My House of Horrors

“Cigarette wound?” Chen Ge was reminded of the man who had sat in the first chair on the right at the ghost stories society. His finger that was exposed had a cigarette burn on it.

“We’ve gone through the tapes for the time frame of twelve hours and the surveillance for nearby five hundred meters. There was no one particularly suspicious, but this did catch our attention.” Captain Yan’s voice had suspicion in it. “He used the jacket’s hood to hide his face, and the screen on his phone was black. He looked like he was talking on the phone, but he was actually observing the surroundings. However, there is one thing I don’t understand, why would he have the flyer to your Haunted House?”

“My Haunted House does not have that many workers, and I have not gone out of the park to give out flyers, so either he or a friend of his has been to the park and my Haunted House.”

“Do you have any recollection of this man?”

“There are many scenarios inside the Haunted House, and I’m only responsible for one of them, so I cannot give you an accurate answer.” Chen Ge had started to plot against this man. “Captain Yan, I’m sure you did plenty of investigation when you pinpointed this suspicious guy. What did you come up with?”

Captain Yan’s voice was hoarse, probably due to a lack of rest. “We’ve discovered that he’s the producer for a private radio station. He has no criminal files and is considered a successful man who loves his family and has a good career. He’s not what we would normally call a suspect.”

“A radio station’s producer? That sounds impressive.”

“It’s a station specializing in late night shows. Its influence has grown over the past two years. Most of the listeners are young people who are curious and people who have nothing to do at night.”

Captain Yan’s revelation demolished Chen Ge’s drowsiness. There was only one radio station that specialized in late night show in Jiujiang. The same station that No. 12, Lychee, worked at—Ghost Talk. Before their change in format, they focused on relationship issues, but their popularity kept falling. They were forced to change, and incidentally, the first show they did with Ghost Talk broke records.

“Captain Yan, the radio station you’re talking about is Ghost Talk?”

“Yes, that’s the one. You’ve heard of it before?”

“Yes, a few times. They have a DJ by the name of Lychee who has a wonderful voice.” Chen Ge’s mind moved. If No. 5 was the producer at this station and Lychee worked for him, then was it possible that he was the one who sent the ghost stories society’s flyer to Lychee?

If that was the case, it meant that Chen Ge had uncovered the identities for two of the members.

“I don’t understand why he would appear at Hai Ming Apartments, but to not spook him, we didn’t stop him for an interview.” Captain Yan’s voice sounded tired. “There are so many things that have happened lately. Take care of yourself. If you come across anything, call us.”

Captain Yan hung up soon after. Chen Ge sat on his bedside and used his phone to search for the radio station. The DJ on duty that night was indeed not Lychee but someone else.

Should I strike first? Take them down one by one?

…

At around 7 am, when the sun rose, Chen Ge was woken up by the vibration of his phone. He searched his clothes for a long time before he realized that it was an alert on the black phone.

“Two-star scenario Western Jiujiang’s Private Academy failed to unlock! Lack of space inside the Haunted House. Please conduct a second expansion.”

Not enough space? But there is so much empty space in the underground parking lot.

Chen Ge had thought he would have a new scenario to use when he woke up, but he ran into this trouble instead. He put on his clothes and ran out of the Haunted House and the park. It had been one or two years since a visitor came to this place. To prevent visitors from wandering close, the park even used large rubbish to block the two entrances.

Climbing over the trash, Chen Ge entered the underground parking lot. New Century Park had used quite a pretty penny to build this place. That was when the park had been in its prime. Chen Ge walked for quite a distance before he saw an old cement wall that blocked the parking lot off from the scenarios. The wall went up into the ceiling, cutting the two spaces off from each other completely.

About two thirds of the place is empty, so why would it say there’s not enough space? Or one expansion can only fit three scenarios?

Before the first expansion, Chen Ge’s Haunted House had three scenarios, and then after the first expansion, the underground added Third Sick Hall, A Room of Three, and Mu Yang High School. Therefore, he came up with this speculation.

I didn’t even realize I already have six scenarios, but it’s still not enough!

The sun continued to rise, and its rays filtered into the parking lot. Chen Ge discovered something interesting. The scenarios were all built at the place where the sun would not reach. It was unclear whether this was done on purpose or the black phone might lose part of its power once it touched the sunlight.

It’s better if I seal up the place completely. Today, I’ll get someone to block the two entrances. That way I’ll feel much better.

Chen Ge took out his phone to look for the expansion option. The condition for second expansion was more than a thousand monthly visitors and over seventy positive reputation.

He had reached this goal several days ago, but he did not consider it because he had assumed that he still had enough space in the parking lot.

“Do you wish to expand for the second time? There’s a chance of obtaining a unique construct.”

“Yes!”

After he pressed yes, there was no change in the underground parking lot.Perhaps I’ll need to wait until midnight.

Chen Ge pocketed the black phone and retraced his steps. He was anticipating the unique construct, but he would need to wait until the following day for the expansion to finish.

The park opened at 9 am, and it was worth noting that Gu Feiyu did come. It was perfect because Chen Ge was lacking in manpower. Xiao Gu was brave, and Chen Ge wanted him to take over Murder by Midnight, but before that, he had to get familiar with the Haunted House.

Therefore, Chen Ge had Gu Feiyu experience the place with other visitors. After finishing three scenarios, a weak-legged Gu Feiyu said that he wanted to leave no matter what. Chen Ge used a lot of effort to finally convince him that being scared and scaring others were two different experiences.

Gu Feiyu, who had been scared witless, refused to enter the Haunted House again. After some more negotiation, Xiao Gu decided to come back again tomorrow. After sending Gu Feiyu away, Chen Ge felt that the young man was quite interesting.

He valued Gu Feiyu not only because of his courage but also his personality. He had saved Gu Feiyu’s life once, and with his personality, he would help keep Chen Ge’s secrets no matter what he saw inside the Haunted House in the future.

The number of people that I can use is still too small.