screams again. Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao are both top haunted house designers. What is it that they could have seen that would cause them to scream like that?” Shang Guan Qing Hong had been given a lesson by Chen Ge before, and he was also the first to persuade Ma Feng to leave when they realized that they were not going to enter School of the Afterlife but instead the ghost fetus scenario. Unfortunately for him, Ma Feng was quite a stubborn person.

“You will have to ask him. He was the last person to be together with Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole.” Ma Feng and the other visitors turned to look at Xiao Sun.

“To be honest, I really did not intend to harm anyone, but somehow, things have led to this state,” Xiao Sun said with a bitter smile. “I also have no idea why. Since I was young, whenever I tried my best to do something, every kind of accident will happen. When I was in primary school, my mom promised me that as long as I got a good result in my finals, she would take me to the biggest water park in Jiujiang, and I did the best that I could. But that year, an earthquake happened in Eastern Jiujiang, and the water park closed.

“During secondary school, to help me with my studies, mother bought me a computer. But when it was almost time for the results to be released, a big fire engulfed the school, and the brand of the computer that my mother bought me later went bankrupt.

“I somehow managed to survive all that until I finally got to university. I have a passion for music, but of all my idols, one of them retired from the industry because he was exposed to be a junkie, the second one was forced out of the industry due to humiliation because he was exposed to be a cheating b*stard, and the third one mysteriously disappeared. He still has not been found. I have understood many things. In the end, I quit university to pursue my dreams in music. I did not want to rely on anyone and kept my distance from everyone else, but in the end, I found myself moving into a… Sigh, never mind. I do not want to burden you with my sad story.”

After hearing Sun Xiaojun’s life story, some of the visitors were shocked, but there were also some who thought that he was just making up stories.

The couple from Xin Hai stood at the back of the group. The female’s expression was rather spaced out. She held onto the man’s arm tightly like she was joined at the arm to him. The man was radiating a chilling presence. He kept looking around him and kept stealthily moving the hand that he kept inside his pocket earlier out into the open.

Upon closer inspection, one could realize that there was a deep wound on his palm, and buried deep inside his wound was an eyeball. Lowering his head, the man whispered softly as if he was reporting back to someone.

“Rampage, bloodlust, anger that covered the sky, curses flying everywhere—a Red Specter cannot be controlled fully. Your worry is unfounded. From the opening of this haunted house, who knows how many human souls have been used as sacrifices? The doctor was worried that he’d found another path for himself, but actually, this place is no different from our hospital. It is just the appearance that has changed. The child still has not grown up according to his parents’ expectations. He has already become the version of himself that his younger self hated the most.”