Adjusting the angle,
The number itself wasn't terrifying, but written in fresh blood, it was deeply unsettling.
"What does this number mean? Last night, after the mirror monster left, I saw a number '3' on the remaining shards. Now it's become '2'. Is there some connection between them? Why is it decreasing?" Chen Ge was baffled. "Could this number represent the date? Is it a countdown?"
Staring at the bloodstain that hadn't fully dried yet, Chen Ge leaned against the door, lost in thought.
"The mirror monster has already left — it's possessed Zhang Peng. There's no reason for it to deliberately leave this number behind, unless it plans to come back for revenge." Chen Ge couldn't quite figure it out. He knew far too little about things from the other world to guess their intentions.
"If this number decreases every day, what happens when it hits zero?" A sense of unease crept into Chen Ge's mind. He paced back and forth in front of the bathroom door. "Could the number be linked to my life? The night it reaches zero, something horrifying will come for me?"
He stopped in his tracks, feeling he was getting too worked up. "I'll wait until tomorrow night and see. If this number shows up in the haunted house again, I'll take action then."
With a sigh, he just wanted to run his haunted house properly — lease the underground parking lot, unlock more scenes, and keep expanding. But things rarely went as planned. There was always something unexpected throwing a wrench in his works.
Back in the employee break room, several more police cars had arrived outside the haunted house. The city precinct's criminal investigation team questioned Chen Ge, took a few quick photos, and then threw themselves back into the tense manhunt.
Captain Li had stayed with Chen Ge the whole time, but unfortunately, even as dawn crept across the sky, there was no news of Zhang Peng's capture.
Captain Li repeatedly assured Chen Ge that given Zhang Peng's current state, he couldn't have gotten far and would certainly be apprehended within twenty-four hours.
What truly worried Chen Ge wasn't that, though — he had been ruminating on the number the mirror monster left behind, and his spirits were low.
Captain Li assumed he was simply shaken up and didn't think much of it. He offered a few words of comfort, then left with the other officers once day broke.
Chen Ge sat alone in the haunted house. He pushed open the window and let the chilly morning breeze slip inside.
"I'm the haunted house owner — technically, I'm something of a boss among ghosts, so why do I feel like such a pathetic one?" The morning light streamed into the room, and the cloth doll lying on the bed seemed to be stirred by the wind, tumbling to the floor beneath.
Chen Ge picked the little thing up and poked its belly. "The only obedient ghost in the place, and all she knows is looking cute. If things ever got serious, I'd probably have to protect her."
The doll in his hands seemed thoroughly displeased with Chen Ge's assessment, squirming to break free but unable to do so.
"Both nightmare-level mission rewards so far have been supplementary — useful for the haunted house, but not much help to me personally." Chen Ge wasn't sure what would happen when the number hit zero. He was an extremely cautious person and would never willingly put himself in danger.
He pulled out the black phone and scrolled through it for a while. The only thing that could serve as a trump card was that terrifyingly powerful red-clothed ghost —
In the wooden cabin behind the hillside of Ping'an Apartments, Zhang Ya had helped Chen Ge once, warning him that Wang Qi was right behind him. In a sense, she had saved his life.
But during the later nightmare mission, when the mirror monster held Chen Ge's head down and nearly drowned him, Zhang Ya hadn't shown up at all.
Clearly, that one acted entirely according to her own whims.
"Once I complete the affection mission, I can order her to do one thing that doesn't go against her will. Then I could ask her to help me deal with whatever danger might appear." Chen Ge tapped on Zhang Ya's name and stared at the blood-red dedicated page. Even though he had been training his courage since childhood, he felt a shudder at that moment. "This lady is in love with the dead me. If her affection rises too fast and she gets impatient — what if she turns around and kills me?"
A vengeful ghost's love was not something just anyone could handle. Chen Ge exited the dedicated page and felt the air around him grow noticeably fresher. "The affection mission is my last resort. If that number appears again tonight and changes once more, I'll play this card and take on the affection mission."
With that decision made, Chen Ge felt somewhat grounded and gradually drifted off to sleep.
A little after eight, when
He was in such a hurry to buy them for two reasons: first, the haunted house had far too many blind spots and was genuinely unsafe; second, among the daily missions refreshed on the black phone, one specifically required him to install surveillance cameras and sound-activated devices.
Shopping done by morning, Chen Ge brought the installation workers back to the haunted house by noon. Under his personal supervision, several workers nervously installed cameras in every corner, creating a surveillance network with very few blind spots. As for the sound-activated devices, his budget was extremely limited, so he purchased the cheapest models available and had them installed in the ghost marriage scene.
After a little past seven in the evening, following a final round of successful testing, Chen Ge received the notification that the black phone mission was complete.
"Balance between tension and relaxation delivers the best experience for visitors. Congratulations on completing the easy-difficulty daily mission! Reward received — background track: 'Wedding Dress'!"
"Notice: 'Wedding Dress' is a perfect match for the ghost marriage scene! The ghost marriage scene's scream index has risen to one star!"
Chen Ge was stunned by the notification. The ghost marriage scene's original scream index had been only half a star, and now a single song had bumped it up to one. This track was apparently even more terrifying than "Gloomy Sunday."
Driven by a sense of responsibility toward his visitors, Chen Ge gave it a listen. It felt completely different from "Gloomy Sunday" — the two belonged to different styles. One built slowly, as though dragging you step by step into an abyss. The other was far more eerie and thrilling — a wedding tune turned funeral dirge — from the very first note, it made your scalp tingle.
"As expected, it fits the ghost marriage scene perfectly. But listening to this kind of music too often could cause psychological trauma. Unless someone comes looking for trouble, I should try to keep its use to a minimum." Chen Ge saved "Wedding Dress" to his own phone and headed up to the third floor of the haunted house alone to tidy up.
He didn't have the money to hire workers. With a few cloth dolls stuffed in his pockets and a set of tools in hand, he cleared out every last shard of mirror from the haunted house.
By the time he finished, it was deep into the night. Chen Ge clutched the phone and lingered between the bathroom and the employee break room, pacing back and forth.
He checked the mirror over and over again, waiting until the clock struck midnight.