My House of Horrors

Chapter 998: Phones Have Their Own Thoughts

One, two, three, four... The Red Specters that the boy met in a few minutes were far more than the total of Red Specters he had met in the past decade. He wanted to escape, but it was too late. The corridor was swallowed by red, and a tsunami of resentment was rushing through the area.

“I have no interest in your door, so we have no conflict of interest. You wish to get the door’s approval and become the new door pusher, and the simplest way to do that is to kill the original door pusher, the ghost fetus. Thus, we have a common enemy.” Chen Ge looked at the boy who was surrounded by multiple Red Specters. “No matter how you look at it, we have a basis for cooperation. What do you think?”

“I...” The boy’s white eyes darted about. He realized that all his exits were blocked off, and all the Red Specters were looking at him like he was a piece of meat. “I believe you are right. We are not enemies, and we shouldn’t be enemies. If we fight, it’ll only benefit the ghost fetus.”

“So, have you remembered more details that you can share with me?”

“Ah, yes. The altar is just underground. I’ll lead you there.”

Surrounded by Red Specters, the boy led everyone to the basement. The basement was very humid, and there was a moldy smell in the air. The corridor was filled with abandoned trash. There were even two rusted bicycles blocking the door.

“Many rooms in Jiang Yuan Apartments have been rented out before, but when the tenants left, they didn’t take their stuff with them. The owner was too lazy to throw them away, so the stuff got moved here.”

The group came to the deepest part of the corridor. There was a wooden altar at the end. The insides of the altar’s walls were covered in the death characters, and it was also covered in spiderwebs and insect carcasses. The only thing missing was the mud statuette.

“Did Jia Ming’s group come here before?”

“No.” The boy’s tone became softer. “This altar was left behind by an old tenant. He sold his home to settle his debt. The new owner wanted to toss away the altar due to how cursed it looks, but they were afraid of offending the ‘spirit’ inside the altar, so they left it in the basement.”

“Do you know where the family has moved to?” Chen Ge was surprised at how successful things were going. He had found a clue to another child.

“On the night they moved, I heard the tenant say that they were going to send the child to a Pei Chi Academy in Western Jiujiang, so I believe that is where they are now.”

“A child? Pei Chi Academy?” Chen Ge had once more confirmed this child was one of the people he was looking for. “You still remember what the child looks like, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, for the next eight days, you will follow us to find the ghost fetus.” Chen Ge did not give the boy any choice—he did not know even ask the Red Specter for his opinion—he merely gave an order.

“I can’t stay away from here for too long. The door will become active at night. If I ignore it for too long, the building will create a fourteenth floor.” The boy hoped that Chen Ge would understand the severity of the situation.

“No worries, I will give you time to come back to close the door.” Chen Ge invited the boy into the comic. He stood before the altar and started to consider something else. “The child that this altar corresponds to shouldn’t be the child with Jia Ming, so how did Jia Ming find this place? Can he sense the location of the altars? Is he staying at Jiujiang to look for the other altars? If that is true, I have to find him as soon as possible!”

Chen Ge really did not expect that the few people that he let go previously would become so important now. The comic had another new Red Specter. Including the woman in the stage costume, the number of Red Specters around Chen Ge had reached a very scary point. However, even with so many Red Specters, Chen Ge did not feel safe. There was a gulf between baleful Specters and Red Specters; it was the same with Red Specters and Demon Gods. To use the Red Specters’ power to kill a Demon God, one needed a complete plan that made use of all the Red Specters’ power perfectly.

“Yet another fulfilling night.” Chen Ge left Jiang Yuan Apartments and returned to New Century Park. It was already dawn. Entering the haunted house, Chen Ge did not go to sleep but summoned Men Nan and Tong Tong to do an experiment. After a few minutes, Chen Ge climbed into bed. He slept for only three to four hours before he crawled up to prepare for another day of business. After putting on make-up for his employees and leaving them some simple orders, Chen Ge carried his backpack and left again.

“It feels like we’ve been seeing less and less of the boss, or is that my imagination?”

“He probably has something important to do. We’ll focus on our work. When he comes back at night, we can ask him about it.”

Running out from New Century Park, Chen Ge saw a taxi parked by the side of the road. He walked over, and coincidentally, it was the driver who driven him from Jiang Yuan Apartments the previous night.

“My shift’s about to end. Why don’t you call another cab?” The driver glanced at Chen Ge. “Boss, haven’t we met somewhere before?”

“Perhaps, I like to go out at night in taxis.” Chen Ge opened the door and got in. “Eastern Jiujiang’s futuristic theme park and step on it. Something huge is happening tonight.”

...

At the gate of the futuristic them park, Chen Ge found the worker and stated his reason for being there. He wished to meet Jiang Ming. If the latter was too much, he would buy the ticket to find him at the haunted house and start a few more livestreams. As the face of New Century Park, Chen Ge was labelled as one of the most dangerous characters by the futuristic theme park. After the workers recognized him, they raced toward the office.

Ten minutes later, Jiang Ming came toward Chen Ge in his employee outfit with furrowed brows.

“Why are you looking for me?” Jiang Ming maintained his distance from Chen Ge. “We should not have met before, right?”

“I have something that I need to confirm with you.” Chen Ge signaled for Jiang Ming to follow him to a more secluded area. “There is an old mansion at the center of your haunted house, and there is an altar placed there. Inside that altar was my decapitated mud statuette. I wish to know what the meaning of that is.”

“How would you know that’s your mud statuette? Does it have your name on it? Perhaps it just looks like you.”

“Now that you mention it, it does have my name on it.” Chen Ge took out his phone. “Here is the photographic proof.”

Jiang Ming’s reaction was different from what Chen Ge expected. The man genuinely seemed surprised by this and did not know what the altar and mud statuette represented, or he could be a very good actor.

“Perhaps it’s the prank of one of the employees. Don’t worry, we’ll conduct an investigation into this and give you a satisfactory answer.” Jiang Ming gave a PR answer. “If there’s nothing else...”

“Wait!”

“I will help you deal with this, but you have to have patience.” Jiang Ming just wanted Chen Ge to leave. “It is my working hours. I know New Century Park is a lot freer, but we are very busy here.”

“Leave me your contact details before you go, or else I won’t be able to reach you in the future.” Chen Ge took out his phone and showed the QR code of his WeChat for Jiang Ming to scan.

“Haha, you’re an interesting one.” Jiang Ming took out his phone and scanned the code. After the friend request was accepted, Jiang Ming pushed the phone back into his pocket. He did not notice the smile on Chen Ge’s face, much less the two ghosts that had slipped into his phone.