My House of Horrors

“This letter again?” Chen Ge pulled out the letter that he found in Xiao Die’s room and placed it on the coffee table as well. “Last night, three of employees went missing, and I found similar letters in their rooms as well.”“What is their goal?” Zuo Han’s eyes stared closely at the letters on the table.

“The back of Mr. Wang’s letter states that he is the person’s first friend, and on the back of this letter that I found in my employee’s room, it states that they are the person’s seventh friend. This person believes that my employees and Mr. Wang are both their friend. There must be something in common between my employees and Mr. Wang.”

Chen Ge very calmly started to do his analysis.

“In terms of timing, I suspect they have captured these people based on the serial killings that happened twenty years ago. Mr. Wang was the person who was involved in the investigation of the case from twenty years ago, so he was the earliest person who found out about the clues of the real truth while my employees are wrapped in this situation due to the fact that I started to investigate this case recently. In a way, they can be considered the last few people who became related to this case.”

“Therefore, Mr. Wang is the first friend and your employees are the seventh friend?” Zuo Han nodded. He agreed with Chen Ge’s analysis. “Boss Chen, can you leave the letter that the person left for Mr. Wang for me to keep?”

Chen Ge could guess what Zuo Han was planning. After a moment’s hesitation, he handed the letter to Zuo Han. “Do not act too rashly. The people that we are dealing with do not belong to the same world as you.”

“They do not belong to the world as me?”

“I am sorry that I cannot reveal more details to you, but trust me that I will not do or say anything with the intention of harming you.” Chen Ge picked up his backpack. “If possible, you and Ol’ Wu should leave Xin Hai as soon as possible and find a place where there are many people to stay.”

“Then, what about you?” Zuo Han could pick out a trace of unusual urgency in Chen Ge’s voice.

“Certain things happened because of me. Therefore, it’s my responsibility to deal with it. I cannot escape from it.” Chen Ge said a few words to Zuo Han and Ol’ Wu, and then he left from the place where Mr. Wang was staying.

The cursed hospital had been operating in Xin Hai for many years. This was something that Chen Ge had already noticed several days ago when he was out hunting for baleful Specters. All the Red Specters in Xin Hai appeared to have been cursed, be it the evil spirit at Cards Archway or the Red Specter at the abandoned school. Their spirits had both been polluted; they had been turned into monsters who only knew how to kill and to spread the seed of despair. The control that the cursed hospital had over Xin Hai was invisible. Any Specters or spirits that had any kind of power within the territory of Xin Hai were all under their control. In other words, the cursed hospital could be said to represent the darker side of this big city.

“The seven friends might be all related to the serial killings from twenty years ago. In other words, these seven people might all be related to me. Perhaps they are all people who knew a little something about that case. The cursed hospital is now forcing me to show my hand.” Chen Ge had been through a lot of things, so he saw through the cursed hospital’s ploy almost instantly, but unfortunately, even if Chen Ge knew that this was the enemy’s evil plan of trying to lure him into a trap, there was nothing that he could do about it. If he wanted to uncover the truth, he could not be a coward and slither away. Furthermore, this time, seven innocent human lives that were related to Chen Ge were on the line. The cursed hospital had done everything it could to force Chen Ge out from the darkness and into the open.

Perhaps the cursed hospital was somewhat cornered by Chen Ge as well. After all, Chen Ge was someone who was playing a hit and run tactic with his Demon God and Top Red Specters. Today, the cursed hospital had lost a Red Specter, and tomorrow, they might lose a Top Red Specter. No matter how long the history of the cursed hospital went in Xin Hai, they could not allow themselves to be continually ground down like this anymore. The cursed hospital had been cultivating their power in Xin Hai for more than twenty years; they would not allow Chen Ge to ruin their power. They had learned from their previous mistake. They would no longer send out one Specter after another for Chen Ge to ambush. That might happen in a game, but this was not something that would happen in real life.

After Chen Ge had ambushed and killed one of their Top Red Specters, the cursed hospital had responded almost immediately. They would have to deal with the big problem that was Chen Ge no matter what. To be frank, now was not the perfect time for Chen Ge to make his move, but the cursed hospital could not allow this to drag on any longer. The cursed hospital possessed the advantage of the location, but Chen Ge had the possible advantages of unity and people. Both parties had completely stopped dancing around in circles and started a killing game with the city of Xin Hai as the background.

Night fell. The busy city of Xin Hai was still as bright as if it was daylight. If anything, the crowd on the street was even more bustling than in the morning. The partying crowd did not realize that there was an additional hue of redness in the night sky. Bloodshot eyes opened up in the shadows of the city, but even they did not notice a young man who was standing at the corner of the stuff. The young man was carrying a large backpack, and he had a cat with a fur coat the color of snow following him.

