My House of Horrors

Lychee licked her lips excitedly like she had just remembered something wonderful. She went into the restroom anxiously and took out a lipstick from her purse to redo her make-up when her phone rang.

“An unregistered number?” Lychee tossed her make-up kit back into her purse. She was rather annoyed that the caller had ruined the mood that she was in. She tried to arrange her emotions to make her tone and voice sound as normal as she could. “Such a joykill.”

Lychee picked up the phone and walked to the door of the recording studio. “Hello, how can I help you?”

Her sweet voice was like a fruit champagne, fresh and bubbly. Hear it too much and one might get drunk.

“No. 5 is dead. I need you to come to Fang Hwa Apartments’ 24th floor now.” The person on the other end of the phone was not seduced by her voice and got straight to the point.

“Dead‽” Lychee’s bleeding fingers slowly pulled taut, and the blood fell on her phone’s pink casing.

“I don’t care what No. 5 told you or what your relationship is; I need you to come over now.”

“Now?” Lychee hesitated. She held the phone in one hand and opened the door with another. The corridor outside was incredibly quiet. The room door opened a sliver, and Lychee pressed, “How is his death related to me? Why should I go to the 24th floor?”

“If you don’t want to die, come immediately!” The voice on the phone filtered out the door through the open gap.

“Fine.” Lychee opened the door fully. She just took half a step outside when she saw the head of a scary hammer flying at her. She did not even have the chance to scream before she was knocked back into the studio.

The pain registered several seconds later, and a shrill scream exited the recording studio. Chen Ge picked up the phone that fell to the floor and put it beside his ear.

“No. 12?” There was a chilling and raspy sound coming from the other end. The person was using a fake voice, but even so, Chen Ge felt that the voice was rather familiar. Chen Ge wanted to continue to listen in, but the person seemed to realize something was wrong and hung up immediately.

Even though I only heard a little, that is a huge reward already.

Standing in the darkened corridor, Chen Ge flashed a smile, holding Lychee’s phone. All the members were not supposed to know each other’s identity, but the person who called Lychee was the obvious exception. He even knew the connection between Lychee and No. 5, so he had called to warn Lychee to leave.

The owner of this voice is probably the chairperson who is controlling everything from the shadows.

Chen Ge compared the voices that he had heard at the ghost stories society, and he could be certain that the voice did not belong to the first man on the left, No. 5, or No. 10.

The range is slowly closing in. Detaining him will collapse the entire society.

Placing Lychee’s phone on the table, Chen Ge stood guard at the door as he called Captain Yan. Captain Yan’s team mobilized faster than Western Jiujiang’s police team. They arrived in less than ten minutes. Chen Ge put away his hammer, suggested that the police examine Lychee’s home, and then told them about how she had killed her ex-husband.

The few people had been taken away from investigation. At the station, Chen Ge ran into Captain Yan again. The slightly rotund police office looked worse for wear.

“Captain Yan, long time no see.”

“How come I feel like I see you daily?” Captain Yan looked at Chen Ge and was reminded of the things that Inspector Lee had told him in private about Chen Ge. He felt a headache coming. However, he could not blame Chen Ge. He was the one who had awarded the medal to Chen Ge, and he was the one who had encouraged him. He had made his bed, and now he had to sleep in it.

“Xiao Chen, well done!” Captain Yan’s smile looked forceful. “But you were acting too rash.”

“I understand, but I couldn’t control myself when I saw they were trying to harm the innocent.” Chen Ge did not deny he had acted rashly. However, he would never admit to things that he did not do either. “Captain Yan, the fainting of the kidnapper that ran into the woods had nothing to do with me. I made sure to avoid hitting his vitals, and it was me who dragged him out of the woods after he inexplicably lost his consciousness.”

Captain Yan nodded. “I’ve heard the explanation from the two taxi drivers. If you did not appear in time, things would have been worse.”

The appreciation that the driver had for Chen Ge was sincere—Captain Yan could see that.

“So, can I leave now?” Chen Ge’s Haunted House was going to have a huge promotion tomorrow, and he had to make sure he was present.

“Not yet, we still have plenty of questions to ask you. You need to finish giving your statement before you can go. That’s the rules.” Captain Yan and two other officers asked Chen Ge for the details of the cases, and Chen Ge, who had prepared the answers beforehand, dealt with them easily.

He described what he could in detail, and he made up certain things that he could not explain did not happen. Other than that, Chen Ge provided Captain Yan with another important piece of information. The surveillance camera at Hai Ming Apartments might have captured the image of No. 5’s accomplices.

At 3:30 am, Captain Yan saw how tired Chen Ge was, so they allowed him to return to New Century Park. After stepping into the Haunted House, the tired-looking Chen Ge had a rebirth. After eating Zhang Ya’s candy, Chen Ge realized that he did not need too much sleep to maintain a healthy spirit. This was his secret that he would not share with others.

I should keep a low profile for a while. I might be able to survive it, but Captain Yan and his team might not.

Chen Ge entered the staff breakroom, removed the white cat from his bed, lay down, and slept without changing his clothes. At 8 am, Chen Ge was woken up by a phone call. He was surprised to see it was from Gu Feiyu.

After experiencing the Haunted House with a bunch of visitors yesterday, he had refused Chen Ge’s offer to work there. Money was important, but his life was more important. However, he could not deny Chen Ge’s persuasion and promised to give it another try.

I’m lacking an actor for Murder by Midnight. Xiao Gu will be the perfect fit.

Chen Ge changed his clothes and ran to the park entrance to greet Xiao Gu after washing his face.

“Brother Chen, I don’t think I have the talent to scare people. I’ve thought about it the whole night. While I appreciate you giving me this job offer, I cannot allow myself to ruin your Haunted House’s reputation.” Xiao Gu was an honest young man.

“It’s okay. I can teach you how to scare people.” Chen Ge inspected Xiao Gu. “Come with me. We’ll get you into your work clothes first.”

He brought Xiao Gu into the dressing room. When Xiao Gu saw the bloodied doctor’s outfit and the skin mask sewn from different faces, he felt like leaving.

“Hold this and this hammer. Now, swing it several times for me.”