My House of Horrors

There were not that many blood vessels in the glass, probably only one-fifth of the amount consumed by the white cat back in Coffin Village. After swallowing the ‘medicine’, Scissors was assaulted by pain. He grabbed his head as he collapsed to the ground. Various wailing ghost faces seemed to surface in his eyes, and the man’s facial expression kept changing to match the ghost faces that appeared in his eyes.

To counteract the pain, Scissors clawed out flesh wounds on his body, and the scariest thing was that underneath the fresh wounds were many thin, tiny blood vessels that were slithering around like fish.

The pain persisted for about ten minutes. Scissors’ entire body was soaked in sweat. After the last wave of pain faded away, he stood up from the ground with his teeth gritted. The wound on his face kept leaking blood, and the blood trailed down his face to dye his clothes’ collar. It added a unique presence to Scissors’ appearance.

“I’m still alive!” As he slowly regained control of his body, Scissors climbed up from the ground. This was a sign that the glass with the blood vessels was the real antidote. He gripped both of his fists tightly before slowly releasing them. Finally, he walked to stand before Chen Ge. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything. It was all part of your choice.” After saying that, Chen Ge turned to look at the other two passengers. The doctor shook his head and put the glass with the gray sediment down. He had an apologetic look on his face.

The drunkard was hesitating over whether he should take the glass because he was afraid of the extreme pain. In the end, under the encouragement from Scissors, the drunkard tossed the glass of blood down his throat.

“Watch over him, I’ll go have a little chat with the boss.” Chen Ge picked up the tube with the gray sediment and walked over to stand before the fat boss. He twisted open the lid. “Inside here is the venom, right?”

“This is also the antidote; I’m not lying to you!” The boss still refused to admit his deceit. Chen Ge did not want to waste time arguing with the man. He pried the man’s mouth open and was about to pour the tube of gray sediment down his throat.

“Wait a minute! Three of you were poisoned, and there are only two bottles of antidote. I’ll tell you where the third bottle of antidote is!” The fat boss struggled violently while lying on the ground.

“The third bottle?” Chen Ge’s interest was piqued. The blood vessels seemed to have had a positive influence on the white cat, so if there was an extra bottle, he could have brought it back to the Haunted House with him to study it slowly.

“Yes, this time, I will not lie to you!” The boss’ forehead was covered in cold sweat as his beady eyes stared directly at Chen Ge.

“Fine, I’ll trust you one more time, where is the third bottle of antidote?” Chen Ge yanked the fat boss off the ground and deposited him on the chair. As the pain ravaged him, the fat boss grimaced from the impact. “Actually, I placed the last antidote inside the fridge in the kitchen. It’s inside the top, the freezer layer.”

“The fridge inside the kitchen?” If not for the fact that he had played Xiao Bu’s game before, Chen Ge might have believed the words of the fat boss, but he knew perfectly well that there was no antidote in the kitchen but a Red Specter.

“If you don’t believe me, you can bring me with you.” The fat boss’ eyes started to drift, and they kept consciously and subconsciously glancing toward Chen Ge’s pocket, which carried the teeth.

“You really won’t ever learn your lesson.” Chen Ge pried open the fat boss’ mouth and started to pour the venom into the man’s throat. Both of his arms incapacitated, the fat boss who could only operate one of his legs tried his best to struggle. He still had no idea that his plot had been seen through by Chen Ge already.

“I’m not lying to you! I really keep the antidote inside the fridge. If you don’t believe me, you can go to take a look!”

“Even at this moment, you still want to harm me, your heart has completely darkened; there is no salvation for someone like you.” Chen Ge raised the hammer and ruined the fat boss’ other good leg. Then, he found a cloth and stuck it inside the fat boss’ mouth. The knocking sound from the hotel entrance grew, a signal that Chen Ge did not have much time left.

“How are you two recovering?” Chen Ge looked at Scissors and the drunkard, who appeared like they had just been salvaged from a body of water. Their bodies were drenched in sweat, and they looked much worse for wear.

“I’ve never felt better. My whole body is buzzing with energy. It’s like time has been turned back to ten years ago.” The drunkard climbed up from the ground. He waved his fists, cutting through the wind.

“If you’re feeling better, come and help me. Go and find some rope from the hotel to tie both of them to the chairs. If there is no rope, just tear up some bedsheets to make some makeshift ones.” After Chen Ge gave the two of them their assignment, he turned to look at the doctor. “Don’t worry, I’ll go look in the other corners of the hotel. There should be some other antidotes lying around.”

“Okay.” The doctor leaned on the table weakly. “You sure you’re not going to the kitchen to take a look? I’m curious, how did you know the boss was lying to you? Is it through micro expression or psychology?”

