My House of Horrors

1112 Who are you talking to 2 in 1

“How does it not make sense? This person who owns a haunted house has a sparkling record of helping the police solve their cases, right? That only proves that I have a wide range of hobbies and am interested in many things.” On the surface, Chen Ge was conversing with Lee Zheng, but he kept his eyes glued to the curtain. No one in the room could see Chang Gu but him. They had no idea that this patient who had already been sent for autopsy was currently standing behind them.

“Helping us with our cases? Well, you sure are quite open with your self-praise.” Lee Zheng was about to counter that claim, but there was nothing that he could say to overthrow it. There were many haunted house operators in the country, but a boss like Chen Ge was indeed exceptionally rare. One would probably come just once in a hundred years.

“Brother Zhang, other than calling out my name, did the patient say anything else before he died?”

“No, he only kept screaming your name before he died.” Lee Zheng creased his brows into a frown. “Please be a little bit serious. We now suspect that it was you who put him in this state. After all, at the mental asylum, you were the only one who shared the room with him. In other words, you are the only one who has had any contact with him.”

“Brother Zheng, I swear this is a misunderstanding!” Chen Ge immediately jumped to his explanation. He told Lee Zheng about Chang Wenyu and the parents of the children who were sent to the door behind the School of the Afterlife. However, he did not tell the full story. He chose parts of it that could be shared and used that to distract Lee Zheng’s attention. In reality, Chen Ge himself had no idea what Chang Gu’s goal was. After all, when he was at the School of the Afterlife, he was technically scammed by the Chang Gu and his sister. The real victim of that situation was Chen Ge.

Of course, Chen Ge was not going to take issue with a dead person. He planned to take Chang Gu home with him after this. At the end of the day, they had been through many things together, and Chen Ge had a feeling they had many things that they could talk about.

If it was another person who had come to drop these things on Lee Zheng, the latter would not have given the person any chance and would have taken him to the station in cuffs for questioning. But Chen Ge was different. No matter how ridiculous his stories were, they would be confirmed later, especially when it came to the prediction of a murder case. It was almost a prophetic power that the young man had. His stories were scarily accurate.

Seeing that Lee Zheng was still hung up on the suspicions, Chen Ge decided to pull open the zipper of his backpack and said in the severe tone, “Brother Zheng, can we put the issue about this patient aside for now? I have something more important to report to you. Actually, when you gave me the call, I was already prepared to go to the police station to find you in person.”

“What could be more important than the loss of a human life?” Not only Lee Zheng, even the doctor in the room was irked by what Chen Ge said. They all felt Chen Ge was being a bit too unfeeling and harsh.

“The loss of several human lives.” Chen Ge took out the information from his backpack. When he said that, the sickroom was shrouded in silence. Everyone turned to look at the stack of white paper that he was holding.

“I went to the old city last night and came upon a big discovery at a place called Jin Hwa Apartments.” The actual statements and crime scene reconstructions written by the dead were hidden inside Chen Ge’s backpack’s compartment. What Chen Ge took out was a simplified version that he had personally written when he was in the cab. It only contained several names and several important clues. For murder cases, it was best that things were not that detailed. After all, if a normal person managed to reconstruct the murder scene perfectly, it would only be logical for the police to suspect them of being the murderer.

Chen Ge handed the papers over to Lee Zheng. “Why don’t you take a look at it yourself?”

Even though it was already the abridged version, it was enough to shock and stun Lee Zheng. After all, the whole apartment block was filled with murderers and madmen. To accomplish his own goal, the ghost fetus had conducted a careful screening process when he chose his tenants. He denied those who had a kind heart, those who did not have a mind that he could corrupt, and those who were too simple and naïve.

After collecting for ten years, instead of saying that all the crazies at Jiujiang had chosen to move to Jin Hwa Apartments and Jiu Hong Apartments, it was more like the ghost fetus had found them and lured them into one spot. When Lee Zheng was skimming through the papers, Chen Ge made use of this chance, grabbed his backpack, and moved to the window.

When Chang Gu saw him approach, his body started to shake slightly. He lifted his head and used his remaining eye to look at Chen Ge. His lips opened and whispered in a tone that only Chen Ge could hear, “I can still see my little sister, yes?”

Chen Ge nodded. He took out the comic from his backpack, flipped it over to a random empty place, and then turned to look at Chan Gu silently. The meaning was clear. It was inconvenient for them to talk there. If he wanted to see his sister, then he had to go with Chen Ge. Chang Gu did not have much choice. The reason he called out Chen Ge’s name before his dying breath was probably for this express reason. Chen Ge managed to extrapolate that much from the fact that his lingering spirit had not left the sickroom after he died as if he was there waiting for Chen Ge to come. The two shared a silent connection. Chang Gu entered the comic without resisting. Chen Ge put the comic away like nothing had ever happened.

