"Bei Ye said your name before he died, and some of the rescue notes found at the scene also mentioned New Century Paradise. Either way, you need to be careful! Once dawn breaks, I'll send people over!" Li Zheng sounded worried about Chen Ge's safety.
"Absolutely do not send anyone over!" Chen Ge stopped him loudly. "Brother Zheng, what I mean is, don't alert them. They've set their sights on me — that's a great opportunity to catch him. Jia Ming is incredibly cunning; the slightest hint of trouble and he'll flee. Only by letting him get careless can we deliver a fatal blow."
"But how are you going to guarantee your own safety?"
"Jia Ming is vicious, ruthless, and brutal. Every day he remains free is another day more victims could appear. When you think about it that way, what's a small sacrifice on my part?" Chen Ge flatly refused Li Zheng's help. "Besides, the information you found at the scene could very well have been left there deliberately by Jia Ming. He wants you to concentrate your police force around New Century Paradise so he can operate somewhere else without interference."
"A misdirection?"
"Exactly. New Century Paradise has massive foot traffic every day, and the surrounding area is incredibly complex. Trying to make an arrest here would be next to impossible."
"What you're saying makes sense, but after dawn we'll still send a few plainclothes officers over. Don't worry — they won't affect your park's business." Li Zheng sent Chen Ge another message. "What I just sent you is a contact number. If anything happens, you can use this number to reach the person in charge of the operation."
"Got it."
"Stay safe. No matter what happens, your first priority is to protect yourself."
The call ended. Chen Ge lay on his bed holding his phone, not a trace of panic in his eyes — if anything, he looked excited. "I was just racking my brain trying to find Jia Ming, and now he actually dares to target me. Truly, the gates of heaven are wide open but he won't walk through — the gates of hell are shut, yet he sharpens his head just to force his way in."
He picked up the white cat and rubbed its soft belly. "Jia Ming and that child know the Nether Fetus very well. They seem to be searching for children chosen by the Nether Fetus too — I just don't know how many they've found so far."
Chen Ge set his backpack by the bed, utterly unconcerned about his own safety. In the face of absolute, overwhelming strength, no scheme or trick could hope to succeed.
At eight-ten in the morning, Chen Ge pushed open the protective railing outside the Horror House. Employees were arriving one after another for their shift.
"We might have a new colleague coming in this afternoon. Nobody slack off — let's leave a good first impression."
After helping the employees with their makeup, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and sat down at the entrance to the Horror House.
"Boss, are you heading out again later?" Gu Feiyu walked toward Chen Ge dressed in the Skull-Crushing Doctor's uniform, chains clinking with every step.
"Not going out today. I'm waiting for someone destined to come." Chen Ge turned around and smiled. "You all need to stay sharp today too. Report anything unusual to me immediately."
"Got it."
At nine in the morning, the park opened for business. Tourists flooded in, even more than in previous days, and a long queue quickly formed outside the Horror House.
Uncle Xu and the other staff handled ticket sales and crowd control, while Chen Ge stood at the entrance to the haunted house, personally escorting tourists inside and watching them sign the liability waivers.
These days, Chen Ge was something of a celebrity. Some tourists traveled from out of town specifically to visit, and others would ask to take photos with him. Chen Ge never refused any such requests.
In truth, he wanted to be remembered by as many people as possible — that way, if anything ever went wrong and someone tried to erase every trace of him from this world, it would prove far more difficult to accomplish.