My House of Horrors

When did the views surpass 20,000? At the beginning of the livestream, I remember seeing only ten people in the room. Chen Ge raised the phone up to the ceiling, but the signal was still weak. The chat was lagging badly. One moment, he could not even load a single comment, but suddenly, he would be overwhelmed by a ton. He could barely make sense of anything.

20,000 views but less than 5,000 followers, this ratio is a bit lacking.

Chen Ge used his phone to snap pictures of the few pieces of paper that had been used in the Pen Spirit game. He then turned the camera to capture the broken ballpoint pen that sat in the middle of the chair. “Dear viewers, can you see this? I have played the Pen Spirit game until the pen itself committed suicide! Aren’t you going to follow me? Do you know how much I’m risking being here? An unknown host like myself, without equipment or a team. I’m here all alone, threading the line of danger. I know my equipment is not that great, and I can’t even interact with you in chat, but I can lead you into the most authentic supernatural experience. This is definitely one of a kind and cannot be copied.”

After giving his speech, the number of followers started to rise. For Chen Ge, he was merely completing the black phone’s mission, but it was a different concern from the viewers’ perspective. Especially in comparison to Qin Guang’s livestream. Even though Chen Ge was lacking in terms of equipment, his content was inimitable, whether from the aspect of danger or spectacle.

The key to a successful livestream was none other than freshness and creativity. Qin Guang’s team relied on a finished script, and they even had an actor to play the part. However, no matter how realistic the actor’s acting was, it would appear forced. However, Chen Ge’s content was very different; even Chen Ge himself did not know what would happen next.

“Thank you for your support. That was the Pen Spirit game, please do not try this at home. Alright, now we shall move onto the next location.” Looking at the popularity that was still rising, Chen Ge was overjoyed. In any case, since he had to finish these missions dispensed by the black phone, why not make use of them fully and convert them into popularity?

I wonder what is happening inside the chatroom, but a rising popularity is a good thing. At least my risk of coming here tonight is not going to waste. The easy completion of the first side mission gave Chen Ge a boost of confidence. He put on his raincoat and left the dormitory. He had done everything he could there, so there was no point in staying.

There are three side missions left: the Sealed Classroom, the Deep Well, and the Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet.

The Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet appeared to be inside the education block. Chen Ge had been to the dormitory’s toilets, and they only had four cubicles. If the office building’s layout was similar to the dormitory’s, then only the education block’s toilets fit the mission description.

Chen Ge glanced at his phone. He had arrived at Mu Yang High School at 8 pm. Technically, the Pen Spirit game should not have taken too long, but the time showed that it was now almost 9 pm.

There are three hours left until midnight. One hour for each mission, should be fine.Chen Ge’s plan was to finish all the side missions as soon as possible and find a corner to hide in until dawn arrived.

When he stood before the education block again, Chen Ge had a weird feeling that the thing that sat before him was not an abandoned building but a giant coffin that housed plenty of dead bodies.

The side mission did not specify the exact location of the toilet. There are three stories to this block, and this means that any one of the toilets on the three levels could be my mission location. Chen Ge turned on his flashlight and entered the building.

Passing through empty classrooms at night caused Chen Ge’s skin to crawl. He was afraid that once he turned, he would see something that shouldn’t exist inside the classroom. He rushed toward the end of the corridor and entered the first floor’s toilet.

The place was spared from the fire and the interior remained the same as it was several years ago. The flooring was cracked and weeds could be seen peeking through the cracks. There were a brownish stain on the wall and the sole window in the room was creaking eerily.

“Focus on the mission, there’s no time to waste.”

All of the toilets inside the education block had 6 cubicles. Years of abandonment meant that most of cubicle doors were broken and Chen Ge could look into the cubicles without even opening the door.

With the mallet in his hand, Chen Ge walked past the six cubicles. The earlier four cubicles had nothing wrong about them but the fifth and sixth cubicles caught his attention. The doors to these two cubicles were shut and with a slight push, Chen Ge realized with a start that they were locked.

Normally, the door is locked only because someone is occupying the cubicle.However, that could not be true here. The school has been abandoned for three years already. Even if something is occupying the cubicles, it cannot be ‘human’. In any case, I’d better take a closer look.

Chen Ge smashed at the sixth door with his mallet, and the door fell open. Before Chen Ge could react, several dark shadows charged at him.

“What is that‽” He jumped back to avoid them. He shone his flashlight at his ‘assailant’, and Chen Ge was embarrassed to realize it was merely the cleaning equipment. After recovering from the fake scare, Chen Ge picked the mops and brooms off the floor and shoved them back into the cubicle. He found the same thing in the next cubicle. All six of the cubicles on the first floor were normal, which meant that his mission venue was on another floor.

After exiting the toilet, Chen Ge looked over with shoulder with uncertainty. The cubicle doors creaked on their hinges like people waving at him.

This would create quite a scary effect inside the Haunted House. Chen Ge made a mental note to remember this for the future and headed up the stairs to the second floor. It had the same layout as the first-floor toilet, but the window was boarded up. Once Chen Ge stepped into the space, he felt weirdly pressured.

This should be the place then.

Probably because the window was boarded up, the toilet was better preserved than the first floor one; there was not much change compared to how it was several years ago. He walked to the first cubicle, and before even pushing the door open, he heard footsteps coming from the corridor outside.

However, due to the interruption from the rain, he could not really tell for sure.Is someone running in the corridor?

He hid in a corner of the toilet and raised his mallet in a guarded posture in case someone decided to rush into the room. Nothing like that happened.

As time moves toward midnight, the school is slowly starting to change, like it is coming alive. Looks like I will need to pick up my pace. Chen Ge stopped hesitating and pushed open the first four cubicles in one go. When he stood before the fifth cubicle, the footsteps in the corridor started again, and he heard it clearly this time. There were two sets of footsteps.

The mission description for the Fifth Cubicle in the Toilet stated that a red shadow would appear at midnight, was that it?