Apart from the tape recorder and the newspapers,
For instance, a broken picture frame tossed in the corner of the bookshelf held a photo of a father and daughter, but both their faces had been scratched out.
A man's will was also hidden in one of the desk drawers, and the name Xu Zhenzhen appeared in it as well.
This Xu Zhenzhen had yet to show her face, but items connected to her were scattered all throughout the haunted house.
"Tendo Hospital built their scenes using real news stories — aren't they worried they might actually summon Xu Zhenzhen?"
Haunted houses were naturally steeped in yin energy, cut off from sunlight, and with the specially designed sets, they were the perfect refuge for ghosts.
"They say you think about something by day and dream about it by night. Everyone inside the haunted house keeps saying Xu Zhenzhen's name — what if she actually hears them?"
Tendo Hospital hadn't bothered to figure out the full picture before copying the newspaper scenes verbatim and weaving all the clues into a hidden storyline. The strategy looked clever on the surface, but in reality, they were playing with fire.
"Three feet above your head there are watchful gods. If you don't believe in them, there's no need to go poking them either."
Chen Ge was fearless by nature, but he couldn't deny that he held a healthy respect for the unknown. That was why he always made thorough preparations before every trial run.
The progress on conquering Tendo Hospital had already passed the halfway mark, and the hidden storyline was gradually coming into focus.
"Time to leave." Chen Ge didn't know whether Xu Zhenzhen was really inside the haunted house. He was a man with a very clear objective — he had come in to conquer the haunted house, not to go exploring tangential mysteries.
After circling the room once, Chen Ge found himself back beside the tape recorder. He was about to grab the tape and leave.
As he drew close to the recorder again, he caught the faint sound of muffled sobbing.
The voice was very low, and it seemed to be coming from inside the tape recorder.
"The ghost on the tape is coming out?" Chen Ge took a step back, reaching into his pocket to grip the ballpoint pen while his other hand gave the "corpse" on the desk a gentle nudge. He was worried something might go wrong and he wouldn't be able to look after the actor.
But what he hadn't expected was that the light push was enough to send the "male corpse" slumped on the desk sliding limply off to the floor.
"Something's wrong — is it Xu Zhenzhen?" He had seen real ghosts before, so he knew that under these circumstances, the appearance of a genuine spirit was entirely possible. "I can't be that unlucky, can I? Visiting someone else's haunted house and actually running into a real ghost?"
After remembering his title as the Beloved of Vengeful Spirits, Chen Ge couldn't stay calm. He hurried over to help the actor on the ground, terrified he might miss the window for first aid.
"An actor dies for real in the middle of a performance — now what kind of thing is that?"
The moment Chen Ge squatted down and lifted the actor's hands, a human head suddenly sprang out from beneath the desk that the actor's body had been blocking.
The distance was too short for Chen Ge to dodge. The head slammed straight into his chest.
His heart rate spiked and took several seconds to stabilize.
Chen Ge looked down at the head cradled in his arms, then at the "male corpse" on the floor, and immediately understood everything. "Buddy, are you getting back at me for not giving you face back in the nursery room?"
Earlier the "male corpse" had been lying face-down on the desk, hiding his face. Now that he had slumped sideways, his face was exposed. Only then did Chen Ge see that the man hadn't even bothered to change his makeup — he had just smeared a layer of fake blood over himself.
After extending a finger beneath the "corpse's" nose and confirming the man was breathing, Chen Ge stood up. He had no intention of staying any longer. It was time to go.
Walking over to the tape recorder, Chen Ge pressed the buttons on top, pushing several of them in succession. He suddenly realized that no matter which button he pressed, the indicator light on the recorder stayed lit.
"Can't turn it off?"
There was no way Chen Ge could leave the tape behind at Tendo Hospital, but taking their tape recorder with him felt like crossing a line.
As Chen Ge fiddled with the recorder, the faint sobbing gradually grew louder, and strange static began bleeding into the tape.
It sounded like an electrical current. He couldn't make it out clearly.