My House of Horrors

Footsteps came from down the corridor, and the grass that grew to one’s waist was pushed away. Chen Ge, wearing Mr. Bai’s teacher’s ID, walked over.

“Well done, you’ve surpassed my expectations.” Chen Ge was never stingy with his praise. He was good at encouraging others, which probably had tons to do with his warm nature. “Stay guard over here for a while. After he wakes up, you can use him to practice scaring others, but if he doesn’t wake up, there’s no need to force it.”

Seeing the nod from the Red Specter, Chen Ge left with satisfaction. He hurried over because he had received a message from Duan Yue that the Ghost Story Classroom had appeared. As the special building attached to the four-star scenario, Chen Ge wished to experience it in person. Even though the black phone promised that it would not harm the visitors physically, he would feel much better seeing it for himself.

“The Ghost Story Classroom sounds like a good project. Alas, Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue didn’t give me immediate feedback.” After entering the education block, Chen Ge soon arrived at that strange classroom. “I’ve been here when I was setting scare points last night. It did not look like this.”

He entered the classroom and looked around. Everything was normal; nothing was out of place.

“If the class generates a ghost story every night, what was the ghost story that was generated last night?”

He sat on the first row inside the classroom. He waited for a long time, but nothing happened. His patience was wearing thin. He messaged the phone that Ol’ Zhou was using. After knowing that they were being chased by the student that came from inside the classroom, he walked out.

Bang!

The door of the classroom closed behind him. When Chen Ge turned around, the classroom had returned to normal. The television, mirror, and all the other trash had disappeared like they were never there in the first place.

“What is the meaning of this? Once the owner of the black phone enters it, the location of the classroom will change? Or will it only be in effect for a certain period?”

The classroom had disappeared, but the male student who chased after Ol’ Zhou had not. This gave Chen Ge a sight of the shortcut to reach his ‘goal’. He picked up his pace, and suddenly, he saw the camera that had been abandoned in the middle of the road. This poor camera had been abandoned several times. Everyone thought it a burden.

“If the camera has been dropped, how is Liu Gang conducting the livestream?” This was like a soldier dropping his weapon during war; Chen Ge did not understand it. “If you do not livestream the whole process, how are people going to know how exciting my Haunted House is?”

Chen Ge walked to the camera and sighed in relief when he saw that the shooting light was on.

“Since none of you are willing to do the livestream, I will lend you a hand.”

The lips curled upward, and several plans flooded his mind. When Liu Gang did the livestream, he would do his best to slander the Haunted House and used various methods to lower the terror factor, but now, Chen Ge was the one handling the camera. The power was with him; he was the one who would decide what the viewers saw. They did not have a choice. “I can make use of this chance to promote my Haunted House and have everyone experience the charm of this place.”

Holding the camera with one hand, Chen Ge pulled out his phone with another to log into Liu Gang’s livestream room. The camera panned up, and once that happened, the number of messages instantly shot up.

“The camera is moving! Brother Gang finally remembered us in the livestream!”

“Something’s not right! Brother Gang has already escaped, as did the second batch of people, so who is manning the camera now?”

“What the f*ck! This is harrowing! I’m out! The camera is moving on its own!”

“Put it down! Who are you?”

Chen Ge did not interact with the people online. He held the camera and planned to record the truest faces of the visitors before millions of users and, at the same time, use it as a small promo for his Haunted House. With Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue providing the location, Chen Ge silently moved toward the group of visitors.

…

“Let’s be friends!” The shrill voice came closer and closer. Not only Big Ghost and Small Ghost, even Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue were feeling a bit panicked. The education block was the biggest sub scenario in the School of the Afterlife. The corridors were intertwining, and there was nothing they could use as reference, so getting lost was common. With Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue leading the way, they had reached the innermost part of the education block. Corridors spread around them, but none of them seemed to lead to hope.

“What the hell was that‽”

“I don’t know!”

“Why does it have such good stamina‽”

The screams did not stop, and the source was still chasing after them like he was running a marathon. The more the visitors thought about it, the more scared they became.

“We can’t keep running like this! Since he’s looking for a friend, perhaps if we agree to that, he will leave!” Sister Ghost could not run anymore. She was so tired that she felt like vomiting bile. Before going there, she did not realize that visiting a Haunted House could be so physically taxing.

“Let’s try it. I’ve heard similar ghost stories before. Ostracized student died in the classroom and returned to school for class—he would only leave peacefully after finally making a friend.”

Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue ran ahead. They looked rather weathered and haggard. Ol’ Zhou even hacked drily with his hand over his chest like he was about to die from heart failure.

“Okay, we’ll give it a try! When the ghost student asks, we’ll count to three, and we will answer at the same time—we’ll be your friend!” Bai Buhui had much better leadership than Liu Gang. He had become the center of this small group.

“No problem!” Everyone gave their word. Their eyes were determined, and they resisted their fear and stood together.

The ghost student saw them slow down, but he did not do the same. He came after them with this strange smile on his face. “Let’s be friends!”

“Ready!” Bai Buhui’s palms were sweaty. He started to count down. “Three, two, one!”

When it ended, the corridor was startlingly quiet. None of the six spoke. The atmosphere was quite awkward. This silence lasted for half a second, then as if they had agreed to it, they all started to run down the corridor.

The group cooperation collapsed due to the desire to scam the others. Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue were at their limit already, but they kept on running, not slowing down at all. It was Sister Ghost who failed; she was the first to get caught up by the ghost student. The scary face stuck to her own and then passed through her. The ghost generated by the ghost story classroom appeared to be a lingering spirit with limited time. Whenever he found a friend, his body would fade by a degree.

Shrill screams carried down the corridor. The threshold was reached; the double torment of her soul and body knocked Sister Ghost out. The camera slowly moved to the side. Then two doctors with white coats floated over and carried the girl away while grumbling some complaints. The ghost student’s voice appeared in the corridor again. After he left, a man carrying a camera appeared from the darkness.