My House of Horrors

“Congratulations, Red Specters’ Favored, for obtaining Ce Gui! The haunted house has gained one new employee!

“Ce Gui (Dong Wentao): No one knows about his past, and no one knows how he came to be in his current state. I can only tell you he has very great potential. It depends on you whether you can unlock his potential or not.”

Chen Ge studied the new message that appeared on the black phone. He really did not expect that Ce Gui to directly become his haunted house worker so easily.

I merely used ten Red Specters to invite him. Who would have thought he would accept my invitation so easily?

Silently studying Ce Gui who was surrounded by the Red Specters, Chen Ge was honestly rather surprised that the black phone had such a quite comment for him. This baleful Specter looked very unassuming in terms of appearance. He wore an old-fashioned western suit, with unkempt hair, looking like a quintessential member of the lowest rung of the societal ladder.

Since he has potential, I should try to push him further. Perhaps the uncle might also find new hope in the afterlife and welcome rejuvenation.

After summoning Ce Gui, whose legs had gotten weak, and the other Red Specters into the comic, Chen Ge walked out from the bathroom.

“This was originally a haunted house, but now that the Specter has been taken away, it is quite a waste for them to abandon this place.”

He tore down the yellow talismans from door. He took out the ballpoint pen wrapped in tape and wrote down the following on the back of the talismans. “The ghost has been taken away already. The tenants here can now use this public bathroom without worry.”

He pasted the talisman back onto the door. Chen Ge then dragged the Doctor Skull-cracker’s Hammer and left the apartment building.

“Okay, who shall we go pick up next?”

Looking at the map on his phone, Chen Ge came to the third Jiujiang subway route.

“The black phone said that this Specter is hiding on the fourth Jiujiang subway route, but Jiujiang current only has three subway routes. The fourth route is still under construction.”

By the time he arrived, the subway terminal was almost closing. Chen Ge stopped around the third subway route and asked any passersby about the information regarding the fourth route. The workers there said that there would still be a long time before the fourth route was opened to the public. When Chen Ge pressed for more details and the reason why, they refused to say anything, but they all had this strange expression on their faces.

If Chen Ge was known for one thing, it was his power of persuasion. After much pressing and pushing, one of the workers finally admitted that the surveillance at the subway terminal would always capture the image of a strange person in the night. The person would appear on different subway trains, but he always sat alone by himself on a certain seat, and the people beside him never seemed to notice his existence.

As the work for the fourth route started, the surveillance stopped capturing that person on camera, but the workers started to notice a flicker of shadow down deep in the tunnel. The workers thus started to suspect that the ghost who had been haunting the subway had moved into the fourth route that was under construction.

After finding out the backstory behind the ghost, Chen Ge silently sneaked into the construction site of the fourth route. To prevent other people from discovering him, he released a few Red Specters and had them scout ahead for him inside the tunnel while keeping their presence as low profile as possible. Initially, Chen Ge was already prepared to spend a lot of time searching for this Specter. After all, the tunnel was quite long. However, he only walked for a few steps when he saw a young man who was bare-chested running as fast as he could about a hundred meters in front of him.

“Who is running naked in the middle of the night inside a constructing subway tunnel? This is so strange.”

It was impossible for Chen Ge not to notice the young man. He immediately had the several Red Specters go and stop the young man. The strange thing was the young man appeared to have known beforehand that Chen Ge was coming. When he saw Chen Ge’s face, his eyes were filled with fear.

“Have we met each other?” Chen Ge was rather confused by this. He was sure that this was the first time they had encountered each other, so if that was the case, why would the young man look at him in such a way? “You are not afraid of the Red Specters, but you are afraid of me. Why? Do you know me? But that is not right either. If you know me, you should be familiar with the kind of person that I am.”

Blood vessels floated on the young man’s body and weaved into a simple shirt. His face was pale, and his body was almost transparent. He was about to depart from this world.

“Brother, at least give me something to work with. Is there some kind of misunderstanding between us?” Chen Ge just wanted to approach the young man when the latter dropped to the ground. He tried to retreat as far away as he could until his retreat was blocked by the Red Specters.

Seeing as his escape was cut off, the young man crawled up from the ground as if he had surrendered to his fate. He turned to Chen Ge and said, “I am willing to become a worker at your haunted House.”

When the young man said that, it was time for Chen Ge to be startled. “I have not even stated my reason for being here. How come you gave me your promise so easily? Do you know how to read people’s minds?”

With his face as pale as before, the young man shook his head rather helplessly. “We met each other once ten seconds ago.”

“Ten seconds ago?”

“My name is Shi Guo. My power is to return to a space in time ten seconds ago. There is a huge limitation to this power. I can only use it once per month, but if I use it correctly, it will have miraculous effect,” the young man said softly.

“The power to manipulate time‽” Not only Chen Ge, even the Red Specters around him were quite surprised by this unique power. Even though Si Guo’s power could only be used once per month, if it was used at the right time, it could reverse any situation!

