Novel Full “Brother, you aren’t planning to go upstairs, are you? Have you already forgotten what happened to us in Jiu Hong Apartments Block 1? I guarantee that there are very dangerous monsters hiding up there!” Xiao Sun gnashed his teeth and made a scary face to try to stop Chen Ge, but unfortunately Chen Ge was never one who could be easily persuaded. Once he had made a decision about something, he would pursue it until its very end. Just like how he had first taken over the haunted house after his parent’s disappearance, even if he had to cough up his own money to maintain the place because the income was not enough to even cover the utility bills, he was not going to give up.
The Doctor Skull Cracker’s hammer in his hand was getting heavier and heavier. Chen Ge felt like he could barely drag it along with him anymore.
There must be something possessing me, or else this would not have happened!
Green veins popped on his neck. Chen Ge swung a heavy fist at the air before him. He hated this kind feeling of weakened feeling a lot.
“Chen Ge, I think you should take a longer rest. I am more worried about Xiang Nuan’s safety than you are, but if you continue to force yourself like this, I am afraid that before we can find Xiang Nuan, you will be the one to collapse first.”
Wen Qing had noticed how strangely Chen Ge was acting. It did not appear that he was exhausted from fatigue, but he was falling under a serious illness. His teammates were all trying to persuade Chen Ge, but the latter only shook his head.
“I have a very bad feeling about all this. The peace will soon be shattered. If we are unable to find enough trump cards before the tragedy arrives, we will not even be given the chance to sit at the card table. Do you understand what I am trying to say?”
“I honestly cannot say that I do. What I can understand is that you look incredibly tired, like a child who has just attempted a marathon for the first time. Your body has reached its limits, but you still want to force yourself to finish the whole journey.”
Wen Qing still wanted to add something, but she was interrupted by Chen Ge with a quick wave of his hand.
“The failure to finish a marathon can only be considered a regret, but if we stop here, then there is a high chance we won’t even have the chance to move forward anymore.”
Chen Ge walked out of Room 0005 and entered the staircase. At this point, Chen Ge could not tell whether it was his mind playing tricks on him or if he really did catch a sniff of disinfectant in the air. This smell intermingled with the stench that had been following them to form a very strange and pungent smell. It made people want to cover their mouth and nose involuntarily.
The black iron door inside the worlds of the other children’s door also give off this smell of disinfectant. Does this mean that I am getting closer to the ghost fetus’ deepest secret?
Holding the banister as support, Chen Ge reached the second floor. This whole corridor was sealed up. All the windows were blocked out by cement, but interestingly enough, someone had drawn out a new picture of the windows using blood on top of the original windows that had been cemented.
“Blood represents pain and tragedy, but the window represent the outside world and hope, so what does a window painted by blood mean?”
The second-floor corridor was extremely suffocating. It was like an enclosed space. There was not even a draft that could be felt. Walking down the corridor, Chen Ge studied the doors that led down the walls, and he stopped moving. The doors of the rooms on the second floor were different from the doors of the rooms on the first floor. They were no longer sickroom doors with small windows on them but many pure black iron doors. These doors were more like prison doors that were used to imprison criminals. Most doors had blood and other unknown stains lingering on them, and they had a large lock on them.
“They can’t be opened?” Chen Ge used the ring of keys that he found at Jin Hwa Apartments to give them a try. None of the keys matched.
“Black iron door and the smell of disinfectant in the air. These few doors should be hiding the ghost fetus’ last secret behind them.”
Resisting the tearing pain from his corneas, Chen Ge used his Yin Yang Vision as he leaned at the gap of the first iron door and looked through it. There was complete darkness in the room, and many broken and shattered toys were littered on the ground. The toys reminded Chen Ge of the toys that he once played with when he was still a child. Chen Ge guessed the hospital probably purchased most of them based on the ghost fetus’ requirements and demands.
“All of the toys have been ruined. Not one remains intact. Looks like the ghost fetus has already understood that even if he was playing with the toys from way back when, he could no longer return to that time of innocence anymore. He was no longer anyone’s shadow. He was just a child who was being pushed to the edge of his sanity.”
Since the door was locked, this was the only way Chen Ge could study the room. Just as he pulled back his gaze and was ready to walk toward the second door, the whole building started to shake again. The shock this time was much stronger than any of the quakes that preceded it!
“Kneel down! Get close to the wall!” Chen Ge gripped the hammer tightly. His knees gave away underneath him. He crumbled to the ground, and his face was startlingly pale. The screaming and wailing from outside the building became more intense. The monsters that were hiding inside the black fog appeared to be attacking the buildings inside the residential area madly. More cracks appeared on the walls. Some of the black fog had already started to leak into the interior of the buildings!
“Ah!” Wen Qing, who was not that far from Chen Ge, let out a scream. Her body appeared to be dragged along by an invisible force. Someone was trying to pull her downstairs.
“Chen Ge!” The panicked Wen Qing called Chen Ge for help. At that moment, the shaking still had not stopped. Chen Ge had no better idea; he could only watch as Wen Qing was being dragged down the stairs.
