My House of Horrors

The training for the Vat Ghost mainly focused on evasion, endurance, and speed. Chen Ge did not need the Vat Ghost to have a high attack power—he only wished that the ghost would be able to return with its life intact after it got the necessary information.

“I’ll depend on all of you to teach it the right things.” Chen Ge closed the door that headed to the underground scenario and returned to the staff breakroom to take a much deserved rest. He looked at his phone and discovered that he had several unread messages. Most of them came from Wen Wen’s aunt, and a few of them came from Xu Wan.

Most of the messages were asking Chen Ge for his location. When Wen Wen’s aunt came to the New Century Park after her working hour, she had found that the father and daughter had been taken away by Chen Ge already. One could understand that she was a little bit worried.

“The woman did not call me after the string of messages. This probably means that she was able to confirm the pair of father and daughter’s safety.”

After thinking about it for a while, Chen Ge felt that it was better if he sent the woman a reply. Probably because it was already so late, the woman did not respond.

“Nothing happened to her, right?” Chen Ge shook his head and felt like he had been a bit too sensitive lately. If anyone that talked to him would be caught in some accidents, then his world would be a very chaotic place. He placed his phone on the bedside table and then took out the black phone to look at the list of daily mission.

“Repair, promote, and expand. The mission with normal difficulty does not mean much to me. If there is a Nightmare Mission, I might consider it.”

Lying down, Chen Ge picked up Xiaoxiao and the white cat and snuggled in bed with them. He pulled up the cover and decided to have an early sleep that night.

“Hopefully by tomorrow morning, the Vat Ghost will be able to give me a surprise.”

Chen Ge did not plan to drag it on any longer. The following night, he planned to finish the Twin Water Ghost mission. “An underwater scary scenario. Probably even those horror house designers from overseas would not dare attempt something this daring. This should be a first for any haunted house operator.”

Hugging the white cat’s fuzzy head, Chen Ge slowly drifted to sleep. At around 5 am, before the sun even came up from the horizon, Chen Ge woke up. His limbs were stone cold, but the man did not feel any semblance of discomfort.

“My body temperature is still dropping, but it is not as obvious as before.” He did not sleep for that long, but Chen Ge felt reenergized and refreshed. “The later it is, the more energized I become. My need for sleep is also slowly dropping. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Chen Ge was not a singular entity anymore. If he collapsed, then the ghosts at his Haunted House would lose their home as well. “I cannot abandon these poor souls; they will have nowhere else to go. Then again, there is nothing else I can do for now. I hope the tragedy that happened to the old lady in Coffin Village will not replicate itself here.”

Putting on his clothes, Chen Ge entered the underground scenario. When he entered the Coffin Village, what he saw surprised him. The Vat Ghost was using a speed that did not fit his appearance to evade the combined attacks from Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin. He always managed to evade the attacks from the two with an impossible twist of his body before the attacks were able to connect.

“The man seems to possess an agility that is higher than we expected since he spent a long time living in water. He is like a slippery eel that is very hard to catch.” Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue stood to the side. They watched the scene while giving their comments. Further away was a group of mannequins in student outfits who were there just to enjoy the show.

“That is an interesting comparison, but it looks like the special training has been very successful. This Vat Ghost is one with great potential.” Chen Ge summoned back Xu Yin and Bai Qiulin. He led the Vat Ghost out of the Haunted House and placed it in theme park’s water attraction.

Once his body gained contact with the water, the Vat Ghost’s speed increased once more. His speed was very fast, but the expression on his face was like before. It seemed like he was reminiscing about the days when he was just a ghost hiding at the bottom of the vat and his only responsibility was to blow bubbles.

“When this Trial Mission is over, you don’t need to squeeze yourself inside that small vat anymore. I will find you a large pond.” Chen Ge was very satisfied with the transformation of the Vat Ghost. He was worried that the sun might injure the ghost, so after a brief observation, he sent the Vat Ghost into the comic. “Now I have another trump card.”

At 8:20 am, Director Luo and Uncle Xu arrived at the theme park earlier than usual. There were two men in suits following them.

“Xiao Chen, let me make some introductions. This is my former business partner; we used to go to the same university. He is CEO Bai from the Chaohai Organization. The update to our theme park’s facilities will be a joint project with their company.” Director Luo sounded bright, but Chen Ge noticed that when he introduced the man, his eyes were very calm, and there was not one ripple of happiness. If anything, there was a very well-hidden trace of caution.

“Old friend, this is the mastermind behind our theme park’s Haunted House, Chen Ge.” Director Luo then managed the introduction to CEO Bai.