“Is the air conditioning broken? How come it suddenly feels so hot?” The doctor lowered the temperature of the air conditioning, and he moved several steps toward Lee Zheng as if he was curious about the content on the white paper. Hearing the shuffling footsteps, Lee Zheng immediately put the papers away. His expression was severe when he turned to look at Chen Ge. There was fury burning inside his eyes, but the fury was not directed at Chen Ge. Lee Zheng was a man of justice; this was one of the reasons Chen Ge admired him so much.

“Chen Ge, you have to follow me back to the police station after this. This is too serious. We have to inform Captain Yan about it.” Then, Lee Zheng turned to address the doctor and the nurse. He told them to keep the room where Chang Gu died vacant for a while. He then left the hospital with the other police officers and Chen Ge in tow.

…

At the police station, once Captain Yan was briefed of the situation, he immediately summoned all the important personnel to have an emergency meeting. Everyone was seated inside the conference room. Even Chen Ge was given his own seat, and most importantly, none of the officers felt that Chen Ge’s presence was out of place. The staff had compiled the information provided by Chen Ge and compared them to the missing person records and the unclosed cases from many years ago. The police discovered that the murders mentioned on the papers matched some of the cases almost perfectly.

“Round up the teams immediately. We are going to Jin Hwa Apartments now. By the way, call all the people who are on leave back to the station as well!” Captain Yan was going to lead the team personally. After he had a.s.signed everything, a few police cars left the station in a group.

Hugging his backpack, Chen Ge was squeezed between two other police officers. He appeared rather cautious and reserved. “Er… should you guys send in some plainclothes to do some investigation first? If you go in directly like this, you might scare some of the innocent tenants there.”

The atmosphere inside the car was serious. Neither officer answered Chen Ge’s question. Ten minutes later, they arrived at Jin Hwa Apartments. The parade of police cars rumbled through the streets. The sirens echoed through the air of the old city. Karma might be late, but she would never miss out on the party.

Most of the tenants had no idea what was going on, but some of the tenants had already prepared to sneak away. When the police arrived, however, they directly sealed up the whole of Jin Hwa and Jiu Hong Apartments. No one was going to escape.

The ambush was so sudden and without any warning. In a way, this was the first time Chen Ge had seen Captain Yan in action. He carried out his action with drive and determination and had a scarily accurate instinct when it came to crimes and cases.

Everyone at Jiujiang Police Station was a well-trained member of the law enforcement. After all, they had been ‘baptized’ by a shower of heavy crimes. Even a newbie would grow exceptionally fast in this environment. For those working there for just a month, they would have been exposed to a number of heavy crime cases that would rival the total number of those at other stations in a year.

In just ten minutes, they had managed to apprehend many suspects. Captain Yan and the rest had also noted the mysterious disappearance of Xiang Nuan and Wen Qing. The crime scene investigators managed to find Chen Ge and other strangers’ fingerprints at the scene. The police had also discovered a large amount of death notices with Xiang Nuan’s name.

“You were here last night?” Both Captain Yan and Lee Zheng were staring at Chen Ge. They took on a different persona when they were working a case, and that brought some amount of pressure on Chen Ge.

“Wen Qing is the estate agent who is responsible for these two residential areas. She has worked here for ten years already. She’s the one who told me most of the information that I handed over to you.” Wen Qing’s occupation meant that she needed to have a close relations.h.i.+p with the tenants there, so there was a chance that she would know about everything that had happened. Other than that, Wen Qing was now trapped on the other side of the door. The police could not summon her for questioning, so Chen Ge could come up with any story that he wanted.

“So, where is she now? Weren’t you with her last night?” Lee Zheng peppered Chen Ge with questions. This time, the case involved so many people that even this experienced police officer who had been through a lot was quite nervous.

“Wen Qing noticed the strange actions of the tenants here a long time ago, but she was too scared to speak up because she had a feeling someone was onto her and might her or her son. However, she did not know who that person was.”

“Someone was threatening her?” Even Captain Yan’s expression changed. This case was getting worse the more he dug into it.

“Yes, you can see that from the flyers in the corridors all over the building that slander her reputation and the stack of death notices that were addressed to her house. There are some people who could not wait for her to die.”

“Some people? More than one person?” Captain Yan very astutely captured the choice of words that Chen Ge used. “There are many people who wanted this poor woman dead? Is it because she found out about their secrets?”

“I do not know the details either. I am afraid you will have to find her and ask her in person.” Chen Ge changed the subject. “But Wen Qing did mention something to do. She did say that the person that wanted to kill her was related to a hospital.”

Chen Ge decided to bring up the non-smiler and the cursed hospital now. He could push all the blame behind the murders and the disappearance all on the cursed hospital. When Chen Ge could not find the solution, he decided to pin the blame on the cursed hospital.

