My House of Horrors

About half an hour later, Captain Yan’s people also arrived at the scene. They were the ones who were tasked to follow up on the Third Sick Hall’s case.

“You’re Chen Ge?” The one leading was a large young man.

“Yes.” Chen Ge had not seen this man before, so he likely was not a normal police officer at the station.

“Come with us. Before the victim is conscious, we’ll be responsible for your safety.” The content was polite, but the tone was not. Chen Ge saw the surreptitious signal that Inspector Lee gave him, and he relaxed enough to follow this group of people to the hospital.

At 11:30 pm, Gu Feiyu awoke and told the police everything that happened. When Chen Ge tackled the mad woman, he still had half a wisp of consciousness left to remember seeing Chen Ge.

He had thought that he was going to die. This experience was something Gu Feiyu would never forget for life. Under his fervent demand, the police found Chen Ge and arranged for the two to meet. Meeting Chen Ge again, Gu Feiyu’s expression and tone were completely different from the first time they met. The young man was a man of simple beliefs. Holding Chen Ge’s hand, he thanked Chen Ge sincerely.

Seeing this, the police’s suspicion toward Chen Ge slowly dissipated. The leading young officer even praised him so much that Chen Ge felt rather embarrassed. At around midnight, Chen Ge exited the hospital. Standing at the empty junction, he looked at the city that was shrouded in darkness.

“I should tell them.” Holding the half-torn flyer, Chen Ge called Captain Yan.

“Xiao Chen?”

“Captain Yan, I have something to tell you.”

“Is it about Patient No. 2? Don’t worry, I got the report already. You’ve saved a human life, well done.” But Captain Yan’s tone turned serious. “But I still don’t agree with your ways of private investigation. You’re toying with your life.”

“Don’t worry, the discovery of Patient No. 2 today was pure coincidence. It won’t happen again.” Chen Ge’s voice sounded raw. “I’m calling for another purpose. When I was eavesdropping on Patient No. 2, I overheard her mention a special organization; it’s called the ghost story society.”

“Ghost story society?”

“Yes, listening to the name, it sounds like a gathering for horror story aficionados, but instead of making up stories, they only tell actual stories.”

“When you overheard this? Who was Patient No. 2 talking to? Will we be able to find the record on her phone?” Captain Yan was suspicious.

“She wasn’t talking on the phone. There was a big sister persona hiding inside this woman, so you can understand why she was talking to herself.” Chen Ge kept the half-torn flyer. “I suspect that this society is formed by the mental patients who escaped from the third sick hall, and the woman is probably one of the members.”

“A ghost story society founded by a bunch of mental patients?” Captain Yan thought about it and told Chen Ge seriously, “I will have my people follow up on this. If you have any more information, please remember to call me.”

“Of course.”

After hanging up, Chen Ge pulled up his collar. They have to share a real story every week, but what if there’s no story to share? Create one themselves?

Chen Ge returned to New Century Park. When he entered the Haunted House, the white cat jumped down from the tree and followed behind him gracefully. “Next time, I’ll tie you up and bring you with me!”

After feeding the cat, Chen Ge took out the black phone to look over his refreshed daily missions. Chen Ge had seen two of them before; they were to deal with hidden security threats and to hire a new employee. The third daily mission Chen Ge saw for the first time. It asked Chen Ge to build a rest stop outside of the Haunted House. The time limit was one day, and the difficulty was normal.

The missions given by the black phone are the things that I need to do at my current status. Indeed, as the number of visitors increases, asking them to stand in line for a long time isn’t a good idea.

Chen Ge clicked on the screen to accept this mission. Then he used a pen and paper to design a simple rest stop.

There’s not enough budget. If there was enough money, I could set up a multi-purpose building next to the Haunted House to sell drinks and food for the visitors to recover and rest as well as a place to sell Haunted House merchandise.

Inspiration flooded into Chen Ge. I can learn from Tian Teng Medical School and get a large screen to introduce the background to each scenario. Then I can pick selected videos of certain visitors to broadcast on screen, and that should be able to incite curiosity and interest in other visitors.

Chen Ge drew on the paper. With the delineation in difficulty level, he had even prepared a ranking board depending on the difficulty and clear time. That would definitely motivate the thrill-seekers and achievement-hoarders. When he was done, the paper design was several pages thick.

Chen Ge arranged them and prepared to take them to meet Director Luo tomorrow morning. Hopefully, he would be able to convince the man. He glanced at the time; it was already 2 am. Chen Ge stretched lazily.

The only hidden security risk inside the Haunted House now is that door, but the ‘door’ only appears at midnight, so it won’t affect the visitors. The constant hints on the black phone should be a reminder that I should do something about that ‘door’. The recruitment mission is even easier; I can just hire some from Tian Teng Medical School. Alas, now is not the time to make the move yet.

Chen Ge tapped his pen on the table as he compared the strengths and weaknesses between the two Haunted Houses. He was not one who was blinded by pride, and he knew which areas of his Haunted House were weaker compared to Tian Teng Medical School.

Tian Teng Medical School is small, but their scenes are seamlessly linked. In comparison, even though my Haunted House is bigger, there is also a lot more empty space.

This was not Chen Ge’s fault. He had gained the black phone about a week ago, and he had been busy completing the missions to expand the Haunted House, so there had to be some flaws.

I should add more scares in my Haunted House. Looks like I need to go make a new batch of props and mannequins tomorrow.

After several Trial Missions, Chen Ge had mastered more ways to scare people. His mind was filled with ideas, and he could not help but smile, imagining the screams from his visitors.

I can’t wait. I wonder who will be so lucky to be the first visitor to visit the Third Sick Hall.

Cat fur flashed before Chen Ge’s eyes. The white cat seemed to think Chen Ge was being very noisy. It jumped on the table, then jumped onto the bed and snuggled into the mattress.

Chen Ge also realized it was quite late. He set the alarm for 7 am and lay down beside the cat to sleep.

The sun rose, and Chen Ge cleaned the Haunted House. Then he left the place with the ideas he had jotted down the previous night.