My House of Horrors

“Chang Wenyu once said that she’d seen the black phone somewhere inside the blood city, so the person who has been messaging me should be there as well.”Many clues started to link together, and Chen Ge was getting step by step closer to the truth.

When Chen Ge entered the Nightmare Academy on Destiny Avenue, he noticed that there was a gaze from the Si Li Xiang eatery opposite that had been following him. But when he turned his head that way with Yin Yang Vision, he failed to find anyone. There was no one there staring at him.

“Was it the boss of Si Li Xiang staring at me?” Chen Ge could not confirm that suspicion. He planned to wait until night arrived before he went over the place to give it a more thorough check.

Entering the headmaster office, he noticed that Chi Ren was asleep. Chen Ge did not disturb him as he moved to sit at the study table. He opened his backpack and was about to arrange his items when his expression darkened.

“Why are these paper notes still inside my backpack? Didn’t I hand them over to the Xin Hai police?” Chen Ge took the paper notes out from his backpack. The uneven handwriting on them was like a curse that could not be shaken loose.

“There are more than ten Red Specters living inside my backpack. If ‘someone’ intended to silently to place the paper notes back inside my backpack, the Red Specter employees would have noticed it!”

If a common person encountered something like this, the first thing that would come into their mind was tearing up the paper notes or burning them. After they did that, they would realize that the paper notes would continue to appear in their vicinity. This was the quintessential beginning to a ghost story. But Chen Ge, as history had proven, was not a common person. First, he placed the paper notes on his own shadow. He waited for half an hour and noted that nothing strange had happened. Then he picked the paper notes up and shoved them inside the red high heels.

“These paper notes keep appearing, as if they are trying to remind me that I am living inside a sickened world. They keep on repeating the same sentence. If I start to believe the message of the statement and am led to believe its truth, I will probably become an actual patient.”

The cursed hospital only needed two kind of people—doctors and patients. The way they treated Doctor Fang and Chen Ge was completely different. It was as if they had already decided that Chen Ge was a ‘suitable’ patient from the very beginning. They had tried everything they could to convince and persuade Chen Ge of his own ‘illness’. The moment Chen Ge’s conviction started to shake, the moment he also believed that the world was sick and needed to be changed, he would have fallen completely into the cursed hospital’s trap.

“The city of Xin Hai gives me a very bad feeling. On the surface, it is peaceful and vibrant, and the security is very tight. Yet, I cannot feel safe for some reason whenever I am here.”

Chen Ge was still thinking about the problem when Chi Ren, who was asleep on the bed, suddenly screamed. His hands waved violently about, and his lips kept mumbling something incoherent. His emotions were unusually heightened.

“What happened to him? Is it a nightmare?” Chen Ge had a Red Specter who specialized in dreams—the son of the woman in the tunnel. But Chen Ge did not dare summon him out that easily. What if Chi Ren suddenly woke up to find a giant spider before him? He would probably be scared out of his wits.

“Hey! Wake up!” Chen Ge pushed slightly but firmly on Chi Ren’s shoulders. Chi Ren, who was woken up from his sleep, sprang up into a seated position. His chest was rising and falling violently, and his clothes were wet from cold sweat.

“Was it another nightmare?” Chen Ge handed a glass of water to Chi Ren, but Chi Ren did not dare touch the glass. He curled his body into a ball and shrank backward, his eyes overwhelmed with fear and terror.

“It came into my dream again! It appears to know that I have already betrayed it!” Chi Ren claimed in a shrill voice. His hands scratched his face. The man did not seem to realize that the scratches went so deep that they left bloody gashes on his face.

“Don’t panic. Can you please tell me what happened in your dream first?”

“I dreamt about that ghost who only has a mouth on its face. It was standing next to the bed and requested that I told it a story.” Chi Ren placed his hand over his heart. “I was very afraid, and I told him that I no longer had any stories to tell it. But it refused to take no for an answer. It threatened me, saying that if I refused to tell it any story, it would peel open my head and crawl into my brain.”

“Then what happened?”

“Just as it was about to crawl into my brain, you woke me up.” Chi Ren was obviously still petrified by his nightmare. “I have a feeling that it knew I have already betrayed it. All the family members who have betrayed it get seriously punished. They would be better dead. I need to escape! I cannot stay in Xin Hai!”

“You need to calm down first.” Chen Ge grabbed Chi Ren’s shoulders as he tried to crawl out from bed. “The curse on your body has been temporarily suppressed. Even if he knows that you have betrayed him, as long as he is unable to find you, you will be temporary safe.”

“But it knows how to find me. As long as I am still in Xin Hai, it will eventually find me!” Chi Ren was on the verge of a mental breakdown. A man of over forty was scared witless, to the point he had regressed to the state of a child.

“If it could appear in your dream, there is a possibility that it could have gone through your memory through your dream. That way, it found your location and came in person to get you.” Chen Ge did not want to lie to Chi Ren.