“As I’ve said, there is a huge limitation to this power. Only I will be able to return to ten seconds ago. It is not as useful as you might think.” Si Guo smiled bitterly. “I used this power earlier. Unfortunately, even with the extra ten seconds, I cannot escape your grasp. Speaking of which, how did you find out about my presence? You even brought ten Red Specters with you to come find me…”

“I am in the middle of a fight against a cursed hospital in Xin Hai. They have obtained your information, and they wish to enslave and control you, so I have come to fetch you before they have the chance to.” Chen Ge very seriously extended his hand toward Si Guo. “Welcome to the haunted house. If you have any dying wishes or things that you wish to have completed, feel free to tell me.”

Shi Guo hesitated for a moment before he accepted Chen Ge’s extended hand.

“By the way, why were you so afraid of me earlier? What exactly did I do to you ten seconds earlier?”

“I cannot say. If I did, I will suffer severe countereffects from my own power.” Even though Shi Guo verbally said that he was willing to join the Haunted house, the black phone did not send a message about him joining. That was probably because he did not fully trust Chen Ge, and the young man still had other plans in his mind. Chen Ge placed Shi Guo inside the comic. He situated him in the same page as Ol’ Bai and Ol’ Zhou.

“The Specters that are noted by the Wheel of Misfortune are indeed all of great quality. This kind of special power is very rare and powerful.” Chen Ge valued Shi Guo greatly, but unfortunately, Si Guo refused to reveal any information about himself, so Chen Ge could not do anything to help him, to prove that he only wanted the best for the young man. “I will have to take this slow. Thankfully, I still have time.”

Putting away the comic and the black phone, Chen Ge departed from the subway terminal and came to the residential plaza in the new city area. By the time Chen Ge arrived, it was already midnight. There were very few occupants in this residential area. Chen Ge glanced at the different apartment buildings, and only a few windows had their lights on.

“The black phone only said that the butterfly hairclip can be found in this residential area, but it did not give me an actual address. There are at least a hundred apartments here. Am I supposed to go and knock on each of the doors one by one?” Chen Ge stood in the middle of the residential area and titled his head back to look at the several tall buildings. “Jesus, how long this will take me?”

Holding the comic, Chen Ge hesitated. It was not really a bright idea to release Specters into random people’s homes. He had a principle that he followed closely in his life. If the other people did not come to harm him, he would not purposely go and influence others.

“I guess I’d better go and search for it myself.”

Clutching the comic in his hand, Chen Ge was about to pull his gaze away when he suddenly noted a woman with long hair standing at the edge of the roof at the top of one of the apartment buildings. Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision, and he could clearly see the woman holding something in her hands as she stepped onto the edge of the roof. As if sensing Chen Ge’s eyes on her, the woman who was originally spacing out slowly turned her head. Her black hair fluttered away from the wind to reveal an incredibly pale face.

Chen Ge’s shadow was reflected in her red eyes. The bloodied mouth slowly opened as if she was telling Chen Ge something. The more she spoke, the more her emotions started to unravel. Her face became twisted with harsh emotions, and a black blood vessel popped on her face. The woman who had turned into a monster finally made a decision. She raised both of her hands and pinned the butterfly hairclip that she was previously holding onto her hair. The pair of venomous eyes stared straight at Chen Ge. She opened her arms like a black butterfly caught in fire as she jumped down from the roof as if she was trying to fly toward Chen Ge!

The night breeze buffeted her coat. One wound after another surfaced on her body. Half of her body was dyed red, and all the pain had transformed into anger.

“The first present that you ever gave me, I have always worn it at the top of my head. I have treasured everything that you have ever given me, but you…”

Resentment pierced through her eyes. The woman in the half red coat was halfway through her complaint when she suddenly saw a young boy who was grumbling endlessly appear next to the young man that she was heading toward. Following the young boy, a middle-aged man who had one of his hands stuck in his pocket materialized next to the boy. Then, the woman who was rapidly falling through the air suddenly heard the sound of static in her ears.

One red shadow after another appeared next to the young man. The resentment and blood vessels that radiated from their bodies appeared to wish to bury the whole residential area alive. The scary presence overwhelmed the woman until she felt the difficulty in breathing, but the problem was, she had already thrown herself off the roof. She could no longer control her body due to the pull of gravity. There was nothing she could do but watch herself fall.

“Which one of you is kind enough to go and catch her?” Endless blood vessels curled around the woman. She maintained her falling posture with her face facing down and dropped to a meter before Chen Ge. Being surrounded by ten Red Specters, she had even forgotten what she wanted to say. All she could feel in that moment was her blundering mind and thoughts.

“If you run into difficulties in life, there has to be a channel for you to vent. If no one is willing to listen to you, feel free to come and find me in the future.” Chen Ge had the Red Specters pull back their blood vessels. He moved toward to help the woman up from the ground like a true gentleman. “What is the name of that pig who disappointed you? I can take you to go and find him.”

