My House of Horrors

“Why didn’t you two wait for me?” Qin Guang rushed out from the side hall and caught up to Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao while catching his breath.“How can someone like you be so easily scared? Don’t you do an outsider supernatural livestream for a living?” Fu Bole probably would not sit idle whenever the chance came up for him to mock someone. “The so-called supernatural events that you ran into during your livestreams, were they all set up by yourself?”

“Some of them are predesigned by the studio, but some of them were not.”

“Like the time you were so traumatized that you were sent to the hospital?”

Fu Bole was very interested in the incident involving Qin Guang, but Qin Guang obviously did not want to remember anything about it. He directly ignored what Fu Bole said and changed the subject. “I just saw a plastic ball that moved on its own in the side hall. This place appears to be occupied by a few children that we cannot see with our naked eyes.”

“Now that shows how ignorant you are.” Fu Bole shook his head. “I know you are a popular livestream host who is highly valued by Director Ma. Initially, I thought you would be a valuable asset to the team, but after what we have been through, I realize perhaps I was mistaken. Just standing here, I can come up with at least six methods to make a ball move on its own. It is nothing that surprising. Sometimes, we will even use the same technology on mannequins’ heads to make the heads roll on their own. It will look more impactful visually to the visitors.”

“You mean just like that?” Qin Guang pointed behind Fu Bole.

“What?” Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao turned their heads back at the same time. They saw that the man in the picture on the shrine table, which was originally facing away from them, had changed his pose. The old man in the black and white picture had turned around!

“Isn’t this the old man who was talking to us earlier?” Wei Chaochao was rather shocked.

“The man has half of his leg inside the coffin already, and the boss still has the heart to photoshop him into a black and white photo. Isn’t he afraid that this thing might come true one day? The boss is really one f*cking heartless b*stard.” Fu Bole also did not expect the person in the picture to suddenly turn around. All the curse words were to cover up the fear in his heart. He had no idea how the boss managed to do something like this. At that moment, he was truly spooked.

“The old man’s black and white picture is placed on the shrine table. That means that he has been dead for quite some time already, so the information that he gave us might be misleading.”

“When we first arrived here, I saw many holes that were dug up in the front yard. The holes are too big for trees or vegetation, and they are too small for adult graves. Do you think it is possible that they are to bury children?”

“That is possible. This orphanage is definitely not as simple as it appears. It has to be the most crucial location of the entire ghost fetus scenario… Orphanage, dead guardian, mass grave, this place might be where the ghost fetus is born!” Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole were so engaged in their discussion that they did not realize that Qin Guang had kept his gaze fixed on the space underneath the shrine table.

“Just now, a boy’s head poked out from behind the shrine table, but the boy’s body could not be seen under the table. It felt like the boy crawled right out from the black and white picture himself.”

“Where is he?”

“He was standing right next to the shrine table, but he disappeared in the blink of an eye.”

The three stared closely at the shrine table. At that moment, the whole scenario started to change again. Blood started to seep down from the gap in the ceiling. Blood slid down the walls and edged along the frame of the black and white picture before dropping onto the table.

“What is going on? Is it because we have uncovered the truth that we have triggered some kind of trap inside the haunted house?” Fu Bole, Wei Chaochao, and Qin Guang looked around. When they recovered from the shock of the supernatural events that happened around them, something else that shocked them deeply happened. The old man in the black and white picture had disappeared. All that was left inside the picture was an empty chair and a cigarette holder that had fallen to the ground. It gave the feeling that the old man had left in a hurry like he was running for his life.

“Have you guys played the game ‘What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?’ before? In essence, one person is supposed to stand at a fixed place, and whenever he turns around, the people behind him will get closer to him. From facing away from us to turning around and then running out of the picture itself, the boss of the haunted house is playing psychological tricks on us!” Wei Chaochao tried his best to analyze the situation as scientifically as he could, but before he could finish the rest of his sentence, a drop of blood landed on his forehead. “It is incredibly sticky, and it smells like copper. This fake blood is incredibly well made.”

