My House of Horrors

There was a shadow holding a creepy-looking hammer standing in the dark corridor that seemed to lead right to hell. The man blocked the only way out—he was the manifestation of despair itself. Ma Yin did not have much energy left in her body. Her footsteps slowed down, and the color disappeared from her eyes as she looked down the corridor with helplessness. Compared to this man who held the murder weapon, it was obvious that the weird thing that slithered on the floor behind them was easier to deal with.

She did not dare move forward. Her legs weakened, and fear drained the energy from her body.

“What should we do?” Ma Yin asked for Liu Xianxian’s opinion. At this moment, they only had each other.

“The underground passage is complicated and connects to the various labs at the western side of the campus. Should we just run backward? If we’re lucky, we might find a way out, but it’s more likely that we’ll get trapped inside the tunnels.” Liu Xianxian bit on her lips and made the second decision. “The other choice is to rush forward. If the man tries to attack you, toss me at him. I’ll try my best to stop him, and you run as fast as you can to go and find the teacher and the security.”

“No, I won’t do that.”

“My ankle is sprained, so I cannot run. It’s that, or both of us are going to die here!” Various newspaper headlines that stated how a young girl was found dead in her campus flashed across her mind, and even though she tried to stop them, the tears kept on falling.

“Die here…” Ma Yin was reminded of the few paintings that she had seen inside the cupboard. The paintings made her feel fear and terror. Ma Yin nodded as she made this painful decision. “I will run at the top of my speed and find someone to come save you.”

“I’ll wait for you.” When they finished their discussion, the monsters had been catching up to them. The man who blocked the corridor had noticed them as well. The half-a-meter-long murder weapon twirled in the air, and the man walked toward them.

The smell of blood crept through the underground corridor, and there was a red shadow flickering beside the man. Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian were trapped by threats coming from both ends. The two girls moved toward the man as they had planned, but they only took several steps when Ma Yin was unable to move anymore, and on her back, Liu Xianxian was as pale as a sheet of paper.

Blood vessels seemed to crawl over the man before them, and perhaps due to fear, Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian heard the sound of blood dripping in their ears. That introduced a change to their plan. Ma Yin’s bodily instinct told her to slow down, her brain giving her signal to tell her to stay away from the man. Liu Xianxian’s heart was filled with regret. When she was really facing death, she found out how cowardly she was. With tears falling down her cheeks, she grabbed Ma Yin’s shoulders. “Should we try going deeper into the underground morgue? Perhaps we might be able to find other exits?”

Before Ma Yin could answer, the man’s speed suddenly increased. She screamed, and before her mind came to a decision, her legs carried her away from the man. It was too scary!

Turning back the corner, there were several fish or snake-like humanoid monsters in the corridor. They were quite happy when they saw Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian return on their own, but their smile soon disappeared. The smell of blood in the corridor overwhelmed the smell of formalin, and the blood vessels crept along the wall like spider web.

What were those things?

The sound of footsteps echoed down the hall. With the Red Specter following behind him, Chen Ge ran to the girls with the hammer. “Don’t be afraid! I’m here to save you!”

However, no one stopped because he said that. Including the monsters, everyone ran deeper down the corridor. Looking at Liu Xianxian and Ma Yin running along the monsters down the corridor, Chen Ge’s lips twitched. “What is the meaning of this?”

The corridors would get even more crisscrossed down the line. Afraid that Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian might get lost in the tunnels, he picked up his speed again. “Stop running!”

Ma Yin was carrying Liu Xianxian, so her energy was exhausted after a short distance of running. Noticing the man catching up to them, she experienced the sting of despair so acutely for the first time in her life. It was exactly as depicted in that painting. The decayed hand reached for the sky, but it could never touch it.

“Xianxian, I cannot run anymore.” Ma Yin did not know what kind of tone she was using when she said that sentence. She turned to look at Liu Xianxian, who was crying. She gripped her fists trying to fight the man behind them, but when she turned around and met his gaze, she understood how fragile her courage was before this man. She stopped moving like she had surrendered.

The smell of blood intensified. The blood vessels that crept on the wall became more numerous as the despairing shadow got closer to them. Ma Yin closed her eyes; she did not want to watch her own demise.

The footsteps approached them in mere seconds. The imagined pain and assault did not appear, but when the footsteps stopped beside them, they could not help but scream. Even after their screams, the pain did not appear. Just as they thought this was going to be a cruel game of cat and mouse, they opened their eyes to realize that the man had already wandered away.

He waved that unknown weapon in his arms and ran down the corridor. With wet tears still in their eyes, Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian watched Chen Ge run away from them, and it felt like they had been given a second chance at life.

“Let’s go!” The two had not completely lost their sensibility. They supported each other and staggered down the corridor. Chen Ge was chasing the retreating monsters when he turned back to see the escaping girls. He hesitated and decided to give up on the monsters.

If I continue to chase after them, I might accidentally trigger the Trial Mission at the underground morgue. Since Zhang Ya hasn’t awakened, I’d better be more careful.

Chen Ge stopped moving. There was another reason he made this decision—the underground tunnels were complicated, so it was very disadvantageous to him.

Looks like I need to make more preparation. At the very least, I need a map of the underground morgue.

Chen Ge put the hammer away and continued to walk backward. The two girls shook violently when they saw him coming their way. They wanted to run but could not. Recalling Xu Yin into the tape, Chen Ge stood in the dark corridor so that the girls could not see his face clearly. “Don’t be afraid, I’m here to save you.”

He was quite a bright person, but since he had spent so much time with Specters, it had introduced a contradictory element to his presence.

Ma Yin and Liu Xianxian did not dare move. In fact, Liu Xianxian almost fainted from fear.

“Even though it would take a long for anyone to discover your bodies and there is enough time to deal with the evidence and clues, don’t worry, I would never do something like that.” Chen Ge held the hammer with both of his hands. “Actually, I only have a few questions to ask you. I hope that you can answer honestly.”