“If you’re that curious what’s inside the fridge, I can take you there to show you.” Chen Ge tied the fat boss and the chef to the chairs. Then he dragged them to deposit them at the entrance of the hotel. Once the headless ghost barged into the building, they would be the first to greet her. Once the female ghost attacked the two of them, Chen Ge would immediately initiate the next step of his plan—release the glutton ghost inside the fridge and have the two Red Specters fight it out. Then, he would stand to reap the reward in the end.

“The antidote is definitely not inside the fridge; we’d better make use of the time that we have left to search the other places inside this hotel.” Chen Ge found the white cat and dangled the empty bottle that carried the blood vessels earlier before its nostrils. Then he put the empty bottles away and pointed down the hotel corridor. “Remember this scent. Now, go!”

The pair of multi-colored eyes looked at Chen Ge with confusion, and all the white cat did was sit down and start to rest.

“Brother, why are you treating your cat like a dog?” The drunkard helped to carry the doctor off the table. Seeing how Chen Ge was acting, he had a really hard time reconciling him with the crazed man earlier who was dragging the hammer around.

“I’m just trying to unlock its full potential.” Seeing the white cat crawl under the table after much persuasion from Chen Ge, the latter was feeling a mounting headache. The cat had gotten a lot more easily scared compared to when he first got it. After clearing all the trash away, the group went up to the second floor.

There was a sign that said no entry placed in the middle of the corridor, and there were blood stains that had not been cleaned on the ground. Following the blood trail, Chen Ge pushed open the door of one of the rooms. The scene inside was a bit too gory to describe. In any case, it appeared like a great struggle had once happened in there, and every surface was covered in blood.

“Based on the viscosity of the blood, the time of the death for the victim should be within the past three hours. In other words, before we arrived at this hotel, a murder had just taken place here.” Chen Ge squatted on the ground. He had gotten used to scene like this.

The drunkard nodded in admiration, and then he lightly nudged the doctor behind him. “Are you sure he’s just a worker at a theme park? Could he be some kind of spy the law enforcement has placed inside the theme park?”

Facing the question from the drunkard, the doctor could only smile bitterly. God only knew why this young man was so familiar with the processing of crime scenes. The group searched through the second floor thoroughly. It turned out that the second floor was no different from a human meat packing factory. If the fat boss and the chef once had human nature, that had completely disappeared. Human lives were nothing but toys and food in their eyes.

“Let’s go back to the first floor to take a look.” They rummaged through the entire building, but they still could not find the antidote. The blood vessels inside the bottle appeared to be something incredibly rare even in the world behind the door.

“So sorry for being such a burden. How about we leave this place for now?” The doctor had trouble moving his body, but his mind was still very clear and conscious. “The female ghost is stalking us at the front door. So, if we sneak out through the backdoor, she probably will not discover us.”

“The ghost has already targeted us. The only way to leave this place without earning her ire is to get her to shift her hatred to someone else.” Chen Ge led the three passengers back to the first floor. He studied the fat boss and the chef who were tied up at the entrance. His cutting gaze caused the boss and the chef to shake like leaves. “This is not enough insurance. I have to figure out a way to ensure that the headless woman will attack them, or else the next step of my plan will have some problem taking off.”

Under the despairing scrutiny from the two ‘victims’, Chen Ge walked into the kitchen to find a large basin normally used to clean vegetables. He filled half of it up with pipe water before taking it out with him.

“What are you planning to do?”

A bad feeling curled around the chef and the fat boss’ hearts. Chen Ge ignored them and took out the three glasses with the gray sediment from his backpack. He opened them and tossed all the liquid inside the basin. After mixing them with a swirl, Chen Ge broke down the table and used the leg of the table as a support beam to hold the basin above the door frame. Once the female ghost pushed open the door, the basin would fall, and the content would splash on the person underneath. This was a very common prank, but the target this time was a Red Specter.

“I’m sure the gray sediment is nothing good. Once she is drenched in this stuff, the female ghost will definitely go on a murderous rampage and lash out against the living creatures who are closest to her.” Chen Ge turned back to glance at the chef and the fat boss. The despair in their hearts was already leaking out from their eyes. If they were given a second chance, they definitely would not have welcomed Chen Ge’s group to stay for the night.

“If there’s a devil in this world, I’m pretty sure it will look just like this.” The drunkard carried the doctor to stay away from the carnage. He sighed surreptitiously in relief upon seeing the trap that Chen Ge was setting up. “Thankfully, we’re currently on the same side…”

After Chen Ge dealt with the mechanism, he waved at Scissors and the rest. “Come with me.”

He picked up the white cat from the ground and herded everyone to the second floor. He turned into the first room on the left and then used Doctor Skull-cracker’s hammer to shatter the wooden board around the windowsill. “The rest of you should stay in this room and try to make more ropes from any material in the room. If there’s an accident, escape as fast as you can from this window.”

“What are you planning to do?” Scissors sensed the discrepancy in Chen Ge’s tone. He could not really describe it, but it sounded like a mixture of worry and excitement.

