My House of Horrors

Chilling water slid down Chen Ge’s hair. He was reeling from the fact that he had come so close to death. His chest was pumping unevenly, his lips turning from pale to purple, his hands still gripping the cleavers.

He felt more collected two minutes later, and the light-headedness dissolved. Wiping the water droplets from his face, Chen Ge stood up unsteadily from the bathtub. With the weak light of the candle, he could see that nothing had changed inside the bathroom.

I swear I managed to cut something earlier; there was that snap too.

Chen Ge looked around him and saw a cut left on the edge of the tub.

Did I accidentally cut the tub? That shouldn’t be it; there was definitely someone holding my head down in the water earlier, and the cleaver should have cut that person.

Desperate to know the truth, Chen Ge climbed out of the tub to grab the phone that was still recording. He stopped the recording and replayed it from the start.

At 3:30 am, I sat inside the bathtub, and nothing happened on screen until 3:43 am.

Chen Ge leaned against the wall as his eyes glued themselves to the screen. At 3:44 am, he lay down in the tub, causing the water to overflow.

Looking at it from another perspective, this does look rather creepy.

When he was doing this in person, Chen Ge did not feel like it was all that odd, but looking at it through the camera’s lens, there was something chillingly bizarre about this.

Chen Ge glanced at the time stamp. For the initial twenty seconds after he submerged himself, everything was normal inside the bathroom. There was the occasional sound of water dripping.

Ten seconds later, Chen Ge frowned. The video that was playing on screen was showing a different reality than he remembered!

Based on his memory, by then, the footsteps should have been heard from the corridor, but it was absolutely peaceful on the screen. The audio did not pick up anything weird, definitely no sound of footsteps. Five seconds later, the door slamming that Chen Ge remembered clearly also did not show up on-screen. All that was captured on the video was the darkened surface of the water and the dancing candlelight.

The footsteps and door slamming were all parts of my hallucination?

When fifty seconds had passed, the originally peaceful water surface was disturbed by a copious amount of air bubbles. It was obvious that the Chen Ge in the video was close to his limits. However, right then, something happened on the screen that made chills crawl all over Chen Ge’s body.

There was a piece of shattered mirror the size of a palm lying beside the bathtub. Its surface started to cloud over like it had been swallowed by a dark fog. Eventually, a black shadow slowly extended itself from it. It leaned against the tub; the scene was definitely supernatural. Based on its build and features, it looked like He Feng.

The number of air bubbles started to increase, and the video was about to reach its climax. In the video, Chen Ge’s body and mind were tested to their limits already, and he was about to give up. Chen Ge could see himself inside the tub moving upwards.

However, just as his head was about to break the surface, the black shadow beside the tub suddenly reached out with both of its hands to press on his head!

The shock caused water to stream into Chen Ge’s nostrils, choking the man alive. Chen Ge struggled vehemently as the cleavers in his hands waved frantically above. The black shadow flickered like an image on an old television. The cleavers affected him but only slightly.

At the most crucial moment, the ragdolls that were placed around the bathtub started to teeter like they were being blown by winds. The smallest among them tipped over and used its body to block the palm-sized mirror piece completely.

The black shadow’s body started to blur. It was then that Chen Ge’s cleaver inadvertently made contact with its head, and the shadow disappeared. The cleaver flew out of Chen Ge’s grasp, and before it landed on the floor, it scratched the edge of the bathtub, leaving a light mark. Almost at the same time, Chen Ge burst through the water surface.

The video ended then. After knowing the truth, the desire within Chen Ge’s heart to demolish that creature intensified. The thing has to be vanquished!

Chen Ge saved the video and picked up the ragdoll that was lying on top of the mirror. The small girl’s back had been cut by the sharp edge of the mirror, and her body was drenched.

They’re both existence from the other side, but their personalities are completely different. Some of them are just in it for the scare, and they’re good at heart, while others harbor nothing but malice.

Chen Ge dried his body and put on his clothes. He placed all the dolls inside his pocket, and it was then that he felt better.

Shattering the mirrors is useless. It can still crawl out of the mirror, so how am I supposed to deal with a creature like this? The thing can appear and disappear at will and can’t be found; I’m at a natural disadvantage dealing with things like this.

Chen Ge picked up the palm-sized mirror out of curiosity, but he was shocked to realize the water droplets on it seemed to be moving with a will of their own. They trailed across the surface forming a number—3.

Is this a taunt from the monster? Three, representing He San, He Feng, and myself? Or will it kill me within three days?

Chen Ge had no clue what the number meant, but he was certain it wouldn’t be anything good. Then again, do you really think I am afraid of you? One of these days, I’ll yank you out of the mirror and put you out in the sun to scorch you alive!

Chen Ge came up with the worst curse he could think of. He had come so close to dying earlier.

After taking another deep breath, Chen Ge went to pick up the black phone. He did not have much anticipation, but when he saw the message that appeared on screen, his eyes lit up.

“The Specters’ Favored, you managed to hold your breath for 62 seconds. Congratulations for completing the Nightmare Mission! Obtain the mission reward—Yin Yang Vision.

“Yin Yang Vision: See through the line that blurs between the two worlds. Use the Yang body to observe the Yin presence (A great upgrade to one’s vision, other function currently unknown).

“Notice: You have completed two Nightmare Daily Missions. After completing the third Nightmare Mission, it will randomly unlock the Trial Mission for one of the scenarios!

“Completed three consecutive missions with more than a 95 percent completion rate, unlocking new feature—My Friends from the Other Side [Affection Status]!”

After reading through the series of messages, Chen Ge did not know what he should feel. The requirement of the Nightmare Mission was for him to hold his breath for sixty seconds. Due to the outside disturbance, he had already planned to surrender at around fifty or so seconds, and he would have failed the mission. However, the desire of the mirror monster to kill him had forced him to hold on for an additional few seconds, allowing him to complete the mission with a very close success.

In a way, the appearance of the mirror monster was a blessing in disguise, because in the end, the result was positive.

Chen Ge went through the black phone and realized how crucial this Nightmare Mission was. If he had failed the mission, not only would he not have earned the mission reward, the unlocking of the new scenario would have been delayed, and most importantly, the new function of the phone would not have been unlocked.

Compelled by curiosity, Chen Ge clicked the new tab open. The interface changed, and five unfamiliar names appeared on screen.