My House of Horrors

“Since you’re here, then there’s no need to hurry and leave! The tickets have already been paid for, so why don’t you let them stay here to relax? I feel like they’ve been wanting to come to theme park to play.”

“The tickets have been paid for?” The woman turned to the man. “Brother, where did you get the money?”

“Sell, rubbish, I collect them,” the man stammered, and he looked scared of this woman.

“Have I treated you badly before? I never brought you here because I’m afraid that you might get into an accident!” The woman appeared embarrassed. Perhaps from her youth, her big brother had been the reason that she could not hold her head high.

“Regardless, I’m about to be late for work. It’ll be easy for you two to get into an accident if you stay here. Come on, let’s quickly go home.” The woman sounded stern. The middle-aged man hesitated, but when he saw his daughter’s eyes, he persisted and shook his head.

“Why don’t you let them stay here? I’ll stay with them and watch over them. I promise nothing will happen to them. After they’ve visited everything, I’ll personally take them home.” Chen Ge took the responsibility on. The service was flawless. Seeing how kind Chen Ge was, the woman started to hesitate as well.

“Don’t worry, every attraction at our park has passed the examination. If the attraction is dangerous and too much, even if they want to, I won’t let them get on it.” Chen Ge attempted to persuade her for a long time, but the woman still refused. She seemed to have some difficulty that she could not say.

“It’s not that I don’t want them to stay… you don’t understand.” The woman waved at Chen Ge, and the two walked several meters away. After making sure that the father and daughter would not hear them, the woman finally revealed her worry. “My brother and Wen Wen are a bit not right in the head. My brother is slightly better, but Wen Wen’s condition has not stabilized—she could act up at any time.”

“What kind of illness is this?”

The woman sighed softly. “It’s a family illness. It’s mental retardation. When she acts up, it’ll be no different from epilepsy. It’s very troublesome.”

“Have you brought them to the doctor? I mean, what did the doctor say? Is there a chance for them to be cured?” Chen Ge had a feeling that the girl should face more than just a family illness. To be chosen as a special visitor by the black phone, there had to be some secret surrounding her. The girl’s father was mentally-retarded and could not communicate normally, so this woman became Chen Ge’s opening.

“Their hereditary illness cannot be cured—it can only be improved…” The woman turned to look at the man and the girl. “My family has a short life expectancy. Perhaps my ancestors have done something to offend the gods. When they’re alive, they have to suffer the pain from the illness, but even for myself, who is normal, life is not easy either. I broke up with my boyfriend of many years because of them as well. I couldn’t just ignore them, but my boyfriend refused to take them on.”

“You’ve been taking care of them? Where is your brother’s wife?”

“That woman was just there to cheat my family’s money!” The mention of this woman made her grit her teeth in anger. “If not for her, we would not have ended up in this state. Initially, I also thought that she would look after my brother, but she was just in it for the money. After giving birth to Wen Wen, she abandoned them and ran.

“I also don’t know how long I can hold on. I’m already thirty-four this year.” Speaking of this sad part, the woman’s tone rose, and she caught herself after a while. “I’m sorry for losing myself.”

She turned to look at the pair with complicated emotions. “Fine, perhaps I should respect their decision. If they want to stay, then they should, but you have to guarantee their safety.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be by their side.” Chen Ge had not gone out last night, so he did not need to sleep.

“By the way, there’s something that you have to be careful about.” The woman was suddenly reminded of something, “Do not let Wen Wen go on any attractions with water. The best is to make sure she stays away from water, not even the fountain.”

“Stay away from the water?” This was the first time Chen Ge heard a request like that. He didn’t think too much of it at first but after a while, suddenly the mission about the Twin Water Ghosts appeared in his mind. The girl and her father came from Eastern Jiujiang, and her father once said the term ‘Eastern Dam’.

Thinking about it, could the father have been referring to Eastern Jiujiang’s dam, the place where many drownings had happened. Was the girl related to the Twin Water Ghosts mission? Was the previously-mentioned big sister actually dead?

The woman saw how silent Chen Ge was, and she assumed wrongly that Chen Ge was wondering why she would say that. “Don’t ask me why. Just make sure she stays away from the water. I need to go to work. I’ll come back to fetch them after I’m off work. I’ll depend on you in the meantime.”

“Wait…”

“I’m going to be late!”

“One last question.” The more Chen Ge thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong. He took out the white paper that the girl had written on in the Pen Spirit’s room. The two words were still left on it. “Do you only have three members in your family?”

“Yes, what about it?” The woman was impatient, seemingly very worried about being late.

“But how come I heard Wen Wen say that she has a big sister?”

When he said that, the woman’s expression froze, and her eyes shuddered. She needed a long time before she calmed down. “Wen Wen is sick—that is her imagination. If there’s nothing else, I need to go. I’ll come back at 7:30 pm.”

The woman’s expression became very bad, and her tone was icy. She stopped talking to Chen Ge and rushed to leave New Century Park.

“She must know something.”

“Boss, who is that woman?” Xu Wan walked over from the gate with breakfast. “It’s rude for you to keep looking at her like that.”

“The two visitors over there have a heredity illness, and she is their family. She’s worried about them, so she hoped that I can look after them for her.” Chen Ge took over the breakfast and started eating. “Today, you and Xiao Gu will have to work harder. I might get off work earlier to send them home.”

“Personally sending them home? How come you’re so good to them?” Xu Wan rolled her eyes.

“I’m always so kind. Also, let’s go and do your make up quick.” Chen Ge helped Xu Wan with her make-up. Like the day before, he summoned Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue. He gave them the same outfits as before and had them help at the Haunted House.

The park opened at 9 am. Chen Ge had delegated all the job at his Haunted House. He accompanied the man and the girl as they experienced the park’s many attractions.

Seeing the smile on the girl’s face, Chen Ge was greatly satisfied. This was the pure, original purpose of a theme park, bringing people happiness.