“You are that Chen Ge?” CEO Bai looked Chen Ge up and down and then nodded kindly. “To be able to keep such a large Haunted House running alone and then come up with so many detailed scary scenarios, that’s amazing. I’m really impressed.” He extended his hand toward Chen Ge. “If there is an opportunity, perhaps we can consider a cooperation between us as well.”

Chen Ge looked at the man’s face and thought that he looked very familiar. He thought about it for a long time, and then it hit him. He had once seen a picture on the engineer’s phone from the futuristic park. It was the picture of a meeting, and one of the people in the picture was CEO Bai.

Why would someone who had dealings with the futuristic theme park come to work together with the New Century Park?

With confusion in his eyes, Chen Ge silently moved his eyes to look at Director Luo. The latter understood the meaning in his eyes. He lowered his palm and then pointed at himself. He was telling Chen Ge that he knew about these things, and he would be able to handle everything.

Director Luo was a successful businessman. Chen Ge decided to leave such matters to the businessmen and did not say anything. He knew that Director Luo had his own plan. He probably wanted to earn benefits from the man and, at the same time, stop the man’s wicked plan from succeeding.

Hopefully, everything can be pulled off successfully.

After sending them away, Chen Ge could sense some desperation from Director Luo. If not for the pressure from the futuristic theme park, he probably would not have taken such a risky step.

Looks like I have to increase my speed. I should focus on completing the few missions in Eastern Jiujiang first. If there is any party that dares stand in our way, I’ll just feed them to Zhang Ya or Bai Qiulin.

After two days of relaxation, Chen Ge felt like he had to do something already.

At 9 am, the theme park opened, and a new day began.

…

Inside the corridor of a particular building in Eastern Jiujiang, Wen Wen’s hands were tightly gripping the room door, and she cried loudly. Her large eyes were filled with tears, and the scene looked rather sad.

“I’ve fulfilled my part of the promise to let you go to theme park, and now it is your time to fulfill your part of the promise and go to school like an obedient girl.”

The woman in the office clothing squatted next to Wen Wen. She tried to pry Wen Wen away from the door, but the girl gripped the door and was unwilling to let go.

Even though Wen Wen’s father suffered from a mental illness and his intelligence was much lower than normal, for a father that cared deeply about his daughter, this was more like the instinct of an animal. He fidgeted in his seat and wanted to stop Wen Wen’s aunt.

“Brother, I also love Wen Wen, but if you do not want her to turn out like you in the future, you have to let her go to school!” The woman’s words were sharp, and they plunged right into the man’s heart.

The biggest worry for this father was that his daughter would end up like him when she grew up. He stopped moving, no longer debating saving the little girl.

“I am only doing this for your sake. There will come a day when I am old. Wen Wen, if you have no power to take care of yourself, then what will happen to the two of you when I’m old?” Wen Wen’s aunt picked up the little girl, grabbed the school bag that was on the ground, and forcibly dragged her downstairs.

“When you’re at school, you have to listen to the teacher’s words, and do not get into any arguments or altercations with the other students.” The woman led Wen Wen to the bus. The girl seemed to have given up on her resistance. She hugged her bag and kept her head lowered like she was very sad.

Half an hour later, the woman dropped Wen Wen off at a private rehabilitative school. There were many students like Wen Wen at this school, including children who suffered from hyperactivity or other illnesses.

“Teacher Wen, I’ll leave the child with you.” The woman actually did care about Wen Wen. Before she left, she told Teacher Wen many times that she was worried that the girl would be bullied at school.

“Will you be the one fetch her after school?” The one who spoke was a female teacher. She was rather rotund, and she had a pair of glasses on. Her hair was cut short, and she looked around forty. Her voice was gentle and soft.

“Yes, thank you for your help.” The woman walked three steps and turned back to look at Wen Wen. In the end, she got onto the bus; after all, she still needed to get to work. Wen Wen never once raised her head to look at the woman, obviously unhappy.

“Let’s go in.” The woman placed her hand on Wen Wen’s shoulder and slowly nudged her forward. After crossing the front door, they entered a very unique school. The school was not big, and it was mainly separated into two parts, indoors and outdoors. Currently, on the small outdoor field, there was a male teacher who was leading a few children to do some exercises.

The actions were very simple, but the patterns made by the children were completely different and weird in their own ways. However, this scene was not at all funny; if anything, it would make one’s heart tighten.

Wen Wen seemed to hate this strange environment a lot. She pushed the woman’s hand from her shoulder and took out a water bottle from her bag. She did not drink the water. Instead, she opened the lid so that she could look at the surface of the water directly.

