My House of Horrors

Along the way, Chen Ge called the workshop boss. The boss thought that Chen Ge had changed her mind and was willing to help the poor souls in the world. Without waiting for Chen Ge to explain, he left his home in a hurry. Chen Ge waited at the front door of the workshop while having his breakfast. In just twenty minutes, the boss arrived.

“Boss Qian, I need to borrow your workshop again. Money is not an issue.” Chen Ge was not exactly lying. He might not have money now, but he would have it soon.

“Why are we talking money at the first meeting? We’re old pals already. Talk of money hurts the relationship.” The slightly overweight boss sat next to Chen Ge. “Just leave me one of your mannequins, and it’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? My mannequins are not for human use.” Chen Ge did not want to lie to the boss since he had treated him with nothing but kindness. “I will design a few new mannequins today. You can decide after I’m done.”

The boss opened the glass door, but before entering, he bowed three times.

“What are you doing? Are you that afraid?” Chen Ge remembered that the boss did not have this habit when they first met.

“I also don’t know why. Ever since you created your first batch of mannequins, I’ve had a feeling something is watching me from inside the door.” Boss Qian scratched his head. “In any case, it’s no loss on my part to be careful. If there’s really something, this way perhaps it might leave me alone.”

“You’re not wrong.” Chen Ge shook his head as he entered the workshop. Now he appeared to be more familiar with the layout than Boss Qian. He picked up the tools that he needed and walked into the storage room. “Some of your materials are going to expire if you don’t use them soon. Speaking of which, the place looks the same as when I left the last time. Have you had no business during this whole period?”

“It’s okay.” Boss Qian walked into the storage room to help and used this opportunity to say, “I’ve just came back from the adult doll market research. The market is booming, and we can go the custom-made route.”

“We can talk about that later.” Chen Ge brushed him off. With all the materials ready, Chen Ge tried to remember the woman’s face that had gone under the knife many times. In a few minutes, he had completed a broad draft.

“Running a Haunted House is a real waste of your talent.” Boss Qian sighed. Chen Ge ignored him and focused on the clay. Very soon, he completed the woman’s face. The woman might have been insane, but it had to be said that she was incredibly beautiful.

“But something is missing.” Chen Ge held the model for inspection before ruining it.

“Don’t!” Boss Qian cried out. “At least give it to me to show the customer!”

“The face is not what I want,” Chen Ge mumbled and soon came up with another face. Compared to before, this face was filled with sickness and madness. “Still wrong, the woman’s madness is laced with pain.”

Chen Ge started over again. Then Chen Ge felt the face was missing a brilliance. This was repeated several times until Boss Qian had gotten used to it. He looked at Chen Ge with sadness in his eyes, and he was humming a sad ballad.

“Where is the problem?” Chen Ge thought back to the introduction of his Dollmaker’s talent, and a brave idea appeared in his mind. “The woman’s lingering spirit was trapped by Xu Yin inside the tape. I can use Xu Yin’s power to release the lingering spirit to control the mannequin. The madwoman is still alive, and in the phone, living doll has this introduction—using a live person as basis. If I follow the black phone’s introduction and instill the madwoman’s lingering spirit into the mannequin, what will happen?”

Looking at the clay body in his hands, Chen Ge could only envision this. The woman had been involved in multiple murders. Even if she played the mad card, it was impossible for her to see the light of day again.

“Looks like I still need to depend on myself.” To reconstruct the woman’s face, Chen Ge continued to work. “She has been through many plastic surgeries. Her face is indeed gorgeous if you look at the facial feature individually, but once combined together, there’s this uncanny feeling.”

Chen Ge tore the woman’s apart and focused on making individual features before joining them together. When Chen Ge patched the last piece of the face together, a miracle appeared. The woman’s face was replicated perfectly; even the expression was hauntingly similar. Looking at this face, Chen Ge was finally satisfied.

“The features are made individually and joined together using steel wires. This way, the face won’t be broken so easily.”

However, that did not mean that the face would not break open. If a visitor got too close, the woman’s face could still crack. Chen Ge chuckled, imagining the scare that would have on people.

Before 9 am, Chen Ge completed five mannequins, based on the madwoman, Xu Tong, Xiong Qing, the single-armed patient, and the resilient nurse. If possible, Chen Ge wanted to copy the entire Third Sick Hall, including all the patients and doctors.

“Now that I have the characters. With the corresponding props, each mannequin will be their own scary tale.”

It needed time for the filler to freeze, so Chen Ge left after bidding Boss Qian farewell.

Chen Ge reached the Haunted House at 9 am. He opened the gate to welcome a new day of work. New Century Park opened at 9 am. Many visitors stepped into the park and made a beeline for Chen Ge’s Haunted House. The number was not small either.

Uncle Xu did not miss this. From certain angle, Chen Ge’s Haunted House had become the park’s main attraction.

“Uncle Xu, you’re here. This is perfect; I was just looking for you.”

“Want me to help you sell tickets? Sure, I’m free anyway.” Uncle Xu naturally moved to the door of the Haunted House. Looking at the long line of visitors, a rare smile appeared on his face.

Chen Ge waved. “I want to build a rest stop next to the Haunted House. It’s horrible that we ask the visitors to stand in line all day.”

“No problem. Director Luo has specifically ordered us to aid you in the next two months.”

“I still feel like it’s better if I go talk to Director Luo in person.” Chen Ge was preparing for the future. He had more things in mind than a mere rest stop.

“Director Luo will be in his office around noon, so you can go see him then.” Uncle Xu gave the other workers their assignments through his walkie-talkie. Soon, the park’s van arrived, and several workers helped move the benches and shed covers out from the vehicle. They were going to build a simple shed beside the Haunted House.

“These were from when the park still had activities; we’ll use them for now. As for the actual rest stop, the size and everything, you will need to discuss it with Director Luo first.”

“Understood.”

Uncle Xu and the park workers helped maintain the line. Most of them were lining up obediently, but a large young man cut through the line, rushing toward Chen Ge.

“Wang Hailong? Why is he here?” Chen Ge walked forward assuming some accident had happened to Wang Shenglong. “Did the child finally lose his patience and speak?”