My House of Horrors

Chen Ge stared at the window before him closely. The glass was heavily stained, and it was unclear when it had last been given a good wipe. “The sound appears to have come from outside the window. Is something hanging on the wall?”

An image of a strange creature with very long nails appeared in Chen Ge’s mind. It was stuck to the wall from outside, and once Chen Ge opened the window, it would leap into the room. He had encountered way too many strange things at this school, so no matter what kind of monster appeared, he would no longer be surprised.

“The stains on the window are blackish red in color, and they all run in lines. They appear to be formed from being continually scratched by bloody hands.” The scratching sound of nails against glass continued to reverberate through the room. Chen Ge resisted the discomfort and placed his hand on the glass.

A sticky and wet sensation came from his fingertips, and that gave Chen Ge quite a shock. The stain was on the inside of the window, which meant that the creature that was scratching the window was also inside the room!

The brain took zero point something seconds to catch up to the situation. Chen Ge immediately shoved the window open without any hesitation. Fresh air flew into the room. Chen Ge leaped out of the window. Just as he turned around to adjust his posture, he saw a pool of blackish red damp that was growing on the ceiling. Chen Ge slammed the window shut with the back of his hand. He stepped on the palm-wide edge, and the sound of scratching became clearer and clearer.

He took out Lin Sisi’s phone, opened the camera app, and aimed it inside the room. The image that showed up caused a chill to run down his spine. There was someone crawling on the ceiling!

He was wearing a uniform from the trash collection center. Several arms grew from his chest. There were male and female arms with varying lengths and sizes. The only similarity between the arms was that all of the nails had been grounded away, and the exposed skin was dripping blackish red blood. The expanding pool of damp that Chen Ge had seen earlier was actually left behind by the waving of these arms.

“That thing was dangling above me?” The window kept shaking. The monster had already run to the side of the window. He was hanging upside down from the ceiling, and the arms waved maddeningly. They scratched the window as they attempted to pull Chen Ge back into the room. The stained window started to crack. Chen Ge was not going to stay, and he jumped away from the edge to the wall.

“No wonder the psycho in cubicle seven didn’t come out to get me—there is a worker posted at the center.” The worker who dangled from the ceiling was a very scary type, the kind that would wake one up from the dream. “It’s probably responsible for categorizing the trash. Are the arms on its chest and stomach also recycled items?”

The thought that he had been in close vicinity with such a monster for a long time caused Chen Ge’s back to ooze with cold sweat. “You really cannot let your guard down for even a second at this school. Every single room is like a living nightmare.”

Sitting on the wall, Chen Ge took out the phone and snapped a picture of the small building’s only window. The window frame shook for a while before stopping. Just like the Red Specter who could not leave the lab, this worker appeared like it could not leave the trash collection center as well.

“The Red Specter at the lab was responsible for the maintenance of the rules at the lab, and this monster with hands coming from his stomach should be responsible for looking after the trash collection center.” The school was like a microcosm of a society with ghosts and Red Specters as the citizens. This gave Chen Ge a preposterous feeling. “The owner of the school appears to be trying hard to simulate the world outside the door, but why are they doing that?”

This scenario was completely different from any of the scenarios that Chen Ge had visited in the past. He had not encountered such obedient Red Specters before. Even at his own Haunted House, when dealing with Red Specters, Chen Ge usually reasoned with them because he was afraid that other methods might cause them to go on a rampage.

“To be able to make so many Red Specters act so obediently is a sign of a big trouble. Although, this could be a good thing. At least I don’t need to worry about being constantly chased by them.” Sitting on the tall wall, on Chen Ge’s left side was the dark night school with a foreboding presence, but his right side had blurry lights and the occasional laughter of students.

One side was creepy and depressed, whereas the other was lively. This contrast reminded Chen Ge of the paintings that he had seen in the art room earlier. The two campuses formed a stark contrast, similar to those inverted paintings.

However, this did not mean that the western campus for graduate students had to be safer than the eastern campus meant for working and adult students. After all, a normal university would not be so lively after midnight. If the eastern campus was like a cemetery that was enveloped in a nightmare, then western campus was like a machine that did not know rest.

One pooled negative emotions to express humanity’s darkest nature to its full potential while the other hid a machine-like coldness amid raucousness. It felt like human nature had been fully silenced.

“The hidden terror at both campuses is completely different; this is something that I could not have imagined before.” The cold wind caressed his cheeks. Chen Ge had never been so awakened in his life.

He lowered his head to glance at the western campus. There was a squat two-story building that was built along the wall. Similar to the trash collection center at the eastern campus, it was attached to the wall.

“After I leap over, should I want to return to this side, I’ll have to enter that building, which I’m assuming is the trash collection center for the western campus. I’ll have to climb up to the window again and jump over.”

Chen Ge had no idea why the school would come up with such a design. He stood on the wall and looked into the distance. The two campuses were separated by the tall wall. There was no gate or door, and the only connecting locale was the trash collection centers.

“Could it be that the trash collection centers are the entrances? The ‘students’ of the eastern campus are ‘trash’ for the western campus?”

Sitting on the wall, Chen Ge was thinking and had not made his move when he suddenly saw a man in leather shoes walking out from the brush.

“Mr. Bai? How did he know that I’m here? Did the manager at the center give him the news? That’s likely. He was probably attracted here by the sound of battle with the girl in the forest.” Chen Ge sat on the wall. If he returned to the eastern campus now, the chance of him being captured was very high.

After giving it some thought, Chen Ge descended to the western campus. When he was on the wall, he had memorized the layout of the buildings on the western campus. The scale of the western campus was several times the size of the eastern campus, and the layout was quite complicated.

Bending over, Chen Ge went into hiding inside the brush. Chen Ge silently approached the western campus’ trash collection center.

The western campus’ center was obviously cleaner than the one on the eastern side. The term ‘Trash Collection Center’ was written clearly on the door. There was no litter on the road, and there was no strange smell. Several trash trucks were even parked next to the door.

Chen Ge pushed on the door lightly. The wooden door fell away under his touch. The decoration of the interior was almost identical to its eastern counterpart.

“Even in real life, it’s almost impossible to find such a clean trash collection center.”