Looking at the threads of blood squirming near the window frame, along with the bloodstained white cloth scattered around,
The boy had been the most terrifying existence in Liwan Hospital — at minimum, a half-body in red — yet even he had been utterly powerless before the Red High Heel. The bloodstains on the white cloth and the window frame had almost certainly been left by him.
"No wonder the hospital felt so deserted. Someone got here before us." Chen Ge's face was full of regret, and the three people behind him could only frown.
"That's a good thing, isn't it? They're fighting amongst themselves! When we ran into ghosts earlier, you didn't exactly sigh and lament. Now they're killing each other off, and you — an outsider — are the one who's upset?" The Drunk Man couldn't understand Chen Ge at all. He had no idea that Chen Ge already regarded this place as his own property — at least until
"The ghosts here aren't inherently evil. It's a shame they've been manipulated by whoever's pulling the strings behind the scenes. I really can't bear it. They deserve a better fate." Chen Ge did another thorough sweep, and only after confirming that no ghosts remained in the hospital did he lead the group out.
"Where are we going now?" The Drunk Man, the Doctor, and Scissors all trailed behind Chen Ge. They had learned that splitting up never ended well, so they stayed together.
"The Smiling Man once massacred an entire busload of people and disrupted the plans of the mastermind behind Liwan Town. His relationship with that mastermind must be terrible. The Red High Heel is no weaker than the Smiling Man, and since she's willing to attack Liwan Town's original residents, she clearly doesn't get along with that mastermind either. Both of them are troublemakers out in the eastern suburbs who won't follow anyone's orders. Acting on their own, they're perfect for drawing the puppeteer's attention away from us." Chen Ge's analysis was calm and measured — no matter how dire the situation, his words always made it sound as though they were the ones with the upper hand. "No rush. Let's go check out that kennel you mentioned first. I'm dying to see what a dog that can smile looks like."
"You're actually going? I shouldn't have told you in the first place." The Drunk Man led the way with great reluctance.
The "kennel" was close to the hospital. As they approached the building, the passengers' expressions were all different.
The Drunk Man was anxious and fidgety. The Doctor was cautious and wary. Scissors was putting on a brave front. Only Chen Ge walked forward alone with his Skull-crushing Hammer, looking positively eager.
"Is this it?" Chen Ge pushed open the school gate. Before he had even stepped inside, the White Cat let out a meow. It was clearly agitated — there was something here it found deeply unpleasant.
"Cats afraid of dogs? That shouldn't be right?" Chen Ge patted the White Cat's head and gave it a brief word of comfort.
"Big guy, you'd better be careful. That thing is incredibly vicious. I saw it once — all four limbs on the ground, like a hunting dog." The Drunk Man wanted to say more, but noticed Chen Ge had already entered the courtyard, so he promptly shut his mouth. "This guy's got some serious guts."
In truth, Chen Ge was being very cautious — it just didn't show. He had
"There really is a kennel. Nicely built, too. But…" Chen Ge slung his backpack on and stood in the corner of the courtyard, staring at the kennel that reeked of a nauseating stench. "This size wasn't meant for a dog. The interior space is big enough to fit a person inside."
"When I came in earlier, I thought it was strange too. The rooms are full of deodorizer — it's supposed to be a place for people, yet it smells as bad as a doghouse. And where dogs should actually be kept, they built something a living person could move into." The Drunk Man was rambling, barely making sense. Every time he thought about what had happened, his body trembled uncontrollably, and his head buzzed as though he might collapse at any moment.
For a normal person, this kind of reaction was perfectly understandable. Seeing the Drunk Man's state, Chen Ge gave a slight nod.
He wasn't agreeing with what the Drunk Man said — he had simply confirmed, at last, that the Drunk Man was almost certainly just an ordinary person.
Chen Ge had been secretly observing every passenger on the bus. Now there were two he could cross off the list of suspects — two people he was certain posed no threat: the Drunk Man and Scissors.
"It's fine. If you're really scared, stand with the others." Chen Ge crossed the small courtyard, and suddenly felt an itch on the back of his neck. He reached up to scratch it and found several strands of black dog hair in his palm — stiff, and slightly prickly.