“Xiao Sun, we need to go after her!” Crawling on his hands and knees, Chen Ge had never been so flustered in his life. Xiao Sun and Chen Ge followed Wen Qing to the first floor, and as they turned the corner, they arrived just in time to see Wen Qing being dragged by that invisible power into Room 0097. “We will get into that room as well!”
Just as Chen Ge and Xiao Sun crossed the threshold into Room 0097, a loud thud came from the floor above them. It sounded like one of the iron doors had been shoved open, and the door slammed heavily on the wall.
What escaped from the room?
The trio hid inside Room 0097. Chen Ge stood closest to the door as he paid full attention to the corridor outside the door. A continuously banging sound came from the staircase, and the sound was getting closer and closer. A few seconds later, Chen Ge saw a head that was completely mutilated pass by the gap in the door. Connected to the head was a body made from curses. The threads that gave off an air of misfortune were intertwined together to keep the shape of the body intact. It was radiating this horrible smell.
Was it the rag doll’s head that ran out from the building just now?
The human head moved so fast that Chen Ge did not have the chance to see the front of its face. He only caught the glimpse of the back of the head that was covered in stitches. After the head rushed out of Jiu Hong Apartments Block 2, the building that Chen Ge’s group was in shook even harder like the whole building could collapse at any moment.
The rag doll’s different body parts are placed inside different building to use as foundation to steady the entire residential area. So, why would the human head in this Block 2 walk out on its own? Is it because the situation has gotten so dire that it must make its move?
Chen Ge realized that he had greatly underestimated the people from the cursed hospital. They had a very good understanding of the ghost fetus. This time, their entry behind the door should have been preceded by thorough preparation. They had brought a lot of pressure for the ghost fetus.
Looks like most of the ghost fetus’ attention would be turned onto the people from the cursed hospital. This is good news for me.
With his back against the wall, Chen Ge slowly slid to the ground. He was currently incredibly tired. The tiredness appeared to come straight from his soul no matter how long he tried to rest, and the fatigue refused to go away.
But I still cannot let my guard down. I am not in such good condition. After all, this is the world behind the ghost fetus’ door. Perhaps it wants to deal with both the people from the cursed hospital and me at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.
The ground was shaking as if the whole building was starting to teeter on its edge. Many spidery cracks appeared on the wall as more and more black fog leaked into the building.
This is not good. Since the head has left, the building is not safe from the black fog. This place is no longer safe for us to stay or explore.
Chen Ge struggled to stand up, but he was really too tired. His muscles refused to cooperate. Lethargy and tiredness overwhelmed his mind; he felt like fainting. His body felt like it was trying to take back all the taxing efforts that Chen Ge had forced upon it in the past at once. The white paint on the wall started to peel and exposed the walls behind them that were completely covered in blood. Room 0097 was like a peeled fruit, but underneath the pretty skin was not the delicious flesh of fruit but a mess of guts and blood.
“Move the table and closet over here. We will hide at the corner of the wall.” The earthquake safety knowledge that Chen Ge had learned in kindergarten came into use then. The trio squeezed themselves in the corner of the room that should be the most structurally stable. “Later, more black fog might seep into the building, and that means the monsters inside the black fog will follow it as well. We have to be more careful of our surroundings.”
Xiao Sun opened his lips to ask weakly, “Can we only stay here passively and wait for this to pass?”
“Why? Do you have an idea that can help us to fight back?”
“No, I just think that it might be safer for us to return to Jin Hwa Apartments Block A. That building appears to be relatively safer than this place.”
“Don’t worry, when the time is right, we will definitely return to that place. After all, my cat is still there.” Chen Ge had never felt so drained in his life. Now, even talking was a taxing exercise. The quake not only did not stop, it only started to get more intense. Both Xiao Sun and Wen Qing worried that this old building would not be able to survive, and it would tumble upon itself. Chen Ge was not worried about that. The main buildings were made up from the ghost fetus’ memory. Unless something serious happened to the ghost fetus, these few buildings would not crumble so easily.
“Do not panic for now. I have a few questions that I need to clarify with the both of you at this moment.” Chen Ge turned to Wen Qing. “You were the first to run earlier. I saw that you appeared to be pulled by someone…”
“It felt like Xiang Nuan.” Before Chen Ge finished, Wen Qing already provided him with an answer. She hugged her arms in front of her chest. “When he was very young, I was leading him cross the road. Halfway through, he started to pull me back with as much force as he could muster. I stopped moving, and before I could ask him why he was doing that, a car that appeared to have gone out of control flew past the spot where I was standing earlier. Later, I heard from the news that the driver was drunk out of his mind when he was behind the wheel.”
Slowly lifting her hands, Wen Qing crossed her fingers together.
“The feeling reminded me of that when I was pulled along by the invisible hands earlier. He would only reach out to grab me voluntarily when the situation was at its most dangerous. The child rarely allows other adults to touch him, much less taking the initiative to reach out and grab another person’s hand.”
