The replay button was pressed. Accompanied by a crackling of static, a bone-piercing cold radiated from Chen Ge's body.
Blood flowed in the darkness. A deep crimson arm reached out from the shadows and seized Chen Ge's phone. Crimson threads spread across the screen, and Gao Ruxue, trapped inside the phone, let out a scream of agony.
"Does it hurt?"
A familiar voice echoed beside Chen Ge's ear. Xu Yin, clad entirely in red, stepped out of the shadows.
Without waiting for Chen Ge to say a word, Xu Yin charged toward the three ghosts at the end of the corridor. His voice seemed to carry a peculiar power — every time he spoke, those three ghosts would freeze for an instant, their minds clearly disrupted by some invisible force.
"Is this Xu Yin's new ability after becoming a Red-Robe? His voice can interfere with other ghosts?"
Chen Ge gripped his ice-cold phone. Ever since Xu Yin's crimson threads had cleansed the device, he had broken free from its influence. The world before his eyes returned to normal, and the fear gripping his heart finally subsided.
Looking down at the now-normal phone, Chen Ge began to worry about the phone ghost's safety: "It didn't just disperse, did it? Xu Yin is great in every way, but he's far too reckless. This phone ghost can dredge up the deepest fears in a person's heart and even interfere with phones themselves — isn't that the perfect kind of ghost my haunted house needs?"
People like that Brother Wang from Virtual Future Park were a dime a dozen. Walkthroughs and diagrams for the haunted house's lower-rated attractions could be found online with ease. Guests sneaking photos inside the haunted house was a constant battle, and some even entered with malicious intent, hoping to leak the new scenes to the public.
Chen Ge was only one man. He had neither the time nor the energy to police every visitor. If the phone ghost were around to help, things would be vastly better.
"It probably wasn't killed outright." Even from an adversarial stance, Chen Ge found himself worrying about the phone ghost's fate. He felt he was far too kind-hearted: "Someone like me, so emotionally sensitive and prone to sentimentality — I'm always so busy caring for others that I neglect myself. That won't do. Perhaps I ought to be a little more selfish."
The slaughter at the end of the corridor held no suspense whatsoever. It was simply a touch on the gory side. Chen Ge watched with calm eyes as Xu Yin tore the ghosts apart, but his mind was elsewhere.
"The phone ghost deliberately lured me to this building, yet it didn't set up a killing trap here. It seems what the Urban Legends Association truly cares about is the door inside my haunted house. Killing me isn't their top priority. Of course, that may also be because their strength has deteriorated so severely they simply can't spare the manpower."
Five eye-gouging murder cases, arranged in a pattern that encircled New Century Park. The association's goal from the very start had been the door in the haunted house.
"They seem to be preparing some kind of special ritual. Luring me away — could it be they're worried I'll disrupt it?"
Setting everything else aside, Chen Ge was quite confident in his ability to cause destruction.
"The more the enemy doesn't want me to see, the more determined I am to show up." Chen Ge called out Xu Yin's name, ready to head back to New Century Park.
He called several times, but Xu Yin showed no response.
After devouring the three ghosts, Xu Yin stood at the turn of the stairwell as though locked in a standoff with something unseen. His body was split open with wound after wound.
Drawing closer, Chen Ge noticed something wrong.
The basement second floor and basement first floor were separated by an iron door, though the lock on it had been forced open. A frigid wind blew steadily upward from below. Several wet footprints trailed along the staircase.
Chen Ge crouched down, rubbed a fingertip over one of the prints, and held it beneath his nose.
"Formaldehyde?"