Teacher Wen had seen Wen Wen’s strange action before, so she did not stop her as she led Wen Wen into the building. A row of plastic tables whose edges were covered tightly was placed in the middle of the room. There was a female teacher who was telling the students something in the classroom.

“Xiao Zhu, do you mind arranging a seat for her? I have something else to attend to, so I’ll leave her with you.”

“Okay.” The female teacher saw Wen Wen. When she saw the little girl, her brows creased slightly, but she soon returned to normal. She arranged for the girl to sit at the back of the class. Both parties treated each other as invisible. In a way, this was the best arrangement.

Sitting at the back, the girl leaned on the table. She did not take out her textbook from her bag—she just sat there and looked at the water inside the bottle. She mumbled to herself, but it looked like she was conversing with the water bottle.

Her voice was low, and since the classroom was quite noisy, no one really paid her any attention. It was not until the female teacher started to use the projector to teach the class about animals that the class started to quiet down. The teacher called out students to answer her questions. Most of the students piped up, but Wen Wen continued to converse with the water bottle on her own. When the teacher heard her voice, she was quite angry.

“Liu Wen Wen, come and tell us what this animal is.”

When the girl heard someone call her name, she lifted her head in confusion. When she noticed that everyone was looking at her, she was conspicuously unsettled.

“Don’t you know? Then what about this one?” The female teacher changed another picture, and a picture of a frog appeared on the board. Wen Wen still did not say anything. She did not know what to do, and her palms became covered in sweat.

“I have already told you many times, this is a frog. How come you still cannot remember it?” The female teacher walked down from the podium. The more she looked at the girl, the angrier she became. “You keep hugging this bottle of water, but you never drink from it. If anyone else tries to drink you water, you will even scratch their faces. I really wonder about the doctor’s diagnosis for you.”

The female teacher really did not like Wen Wen. She pointed at the picture on the board. “I will tell you again, this is a frog. Can you remember it this time?”

The girl still did not answer. She stared at the water bottle on the table.

“You still won’t speak?” The female teacher grabbed Wen Wen’s shoulders and pulled her to stand at the aisle that was between two rows of tables. “Come, repeat the action that is on the picture.”

Wen Wen still did not react. In the end, with the multiple signals and warnings from the female teacher, the girl seemed to finally grasp her meaning. She mimicked the frog in the picture and squatted on the ground. Her hands were placed on the ground, and she used her four limbs to hold up her body.

“Remember this pose, this is a frog. I will ask you again during the next lesson.” The female teacher had Wen Wen return to her seat, and she continued with the class.

Patting away the dust on her hands, Wen Wen stood up and leaned against her table again. She stared at the water bottle. No one touched the bottle, but the water inside started to ripple on its own as a string of black hair that was on the bottom of the water floated to the surface.

The class in the morning soon ended. After lunch, it was time for the students to have an afternoon nap. Wen Wen was still arranged to have her place at the corner. She did not protest or make any noise. She hugged her school bag and her water bottle as she very obediently walked to her bed.

She dropped the bag by her feet and then placed the water bottle beside her pillow. After about half an hour, when the children started to fall asleep, the teacher who was responsible for patrolling the room entered. When she stopped beside Wen Wen, she noticed there was an unclosed water bottle next to her.

“Why is there a black hair in the water?” The female teacher picked up the bottle and poured the water down the toilet. Then, she replaced the water bottle on the counter next to the bed.

At 2 pm, the children were slowly roused from their sleep. The first thing that Wen Wen did once she opened her eyes was turn to look at the water bottle next to her pillow, but she was unable to find it. The panicked girl started to look around. She eventually found the water bottle on the counter, but the water inside had been poured away.

Wen Wen hurled the plastic bottle on the ground hard enough for it to break. Yet, she still could not find the hair inside the bottle and started to cry loudly.

At the time, the female teacher by the name of Xiao Zhu was conversing with the male physical education teacher. Their bodies were slowly leaning closer to each other, and they were laughing and chatting.

They were happily chatting when they heard Wen Wen’s crying. The female teacher complained with impatience. “It is her again. I really wonder if this girl was not born with mental retardation but is actually a nut job.”

Opening the door, the woman walked to the girl. She had no idea what had happened to Wen Wen because the girl refused to communicate. She bent down to pick up the pieces of the bottle, and when she saw that Wen Wen was still crying, Xiao Zhu grabbed the girl and dragged her out of the room, locking her in another room. “Stop disturbing the other children. I will give you time to calm down first. When you’re done crying, I will come back to get you.”