“I am surely dead now. I need to leave this place as soon as possible! I need to go now! I cannot wait until sundown anymore! There is no more time!”

“Like I said earlier, please do not panic. It could only go through your memory in your dream, which means that it can’t do anything to you as long as you do not fall asleep.” Chen Ge flipped through the comic to summon out Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi, who was now a Red Specter, gave a presence that was completely different from before. It was intensely scary.

“I could stay awake for another twenty-four hours, but that does not mean that I won’t eventually be overwhelmed by fatigue and fall asleep!” Chi Ren hugged his own head. His eyes were filled with despair. At the beginning, he only gave Doctor Fang a warning. That was not a big sin, but now he had shared everything he knew with an outsider. That was a taboo at the cursed hospital. If he was captured, he did not dare imagine what those group of people might do to him.

“The person that you fear can look through your memory in your dream and know everything that has happened to you, that is indeed a very formidable power, but it does not mean that it is irresolvable.” Chen Ge signaled for Zhang Yi to use his own power. “We only need to tamper with your entire memory and consciousness, then we will be able to fool the enemy. In other words, we will have to create a fake memory for you.”

“Create a fake memory for me?”

“Yes, I will temporarily hide away part of your memory and use that to misdirect the enemy.” When other people ran into trouble, the first thing they would consider was how to solve the problem, but when Chen Ge ran into any trouble, the first thing that he would think of was how to turn that problem into his own benefit.

“It will be pointless. Even if the memory is hidden away, as long as I am still in Xin Hai, it will definitely be able to find me.” Chi Ren shook his head with pain in his eyes. He had already given up. “Every person with the surname Chi in Xin Hai is its eyes and ears, and I still have its curse inside my body. If I do not escape from Xin Hai, it only needs to pay a little sacrifice, and it will be able to sense my location. I am its ‘family’, someone who can never shake loose from its control.”

“Its sensory power is only limited to Xin Hai?”

“They have buried their curse deep beneath the ground of Xin Hai. They have cursed this city for twenty years. You should run away with me; we cannot win this.”

“The curse is buried underground?” Chen Ge held a tight grip over Chi Ren’s hands. “Tell me more about that.”

“I cannot say more than that. Once I do, the curse will be triggered! It will hurry over here immediately!” Chi Ren struggled with his life. The cursed hospital was a fear buried deep inside his heart. Any kind of verbal consolation was unable to coax him out of his mist of despair.

“Looks like there is no other way. I will figure out a way to bring you away from here, but before that, I need you to take you to one place first.” Chen Ge waved for Chi Ren to follow him. They walked out from the headmaster’s office and down the dim corridor of the Nightmare Academy.

“We are here. This is the place.” Chen Ge stopped before a door. When he pushed open the door, he also made a signal out of Chi Ren’s sight. Zhang Yi silently appeared behind Chi Ren. When Chi Ren peeked inside the room to look, Zhang Yi’s hand fell on the top of Chi Ren’s head. The eyes slowly closed. Zhang Yi had wiped out all of Chi Ren’s memory that was related to Chen Ge inside his mind.

“You have helped me a great deal. Naturally, I will not leave you to die like that.” Chen Ge was a very principled man. He planned to wipe out Chi Ren’s memory and then sneak him out of Xin Hai at night. “The Demon God with the surname Chi is able to look through all the memories of the people who have the surname Chi through their dreams. I will have to remember that. That is very important info.”

Zhang Yi could look through a person’s memory as well, but even after he became a Red Specter, he still had to make physical contact with someone before he could use his power.

“Boss, his mind was filled with a black spider web, and many memories had been melded together with curses. The only thing I could do was remove the most recent memories related to you from his mind. I did not even dare look through his earlier memories before I got afraid of triggering the curse and setting off the enemy’s alarm.”

After Zhang Yi became a Red Specter, he did not lose his rationality. If anything, he gained more than a bit of humanity.

“You have done very well.” Chen Ge looked at Chi Ren, who had fainted on the ground. “The Demon God with the surname Chi has started to appear in these poor people’s dreams. Looks like the cursed hospital has already noticed a problem. I wonder what they will do next.”

The true power of the enemy was an unknown, and their ability was unclear. If Chen Ge was cornered, he would be in a very bad spot.

“If I trigger the curse, will the Demon God with the surname Chi hurry over immediately? Perhaps I can make use of that.” Chen Ge took out his phone to call Ol’ Wu. “Brother Wu, do you have time tonight? Can you drive your car over to the backdoor of Nightmare Academy?”

“No problem,” Ol’ Wu promised readily. At around six something, Ol’ Wu drove the car provided by the Jiujiang Medical University and arrived at the backdoor of Nightmare Academy. Chen Ge released the Red Specters to scout their surroundings. After ensuring there was no one around, Chen Ge brought the unconscious Chi Ren out and placed him on the backseat.

“Who is this?”