Chen Ge did not return to Nightmare Academy. After he left Mr. Wang’s home, he went directly to the police station. He did not enter the station but posited himself at the café next to the station. The passers-by assumed he was a street performer based on the large amount of items he was carrying and the pet that curled around him. In any case, no one came to disturb him.

At around 8 pm, Chen Ge received some good news. The red high heels had managed to gain contact with Doctor Gao through her curses. Although, instead of actually gaining communication, it was more like the red high heels had used the blood and curse to create the fake impression that Gao Ru Xue was heading toward the cursed hospital. Through the curse in the blood, she could sense that the distance between Doctor Gao and herself was slowly closing. To prevent unnecessary misunderstandings and accidents in the midst of battle, Chen Ge had the red high heels brand the blood that was mixed with the curse on the back on his arm. A scar that was in a shape of a droplet was the seal that was mixed from the blood from Gao Ru Xue’s heart and the blood vessels taken from inside the white cat’s body. Doctor Gao was madly moving toward the location of this scar.

“Based on the red high heels’ prediction, Doctor Gao’s current power level is much higher than hers. To be able to surpass a Top Red Specter who specializes in curses, there is a very high chance that Doctor Gao has already become a Demon God.”

There was an irresolvable hatred between Doctor Gao and the cursed hospital. Chen Ge hoped that it would mean Doctor Gao would prove helpful to him when he was dealing with the cursed hospital. Now that he had the aid of two Demon Gods, Chen Ge felt like he could give it a try.

He took out the black phone and turned to the page that had all the Trial Missions. His eyes finally landed on the four-star Trial Mission, Cursed Hospital.

“The cursed hospital is the only mission that I have not completed on the black phone’s list of missions. I wonder if anything will happen to the black phone after I accept this mission.”

At the very beginning, there was no four-star trial mission that was showing at all inside the list of missions provided by the black phone. As Chen Ge continued to clear more and more missions, the four-star trial missions started to get unlocked.

“The black phone has not updated its list of available mission for a very long time now. After I complete the trial mission at the cursed hospital, I wonder if it will update with five-star trial missions.”

The difficulty of a four-star Trial Mission was already impossible for Chen Ge to accept. If there was really the presence of a five-star Trial Mission, how high would the difficulty be?

Chasing all the unnecessary thoughts out of his mind, Chen Ge looked at the last mission available on the list of the trial missions, and his finger slowly moved. His parents disappeared at that hospital. All of this started because he had not given up the mission of looking for them. Actually, he had been waiting a very long time for the arrival of this day. One could say that all of his effort and sacrifice was for this moment, for him to have the power to make this choice. And now he had done it and had surpassed the expectations of everyone.

“The lives of at least seven people are in the hands of the cursed hospital. I cannot watch them be killed by the cursed hospital just like that.”

His finger touched on the screen lightly. Chen Ge soon received the message from the black phone.

“Are you sure you want to accept the challenge of the four-star Trial Mission—the Cursed Hospital? Warning! This Trial Mission is extremely dangerous! Please make sure that you have finished with all of your preparations before you make this decision!”

“Yes, I am sure!” Chen Ge continued to move his finger to click on the confirmation button. The black phone then kept vibrating. He had received multiple messages.

“Red Specter’s Favored, Chen Ge, you have now accepted the four-star Trial Mission—Cursed Hospital!

“Cause and effect. The ending has been destined since the beginning. In the end, you have returned to this place.

“Life and death. You have used one death after another to deflect fate and destiny. Twenty years have been exhausted to buy yourself a chance at life.

“Kindness and sin. Everyone thought that the world behind the door is a representation of despair, pain, and unforgivable sin, but there was a child. He has sealed up his own kindness deep inside the nightmare behind the door but has left the most extreme sin in the human world.

“Human and ghost. Are you willing to choose to become a blissful human or an immortal ghost?

“Mission requirement: Arrive at Xin Hai Central Hospital before midnight and survive until sunrise.

“Optional Mission 1: Find your parents or their dead bodies.

“Optional Mission 2: Provide salvation to Patient 1 or kill Patient 1.

“Optional Mission 3: Kill the hospital president or become the new hospital president.

“Mission hint: The version of yourself who lives inside a dream might be immortal, but your life is nothing but a slate of barrenness.”

After reading the messages that appeared on the black phone, Chen Ge was startled for a very long time. The information that was provided by the description of the mission this time was enormous. The cursed hospital might be the most complicated and most difficult mission that he had ever attempted.

“The ending has been destined since the beginning?”

Reading the mission description, many predictions that Chen Ge had were slowly being confirmed.

“The young version of myself that died again and again must have come to the cursed hospital about twenty years ago. He fought for a chance for me to keep on living, but there is one thing that is different from what I believed. The child has sealed up the kindness in the nightmare behind the door but has left the most extreme sin outside the door. If this child in question is the other version of myself, then the child who is suffering the torment of despair behind the door is the representation of kindness and the me who is living a normal person’s life outside the door is the representation of sin. Can I understand it this way?”

