My House of Horrors

“What is he doing?”

“I have no idea.” Neither Fan Dade nor Fan Chong dared interrupt Chen Ge; they felt like Chen Ge had entered a certain state. In reality, Chen Ge did not have time for the brothers as well, he was fully focused on controlling Xiao Bu to escape the dangers hiding within the darkness.

The game creator was definitely insane. There were many threats hiding in the dark—the arms that suddenly reached out from the windows, the murderers that hid around the corner, the female ghost that chased after her, and the sound of laughing and barking coming from the some place. If it was just those things, Chen Ge would not have been so worried; the real thing that concerned him was something else.

After running for about half a minute down the dark street, Chen Ge saw something behind Xiao Bu standing up.

It looked like her shadow.

Has something entered her shadow? Or can the night in the small town awaken one’s shadow?

Chen Ge was in a highly intense state. He did not dare split his focus, but his mind kept flashing back to what had happened that night at the fresh water plant. All the ghosts in Eastern Jiujiang seemed to be related to that shadow.

When Xiao Bu’s shadow in the game stood up, it leaned on Xiao Bu’s shoulder to whisper something, and Xiao Bu’s speed started to slow down.

“Fan Chong, how far are we from the hotel?” Chen Ge asked in a hurry without turning his head.

“It’s just in front, the only building that you can enter at the end of the street!”

“It dares to be open at midnight; this hotel is also something else.” Chen Ge could already make out the shape of the old building in the dark. He controlled Xiao Bu and dashed left and right, the sound of mouse and keyboard reverberating across Fan Chong’s room. On the fifty-seventh second after she left the residential area, Xiao Bu arrived at the hotel. The female in red holding her head stopped outside the hotel and did not follow Xiao Bu.

“The female ghost doesn’t dare to come in?” When Chen Ge saw the ghost stop, he also paused Xiao Bu immediately. He controlled Xiao Bu to wander up and down the hotel entrance, trying his best to lure the female ghost in.

“Boss Chen, what are you doing? Taunting her?” Fan Chong really could not understand Chen Ge’s actions.

“If I don’t pull her into the hotel, how do you think we are supposed to deal with the owner? Xiao Bu is just a harmless child—how is she supposed to fight with these crazed murderers?” Xiao Bu danced at the door. The female ghost wanted to charge forward. The expression of the head that she was holding was conflicted.

Even as a Red Specter, she is so careful. The quality of the ghosts in Eastern Jiujiang sure is impressive.

Chen Ge tried for a long time, and eventually, the Red Specter lost her patience and prepared to head into the hotel. However, before she got in, a rotund man from the room next door suddenly charged out and slammed the front door shut.

At the same time, a chat box came up—’There was a tapping sound on the hotel’s wooden door. It was unclear when the customer outside would have the chance to come in.’

Clicking the chat box, the second sentence appeared, and this time, it came with the profile of the fat man. It seemed to be him talking—’Every night, some weird customers come visiting. They are very dangerous. I only have one bullet left in this hunting rifle left behind by dad, so we have to be careful.’

“Is this the mad owner that you mentioned? He looks quite friendly.” Chen Ge pointed at the screen. After entering the hotel, Xiao Bu’s shadow had already returned to normal. Based on Chen Ge’s analysis, this was a trigger added by the game designer. After dark, they were not supposed to wander the street for more than one minute or they would be killed by their own shadow.

“Don’t be fooled by his façade; this mad man has killed all the guests in his hotel. After you check in, there’s no checking out.” Fan Chong’s voice was trembling—this hotel owner had given him quite a deep mental scar.

“Tell me when the owner will go mad—at least I can be prepared.”

“I didn’t receive a room card. When I arrived at the hotel, the owner kindly gave me a free room.” Fan Chong started to explain his experience. “I stayed quietly in my room, thinking that I’d just stay there until dawn. However, several minutes later, the room door creaked open. I saw the owner standing outside the door with a cleaver. The insane thing was that he did not move, and he had a smile on his face. If you ignore him, he will open the door wider and wider until he charges into the room and stabs you!”

“That scary?” Chen Ge clicked on the screen. The owner had asked him whether he had a room card or not. Chen Ge clicked on the backpack and showed the card for Room 4, which he had taken from the man in the raincoat. The owner glanced at the card and told Chen Ge that there would be supper at midnight, and he hoped that all the guests would come.

“Supper at midnight? Are the ingredients the guests?” Chen Ge turned back to look at Fan Chong. “Have you experienced this scenario before?”

“I didn’t possess the room card, so our plot is completely different. I have seen all the other tenants, but when I saw them, they were already dead.” Fan Chong shrugged helplessly. He wanted to help Chen Ge, but he could not.

“What do you know about the other guests?” Chen Ge was quite surprised; this was an important find. “Tell me everything you know. Perhaps I can cooperate with the other tenants to find a way out.”

“The owner’s father has Room 1. There is a picture of him and the owner in his room. The man seems to possess the spare keys for all the room. There’s a woman in Room 2; she has a revealing outfit on, and if I’m not mistaken, she’s a woman of the night. Room 3 has a student who carries a school bag, and there’s a phone inside the bag. Room 4 is empty. Room 5 has a guest wearing a police uniform, but it’s unclear whether he’s a real cop or a fake one.”

“There’s even a police officer?” Chen Ge nodded. Fan Chong had given him plenty of clues.

“If there are other guests, the chance of surviving tonight has gotten much bigger.” He controlled Xiao Bu to go the room, but once he closed the door, there was a gun shot. Then the chat box popped up—’You heard the sound of gunfire. There seems to have been a murder at the hotel. What will you do?’

1. Find the owner to ask what happened.

2. Find the police to ask for his help.

3. Ignore them and go to bed.

The cursor wandered back and forth between the three choices, and Chen Ge prepared to choose the third choice after some hesitation.

“Why would you go to sleep at a time like this‽” Fan Chong quickly stopped Chen Ge. “Don’t be reckless. This third choice is rather weird, and I fear it might affect the future plot.”

“There’s no need to think. The gunshot came from the hunting rifle, so it should be the owner who fired it. The first choice is a dead end.”

“Then, we can go find the police!”

“What police?” Chen Ge picked the third choice. “The owner only has one bullet in his rifle, and in these circumstances, he will definitely kill the police. In fact, he might be at the police officer’s room now.”

“The owner is inside the police officer’s room?”

“You need to see this from the perspective of the killer. The police officer might have a gun, and after obtaining that, he can continue to massacre the rest of the hotel guests. So other than the third choice, the other two are not acceptable.” Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to open the door of Room 4 and run to Room 1, which was furthest from the police officer’s room.