My House of Horrors

“Friend?” Chi Ren looked at Chen Ge, and he could not control his eyes from wandering to stop on the two Red Specters. Cold sweat slid down his forehead. “I… I do not have the qualifications to be your friend. We are people from two different worlds.”“We are living in the same world, and it is this world. The fact that I’ve survived to this day is due to the help of my friends. You are Doctor Fang’s friend, I am also Doctor Fang’s friend, and we have the same target and the same friend, so that is more than enough to form the bond between us.” Chen Ge was too lazy to waste more time on this topic. “Let’s not waste any more time dawdling on this. Please tell me everything you know about Doctor Fang to me now. Perhaps we still can save him if we make our move now.”

“We will not be able to save him; he has already been chosen.” Chi Ren shook his head. “It is indeed impressive that you can order Red Specters around, but compared to them, you are still very weak. The difference in power level is too much.”

“Who do you mean by them?”

“They are a hospital. Doctor Fang is someone chosen by that hospital. They wanted Doctor Fang to become one of their day-shift doctors. I do not know the actual reason. I believe it’s because a lot of doctors have recently gone missing from that hospital, so they are currently seriously lacking staff.” The information given by Chi Ren surprised Chen Ge. This could be considered extremely confidential information, but Chi Ren knew about it.

“What is your relationship with that hospital? Do not worry, everything that you say here will not be heard by anyone out of this room.” To ensure Chi Ren’s safety, Chen Ge even summoned out the red high heels.

“I wish I could tell you, but I cannot. The moment I reveal anything, I might die on the spot.” Chi Ren undid the first button of his shirt. There was a deep black blood vein around his heart. It looked as if a thin black thread had been sewn into his flesh. “Everyone related to that hospital will be cursed, and when the curse is triggered, this black capillary will continue to grow until it pierces your brain.”

“What will happen if the curse is neutralized? Won’t you be free to say anything without worry?” Chen Ge stared at the black blood capillary. He appeared to hear crying coming out from the capillary itself.

“No one will be able to neutralize the curse, not even the most powerful Red Specter.” Chi Ren shook his head. Just as he finished saying that, the surrounding temperature in the room suddenly dropped. A hand covered in bandages pressed lightly on his chest. The color of the black capillary started to fade until it stopped growing completely.

“You are not wrong that no one will be able to neutralize the curse, but this friend of mine can temporarily make it lose its power, and it will not trigger the alert of the person who laid down the curse.”

The temperature in the room slowly rose back to normal. Chi Ren stood there, stunned on the spot. It was as if the hand that had just pressed against his chest was a part of his imagination.

“Now you can tell me everything you know without worry.” Chen Ge prompted for Chi Ren to continue with his story.

After a moment of hesitation, Chi Ren took a deep breath. It was as if he had abandoned his life and sped through the following as if worried that death might strike him down at any moment. “There is a monster that even Red Specters are fearful of in that hospital. It also has the surname Chi. The curses that we get are all related to it.”

After he finished speaking, Chi Ren’s face was pale. He stared straightly at the black blood capillary on his chest. He waited for a long time, but there was nothing special that happened to that black blood capillary. He was still alive.

“The curse has really been temporarily suppressed!”

Relief washed over Chi Ren. It felt like the time bomb that was strapped to his body had just been removed. Wiping away the cold sweat that had slid down his face, Chi Ren’s tone slowly returned to normal.

“There are four types of living humans at the hospital: the patients beyond number 100, the day-shift doctors, the people with the surname Chi, and the non-smilers. Among them, the non-smilers are the hospital director’s blood relatives while the people with the surname Chi are the family created by that monster.”

The information revealed by Chi Ren to Chen Ge was very important. Other than the thousand-faced Demon God who had been killed by Zhang Ya, there were at least two more Demon Gods at the cursed hospital. One was the hospital director, and the other was the monster with the surname Chi.

“You are all family who were created? What do you mean by that?” Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision to study Chi Ren. This was just a very normal middle-aged man. There was nothing particularly special about him. Chen Ge really did not understand why a Demon God would choose him to become its family.

“To explain that, we will have to go back about fifteen years. Back then, I have just arrived at Xin Hai for work. I was young and ready for the world. A relative who already lived in Xin Hai introduced me to a job guarding a morgue. It was not a taxing job, but I would need to work a lot of night shifts. At the time, I was too young to believe in supernatural and superstitious things.” Chi Ren started to reveal his past to Chen Ge. “I have not been to university and did not have any worthwhile skills. Just the fact that a relative was willing to help me find a job, I was already very thankful. Furthermore, the salary was quite lucrative.

“The hospital director told me that I would have to go on patrol at midnight, 1 am, and 2 am—three times in total. The focus of the patrol was the few doors at the bottommost floor of the morgue. Once I noticed that the lock had loosened, I had to report to him about it no matter how late it was. But seriously think about it, who would go to the morgue to mess with the locks so late at night? It was a morgue; there was nothing valuable here. There were only dead bodies. Which idiot thieves would be so dumb to go to a place like that to steal stuff?

