"This diary was brought back from behind the door?"
"Boss, I suspect the reason the owner of Nightmare Academy was able to build this haunted house is because he referenced this diary brought back from behind the door. The contents of the diary record the scenes behind the door, and the haunted house owner recreated those scenes in reality based on the diary." Old Zhou voiced his theory.
"Could it be that the Nightmare Academy owner has also been to the world behind the door?" Anyone who entered the world behind the door and came out alive was no ordinary person.
"We've dealt with the Nightmare Academy owner before. He's just an ordinary person with pretty poor mental fortitude — he probably hasn't been to the world behind the door. This diary was probably something he found elsewhere." After finishing his analysis, Old Zhou flipped to the last page. "Every single handwriting in this diary is different — it was written by multiple people. A lot of pages have been torn out too, but that's not important. What's important is that
Old Zhou pointed to the end of the final page, where a single sentence was written — I, die, one three, Psychic Ghost Manor, escape.
Fragmented phrases, impossible to make sense of what the writer was trying to convey. Old Zhou and the others had only caught the four characters for Psychic Ghost Manor — they knew Chen Ge had been searching for information related to that lately.
"Psychic Ghost Manor? Was this diary brought back from behind the door of Psychic Ghost Manor?"
The moment he saw those four characters, the look in Chen Ge's eyes changed entirely.
"Very likely. But as for what the real truth is, I think we'd be better off finding the haunted house owner and asking him directly." Old Zhou scratched his head. "That guy's probably still in the hospital. When he was the last one left in the haunted house, Xu Yin and I kept him company for quite a while."
"Don't worry — the police didn't mention anything about the haunted house owner, which means he's not in any life-threatening condition. Let's head to the hospital now." Psychic Ghost Manor was the first four-star trial mission to appear on the Black Phone, and the deadline was approaching fast. But Chen Ge had no confidence in completing the mission.
Xu Yin was injured,
Yet the thought of giving up on this mission left him unwilling to accept it. Virtual Future Paradise was about to open. If his haunted house stagnated, the tourists he had painstakingly drawn in would likely be "poached" by more than half.
That was exactly why he was scrambling to gather information on Psychic Ghost Manor. Whether he chose to take the risk or walk away, he needed enough information to support his decision.
"You spent the whole afternoon in this haunted house — did you find anything else useful?" Chen Ge had kept Old Zhou and Xu Yin behind for a reason. He wanted them to survey the premises first.
Old Zhou shook his head. "The building was constructed at a location of extreme yin within the yin realm, never seeing sunlight year-round, with an incredibly dense buildup of yin energy inside. But probably because Xinhai Central Boulevard is so bustling with human activity, there aren't actually any spirits haunting this place."
"Built right in the heart of the city, yet obsessions can linger inside for extended periods — the location of this haunted house is truly remarkable." The more Chen Ge looked at it, the more he liked it. "Once we get back, I'll have a proper talk with
Chen Ge stuffed both diaries into his backpack, recalled Xu Yin and Old Zhou, and slipped quietly out of Nightmare Academy.
"I need to find a way to wake up the Nightmare Academy owner as soon as possible. Shame Dr. Wei is holding down the fort at the haunted house — I didn't bring him along."
Back at the police station, Chen Ge had already overheard the officers mentioning which hospital the haunted house actors had been taken to.
After leaving the underground parking garage, he hailed a cab directly to that hospital.
The hospital in Xinhai was enormous, packed with patients. Chen Ge wandered around for a good while before finally spotting a police officer stationed outside one of the wards.
"All the Nightmare Academy actors are in that ward?" Chen Ge strolled past it as if casually, and when his gaze swept across the glass window on the ward door, his pupils contracted as he activated Yin Sight.
"Everyone else is here — but where's the haunted house owner? Could he still be in the emergency room? No way. Old Zhou and Xu Yin are both such kind people — they wouldn't have gone that far."
Chen Ge knew his employees well, and he trusted them from the bottom of his heart.
Before the officer could grow suspicious, Chen Ge approached him, his face a mask of anxiety and worry. "Officer, is my brother going to be all right?!"
Seeing Chen Ge panting and looking genuinely concerned, the police officer found it a bit odd but didn't immediately shoo him away. "Who's your brother?"
"The owner of Nightmare Academy! I heard something happened to him — is he okay?"
"You're Shangguan Qinghong's brother?" The officer gestured for Chen Ge to calm down. "Your brother's condition isn't great. He's still in a deep coma. Following the doctor's recommendation, we've already transferred him to Hanjiang City for further treatment."
"You transferred him to Hanjiang?" The surprise on Chen Ge's face was impossible to hide, but his reflexes were lightning-fast — the words tumbled out before he could stop them. "You won't let him receive treatment at a major hospital in Xinhai, but instead send him to a small-city hospital? From what I know, their medical facilities are worlds apart from Xinhai's! You're playing around with my brother's life!"
"Calm down. Hanjiang's overall medical standards are indeed not on par with Xinhai's, but when it comes to treating severe shock and syncope, they're extremely specialized."
"You're not trying to trick me, are you?"
"Look it up online yourself. The hospital is called Hanjiang Central Hospital — they have an entire ward dedicated to treating syncope."
Having gotten the information he wanted, Chen Ge didn't linger in conversation with the officer. He put on a worried expression and prepared to leave.
"Wait a second!" The officer stared at Chen Ge's retreating back and suddenly felt he looked familiar — he could have sworn he'd seen this guy around at noon.
Without turning around, Chen Ge melted directly into the crowd and slipped into the stairwell while the officer's attention was elsewhere.
"That cop's got a good memory — he almost recognized me." To avoid running into him again, Chen Ge headed to the second floor, planning to loop around and exit from there.
But after just a few steps, he froze. Sitting on the chairs outside a luxurious private ward was a man, staring at him with a look of utter disbelief.
"Boss? Weren't you out visiting someone else's haunted house? What are you doing at a hospital?"
The man sitting outside the luxury ward was none other than Zhang Jingjiu. That morning he had asked Chen Ge for leave, saying his father was sick and he wanted to come to Xinhai to see him. As it happened, Chen Ge needed to visit Nightmare Academy, so they'd taken the same high-speed train together.
Chen Ge didn't press the issue — he couldn't exactly tell Zhang Jingjiu that the hospital was already his third stop, and that he'd ridden in a police car to the station in between.
"How's the old man's condition?" Chen Ge sat down beside Zhang Jingjiu and glanced through the window into the ward.
"He's stable enough. I…" Zhang Jingjiu sighed. "Sometimes I feel pretty useless. I should have come to see him sooner. We talked for a long time today. The knot that's been sitting between us for over a decade — it's not completely untied, but at least we've both taken a step forward."
His eyes remained fixed on the ward door as he looked at the elderly man who had already fallen asleep on the bed. "I used to think he was an unreasonable bastard — bad-tempered, always out socializing, never home. Now that he's lying there, down for the count, I suddenly realize that even someone that strong can grow old."
He quickly turned his head away. After a moment, his voice returned to normal. "Sorry about that. It's been so long since I've seen him, I just…"
"It's fine. I understand." Chen Ge gave Zhang Jingjiu a gentle pat on the shoulder and said nothing, simply sitting quietly beside him.
Zhang Jingjiu had been making his own way in Hanjiang since he was grown. In all of Xinhai, apart from his father in that hospital room, he had no friends. Right now, the only person he could open up to was Chen Ge.