“Don’t worry about it. For now, you won’t be able to be of much help to me, so try your best to survive.” Chen Ge looked out the window. “The residential area that we came from earlier should be clean for now. When I signal for you to run, jump out from this window and rush to that place. Go there and wait for me.”

“Okay, you better be careful.”

“Don’t worry. Oh, by the way, take my cat with you.” Chen Ge placed the white cat inside the bedroom. He was about to turn to leave the room when he felt a heavy pressure on his shoulder. He turned back to look, and the white cat had already jumped on his shoulder and assumed its perch there. The cat’s eyes looked at Chen Ge with suspicion, as if asking, Are you going to abandon me?

“If you’re willing, then follow along. Just make sure you don’t go running amok once the Red Specter appears.” Chen Ge carried his backpack and returned to the first floor. He opened the door that led to the kitchen. At first glance, it looked like a normal kitchen—there was nothing particularly eye-catching about it.

“If this place is the same as described in Xiao Bu’s game, there should be a hidden room behind the fridge. The glutton ghost’s head is inside the top section of the fridge, and her enormous body is stuck inside the hidden room.” Walking to the fridge, Chen Ge noticed that the power of the fridge was not even plugged in. In other words, it was nothing more than a decoration.

“It should not be long now before the door of the hotel is broken down.” Chen Ge reached out to grab the handle of the fridge, and he used Yin Yang Vision to stare at the entrance of the hotel. The headless woman was cautious, but anger and provocation slowly made her lose her rationality. She could sense that the person whom she was looking for was right inside this building. After a wait of a full ten minutes, the patience of the headless woman was finally exhausted. Blood vessels crawled over the entrance door like some kind of plant, and at the same time, Chen Ge could feel the fridge before him vibrating like something inside was about to awaken.

BANG!

Once the blood vessels covered the entire door, the hotel entrance was finally broken down. The female ghost cradled her head in her arms and entered the hotel with fury burning in her eyes.

Once she took the first step, the basin above the door naturally fell down pulled by the force of gravity. Countless blood vessels weaved to form a web to toss the iron basin aside. The female ghost was surprised that someone was so courageous as to play such a juvenile prank on her, but she reacted with lighting fast reflexes.

The basin was shoved back, but its content mixed with the gray sediment splashed onto the blood vessel, and something surprising happened. The gray sediment seemed to have some kind of restraining power over even a Red Specter’s blood vessels. It melted through the web of blood, and the head in the female ghost’s arms echoed a shrill scream. She tore the blackened blood vessels out and abandoned them.

Losing the support, the basin above the door fell down right onto the female ghost. It landed squarely on the stump where the neck should have been, and it even created a clear ‘bang’ sound.

“What is that gray sediment? Could it be related to the black blood that the ghost stories society carried inside the wooden boxes?” After gaining Doctor Gao’s approval, Chen Ge had assumed the role of the new chairperson. Unfortunately, to deal with him, the society had exhausted pretty much everything that they had. Chen Ge had gained a lot of new information but zero practical advantages.

His adventure to Li Wan City though was different. The shadow had prepared many years for the cultivation of the ghost fetus, so there would definitely be plenty of ‘unique products’ found behind the door!

“I was too careless. The hotel was built in the middle of Li Wan City and is home to a powerful Red Specter like the glutton ghost. Therefore, I should have known the things that boss would collect must be extremely valuable.” Chen Ge concluded the lesson in his heart. “If I have the chance to enter other buildings, as long as there’s something worth studying, I should take it with me.”

At the entrance, the headless woman stood at the middle of door with a basin over her shoulders. The head in her arms was twisted from anger. The blood red eyes were swamped by endless fury.

In less than a second, blood vessels about ten times the volume from before spurted out from her neck. They punctured all the objects, both living and dead around her! It did not take long for the blood vessels to cover half of the hotel!

It was too fast. In just the blink of an eye, the fat boss and the chef had lost any sign of life.

I cannot allow her to notice that I’m hiding here. If I’m stuck inside the kitchen, it’s definitely over for me!

Chen Ge yanked the fridge open. The fridge was connected to the wall behind it, and a gaping jaw revealed itself before Chen Ge’s eyes.

Without the time to study it closely, Chen Ge took two steps back and tossed the teeth in his pocket alongside the bag of cloth into the open mouth. After that, Chen Ge retreated out of the kitchen.

The fury of the headless woman at the entrance was still burning. Once her eyes landed on Chen Ge, she let out another screen. With her enemy standing before her, she broke the rules of Li Wan City and stepped fully into the hotel.

Being targeted by a Red Specter was not a good feeling. Chen Ge took a mad rush toward Room 1. He had just left the kitchen when he heard the heavy breathing coming from behind him. Turning back to look, the walls of the kitchen pulsed with many blood veins. The wall that was adjacent to the fridge started to crumble and collapse. An intensely ugly blood red monster finally showed itself.