“Naturally, I thought that this order was very strange, but I did not dare question it because this was my new job, and I was not sure I could find anything better. Everything was fine on the first week. Back then, the mobile phone had not been invented yet, and it was quite boring guarding the place alone. Furthermore, the morgue was very cool and comfortable at night. There was not even a mosquito. So, I started to think about stealing time off work.

“Instead of patrolling three times, I patrolled only the first time and then went to sleep inside the morgue. The place was particularly cool. That was understandable due to the air conditioning, so sometimes, I even brought a blanket with me. About two weeks after that, I started to have nightmares, the kind that felt incredibly real. I dreamt that after I had fallen asleep, there was a group of people standing around me, looking at me. I even dreamt that I was treated as a carcass being pushed into the crematorium to be burnt. Those were not even the worst of the nightmares. The worst came on the third week, when I dreamt about a child.

“The child’s face did not have any eyes or a nose; it only had a mouth. He stood beside my bed and asked me to tell him some stories. I was so afraid, but I did not dare refuse, so I told him some of the ghost stories I’d heard back home. He seemed to greatly enjoy himself, and he started to appear in my dreams every night. Eventually, I ran out of stories, but the child with only a mouth still refused to let me go. From then on, it not only appeared in my dreams, it started to show up in real life as well. When I felt like I was going crazy, when my mind was breaking down, a monster whose face was dominated by mouths appeared, hugging that child. He asked me whether I was willing to become his family member or not. I did not dare refuse.” Chi Ren had a pained expression. “He appeared to be looking for his family members, but he had no luck finding them.

“After I became that monster’s family, he left. Then I found this black blood capillary grown around my heart. I had to follow his requests and orders to go and do certain things. No matter how unwilling I was, the moment I dared go against his will would be the moment I died.”

After Chi Ren finished his story, he turned to look at Chen Ge. “You are the first person whom I have encountered that has the power to suppress his curse.”

Controlling a Demon God’s curse was very difficult. The red high heels was a Specter that had an extremely rare talent related to curses. Combined with the fact that she had consumed and inherited everything that belonged to a Demon God, the ghost fetus, she was basically a Top Red Specter already. It was because she had fulfilled these impossible conditions that she had managed to suppress the curse of this monster with the surname Chi.

“How is the relationship between the hospital director and the monster with the surname Chi?” Chen Ge wanted to see if he could get the two biggest bosses to go against each other. After all, Zhang Ya could only hold back one Demon God, and during that period, the other Demon God could easily kill all of Chen Ge’s employees.

“They have a very good relationship. Sometimes, we even feel like they are the same person.” Once the curse was brought under control, Chi Ren started to gain his confidence. He had been keeping his words inside his heart for a long time already, and now, finally, he had a chance to voice them out loud.

“Wait, you said ‘we’.”

“Yes, there are more who have the surname Chi in Xin Hai. Even the boss of Xi Li Xiang has the surname Chi. We are all victims of the cursed hospital, and we are forced to spend the rest of our lives under the shadow of the curse. We do not dare reveal any secrets, and we also need to satisfy their requests.”

Chi Ren gritted his teeth like something horrible had just occurred to him.

“Some of the requests are plain inhumane. The boss of Xi Li Xiang was force fed a kind of meat due to one of the incidents and was punished. One person went into the hospital in search of his daughter, but in the end, he failed to find his daughter but had his memory changed and was turned into a soulless puppet controlled by the cursed hospital.” With green veins popping on his forehead, Chi Ren sighed with heavy regret. “Yes, we are all monsters.”

“As long as you still have that glow of humanity in you, you are still human.” Chen Ge comforted Chi Ren, but in his mind, he was thinking about something else. The hospital director had a very good relationship with the monster that had the surname Chi, so close that other people felt like they could be one person, so Chen Ge’s plan of turning them against each other was impossible. If Chen Ge had to go against them, he would have to obtain the help from two more Demon Gods. That would only give him the qualification to face the cursed hospital. The cursed hospital had existed for more than twenty years. Just how many Demon Gods they had in their midst was truly a mystery in and of itself. Even a victim at the most outer fringe like Chi Ren knew of the existence of two Demon Gods, so the actual number of the Demon Gods inside that cursed hospital was probably much higher than Chen Ge previously predicted.

“Zhang Ya is a Demon God. The red high heels is a Top Red Specter. Xiao Bu can unleash the power of a Top Red Specter in Li Wan City, but her power will be slightly weaker than a Top Red Specter behind other doors.” These three were the most powerful Specters that Chen Ge’s haunted house had. The red high heels and Xiao Bu were also the Specters most likely to become Demon Gods in the immediate future. “The difference in power is too big. I still need to gather more strength.”