First, she was almost scared to her second death, and now, she was suddenly touched. The woman’s lips quivered slightly. “He has already left this city. He has gotten married in Xin Hai.”

“Xin Hai, huh? No problem, I will personally take you there in a few days. Are you willing to come with me?” Chen Ge looked at her with clear, glittering eyes with no malicious intentions in them. The woman nodded. To be honest, she was still rather confused by what had happened. Everything that had occurred to her that night was a bit too much to process.

“Then we will be a family in the future. I will try my best to help fulfil your wish.” Chen Ge pulled the woman into the comic and then led his employees to the next location. “I am quite surprised that the Specter possessing the butterfly clip is a Half Red Specter. She has extremely deep resentment. With some time and training, it should not be hard for her to transform into a real Red Specter.”

Scanning the map on his phone, Chen Ge walked out from the residential area. “The only Red Specter that I have drawn from the Wheel of Misfortune can be found in the new part of the city as well. Since I am already here, I might as well take a swift detour to go and visit her.”

Red Specter Xue Rong, she was hiding in the new city’s Yi Ren Pavilion. The black phone’s comment on her was that she was extremely dangerous and sensitive. Jiujiang’s newer part of its city development was not bad. This part of the city was closer to Xin Hai. It was where many of the state’s smaller roads congregated, and it had a large population of outsiders.

Chen Ge could not find the location of Yi Ren Pavilion on his GPS in his phone. He searched for quite some time on the internet before he managed to salvage a little information related to this Yi Ren Pavilion. This beauty parlor was very famous a few years ago. It specialized in high-end spa and beauty treatments. It had great popularity among the rich and famous, but for some unknown reason, it was closed by the police out of the blue. The rumors about its closure ranged from everything on the internet, but the most reasonable reason was probably it had to do with a murder case.

The information of the victim was not released, and it was also unclear whether the killer was caught. The victim’s family did not come forward, and the whole case was like a pebble dropped into the ocean. After the initial ripples, it was forgotten by the world, which had moved on. Based on the little information he had managed to find online, Chen Ge passed through the bright lights and neon glow and came to the other side of the city. The new city, which was bright and alluring in the day, appeared particularly lonely and deserted at night. The buildings beside the road became smaller and smaller, but the air became fresher and fresher.

At the end of the paved road, Chen Ge saw an abandoned garden. Various kinds of flowers grew on the rusted iron railings. Even though it was way past their flowering season, the plants on the iron rails were blooming gorgeously like rubies in the dark. It was clear that no one had been to this place in a very long time. The place was covered in wild grass, and the trees had grown out of shape due to a lack of treatment and care.

Jumping over the railing, Chen Ge spotted a small path winding through the wild grass. Walking through the small path, Chen Ge could see in his mind’s eye how beautiful this garden must have been in its prime.

“To think Jiujiang still has such a beautiful garden with a mixture of eastern and western style. If such a gorgeous place was abandoned just because of the haunting, it would be such a waste.” Chen Ge reached the end of the path, and a bungalow appeared before him. The architectural style of this building was more western, but the Chinese character for Flying Dragon and Dancing Phoenix was written on the top of the front door. “I guess I should be more careful when dealing with a Red Specter.”

Even though Chen Ge currently had many helpers, if he was careless, there was still a very high chance that the other party could slip away. Flipping through the comic, before Chen Ge summoned them out, he purposely reminded them to keep a low profile and rein in their presence. The Red Specters showed up one after another. There was no change discernible inside the abandoned bungalow until the appearance of the red high heels.

Initially, Chen Ge did not want the red high heels to come out. What he needed her to do was take in all of the ghost fetus’ memories as fast as she could. If the red high heels could become a Demon God before he headed toward the cursed hospital, the pressure on Chen Ge would become much weaker. But to Chen Ge’s surprise, the red high heels appeared to have sensed something and voluntarily materialized on her own.

To his greater surprise, once the red high heels showed up, the whole abandoned bungalow including the large garden started to be covered in this blood fog. Drops of fresh blood froze on the leaves like fresh dew. It looked quite strange. The red high heels walked past all the Red Specters. Only Xiao Bu was able to resist her presence, and this was when the red high heels had not unleashed her full power.

“You won’t have scared the target away, will you?” But soon, Chen Ge realized that his worry was unfounded. The front door of Yi Ren Pavilion was pushed open from within, and the heavy scent of medicine and stinging smell of blood drifted out at the same time. The red high heels strode into it directly. Chen Ge called the other employees to hurry and catch up.

The interior design of the bungalow was extremely bizarre. Abstract pictures of human faces hung on the walls, and the tiles were pieced together to form the outline of human faces. Almost every piece of furniture in the room had drawings of the human body on them.

“This place is too scary.” Chen Ge stood quickly in the midst of his employees. “When I return, I need to find an excuse to persuade Director Luo to purchase this place.”