My House of Horrors

“Why has death been scratched into the altar so many times? This does not look like a shrine for the divine at all!” The detective was leaning at the front. When he saw the handwriting inside the altar, his face blanched.

“Didn’t the recording explain it? An altar placed on the table is for divinity, but altars left in the corner are for something else.” A woman gathered her courage and squatted before the altar. She looked carefully inside. It was unknown what kind of material the altar was made of. It looked like wood, but it felt slippery to the touch like one was touching a pool of drying blood. Ever since the altar doors opened, there had been this strange smell that drifted out from it.

“Forgive me for saying this, but I don’t think even a ghost would be willing to stay here.” The police officer stood silently behind Chen Ge. “Other than that, the last time I was here, the bloody words weren’t inside the altar.”

After he said that, he turned to look at the girl squatting before the altar. The girl slowly stood up with confusion in her eyes. She silently shook her head at the police officer and the woman with the black hair. The ‘visitors’ appeared to have different jobs in the Haunted House. The girl appeared to be responsible for the maintenance of props.

Seeing her shake her head, the police officer’s face darkened even further. He told Chen Ge with some hesitance, “How about we stop moving forward? There is no need to challenge the scenarios to rashly. We will accompany you to explore the previous scenarios slowly.”

The police officer was dropping clear hints for Chen Ge. We will stop trying to scare you, so please stop moving forward to make things look ugly for us. We will do this peacefully so that we all finish this safely.

“That won’t work because even if we don’t go looking for them, they will come and find us.” Chen Ge noticed the exchanges between the visitors. He saw the girl shake her head at the police officer, and the police officer suggested that they stop their tour after seeing the message given by the girl.

The ‘visitors’ were afraid, and the reason behind their fear had to do with this altar. Chen Ge grabbed the altar by both hands, trying to study it from a different perspective, but he realized with a shock that the altar was fixed to the ground like it was joined to the house. The recurring Haunted House was designed by the futuristic theme park, so why should they be afraid? Even though the workers were not that courageous, since they had been selected to join Chen Ge, they had to be people who were quick on their feet and good at their jobs. Something serious must have happened to cause them to feel like retreating.

Chen Ge pretended to casually ask a question. “Did the designers of Reincarnation not expect the scenarios to have a change like this?”

“I believe so.” The police officer blurted out, but after that he realized that was not what he was supposed to say, he quickly added, “When I was here last time, I heard the few designers arguing. It appeared to be about the extra changes that appeared for parts of the scenarios during hellish difficulty that were not part of the intended design.”

“As impressive as the AI system is, it will not influence reality. It has to combine manpower and machinery to influence an effect.” Chen Ge stared at the inside of the altar, and his nostrils twitched. He was using his latest skill—Spirit Sniff.

“You are not wrong, but not everything in this world has an answer.” The police officer did not know how to explain it to Chen Ge.

“I think I get it now.” Chen Ge took a deep breath. “All the scenarios are controlled by the central computer. When combining the scenarios, there will be changes and alterations, but these changes are within the acceptable range, so the designers let them be. If anything, they were probably proud of this unexpected surprise. But they forgot about a crucial element. These idiots placed some ancient objects that they had salvaged from Eastern Jiujiang into the Haunted House! The central computer controls the traps and projections, changing the plot development and various expansion. The things that possess the old objects are also quietly changing according to the scenario itself.”

“What… what are you talking about?” The police officer was confused.

“My parents own a Haunted House, and I grew up in a Haunted House, so I know more about this than you do.” Chen Ge signaled for the detective to move over with his phone. “The Haunted House is a place of heavy Yin energy, and if you’re not careful, bad things will happen. This Haunted House purposely stored a lot of objects of misfortune in it, so it is only normal for it to attract spirits and the like.”

“Do you think we will believe something like that?” The woman with black hair still did not agree with Chen Ge. She would not suffer other people critiquing the futuristic theme park; this was similar to Chen Ge’s protection of New Century Park. He could empathize with that, but it did not mean that he would compromise. “Lean closer to look at the carving inside the altar.”

With the light shining, the group resisted the urge to run and followed his instruction.

“The words are carved out one by one using fingernails. Some of the red traces are paint, while others are blood. Look at the words at the innermost part. Do you see some traces of something else lodged within the carvings?”

“Yes.” The group saw clearly with the aid of the flashlight. “What are those?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that is decayed flesh?” Chen Ge’s expression was scary. “There is a stench coming from inside the altar. It’s the smell of rotten flesh. It’s hard to imagine why one would purposely do something like this. If this is not the design of the haunted house, then this is proof that something is seriously wrong here.”

Narrowing his eyes, Chen Ge scanned the room. The whole Japanese house was radiating with misfortune; every object was possessed by something. They were not palpably clear, but they were definitely there.

“Then… should we retreat to the previous scenario?” The police officer wanted to go back. He had toured the place on medium difficulty and knew quite a lot about this Haunted House, but because he knew that much, he felt that much more afraid.

“You guys look like you love this theme park. Does anyone know when they started building this Haunted House?” Chen Ge sensed intense hatred and resentment from the carving inside the altar. This was the sign of a curse.

“More than a month ago.”

“That is about when my Haunted House started to gain popularity online,” Chen Ge said directly. “The futuristic theme park saw the opportunity for money, but they didn’t see the danger behind it. After all, Eastern Jiujiang is different from Western Jiujiang.”

“What’s so different?” The woman with long hair frowned. She wanted to draw information from Chen Ge. She knew that the futuristic theme park was a foreign entity in Jiujiang, but Chen Ge was actual Jiujiang local.

“You’ll see in a bit.” Chen Ge then took out a doll with half a burnt face from inside his backpack.

“What are you planning to do? Isn’t that the little girl’s doll?” The ‘visitors’ were confused by Chen Ge.

“I wish to experiment.” After saying that, Chen Ge tossed the doll into the altar and then slammed the altar doors shut. “The altar is the most dangerous spot of the whole scenario. I will guard beside it. The rest of you should split into groups of two and try to find and explore the other rooms. If you find anything or run into anything scary, scream loudly for help. I will rush over to provide support.

“Are you sure you want to stay here alone by the altar at the end of the corridor?” There was a trace of uncertainty in the police officer’s question.

“Since he has volunteered, let him be.” The man with the glasses dragged the police officer away, and the ‘visitors’ started to focus on their search. When they had wandered away, Chen Ge silently opened the altar and took out the doll to study it. Curiously enough, the half of the face that was not burnt showed a clear expression of fear.

“The doll’s expression can change? This altar seems to possess a certain meaning.” Chen Ge then placed the doll back into it. He opened the backpack and stuffed the pair of red high heels into it as well. “You are the professional when it comes to curses. I will leave this to you. I know that you are very powerful. Placing you inside this altar contains my blessing and hope for you. One day, you will become strong enough to advance to a Demon God as well.”