Wei Chaochao used his hand to swipe at the blood on his face. He realized that this droplet of blood was actually made up of countless smaller blood droplets, and each of them was twitching in his grasp.

“You have got to be kidding me. They spray red paint directly from the ceiling of a haunted house. The boss of this place sure is brazen. Is he not afraid of ruining the visitors’ clothes?” Fu Bole had more to complain about, but he was quickly stopped by Wei Chaochao.

“Brother Fu, these blood droplets are very strange! When they fall on your clothes, they slide down directly, but if they fall on your skin, they will solidify almost instantly. It feels like there is a kind of force controlling them. Someone is using this rain of blood to find their prey.”

Bang!

A giant explosion came out from the street outside the orphanage. It sounded like a door was being violently kicked down. Before Wei Chaochao and Fu Bole could react, they saw a young boy wave urgently at them with desperation on his face. It was as if the boy was telling them to get away from this place as soon as possible. The little boy was still gesturing wildly when he was picked up by the old man. Then, the grandfather and grandson leaped over the orphanage wall and escaped into the night.

“The ghosts from the picture appeared again? Was the boy reaching out to us for help?” Fu Bole felt like he had stumbled across some kind of instrumental clue. He immediately called after Wei Chaochao. “Quick! Chase after them! The boy might be the ghost fetus! The old man is the ghost! We have to save the boy from the evil clutches of the old man!”

The three rushed to the entrance of the storage room, and before they stepped out, they saw Xiao Sun walking their way. If not for Xiao Sun’s swiftness of feet, they probably would have rammed directly into each other.

“Get out of the way! Do not stand in our path!” Fu Bole shouted loudly.

“What’s going on?” Xiao Sun’s heart squeezed with concern.

“We have found the boy! The most crucial character inside this ghost fetus scenario, we’ve found him!”

“What boy?”

“That boy is our hope of clearing this scenario! Do not let him get away!”

Before Xiao Sun could even comprehend what was happening, Fu Bole, Wei Chaochao, and Qin Guang had leaped out of the backdoor and run out from the White Orphanage.

“Even a newbie knows it is taboo to separate from the main team inside the haunted house. How come these people are so damn stubborn?”

Seeing the trio slowly disappear from his line of sight, Xiao Sun did not give chase after them. Instead, he turned his focus to Ma Feng. “Other people call him Director Ma in private. This man should be a big fish. I need to make use of this opportunity to try to find out what are they up to.”

Scratching his chin, Xiao Sun mimicked Chen Ge and started to narrow his eyes. “I have been living in the haunted house for several days now. This place has always been peaceful. It is like a welcoming home for ghosts and Specters, but from the moment this batch of visitors showed up, I feel like the whole atmosphere of the scenario has changed. The colleagues have gotten so agitated. Sigh, it feels like these people have not come with good intentions. There is a huge problem with this batch of visitors.”

Raising his open palm, the blood rain dropped in the middle of his palm. Xiao Sun could sense the emotion that was inherent within the blood rain. “This rain contains the emotion of fury and the intention to kill. It chills me right to my bones. It is like a knife is placed on my neck, and I could be killed at any moment. This is too scary.”

After he said that, Xiao Sun was about to move forward, but just as he wanted to do so, he realized that something was wrong. The blood rain dropped on his body, and it morphed into blood vessels and secured him in place.

Turning around with some shock, Xiao Sun was so frightened that his soul almost departed from his body. The lady in the red raincoat with her lips sewn had materialized behind him. Her thin and branch-like arms hung limply on Xiao Sun’s shoulders. The murderous intent from the Red Specter was overwhelming.

“Big sister, when… when did you arrive?”

“Have you seen my child?” The cold voice escaped from the red raincoat’s sewn lips. Xiao Sun collapsed to the ground. He really did not expect to still feel the same amount of fear and shock even after he had died and turned into a ghost.

