My House of Horrors

In the center of the corridor, both of the mannequin’s legs had been yanked off. The rope around the mannequin’s neck tightened like someone was pulling on her.

What is this guy trying to achieve?

Ever since he reached the female body, the Tape Ghost had stopped screaming. The more he thought about it, the more confused Chen Ge felt.

The mannequin is the item of possession for Xu Zhenzhen, so the Tape Ghost is trying to force her out?

While he was thinking, the rope around the mannequin’s neck snapped. The mannequin fell to the floor, and the head detached from her body and rolled several meters away until it stopped at the corner, her eyes staring at her body.

The roughly-made mannequin face started to change from struggle to fear, then slowly reverting to normal. The fake lips moved like she was trying to say something. Several seconds later, the screams returned to the corridor, but unlike before, there was now an additional female voice.

“So painful! So painful!”

The voice of a male and female surrounded Chen Ge and the screams greatly unsettled him.

Why is Xu Zhenzhen screaming alongside the Tape Ghost? Does he have the ability to assimilate other ghosts?

Chen Ge had no idea what the Tape Ghost had done to Xu Zhenzhen; this was the Tape Ghost’s biggest secret. The alternating sound of male and female screams flooded Chen Ge’s ears. It caused his eyelids to twitch. He tried turning off the recorder, but it would not work.

“Pain, so much pain…”

The voice seemed to touch Chen Ge’s face. Then it slowly weakened until there was a click on the recorder. The play button stopped working.

The corridor no longer felt so depressed, and Chen Ge could breathe easier. Even the mannequin head that was left on the floor did not look so scary. Chen Ge opened the recorder. When he removed the tape, the black phone vibrated.

A message at a time like this?

Chen Ge stood beside the female mannequin and took out his phone to take a look.

“Congratulations, Specter’s Favored. You have unlocked Xu Yin’s affection mission. Completing the affection mission will greatly increase Xu Yin’s affection level, and there’s a high chance that you might be able to employ him at your Haunted House!

“Mission Venue: Fang Hwa Apartments.

“Mission Goal: You only have one night to find Xu Yin’s lover!

“Mission Hint: Honey, white, black, and red, which color do you prefer?”

The information on screen was only a few lines, but Chen Ge looked through it several times.

Fang Hwa Apartments? Isn’t that where Wang Xin is staying? I’ve been there once when I was trying to help the Pen Spirit.

The mission given by the black phone came with a certain danger level. Furthermore, based on what he knew of the Tape Ghost, something tragic must have happened to him for him to have such a deep level of resentment. Chen Ge did not want to take another mission after just finishing the Third Sick Hall’s Trial Mission, but the reward of employing a ghost at his Haunted House was too hard to give up upon.

The Tape Ghost is slightly stronger than the Pen Spirit. If I can hire him, then doing Trial Missions in the future will be safer.

Just as Chen Ge made the decision, the phone in his pocket rang. It was from an unknown number.

There are only a few who know my number. Who could this be?

Chen Ge let the phone rang for a few seconds before he answered it.

“Chen Ge, this is Captain Yan.”

“Captain Yan? Why are you calling?”

“The three suspects that you’ve found at the third sick hall… two of them have been found dead at their home.”

“Dead‽” Chen Ge was shocked.

He was about to ask Captain Yan for more details when the black phone in his other hand vibrated. There was new information on screen. Chen Ge looked it and was shocked to see that the completion rate of the Third Sick Hall had risen to 65 percent!

“Chen Ge? Are you there?”

“Sorry, just a little shocked. They were fine a few days ago; why did they suddenly die?”

“At 3 am yesterday, we received a call. The person who made the call said that his name was Xu Tong. He said many curious things, and he made so no sense, so we couldn’t understand what he was trying to communicate.”

“So, you hung up on him?”

“Of course not. Xu Tong was a suspect on the run. The officer who answered the call contacted us immediately; however, when we triangulated his position and found him, he was already dead.” There was a trace of hardly discernible feeling mixed in Captain Yan’s tone. “He and a single-armed man were both stuffed inside a dresser. The actual cause of death is still unknown, and there were no obvious wounds on their bodies.”

“Perhaps the killer is their former ally? The man’s name is Xiong Qing. His face is twisted, so he’s easily recognizable.”

“Leave the detective work to us. I asked for your number from Inspector Lee because I wanted to remind you in person.” Captain Yan sent two pictures to Chen Ge. “These are pictures that we found in the victims’ phones. They might be targeting you.”

The transfer was slow. Chen Ge needed to wait several seconds before he could see the content clearly. The first picture was taken when Chen Ge was hauled into the police car outside of Third Sick Hall, and the second picture was of Chen Ge when he left the police station. Both pictures were fuzzy. The person who had taken the pictures was very cautious; they had stood very far away when they took those pictures.

“These picture were taken by Xu Tong?” Chen Ge did not think that he would one day be stalked.

“That doesn’t matter anymore. The important thing is they seem to be part of something larger. They’re part of a group that does things systematically, and that changes a lot of thing.”

“Right, I’ve told you all that morning that there might be eight killers, and they were all once patients in the Third Sick Hall.” Other than Wang Shenglong, all the remaining patients were incurable mad persons.

Captain Yan sighed. “The clue you gave us has helped tremendously. We checked the information from four years ago, and after comparison, there were three of those eight patients who seem to have evaporated off the face of the earth after the hospital closed down. There is no physical or online trail of them anywhere.”