After all, it was indeed the faceless doctor sent by the cursed hospital that framed the ghost fetus and killed Wen Qing; that was truth. Even if Chen Ge was given a lie detector test, he would pa.s.s with flying colors. Not only Wen Qing’s disappearance, Chen Ge had also pinned all the wicked things that the ghost fetus had done onto the cursed hospital. The ghost fetus was corrupted by the hospital, but the ghost fetus was dead now, so the crimes committed by the ghost fetus should be shouldered by the hospital. That was quite sensible in Chen Ge’s eyes.

Earlier, when Se Xin died mysteriously on the operating table, Captain Yan’s people spotted the non-smiler on the surveillance camera outside the hospital. Then, they had once again spotted the presence of the non-smiler on the street outside of Jin Hwa Apartments. Combined with the ‘crucial clues’ given by Chen Ge, the investigative direction of the entire Jiujiang police department would be targeted at the cursed hospital.

Several murders were exposed, and the murderers were apprehended on the spot. The owner of Jiu Hong Housing Agency who rarely showed himself was also summoned to the crime scene. The police interrogated them one by one. This continued until the afternoon. Interestingly enough, after the police finished their questioning of Jiang Jiu, they had him sit together with Chen Ge to wait for the next round of questioning. Of the two of them, one was the last to see Wen Qing alive, and the other was the last to talk to Wen Qing on the phone.

The actual lynchpins of Western Jiujiang New Century Park and Eastern Jiujiang futuristic theme park were seated side by side. This was a scene that was hard to imagine. After the police left, when there were only the two of them in the room, Chen Ge leaned back in his chair and glanced sideway at Jiang Jiu next to him. Time had not left much of a trace on Jiang Jiu. He was supposed to be around the same age as Director Luo, but he appeared much younger than Director Luo. However, he was dressed his age. It made him look very formal.

“It is quite difficult to schedule a meeting with you. This is indeed a rare chance for us to meet.” Chen Ge took out the comic like he was looking for reading material and casually flipped through it. Jiang Jiu did not reply. He appeared to think that it was beneath his level to speak to Chen Ge. Perhaps he might have responded if it was Director Luo.

“The ghost fetus that threatens you is no longer of this world.” Chen Ge flipped the comic to the page where Zhang Yi was hiding and stopped.

When the term ghost fetus was mentioned, Jiang Jiu’s hands trembled slightly, but he soon caught himself. “I do not know what you are talking about.”

“If that were true, you would not have responded to my statement.” Chen Ge stared at Jiang Jiu, and his pupils slowly narrowed. After he used Yin Yang Vision, the presence about him completely changed. Even the temperature inside the room started to drop.

“From how I see it, you have lost your mind from spending too much time designing the haunted house.” Jiang Jiu refused to admit it no matter what. He turned his head to the side, but his body was s.h.i.+vering out of fear.

“I do not care about the rest. I only want to know one thing.” Chen Ge stood up and looked down on Jiang Jiu. “Did you hear any information about my parents from the ghost fetus?”

Jiang Jiu was a pure businessman, for benefit and gain, he could accept working with a ghost. One could not expect honesty from such a person, but by giving him enough benefits, he could be urged to spill the beans on everything he knew. The room temperature continued to drop. While Jiang Jiu was hesitating, Chen Ge realized his own body temperature was dropping as well. That caused a twinge of fear to curl around his heart. He was reminded of a very bad memory.

“I have never heard the ghost fetus mention your name before, but he likes to make mud statuettes that resemble you. He appears to want to become you.”

“Is that all? Then, did he mention anything about my parents?”

“He did go to find your parents before.” This statement excited Chen Ge. It caused the blood in his veins to boil.

“When did that happen?”

“I cannot remember it that clearly anymore. I only know that after that incident, the ghost fetus never stepped into Western Jiujiang again.” Jiang Jiu slowed down as he gradually calmed down. He tried to wrest the control away from Chen Ge. “I can tell you something even more important. The city of Jiujiang is very unique. Your parents were forced to stay here, or rather, they were not allowed to leave, due to some unique reason.”

“They were forced to stay here because they were needed to guard over something.” Chen Ge thought back on his more than twenty years of life on this earth, and his lips were pursed together. “Were they protecting me or the door at the haunted house?”

Jiang Jiu had quietly memorized everything Chen Ge had said. Naturally, that did not escape Chen Ge’s notice either. Thankfully, he had the perfect solution for this problem.

“I did not want to do this initially, but you are too cunning, and I am afraid that you might use my words to harm in the future, so…” Chen Ge waved at Zhang Yi. “Make it quick.”

Jiang Jiu had no idea what was happening. He frowned deeply. “Who… who are you talking to?”