Chapter 871: Follow
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
The boy with the smell stood before the armoire and stared at it dumbly. Chen Ge was curious. He slowly approached the armoire, but when he saw the thing inside it, shock appeared on his face. There was a short, fat, ugly boy curled up in the corner. The boy was covered in plastic wrap, and there was a clear wound around his heart and a faded mark around the neck.
Is this the boy from back then?
The boy’s fists were clenched tight, and they did not release after death. His left hand was holding a picture, and the right hand was holding a piece of someone’s s.h.i.+rt. The s.h.i.+rt was an adult’s s.h.i.+rt. The appearance of the boy meant that the diary that could be found in Chen Ge’s Haunted House was false.
The truth is not what I expected. What really happened here?
The boy stood quietly before the armoire. He looked at the boy inside the armoire, and a bitter smile appeared on his round face. He pulled back the plastic wrap on the child’s arm and took the picture in the child’s palm. It was the picture of a father and his son. In the picture, everyone smiled brightly. Who would have thought that things would end up like this?
A roar erupted from his throat. The boy’s hands hardened, and he tore the picture that he had held until death into small pieces. As the picture was torn, wounds started to surface on the body of the boy in the armoire that were caused by domestic violence.
Blood leaked under the plastic wrap. The adult in the picture was crying, but the boy was clapping and laughing. When the picture was completely torn, the boy in the armoire had turned fully red, and the layers of plastic wrap over him started to crack.
“Wu…” The boy with the smell sounded like he was calling someone’s name. It sounded like a goodbye and a summon. He scattered the torn picture on the ground. With red in his eyes, he turned to look at Chen Ge before whispering something. Chen Ge could not hear him clearly.
As he was about to ask the boy to repeat himself, the boy with the smell stepped into the armoire. The smell lightened, blood fog flowed into the room, and blood vessels grew and spread through the room with the armoire as the center. This room had originally looked like real life, but in just few minutes, blood vessels crawled all over the wall. This was how a place should look like behind the door.
“All the smell has gathered inside the armoire?” The boy squeezed his large body inside the armoire—accompanying him was the roomful of stench. When the stench disappeared fully, a strange sound came from the armoire. Chen Ge turned toward it, and a small fatty in red looked back at him.
“Are you the boy with the smell?” Chen Ge narrowed his eyes to study the boy. “What’s your name?”
Chen Ge did not know what had happened to him. The boy had probably put down his past and found his heart. Everything began anew, and Chen Ge felt like he could not refer to the boy as the one with the smell anymore—he should have his own name. The fatty in the armoire did not speak. He was ugly but not inapproachable.
“Don’t you remember me? I am our Haunted House’s boss—Chen Ge!”
The boy still did not speak. He just continued to stare at Chen Ge like he was trying to imprint his face in his mind. The communication failed. Chen Ge reached out to pull the boy out of the armoire, but the boy showed no reaction.
“Alright, one should pick their own road. I will not force you to do anything. I am glad to have known you. If you run into any problems that you can’t solve in the future, come and find me in Western Jiujiang’s Haunted House.” Chen Ge had enough power to give a Red Specter such a promise. He said that and turned to walk out the room. But as he did so, there came another sound from the armoire. Chen Ge turned back to look. The fatty boy jumped out from the armoire. The plastic wrap clung to him as he followed closely behind Chen Ge, like he was afraid of staying in the room alone.
“No matter what you choose, I will understand. If you are willing to return, the door to the Haunted House is always open. But you will have to retake the employee exam. Those who fail cannot interact with the visitors.” Chen Ge had actually given up a moment earlier, but to his surprise, the boy who found his heart was still willing to follow him. They walked out of the room. The people outside were still curious about the sudden disappearance of the smell until they saw the red fatty behind Chen Ge.
“Another Red Specter?” Everyone including the headmaster was shocked.
“Do you know this boy?” Yin Hong nudged Bai Qiulin lightly and showed a cute, innocent face.
“He does look familiar…” Bai Qiulin had no idea what was going on, but if it was related to his boss, he did not think that anything could be shocking anymore. The stench turned into a red fatty, and he was so much more powerful than before, but he refused to communicate with anyone. It was unclear whether he had lost his ability to speak or was too afraid to speak.
“Come, we’ve explored the male dormitory, so we should go to the female dormitory.” Chen Ge’s eyes moved away from the boy, thinking about something else. There had once been a door pusher in Western Jiujiang Private Academy, which explained why the school would appear behind the door, and the male dormitory that he was in should be the reflection of the Private Academy when the door pusher died. The School of the Afterlife expanded madly but chose to retain the few important locales. This should be the result of the lingering consciousness of the door pusher.
Western Jiujiang Private Academy has a serious management problem. No wonder it was abandoned in the end. Other than the stench, the hanging man, and Zhang Ya, there was a door pusher who was cornered. Many students were bullied here, so for them, this school was already h.e.l.l.
As Chen Ge looked at the corridor that was slowly dyed red, a thought appeared in his mind.
To gain the school’s approval, I must change the school itself because this entire school is a nightmare for all the despairing children.
Chen Ge shook his head. He decided to take it slow.
The scenario related to the stench has been preserved, so the scenario related to Zhang Ya might be preserved behind the door as well. As the boy entered his corresponding scenario behind the door, his power grew tremendously. If I return to Zhang Ya’s scenario, will that help her?
Chen Ge knew very well that Zhang Ya was caught in a crucial moment, and he needed to try his best to help her.