My House of Horrors

“Believe me, they are both ghosts. Don’t go over there!” Bai Qiulin moved one step forward. “Come with me before it’s too late!”

“Sister Mao, you have to think this through! He was around when the accidents happened to Zhang Lan and Huang Xing!” Mr. Zhou’s face was covered with fear. “Quickly come to us!”

Sister Mao was tormented by the opposing voices coming from both sides! This was more than just simple fear. Terror had seeped into her bones—just the thought of it sent chills up her spine. “Heaven on one side and hell on the other, one wrong step and everything’s over.”

She gritted his teeth and finally came to her decision. Perhaps because Mr. Zhou had said more words and was the friendlier party before all hell broke loose, Sister Mao chose to nudge toward Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue.

“You will regret this.” Bai Qiulin moved backward like he was ready to run. Seeing how determined Bai Qiulin was to leave, Sister Mao’s heart started to shake again. “If he wants to harm me, he wouldn’t leave like this. Am I really making the wrong choice?”

Sister Mao looked at Mr. Zhou and his wife, and she suddenly remembered that both Bai Qiulin and Mr. Zhou were there when accidents happened to Huang Xing and Xiao Lan, but when Ma Tian was caught, only Mr. Zhou and his wife were with him!

“I know the truth already!” Sister Mao was covered with cold sweat; it felt like she had just taken a jaunt around the gate of hell.

“Wait a minute!” Sister Mao ran to Bai Qiulin. “I’m going with you!”

“Now you choose to believe me?” Bai Qiulin did not turn around, and his voice was cold.

“I’ve always believed you!” Sister Mao tried to argue to regain Bai Qiulin’s confidence.

Bai Qiulin slowed down but still did not turn around. “Aren’t you afraid that I’m a crazy murderer?”

“Now is not the time for that; they’ll catch up soon!” Sister Mao had tears in her eyes. “I really believe you. Please, take me to the exit. Earlier I must have been possessed by the ghosts—that’s the only reason I hesitated.”

“Possessed by the ghosts?” Bai Qiulin stopped. Sister Mao finally caught up to him, and he slowly turned around. His neck snapped, mouth and nose bleeding, Bai Qiulin had a twisted smile on his face. “Are you talking about a ghost like myself?”

Sister Mao forced out a scream from her sore throat. She had lost her soul, and her body turned to run toward Mr. Zhou. “Save me! Save me!”

Sister Mao rushed toward Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue, her mind completely blank.

“I told you he’s a ghost, but you refused to listen. Come with us!’ Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue led Sister Mao into an alley. They ran for a while before Sister Mao saw the end of the road—it was a wall!

“Wait, is this a dead end‽” She turned to look at Mr. Zhou and Duan Yue beside her, and she lost the ability to speak.

“Of course, where else would dead people lead you but a dead end?” Mr. Zhou’s black shirt started to leak with blood, forming floral patterns. Duan Yue was even scarier; her body split into blocks like she could shatter at any moment. “I only said Bai Qiulin was a ghost, but have I said that we aren’t?”

Her eyes rolled backward, and Sister Mao felt it was a nice thing to faint.

…

Inspecting the make-up on his face, Chen Ge, who was waiting at the entrance of Coffin Village, finally entered the scenario. “It’s time to add some pressure now that twenty minutes have passed.”

Boss Chen decided to do this personally, but once he stepped into the village, several shadows crawled out and entered the comic. “What happened?”

He flipped open the comic, and Uncle Yan drew five spots on the black paper, signaling the five locations where the group had fainted. “It has already ended? All five of them got taken down already‽”

Chen Ge ran into the nearest old home in Uncle Yan’s drawing. He first pulled out Zhang Lan and Huang Xing before finding the unconscious Ma Tian with foam on his lips. Then, at the end of the alley, he found Sister Mao, who had lost her fake eyelashes.

“But only twenty minutes have passed, right? What the f*ck happened?” When Chen Ge visited the old building, he did not think that the three ghosts were that scary, even though they were exceptional actors.

“The three of them definitely could manage a whole scenario on their own, but pretending to be visitors can’t be repeated too often. I’ll consider this a special experience for the first batch of visitors.” Putting away the comic, Chen Ge found the place where Brother Wong lied unconscious. Different from other visitors, the phone beside Brother Wong was still replaying the video. When he and Sister Mao were trying to escape, they had used the recording to find the way back. “Another content stealer.”

Initially, Chen Ge did not pay much attention, but after Director Luo put out the 200,000 reward, there had been people paying for information on his Haunted House online. The newer the information, the higher the price. However, there were not many who had the guts to enter a three-star scenario. After all, even if they earned the money, they had to be alive to enjoy it.

Picking up the phone, Chen Ge deleted the video. Just as he was ready to place the phone back in Brother Wong’s pocket, he noticed the many videos and pictures of a different theme park. The theme park’s design was futuristic, and in comparison, New Century Park was old and traditional.

“Isn’t this the futuristic theme park? Why would the man have the designs of a theme park on his phone?” Chen Ge glanced at Brother Wong. “Be it from age group or presence, this man is different from the other members of the reviewer group. He should be someone from the futuristic theme park!

“Looks like the Haunted House has gotten famous enough to attract the attention of competition. New Century Park was on its last legs—even Director Luo planned to close the place—but recently, due to the existence of the Haunted House, the theme park is experiencing its second wind. It’s understandable for them to come to feel out the competition.”

Chen Ge came to this conclusion after looking through a few more videos. “Good idea, but you started with a three-star scenario. You sure don’t value your life.”

Chen Ge took out his phone and aimed it at Brother Wong’s screen. He took down everything that he could use in the future.

“Sister Mao hired a 50-cent army to bring the rating of the Haunted House down, and there are groups bringing up discussion of New Century Park online. Could the culprit be the people from the futuristic theme park?” Chen Ge knew fairly well that Jiujiang was only so big, so the two large theme parks would have to fight for visitors.

“Based on current situation, New Century Park is still on the losing end, but thankfully, there’s one more month until the official opening of their park.”

After Chen Ge removed all the pictures, he returned the phone to brother Wong and dragged him out of the scenario. “I’ll need to report this to Director Luo. He probably also realized that someone has been trying to bring theme park down.”

All five visitors had fainted, and Chen Ge could not haul all of them out at once. So, he could only drag Sister Mao and Zhang Lan out with him first. “They’re so heavy. Looks like, in the future, I’ll scare them until they’re half-unconscious so that they can still walk out on their own.”

When Uncle Xu saw Chen Ge come out dragging two women with him, his eyes twitched. He stopped selling tickets and ran over to help.

“Get the stretchers from the resting tent! Where is the doctor on standby‽ Go get the man! Just tell them there’s another accident at the Haunted House. They know what to do!”

Uncle Xu and the workers helped Sister Mao and Zhang Lan get onto the stretcher. They were about to leave when Chen Ge suddenly grabbed Uncle Xu’s shoulders.

“What is it?” Uncle Xu’s forehead was covered with sweat. He was in the hurry to send the visitors to the doctor.

“Are there more stretchers in the resting tent?” Chen Ge raised three fingers.

“Three people fainted‽” Uncle Xu’s expression fell; he was about to say something when he was stopped by Chen Ge.

“I mean, I need three more stretchers.”