“In other words, this proves that Xiang Nuan has always been by our side, but we are unable to see him. But is this Xiang Nuan the same Xiang Nuan that we are looking for?” Chen Ge’s one sentence had completely befuddled Wen Qing and Xiao Sun. They had no idea what Chen Ge was talking about or worried for. His physique was greatly decreasing like someone was continuously feasting on his energy. He suspected that someone was Xiang Nuan. The thing was invisible, but he was definitely there.
I am one of the nine children, but I still do not understand what I represent. Perhaps the ghost fetus wishes to take over my body. After all, it has shown many times that it has wanted to become me.
Leaning against the wall, Chen Ge’s body vibrated alongside the whole building. He closed his eyes and an extremely scary thought crossed his mind.
Could the ghost fetus have predicted that the people from the cursed hospital and myself would enter his door at this time? He probably predicted that we would have found the other children before entering this last door and took the power away from the children.
The powers of those children were incredibly attractive to the people behind the door. After all, they represent part of the power of a demon god. Most of the patients would attempt to take the power for themselves when they were faced with the children with that power, just like the monsters from the cursed hospital and Jia Ming. If we’d taken all the powers for ourselves and then entered this last door at the same time, doesn’t that also mean that we have helped the ghost fetus gather all his power and then bring them back to him inside his door? After killing all of us, the ghost fetus will be able to complete a perfect rebirth!
Chen Ge was frightened by his own thought, but moments later, he calmed down again.
The people from the cursed hospital might have killed the children to take the power for themselves, but I did not do that. I returned the children’s powers back to them so that they can return to a normal life.
Wiping away the cold sweat that slid down his forehead, Chen Ge did not expect his accidental acts of kindness to possibly become his saving grace behind this door.
I was not greedy, so the ghost fetus was destined to be deprived of a perfect rebirth. It will be missing many important powers. There is still a chance.
More cracks appeared on the wall, and the black fog in the corridor thickened.
Bang!
The fog gushed down the corridor, and it carried some strange noises.
“Chen Ge, do you hear children crying?”
“No.” When Chen Ge turned around, he saw Wen Qing standing beside him. Her hands were lifted up in the air like someone was pulling her along. “What is going on with your hands?”
“He is here. He is just standing in front of you…” Just as Wen Qing finished, her body leaned forward. The door of Room 0097 was pulled open, and Wen Qing ran out.
“Has the woman lost her mind?” Xiao Sun was still kneeling on the ground. He was confused by this turn of events. He had no idea what Wen Qing was up to.
“Follow her!” Chen Ge gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stand up. He grabbed Xiao Sun by his shoulders. “This place is probably not safe anymore.”
The black fog rushed into the corridor. Rows of human heads lined up together in the fog. They crawled along the wall like some kind of centipede.
“What kind of monsters are those?”
Holding each other as support, Chen Ge and Xiao Sun rushed out from the black fog and headed upstairs. The monsters were unable to leave the protection of the black fog, but they seemed to have discovered Chen Ge and Xiao Sun. They kept wiggling their disgusting and ugly bodies in the fog. When they reached the fourth floor, Chen Ge’s condition could not have been worse. It was Xiao Sun who had been carrying him up the stairs and brought him to the sixth floor where Wen Qing had gone. From the third floor onward, all the doors were the black iron door. Most of them were locked; only the end room on the sixth floor was open.
“The rag doll’s head probably ran out from his room.” Chen Ge did not give it much thought, but after he entered the room, he was stunned because the interior decoration of the room was similar to Chen Ge’s bedroom that was in the attic of the haunted house from ten years ago.
The head is where the memory is stored. The ghost fetus has been living in my old room? Does it not know that this is just a part of the illusion that it has created for itself?
Every black iron door should be hiding the ghost fetus’ memory, and this last door was no exception. Chen Ge just did not expect the ghost fetus to still have such fresh memory of his own home. Lying on the familiar bed, Chen Ge’s memory was fuzzy. When he was young, both his and his parent’s bedrooms were situated on the top floor of the haunted house. After he moved out for school and work and when he returned to take over the business, his parents had already disappeared, and the attic of the haunted house had been transformed into a storage room. Actually, most of Chen Ge’s childhood memories were related to the attic as well. More than that, it was in the attic that he had found the black phone and the first doll that he made himself.
I have already forgotten this feeling, but the ghost fetus still remembers it. This is quite surprising.
With this thought in mind, Chen Ge suddenly sat up. He struggled to open the other door in the room. This was the bathroom that was attached to his bedroom. With his hands on the sink, Chen Ge lifted his head to look at the mirror above the sink!
Everything is similar to how I remembered it. Even this mirror and you inside the mirror have not changed…
Chen Ge’s hands were popping with veins. His pupils narrowed as he stared straight at the mirror before him. The surface of the mirror that was stained dirty reflected the faces of two children that looked identical to each other.
But one of them had a soft countenance and a light that refused to be extinguished in his eyes, while the other had hollowed sockets, and the eyes appeared to be a vessels for all the sins that existed in the world!