“The… the information was given to me by another person. They even told me that they had found that boy earlier.” The words practically tumbled out of Xiao Sun’s lips. “Do you know who Fu Bole is? It was the man with the sunglasses in his pocket, and the man with the flowery shirt is called Wei Chaochao. They fed me the information! They’ve just escaped through the backdoor. They ran down the path on the left! Sis! Do you want me to show you to them‽”

The blood vessels slowly let go of Xiao Sun. The red raincoat dissolved into part of the bloody rain and disappeared completely. Xiao Sun crumbled to the ground. His mind was still in a daze from the scary encounter. “What have I just said to her?”

Patting his own face, Xiao Sun remained sitting on the ground. By then, the black fog had completely enveloped the orphanage. A drizzle of blood rain was mixed in with the black fog.

“Hey! What are you doing there alone?” The couple from Xin Hai walked out from one of the rooms. The man kept staring at the door that led out from the backyard. He appeared to have seen something there.

“Do not ask me any questions. I just want to sit here and get some rest.” Xiao Sun had some innate annoyance toward that man from Xin Hai, but he had no idea why.

“Where is Fu Bole? Wasn’t he out here with Wei Chaochao earlier?” Ma Feng immediately saw the key problem. He did not care what had happened here; the most important issue was that a few of his teammates had mysteriously disappeared once again.

“They said that they had found a boy and that the boy is most likely the ghost fetus.”

“Where have they run off to?” Ma Feng kept his scrutinizing Xiao Sun. “Get up, you need to take us to go and find them.”

“Me?” Xiao Sun already planned to abandon the game and contact Chen Ge, but Ma Feng did not give him the chance at all. Ma Feng appeared to already have started suspecting Xiao Sun, but Ma Feng was only doing this from the perspective of a normal person. After all, if he suspected someone, he would have to keep them close so that they would not have the chance to do something behind his back.

As they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

He was not technically wrong, but he had no idea how high a price he would pay for keeping Sun Xiaojun so close to him.

“Fine, I will lead you all to them, but you’d better be mentally prepared.” Xiao Sun climbed up from the ground and led the remaining survivors to leave the White Orphanage from the backdoor.

…

After Fu Bole, Qin Guang, and Wei Chaochao ran out from the White Orphanage. They rushed through the black fog and raced down the street, chasing after the figures in front of them. “Jesus Christ, how can this old man still run so fast‽”

Both Fu Bole and Wei Chaochao felt from the bottom of their hearts that Chen Ge’s haunted house was more hyped up than it actually was, so they looked down on Chen Ge’s haunted house. Therefore, they were not afraid of leaving the main team and moving on their own. On the other hand, Qin Guang was like an innocent lamb led astray. After blindly following these two out from the orphanage, he did not dare go back alone, so the only thing he could do was follow these two until the end. The ghost fetus scenario was more spacious than any of them could imagine. The style of the buildings on the sides of the streets had started to change again. A light stench floated in the air. After turning the corner, a staff cafeteria appeared before the trio.

The old man and the boy stopped at the entrance as if hesitating whether they should enter the building or not.

“He’s finally stopped.” Fu Bole gasped hungrily for air as he slowly approached the old man. The old man was holding the boy by his hand. When they saw Fu Bole approach them, they did not react in any way. But just a few seconds later, both the eyes of the grandfather and the grandson were overwhelmed by fear. They stared at the street behind Fu Bole and immediately crawled into the cafeteria.

“Are you kidding me? What is this? Some kind of joke?” Fu Bole was incensed. He had been led by the nose by an old man through the scenario for such a long time. The old man even purposely paused for him to catch up.

“Brother Fu, this cafeteria appears to be a new scenario. We should wait for the others to arrive before we go into it.” Once given the reminder by Wei Chaochao, Fu Bole did not rush into the cafeteria. After all, he was a top haunted house designer. He could see through the layout and set up of many scare points and traps with just a glance. After giving the place a quick look, Fu Bole did not notice anything too suspicious. Out of the confidence in his own professional ability, he did not stay to wait for the rest but decided to enter the cafeteria directly.