Chen Ge paused for a moment and could not help questioning his own self.

“Do I look like a bad person? But I have sworn on my soul that everything that I have done was out of the kindness of my own heart. I have helped so many people and saved so many ghosts.”

Putting this question aside for now, Chen Ge turned to the optional missions. When he saw the first optional mission, his whole body became jittery with excitement. Since the black phone had given this mission, there was an eighty percent chance that Chen Ge’s parents were still trapped in the cursed hospital. From the first day Chen Ge obtained the black phone, he had been waiting for this chance to arrive.

“I am not that interested in the other two optional missions, but I have to complete this first optional mission no matter what!” Chen Ge only managed to calm down several minutes later. He read the information given by the black phone all over again. “Be it the hint or the optional missions, there are choices of opposite ends. This is something that is very strange. I should pay some attention to it.”

Chen Ge had done all the preparation that he could. At around 10 pm, he received a call from Captain Cai. The tone of Captain Cai on the other end of the phone was rather strange.

“Chen Ge, we have already finished our investigation of that abandoned hospital in the countryside. Our people did not come back with any findings of any strange events happening there. The hospital has been abandoned for many years now. There is no trace of any living people there at all.”

“Then, what’s your next move?”

“Part of the police will be assigned to continue the exploration at the abandoned hospital, but most of the police force will be mobilized to scout out the entire city. The criminals are very cunning. Perhaps they intend to use different existing ghost stories to create widespread panic throughout the city. If we do not capture them as soon as possible, it might lead to a very bad influence on the city.”

Captain Cai briefly informed Chen Ge of the investigation, but essentially, he had not given Chen Ge anything useful. Just as Chen Ge was about to hang up on the phone, Captain Cai suddenly lowered his voice. He appeared to have moved to a place where there were not that many people around him.

“Chen Ge, I need you to listen to me. This case is very strange. If you involve yourself any deeper, you might be in mortal danger, so you’d better leave everything to the police.”

“Did something happen to the police at the cursed hospital?” Chen Ge very astutely noticed something was not right.

“Do you still remember the reminder on that paper note?” Captain Cai’s voice lowered even further.

“This is a sickened world?”

“When you return, you’d better burn all the paper notes that contain that sentence.”

“What’s wrong? What did you guys encounter over there?” Chen Ge still wanted to press for more details, but the signal suddenly became very bad. Captain Cai’s yelp came from the other side of the phone. It sounded like someone had bumped into him. The call was disconnected. When Chen Ge called back the same number, no one picked it up anymore.

“The tone that Captain Cai was using was different from usual. Is it possible that he was forced to make this call under the threat of someone else? Or was someone trying to mimic him on the phone?”

Since Chen Ge had Tong Tong with him, he knew that other Specters could have done the same thing.

“This is not good.”

The cursed hospital had a lot more spirits and Red Specters compared to the number of employees that Chen Ge had at his haunted house. Their combined powers and abilities were enough to overturn Chen Ge’s understanding of the normal world.

“I have already accepted the trial mission on the black phone. I have no other choice.”

Chen Ge waited until past ten pm before he called a cab to head to Xin Hai’s countryside. To ensure that the driver was not a puppet sent by the cursed hospital, Chen Ge even had Zhang Yi quietly look over the driver’s memory. Ever since he accepted the mission, other than his company of ghosts, Chen Ge refused to blindly trust anyone from Xin Hai. To search for his parents, he had worked through endless days and nights. He had struggled multiple times along the line of life and death. Everything that he had done it was in preparation for this day. He would not allow himself to make any mistakes.

After they entered the countryside of Xin Hai, the hubbub of the city was left behind almost instantly. They were still within the territory of Xin Hai, but this place appeared to be a completely different world from the city. Behind them were the bright lights of a bustling city, while before them was an enveloping darkness. Only traces of some abandoned buildings could be seen in the dark. This was the countryside of Xin Hai, a piece of land occupied by many abandoned buildings. The deeper one ventured into it, the lower the chance of one encountering another person.

“Dude, I will drop you off here.” The driver parked the taxi by the side of the road. No matter how much Chen Ge was willing to pay, he refused to go any further. Chen Ge did not waste too much time arguing with him. After he paid his fare, he got out from the car. He was about to leave when the driver poked his head out from the driver’s seat window and waved at Chen Ge.

“Is there anything else?”

“Based on your accent, you aren’t a local, right?” The driver looked left and right before he whispered at Chen Ge. “Do not stay too long at the countryside. I hear from the older generation that this place is a small hell. Many people have been buried here.”

Before Chen Ge could ask for more details, the driver turned the car around and returned the way he came. The speed was twice as fast compared to before.