"What's the difference between the eastern and western suburbs? On the surface, the eastern suburbs are clearly calmer — in terms of public safety, they should be better than the western suburbs too. You can tell just by comparing the work conditions of the two local police stations."
"I'd advise you to stop running off to the eastern suburbs all the time." Men Nan hesitated for a long time before finally saying this.
"You at least have to give me a reason. The night before last at the eastern suburbs water treatment plant, you and
Men Nan shook his head and glanced at Chen Ge's shadow, a trace of worry in his eyes. "That night, if the one inside your shadow hadn't intervened, we'd all be done for."
"
"That guy just had bad luck. He tried to take over your shadow, turn you into his puppet, but who knew there was a top-tier Red Cloth living in your shadow? He got careless and got hurt by the Red Cloth inside you." Men Nan didn't dare speak Zhang Ya's name directly. It wasn't because he was a coward — even normal ghosts would feel afraid upon seeing Zhang Ya.
"Was Zhang Ya hurt?" Chen Ge felt a pang of worry. He knew Zhang Ya's style — that domineering attitude of "whoever dares think about my people, I'll tear them apart." But that night, after fighting the shadow, Zhang Ya hadn't shown up on her own.
"The Red Cloth inside your shadow was already injured to begin with. One of her arms was covered in cracks."
"Cracks?" Chen Ge recalled the scene of Zhang Ya fighting Dr. Gao. What happened between them in the end, no one knew. The operating room had been partitioned off by Zhang Ya's hair.
"Your biggest shield is injured and recovering, while that shadow is just a shadow. Whose shadow it is, how powerful its true form is — we don't know any of that. So you should really go to the eastern suburbs less from now on." Men Nan stretched out his short little arms and climbed onto the table. At least now he didn't have to crane his neck to look up at Chen Ge.
"Could the shadow's true form be something above Red Cloth?" Chen Ge pondered for a long time, half-asking Men Nan, half-talking to himself.
"No one knows what lies above Red Cloth. Or rather, anyone who's seen it is dead — not even their soul left." Men Nan wasn't sure himself, but he didn't rule out the possibility of ghosts above Red Cloth in the eastern suburbs.
"Anyone who's seen it is dead?" Chen Ge thought of Dr. Gao, who had eventually committed suicide to become a ghost. That madman had once controlled three doors single-handedly, and after death he seemed to have touched the limits of Red Cloth.
"Chen Ge, I'm telling this for your own good. The eastern suburbs aren't like the western suburbs. Haven't you noticed that even the psychos from Ward Three don't want to go there?" Men Nan pleaded earnestly. He was genuinely terrified Chen Ge would get impulsive and drag him off to the eastern suburbs again. "The danger in the western suburbs is visible — the madmen from Ward Three, for example. They physically exist. But the most terrifying thing about the eastern suburbs is that we don't even know what the danger is. You could look up the local Jiujiang newspapers — the eastern suburbs have the fewest major criminal cases, but over ninety percent of all the people who go missing in Jiujiang every year disappear in the eastern suburbs. That statistic alone should be proof enough of how dangerous it is."
"I know the eastern suburbs are dangerous, but I have reasons I have to go. My parents appeared in the eastern suburbs before they went missing." His parents' disappearance was a knot in Chen Ge's heart.
Since Chen Ge's parents were involved, Men Nan didn't dare speak carelessly. "I only heard the psychos from Ward Three mention the eastern suburbs. If you really want to find out about what's going on there, you could ask them."
"I want to ask them too, but the problem is they haven't gotten used to being ghosts yet." Chen Ge had the medical records from Ward Three, but unfortunately, the spirits born from those psychiatric patients couldn't communicate with him.
Chen Ge chatted with Men Nan a while longer, and eventually, worn down by Men Nan's desperate begging, agreed to send him back. He was also worried about Ward Three's door losing control.
"Only once the western suburbs settle down can the amusement park and haunted house develop in peace." Chen Ge put Men Nan back into the comic book and walked out of the last classroom. "The eastern suburbs are such a mess, and Virtual Future Park just had to open right there. They really know how to pick a location."
Leaving the underground set, Chen Ge entered the employee break room and collapsed into bed.
At eight in the morning, Chen Ge was woken by his alarm. After freshening up, he began cleaning the haunted house.
A new day had begun. At nine, the amusement park opened its gates and visitors poured in. Chen Ge could distinctly feel his haunted house growing more popular by the day.
"I can still only handle so many visitors at once. It'd be nice to have more scenes." Standing guard at the haunted house entrance, Chen Ge suddenly spotted several familiar figures in the crowd. "He Shan? What's this kid doing here?"
He Shan spotted Chen Ge too and waved enthusiastically. "Boss! Long time no see!"
"Your voice is still as loud as ever." Chen Ge temporarily asked Uncle Xu to handle ticket sales and waded into the crowd.
"Boss, our school really went all out this time. We picked out the bravest students from every grade, and we're here today for one thing — full clearance!" He Shan jerked a thumb behind him, revealing a massive crowd packed together.
"Those are all from your school? Did you guys skip class?" Chen Ge had no idea what had gotten into Jiujiang Medical Academy to send so many people at once. "Clearance is all well and good, but you're students — don't neglect your studies."
The real thought in Chen Ge's head was that if the doctors from the underground morgue set found out about this, the consequences would probably be severe.
"Don't worry, we didn't skip." Yang Chen stood next to He Shan with a dark expression. "Your haunted house has gotten the attention of our school leadership."
"Your school leadership knows about it?" Chen Ge felt a sudden twinge of guilt.
"Yeah. And get this — it's weird, but our principal had the same dream four nights in a row. His old teacher from when he was young, standing in your haunted house, tearing into him for no reason at all." He Shan lowered his voice. "Our principal got chewed out for four straight days. Now every time he closes his eyes, he feels like that old man is floating in front of him. He can't take it anymore."
"Your principal had the same dream four nights in a row?" Chen Ge didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Was his old teacher's name Wei Jiuqing?"
"Yes! That's the one. How did you know?" He Shan was visibly surprised. "Our principal talked it over with a few counselors afterward, and some people said the old man was visiting him in a dream — that it was shameful for medical students to not be afraid of corpses but to pass out from fright in your haunted house."
"So your principal voluntarily sent you here to visit?"
"Pretty much. The principal's reasoning was that a qualified forensic doctor must always stay calm — remain composed even as a mountain crumbles before them and their gaze mustn't waver even if a deer leaps up beside them. He encouraged everyone to come to your haunted house in their spare time to build courage. If you can't even conquer a little haunted house, how are you going to outwit the most dangerous criminals in the future?" He Shan imitated the principal's tone, doing a remarkably convincing job.
"Your principal probably misunderstood what the old man meant." People were here, and Chen Ge wasn't about to turn them away. All he could do was offer one final piece of advice to the students of Jiujiang Medical Academy. "You're welcome to tour any of the other scenes, but stay away from the underground morgue."