A little over ten minutes ago, the Nether Embryo scenario had still been perfectly "peaceful." All Chen Ge had done was step out to put on some makeup and call a few employees from other scenarios, and when he came back, the entire atmosphere had changed beyond recognition.
The instant he'd opened the door just now, Chen Ge had briefly thought he'd returned to the world beyond the Door.
His mind raced through countless possibilities, and in the end, two visitors surfaced in his thoughts.
"That couple who came from Xinhai—something's off about them. Could the Nether Embryo scenario's mutation be related to them?" Chen Ge had initially suspected they were special visitors, but now he felt the situation wasn't so simple. "Before they cause any more damage, I have to find them."
He summoned his employees, grabbed the comic book, and charged into the scenario. To prevent the black fog from spreading, he stationed Little Little at the iron gate and told her not to open it for anyone under any circumstances.
The black fog had already engulfed Silent Town and was still spreading outward in every direction. Pale human faces appeared on the walls along the streets. The moment they saw Chen Ge, they let out screams—half like pleas for help, half like sobs.
"The closest hidden passage to the scenario entrance is inside the Quiet House, but it's unlikely any visitor would be unlucky enough to stumble directly into the hidden scenario from there." Chen Ge pulled out his phone and dialed Tongtong. He received a reply almost immediately.
After reading Tongtong's message, Chen Ge's expression turned strange.
"No outside intrusion? If there was no outside intrusion, how did the Nether Embryo scenario end up like this?" Tongtong seemed to be busy with something important—her reply was extremely brief. "Could it be that the other party fooled Tongtong?"
Chen Ge knew the probability was slim, but having completed so many of the Black Phone's trial missions had ingrained in him the habit of always considering the worst-case scenario first.
He knocked on a certain door and called out softly, "Brother Peng? You in there?"
The wooden door opened, and Wu Jinpeng stood in the doorway, one hand pressed to his forehead. "Boss? How did you get in here too?"
"You're hurt?" Chen Ge's tone shifted instantly. An employee getting injured inside his own haunted house scenario—even if it was just a small swollen patch on the forehead—was unacceptable.
"It's nothing, nothing. I was too nervous when I opened the door and banged it into myself."
"Did someone block the door on purpose?" Chen Ge saw right through it. He knew exactly what kind of tricks haunted house designers liked to pull.
"Boss, never mind me. There were several screams from inside the scenario just now—no joke, they sounded like someone was being slaughtered. Go check it out quick, I'm worried something bad is happening."
"Stay here and keep watch. I'll be right back." The black fog in the street had grown even denser. Chen Ge sprinted to the Quiet House in one breath.
He first glanced at the missing-person poster beside the stairwell—the boy in the photo was gone. "Where did Tongtong run off to?"
Stepping into the stairwell, Chen Ge was certain the black fog was pouring out from here. He pushed open the door to the first room and found all the furniture inside soaked with blood, as though the entire place had been drenched in it.
Finding the mirror on the ground, Chen Ge communicated with the ghost student's obsession reflected within. The other party opened the blood-colored snail door.
Inside the hidden passage, the black fog surged outward like a tidal wave. A middle-aged woman lay collapsed on the steps—she had lost consciousness from sheer terror.
"The black fog can dredge up the deepest fears buried in a living person's heart. She'd never even experienced a one-star scenario before and walked straight into the black fog. The fact that she made it this far is nothing short of a miracle."
Chen Ge dragged the middle-aged woman out of the passage and sent the ghost student to fetch the doctor from the underground morgue. "Tell them to stop scaring people for now and come over here instead. I'd guess a few more people have already fainted."
Gathering his other employees, Chen Ge headed to the very bottom of the hidden passage. He picked up the chain that had been wedged into the door's seam. "This is obviously someone deliberately jamming the door shut. They didn't want it to close."
He pulled open the iron door and stepped through. Before he'd gone very far, he could see that every single puppet monster inside the hidden scenario had gone berserk.
Countless curses and twisted memories clung to their bodies, turning these monster puppets into a strange kind of vessel. They seemed to possess lives and thoughts of their own.
"What's going on?"
The Nether Embryo scenario recorded the Nether Embryo's entire life, and all those memories and imprints were now governed by the Red High Heels. If the curses and memories had gone completely out of control, that meant the Red High Heels' emotional state had become somewhat unstable.
Chen Ge softly called her name. Perhaps hearing his voice calmed her—the black fog settled slightly, and the curse-entangled monsters stopped trying to flee.
Pressing forward, Chen Ge soon spotted the Red High Heels standing at the center of the black fog. Many of her bandages had come undone, revealing skin covered in curse markings. There was a soul-stirring beauty to this woman—utterly eerie and otherworldly.
At that moment, the Red High Heels stood at the heart of the black fog, a small figure blocking her path. Behind that small figure were two unconscious, large men.
"Why is Tongtong with Liang Er and Liang San?" Chen Ge rushed over. Only after asking did he learn what had happened. Liang Er and Liang San had accidentally stumbled into the hidden snow area five minutes into the scenario and caught the Red High Heels right in the middle of reliving the Nether Embryo's memories.
Originally, the Red High Heels hadn't intended to bother with them, but they had run right up to her and proceeded to deliver their critique.
The worst part was that if their comments had been positive—say, if they'd been struck by her beauty upon seeing her—there wouldn't have been an issue. Instead, Liang Er had flat-out called her disgusting.
The cause of the Red High Heels' death remained a mystery, but in life she had apparently been a woman who was obsessively vain. One of her favorability quest lines even included the line: "Am I beautiful?"
Liang Er had stepped on that mine with pinpoint accuracy. No wonder the Red High Heels had lost her temper.
The gap between a top-tier Red Coat and an ordinary person was immense. The Red High Heels didn't even need to do anything herself—the curses in the black fog, stirred by her fury, would automatically seek out the person who had angered her and dredge up the deepest fears buried in their heart.
In other words, Liang Er and Liang San had been scared into unconsciousness by their own deepest fears. Throughout the entire ordeal, the Red High Heels had done exactly one thing—glance at them.
After learning the full story, Chen Ge had to admit that Liang Er and Liang San were some seriously bold men.
He did a quick check on their condition. The Red High Heels hadn't hit them hard—she'd simply wanted to teach those two a lesson.
Once the Red High Heels had cooled down, Chen Ge asked her to continue overseeing the hidden scenario. He and Tongtong made their way out through the hidden passage.
Tongtong had been properly frightened too. The child had been convinced the Red High Heels was about to go on a killing spree.
"You were able to open the Quiet House's hidden passage. There's someone impressive in this group of visitors. Tongtong—did you see who opened the passage?"
"Brother Xiaojun."
"Sun Xiaojun?"
"Mm-hm."
Chen Ge was full of confusion. He had never told Little Sun the location of the passage or how to open it, yet Sun Xiaojun had somehow managed to unlock it within five minutes of the scenario starting and even sent his fellow group members through.