"Where did these come from?" He looked up. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes slightly and saw a man's face at the second-floor window of the attic.
The man was draped in a dog skin, and an eerie smile was plastered across his face.
It was the first time Chen Ge had ever seen a smile like that. It didn't look like anything a human could produce — the muscles pulled in a completely different way from a normal person's, causing the entire face to bulge forward in a deeply unsettling, uncoordinated manner.
He stared quietly at the face on the second floor. The moment Chen Ge first spotted it, his heartbeat quickened. But after just two or three seconds, he had returned to normal.
Raising his arm, Chen Ge smiled back at the face: "Stay right there. Don't move. I'm coming to find you."
The attic clearly contained a human being, yet Chen Ge couldn't sense a single trace of living vitality from the figure.
"Liwan Town is huge. If we go checking every single building, we won't have nearly enough time." Chen Ge entered the two-story building and, just as the Doctor and the others moved to follow, waved them off. "Stay outside."
"Let's all go in together. This is not the time for heroics!" The Drunk Man knew how dangerous the creature was and didn't trust Chen Ge to handle it alone.
"Fine. But the space inside is tight, so don't get too close to me. I'd hate to hurt you by accident." An offhand remark from the Drunk Man made Chen Ge think the man was actually decent — worth keeping an eye on and worth trying to bring out alive.
"Understood. We definitely won't get in your way." The Drunk Man glanced at the Skull-crushing Hammer in Chen Ge's hand and thought to himself that the guy was truly a reckless madman who didn't care about his own life.
The passengers all entered the building. Walking down the narrow corridor and heading for the second floor, they suddenly heard the tinkling of wind chimes. The half-open door behind them swung shut on its own.
"Damn it!" The Drunk Man and the Doctor spun around simultaneously — their escape route had been cut off.
Everyone froze where they stood. Scissors's face wasn't looking too good either. He spoke in a low, grim voice: "This is the most classic scene in any horror movie. The door closes by itself — it almost always means a ghost is coming. It might already be around us."
"I told you not to be so reckless!" The Drunk Man was starting to panic. "Should we find a room to hide in first? There are four of us. Surely a ghost wouldn't attack all four of us at once?"
"That's reasonable." The Doctor nodded in agreement. After a brief discussion, they all turned to Chen Ge and began seeking his opinion.
"What are you talking about? Why would we hide? The door closed? Just open it again." Chen Ge shook his head gently, having no idea what was going through these passengers' heads.
Hearing Chen Ge's response, the Drunk Man tried to say something more, but Chen Ge didn't give him the chance. He surged forward to the door, raised his Skull-crushing Hammer, and smashed it open.
The noise was tremendous — the entire building heard it clearly.
After breaking the door open, Chen Ge didn't stop. He aimed for the hinges and hammered relentlessly, tearing the entire door off its frame.
"There. Now it can never be closed again." He kicked the mangled door aside and dragged the Skull-crushing Hammer back to the group. "Stop thinking about hiding. Learn to analyze the situation."
Chen Ge decided that Scissors showed potential and worth cultivating: "I just saw that man on the second floor. Now the first-floor door has shut itself — that means he's not the only ghost in this building. These so-called 'classic horror movie scenes' actually give us a wealth of information about the ghosts. You have to learn to use them — figure out what's useful to you."
As the wind chimes continued to tinkle incessantly in their ears, sounding as though someone were pacing back and forth in the corridor, Chen Ge glanced over his shoulder. "Ghosts sometimes use ordinary, everyday things to draw out the fear buried in our hearts. Like those wind chimes. Right now, the solution is actually very simple."
Chen Ge walked to the doorway, removed the wind chimes, and stuffed them into his backpack.
Once the wind chimes were sealed inside the bag, the strange sound vanished completely.
"It really is that simple." As Chen Ge said this, the Doctor and the Drunk Man were staring at him in stunned disbelief, both pointing at something behind him.
"Brother! There's something on your back! It came out of those wind chimes!"
"There's a ghost! There's a ghost!"