Over at the haunted house, visitors had already figured out how to clear the three-star scenarios.
Liwan Town, at three-and-a-half stars, was the perfect choice for him. As a bridge between the three-star and four-star scenarios, this special attraction would give visitors a grace period — preventing those who had just cleared a three-star stage from charging headlong into a four-star one on impulse.
"You okay? Need a hand?" Scissors' voice came from the doorway, and while he was speaking, the tattooed man's voice could be heard beside him.
"Keep it down! You can't just shout in here — you might attract something!"
Hearing the commotion outside the bedroom, Chen Ge called back: "No danger found in here for now. You can come in."
He picked up the high heels and walked out of the bedroom.
Dragging the Skull Crusher in one hand, balancing the high heels in the other, with a white cat perched on his shoulder — Chen Ge cut quite an unusual figure at the moment. It was hard to regard him as an ordinary person.
"Find anything?" The tattooed man sidled over. He followed Chen Ge solely because Chen Ge was the strongest — sticking with him offered the best chance of escape. His motives couldn't have been simpler.
"The door's been hidden. There should be another secret room in here." Chen Ge walked to the wardrobe in the living room and shoved it aside.
Blood mist that had nearly become solid surged out from behind it like a wave, forcing Chen Ge back half a step.
"The source of the mist is right here. Stay sharp."
The blood mist was thick and cloying, uncomfortable to move through. Clothes clung to their bodies, and those blood threads seemed to worm their way into noses and ears.
"Are you sure you want to go down there?" The drunkard's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. "Because I feel like we're digging our own graves."
He shook his head and took a step back, the doctor still slung over his shoulder.
"Nobody knows what's down there. In a moment we'll split up — half stay out here to keep watch, the other half follow me down. That's the safest approach." Seeing that everyone had gathered, Chen Ge laid out his plan. "The people staying outside can't be too weak — they need to be able to raise an alarm if they're attacked. I'd suggest Scissors and the cop stay behind." Chen Ge had his own reasoning; the person he trusted most among them all was Scissors. "One's a vicious psychopath, the other's a cop with a gun. With the two of them out here, there shouldn't be any major problems."
"Can I stay out here too?" The drunkard raised his hand. "I'm carrying the doctor and can't run fast. If I go down with you, it could be two for the price of one."
"Since when does 'two for the price of one' work like that?" The tattooed man curled his lip. He didn't really want to go down either, but he hadn't been able to find a good excuse.
"Fine, you two stay as well. The rest, come with me." After speaking, Chen Ge looked at the Smiling Man. In truth, this man was the most powerful of them all, but leaving their rear guard to a stranger wasn't something Chen Ge was comfortable with.
To Chen Ge's surprise, the Smiling Man said nothing. He walked to the door and behaved himself remarkably well.
"What got into this guy? How is he completely different from when we were in the car?" Chen Ge activated his Yin Eye and studied him carefully, noticing that the Smiling Man's expression was rigid, beads of blood-red sweat sliding down his temples. It seemed he had encountered some ghost in Liwan Town that defied all expectation, and he was desperate to leave.
Chen Ge didn't press further. His relationship with the Smiling Man was purely one of mutual benefit. They cooperated only because their goals aligned. If that ever changed, neither would hesitate to sell the other out.
"This is my prisoner. I have to keep watch over him at all times, so I'm sorry — he can't go down there with you either." Li Zheng pressed a hand on Jia Ming's shoulder, his tone firm.
"Dangerous criminals are a dime a dozen around here," the high schooler said with a chuckle, "but an honest-to-goodness cop? That's a rare find." His expression was deeply unsettling.
"No problem." Chen Ge had wanted to separate Jia Ming from Li Zheng, then use his own methods to determine whether Jia Ming was the Shadow. But seeing how resolute Li Zheng was, he didn't push the matter. This was a normal reaction from Li Zheng. If he had handed over Jia Ming without hesitation, that would have been the real red flag.
"Hold the exit. We'll be back soon." The hidden passage behind the wardrobe was narrow, only wide enough for a single person to pass through. Chen Ge led the way, summoning
After a few meters, Chen Ge felt as though he was no longer walking through blood mist but wading through a pool of blood. Every step was a struggle.
What kind of trap had the Shadow set? Collapse the building and bury them alive? Or detonate that out-of-control door, taking Chen Ge down with it?
All manner of thoughts raced through his mind, but before he could arrive at an answer, the door that Xiao Bu had pushed open in Liwan Town was already before them.
In reality, the iron door Jiang Long had used to imprison Xiao Bu's mother had now changed shape. Dense blood threads crawled across its surface as if alive.
Compared to a normal door, this one had several strange features.
First, beneath the writhing blood threads, the door panel was covered in cracks, as though it could shatter at any moment. Second, all four corners of the door were visibly chipped away. A large chunk was also missing from just above the center of the door panel.
If this door were a person, it would be like a body missing all four limbs and its head.
"Look at the bottom of the door panel."