My House of Horrors

“They are indeed different from normal criminals. They have a purpose, and they’re more insane.” Chen Ge was reminded of a story he had heard while he was at the ghost stories society. “The bunch of crazies once drowned a middle-aged man to help cure one of their partners’ illness.”

“Killing for the purpose of curing an illness?” Captain Yan could not believe it.

“The patient was abused since she was a child; her father forced her head into the water many times. Curses and threats, claiming he was going to drown her. This left a mental scar that couldn’t be forgotten. After she grew up, she had an irrational fear of water. Even when she drank normal water, she felt like it was suffocating her soul. Other patients thus drafted this treatment for her. It was to deal with the source of the fear. From their perspective, she wasn’t afraid of water but her own father.”

This was the story that Chen Ge had overheard when Lychee asked about other members of the society. “The whole group of patients from the Third Sick Hall are insane. They know they are not normal and are sick, but they do not approve of the traditional methods and intend on using their own methods to cure themselves.”

Chen Ge’s words caused Captain Yan to think. “Every citizen’s personal safety is protected by the law; no one has the right to deprive another of their life. No matter their reason, they will never escape the persecution of the law.”

“I’m not giving them a reason; I’m just telling you the truth.” Chen Ge paced in the room. “All the victims this time are sinners, and their eyes were gouged. The similarity is too obvious, so I believe this is another attempt at curing one of their members.”

“What kind of belief will link trauma together with sin and eyes?” Captain Yan thought Chen Ge had a point.

“That, I don’t know, but you have to be fast. You’ve found two victims, but based on my understanding of these people, their favorite number is three.”

“You mean there will be a third victim?”

“No matter what they do, they always aim for three. I don’t understand why.” Chen Ge told the police everything he knew. The society was his enemy, and helping the police was helping himself.

“Okay, we will pay closer attention to this.”

After the call ended, Chen Ge could not sleep. “There are only three members left. Xiong Qing has been captured, so he isn’t one of the members. Plus, with his personality, he would expose me during the Wednesday meeting. From the list of patients that escaped from the Third Sick Hall, only three confirmed living ones remain—Wang Shenglong; Patient 6, Han Bao’er; and Patient 9, Wu Fei.

“Wang Shenglong was at home during the Wednesday meeting, and this was confirmed by the police. He isn’t a society member, and the monster possessing him escaped silently from behind the door. Then this will lead to another problem. Of the three remaining members, only two came from the Third Sick Hall.”

Chen Ge had plenty of information on the ghost stories society. He was familiar with the chairperson’s voice—she was someone he had seen before—and then No. 10 seemed to know him, but his stance was still an unknown.

“When the investigator jumped off the building, his dying words were Men Nan. Could the last unknown member be Men Nan?” Chen Ge then soon vetoed this speculation. He could not trust the enemy’s words fully. At the time, the investigator had been under the control of the society member, so his message could have been to lead him astray.

“Whether the investigator was lying or not, at least I garnered an important piece of information from him. The person controlling him knew about Men Nan, or else he wouldn’t have left Men Nan’s name at that crucial moment.

“Wu Fei is hiding in the shadowy corners of the city while Men Nan is the complete opposite. He’s trying to live a normal life and can be found at any time. Neither of them are my opening.” Chen Ge thought about it and decided to make Han Bao’er his next target. “If I just send all of them into jail, then I won’t need to waste time guessing who the chairperson is.”

Chen Ge cleared his mind and slowly fell asleep.

At 8:30 am, Chen Ge stretched lazily in bed. He went for a shower, and when he past the first floor toilet, his heart almost stopped. There was a very thin crack on the cubicle door. It looked like a narrowed eye looking at the world outside the door with evil intention.

“Something appeared behind the door at midnight last night and left this crack.”

After Chen Ge sealed the cubicle up with wooden boards, it had been relatively peaceful. He had thought that the problem was resolved and tossed it out of his mind.

However, after discovering the crack, the anxiety in his heart returned.

“The crack is very even, and the surface is smooth. This should be a new ghost that I’ve not seen before.”

The world behind the door was still too unknown to Chen Ge, and he did not want to deal with them yet. “The ghost stories society knows how to close the door, and Men Nan’s main persona should know some secrets as well. Now that there’s a change to this door inside my Haunted House, the mission for the Third Sick Hall cannot be delayed anymore.”

Chen Ge had a plan after he exited the toilet. The park opened at 9 am, and the resting tent at the door was filled up within twenty minutes. There were a few familiar faces. They were excited as they talked with their friends, their voices filled with anticipation.

“Every Haunted House boss would love to see something like this. Their work is renowned and can bring in many visitors.” Chen Ge put on Doctor Skull-cracker’s mask. It had not been easy leading the Haunted House to this stage; he could not allow everything to go to ruin due to a door.

“Before the trial mission for Coffin Village disappears, I need to capture all the society members and get the way to close the door out of them.”

Filled with pointed hatred, Boss Chen gave the visitors a few authentic experiences. The screams inside the Haunted House rose like waves and did not stop for the whole day. At 3 pm, Captain Yan called Chen Ge several times. Chen Ge was busy chasing after visitors inside the Haunted House, so he did not notice it.

Chen Ge saw it when the park closed, and he immediately returned Captain Yan’s calls.

“Captain Yan, you’ve caught the killer?” Chen Ge wiped the make-up from his face and gave Xu Wan the permission to leave.

Captain Yan was silent, and after a long time, he said, “We’ve found the third victim; it’s an employee at Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station. We found him in the same state as the other two victims.”