“A friend of mine.” Chen Ge then grabbed his backpack and also crawled into the car. “I need to send him back to Jiujiang.”

“What? We are going back to Jiujiang?” Ol’ Wu was shocked. “Are you already done with your task here?”

“Not yet, but I need to go back temporarily.” Chen Ge closed the car door. “Brother Wu, when your car is about to cross Xin Hai’s border, you need to decelerate.”

“Why?”

“Just follow my instructions.” Chen Ge flipped through the comic and ensured that every single Red Specter was in their best condition. “Let us prepare to set off.”

The car slowly moved. A dangerous glint was hidden at the bottom of Chen Ge’s eyes.

The Demon God with the surname Chi has cursed every single one person with the Chi surname. Earlier, Chi Ren mentioned that once they trigger the curse, the Demon God will arrive immediately. Chen Ge slowly narrowed his eyes. In other words, this was a perfect chance to lure a lone Demon God away from the cursed hospital!

When Chen Ge heard what Chi Ren had to say earlier, a mad idea had formed in his mind. He planned to lure the Demon God out and use this chance to dispose of it!

He knew that the cursed hospital had at least two Demon Gods. If he was able to kill one of the Demon Gods, the situation would be much better for him. Chen Ge’s side was completely ready, but the Demon God with the surname Chi had been in existence for decades. Chen Ge believed that he had a seventy percent success rate, and that was enough for him to take this gamble.

The red high heel, Xiao Bu, Chang Wenyu—I have three Top Red Specters and several Red Specters with unique power and Demon God Zhang Ya. That should be enough to set up a death trap. The people with the surname Chi will not be able leave the territory of Xin Hai freely. Along with the fact that the curse has been triggered, even if the Demon God does not show up itself, it will send other Red Specters in its place. No matter what, this is the perfect chance to hack away at the power of the cursed hospital.

Chen Ge was tired of dealing with small mobs. He decided to tear off a huge chunk of meat from the cursed hospital. Ol’ Wu, who was driving, had no idea what was going on in the backseat. He merely adjusted the temperature inside the car and mumbled under his breath, “This is so strange. How come the air con is so cold tonight? It’s so cold that my teeth are chattering.”

Xin Hai’s streets were very busy. Chen Ge and Ol’ Wu also happened to leave during rush hour. It took Ol’ Wu a whole hour to get the car to the countryside of Xin Hai. As Chen Ge had requested, just as they were about to leave Xin Hai, he started to decelerate. The atmosphere inside the car became heavy. Chen Ge closed his eyes to rest as much as he could, and he had all the Red Specters rein in their presence. After a while, the car successfully left Xin Hai. No one appeared to stop them.

“The plan has failed? Did I overthink things?” Chen Ge did not let his guard down. He continued to wait patiently. The night sky darkened, the lights from the streetlights dimmed, and the surroundings suddenly became curiously quiet. The number of cars on the road gradually dwindled until Ol’ Wu became the only vehicle on this long, solitary road.

“This is strange. There are so few cars on the road.”

“You wanted us to take a detour before we left Xin Hai. This path is less commonly used. It is normal for there not to be too many cars on the road. It will become normal again when we get on the highway.” Ol’ Wu still had not realized the severity of the situation. Just as he said that, the vehicle suddenly shuddered. It felt like the wheels had rolled over something. “Hmm, what was that? The road should be flat here.”

Looking at the rear-view mirror, Ol’ Wu started sweating bullets. On the road behind him, someone covered in blood lay on the ground!

“I hit someone!” He stepped on the break immediately. Ol’ Wu quickly parked the car by the side of the road. “Chen Ge! Quick, we have to go check up on the person!”

“Do not panic!” Chen Ge grabbed Ol’ Wu’s hand to steady him. “No matter what happens, I need you to stay close to me! You must not run away from me!”

“O… Okay…”

Carrying the backpack, before Chen Ge even got the chance to open the car door, Chi Ren, who was unconscious, suddenly started to shriek. His hands reached to his throat, and his fingers gouged into his neck. He was trying to kill himself!

“Ol’ Wu! Watch over him! Try to stop him from harming himself!” Chen Ge had Ol’ Wu control Chi Ren while he quickly flipped through the comic. The people from the cursed hospital had arrived, but he did not know whether it was a Demon God or not.

Chen Ge used Yin Yang Vision to look at the body on the ground. The dead body covered in fresh blood suddenly convulsed. A face that had been crushed supposedly by the car and filled with wounds turned toward him. “Save me…”

The sticky blood leaked out from the dead body’s wounds. It morphed into numerous blood lines to pierce through its body. Then, the blood lines controlled the body to charge at Chen Ge!

“This Red Specter is just a toy! I need to find the puppeteer!” To be able to control a Red Specter like that, Chen Ge knew that he had landed a big fish. The sound of pages flickering kept echoing, and an endless sea of red started to spread around Chen Ge!

“It is time for all of you to come out. Dinner is served!”