Once he entered the cafeteria, before Fu Bole could even say anything, he heard a loud bang, and the front door of the cafeteria was slammed shut behind him. His heart skipped a beat. Fu Bole was about to call Wei Chaochao’s name to ask him what had happened when his ears were filled with harrowing screams from both Wei Chaochao and Qin Guang beyond the closed door. The screams tore at his heart. The sound was like pigs being slaughtered, and the screams sent chills down Fu Bole’s spine. Blood vessels slipped through the gaps of the door into the room. They appeared to be looking for someone. Seeing this, Fu Bole retreated without hesitation. He stayed as far away from the cafeteria front door as he could.

“What has happened outside?” He did not think that Wei Chaochao would cooperate with Chen Ge to purposely scare him. To be able to make someone like Wei Chaochao shriek like it was the end of the world, it proved that there had to be something incredibly scary outside the door. “Could it be that the old man decided to escape from the orphanage because there has always been an actual ‘ghost’ following behind us?”

Having a ghost at a haunted house was something very normal, but the ‘ghost’ in question might be categorically different from what a normal ‘ghost’ meant at other haunted houses. The warning that Zuo Han had once given appeared in Fu Bole’s mind. When he was in a crowd, he did not feel it that clearly, but now that he was stranded alone, his mind could not help but keep on straying to the conclusion that this haunted house was really haunted.

“There should be another exit in this building.” Fu Bole walked past the dining tables and came to the back kitchen of the cafeteria. The stench was the most intense at this place. On the door of the back kitchen, there were three words written on top—House of Strange Odors.

Pushing open the wooden door a gap, Fu Bole leaned on the door and looked through it. There was a mountain of meat that was moving inside the kitchen. It was a person who was even larger than both Liang Er and Liang San combined. Wearing a chef’s outfit that was too small for his size, radiating an awful stench, the man kept pouring what appeared to be food ingredients into a large pot. Turning, mixing, and stirring, the chef gave the meal cooking inside the pot a taste. It appeared like it was still missing something. He took out a cleaver. After giving it a good shine, he slowly turned around. The bloodless face fixated on Fu Bole, who was leaning on the door.

His mouth gaped. The chef’s mouth that was covered in blood uttered, “The ingredients are finally all here.”

With his every step, the whole cafeteria was shaking. It was like the building was moving along with this mountain of a man. Blood slid down the roof of the ceiling. The front door of the cafeteria was blasted open. Wei Chaochao, who had lost consciousness, lay limply on the ground. A woman in a red raincoat walked into the cafeteria. The chef was confused. He waved the giant cleaver in his hands as his fingers knocked lightly on the chopping block.

Blood vessels rolled. The furious red raincoat dragged the half-alive Wei Chaochao and stopped at the entrance of the back kitchen. Her bloodshot eyes stared right at Fu Bole. Being surrounded by two Red Specters, Fu Bole hugged the door frame, and his legs gave way underneath him. He knelt on the ground, and he almost peed himself from fear.

…

Humming a song, adjusting his watch, Chen Ge had finished his make-up and was waiting at the entrance of the ghost fetus scenario. To prevent an accidental encounter with the visitors, he purposely waited for quite some time and ensured that there were no more visitors left waiting at the entrance before he entered the scenario. As the thick chains were removed, Chen Ge held the comic and inched open a gap of the black iron door.

He was about to push the iron door open further when a sheaf of black fog drifted out.

“Hmm?” When the door was fully open, Chen Ge’s eyes slowly widened. Endless black fog enveloped the streets fully, and blood rain fell like there was no tomorrow. The Voiceless Small Town was like a scene from an apocalypse.

Clang!

The chain in his hands slipped to the ground. Chen Ge’s first reaction was to lock up the black iron door again.

“What is going on? Have the people from the cursed hospital infiltrated this scenario when I wasn’t looking‽”