Three names instantly surfaced in Chen Ge’s mind—Doctor Gao, the painter, and Chang Wenyu.

“Doctor Gao destroyed the door at Coffin Village. He can move freely through the red city. Perhaps he has already become a Demon God. The relationship between us is very complicated. We are both members of the Ghost Stories Society, and with the favor that he left me regarding Gao Ru Xue, perhaps I will be able to convince him.

“The painter himself already possesses power close to a Demon God, and he has many Red Specters following him. Due to the presence of Fan Yu, we are not really enemies.

“Even though Chang Wenyu once used me, she desperately needs me to help her recover her soul. Of the three ‘people’, she is the easiest specter for me to befriend.”

Chen Ge knew that he would not be much of a threat to the cursed hospital based on his own power, so he decided to contact all his friends.

“If I see it from that perspective, I still have the chance at winning this.”

After speaking with Chi Ren, Chen Ge decided to help fulfill Chang Wenyu’s demand that night. The earlier he helped Chang Wenyu recover, the better it would be for him.

“With the current employees that I have, if the cursed hospital comes to hunt me at their full potential, I will definitely not survive.”

The haunted house had many Red Specters employees, but the boss, Chen Ge, was just a normal person. The cursed hospital would not have too much trouble murdering a living human.

“The whole plan will have to be moved forward. I cannot give the cursed hospital too much time.” Chen Ge turned back to Chi Ren. “Since becoming a member of the Chi family, have you run into any doctors or patients who were sent out of the hospital?”

“Yes, I did.”

“They will naturally run into danger when they are out completing missions away from the protection of the hospital, so did they come to you guys for help?” Chen Ge asked patiently. “After all, all of you are related to the cursed hospital, and all of you carry the curse on your bodies.”

“We with the surname Chi are normal humans who are spread over the city. To be honest, we are nothing but disposable chess pieces to the cursed hospital. Be it the patients or the doctors, once they sense the presence of the curse on us, they will order us to do something for them, and normally, we have to agree without the chance to bargain.” Chi Ren looked pained. “Because we do not have the power to reject them.”

“In other words, the people with the surname Chi are the bottom feeders at the cursed hospital.” Chen Ge had a brave idea surfacing in his mind.

“You can put it that way, yes.”

“You can stay here for now. I can guarantee you that as long as you do not leave this place, you will not run into any danger.” Chen Ge had not slept a wink the entire night, but he did not feel drowsy at all. If anything, his eyes were glowing with excitement.

“Are you going to leave already? By the way, I still do not know what your name is.” Chi Ren was still rather confused at this moment. Both the cursed hospital and Chen Ge were existences that he could afford to offend. But in comparison, Chen Ge appeared to be kinder and more reliable.

“There’s food and beer that I bought yesterday on the table. The bathroom is just next door. If you are tired, feel free to rest. Before I return, do not leave this building.” Chen Ge left the two Red Specters behind. He ran to one of the scenarios on the first floor and summoned Xiao Sun. “How far have your studies come along?”

Chen Ge looked at Xiao Sun with anticipation.

“I really did not expect that even after death, I would still need to study like I am going to sit a university entrance exam…” Xiao Sun appeared much thinner than before, and his body was more transparent. “I have studied everything that I need to, and I’ve memorized everything that was given to me. Now, even if Patient 101 comes back to life, I will be a much more convincing Patient 101 than he would ever be.”

“Very good, I need you to be as prepared as possible. I will send you into the cursed hospital in a few days.”

“So soon?” The blood drained from Xiao Sun’s face immediately.

“Listen to my plan first.” Chen Ge planned to make use of someone with the surname Chi to send Xiao Sun into the cursed hospital. He shared his plan with Xiao Sun and then brought Xiao Sun out to the city to scout out the target. It took a whole morning before they locked onto a person with the surname Chi in Xin Hai’s countryside.

“We will familiarize ourselves with the environment around here first before we make our move tonight.”

At around 1 pm, when Chen Ge returned to Nightmare Academy, he realized that Zhang Jingjiu and Qu Changlin had already arrived.

“From today onward, Zhang Jingjiu will be the branch manager, Qu Changlin will be the main designer for the props and sets, and Xiao Die, you will be the staff manager.” There were only three living employees at the haunted house, and Chen Ge had given each of them a very impressive sounding post. “I need everyone to help clear away the damaged and unused props and clean up the old scenarios. Depending on the situation, we might reopen for business in three days.”

After assigning the jobs, Chen Ge asked Xiao Die some more questions about her younger brother and then picked up his backpack, heading to Xin Hai First High. That was because Xin Hai First High, where Xiao Die’s brother attended, was the school where Chang Wenyu had left her shattered soul. That was where the girl whom Chang Wenyu had asked Chen Ge to find studied as well.