"There's no one else here now. You don't need to hold anything back — just tell me everything you know."
Chen Ge placed two diaries in front of Shangguan Qinghong.
"Where did you find them?" Shangguan Qinghong still hadn't recovered from his shock. In his mind, Chen Ge should have been scared witless, or at least knocked unconscious, but the man standing before him looked perfectly composed — and radiated a very dangerous aura.
"Your haunted house really is haunted, and the root of all the disaster lies in this notebook." Chen Ge unzipped his backpack. If Shangguan Qinghong tried to weasel his way out of this, he'd summon the doctors and have them give the man a full workup.
After several minutes of silence, Shangguan Qinghong suddenly broke into a smile. He strained to turn his neck and looked at Chen Ge: "Even if I told you, it wouldn't help. The filth inside that diary has already left — it's just an empty shell now."
"An empty shell?" Chen Ge's curiosity deepened. "Looks like you know quite a lot."
"I won't lie to you. I bought this diary from a mother. Her child had become a vegetable after a car accident. She took care of him for a full five years, until one night, he suddenly woke up. He looked at the world around him with overwhelming terror, as though he'd just woken from an endless nightmare." Shangguan Qinghong's words piqued Chen Ge's interest thoroughly.
"The vegetative boy woke up? Where is he now?" Chen Ge didn't think Shangguan Qinghong was lying — he wanted to find the child directly.
"Dead. He died not long after waking." Shangguan Qinghong's voice sounded strange, as though he hesitated before every word. "During those brief days of consciousness, the boy babbled incoherently and was terrified of everyone around him, including his own mother. After about two days, he finally let his guard down and told his mother he'd hidden a diary in his room. He asked her to keep it safe. She agreed without hesitation, but that very night, the boy passed away. Cause of death: cardiac arrest."
"The boy died right after telling his mother about the diary?" Chen Ge was certain something was very wrong here.
"The mother couldn't believe it. She'd guarded over him for five years. He had finally woken up, only to leave this world forever in the middle of the night on his second day of consciousness. The shock devastated her — her mental state deteriorated. No amount of treatment could pull her out of the shadows. In the end, on her doctor's advice, she sold everything connected to the boy, as if he'd never existed in her life." Shangguan Qinghong seemed to know the details thoroughly — he'd clearly investigated the diary as well. "I ran into the mother and her attending physician at a flea market. That's when I bought the diary."
"How is the boy's mother doing now? Where does she live? Is she still receiving treatment?" Chen Ge's mind was already racing — he could smell something deeply abnormal about the whole affair.
"Unfortunately, treatment didn't go well. Selling possessions doesn't make you forget the past. Overwhelmed by grief, unable to bear the blow, the mother passed away one night." Shangguan Qinghong struggled to sit upright. "That's all I know."
"What about this empty shell you mentioned?"
"When I first brought the diary back to the haunted house, children's laughter and crying could be heard coming from inside it at midnight. That was the main reason our Nightmare Academy night sessions were so terrifying. But then, for reasons I don't understand, the diary suddenly started behaving normally. So I'm assuming it's just an empty shell now." Shangguan Qinghong appeared perfectly composed.
Chen Ge couldn't be sure whether Shangguan Qinghong was lying, but one thing he knew for certain — there really was no ghost inside the diary. Old Zhou and Xu Yin had already verified that.
"Every word I've said is the truth." Shangguan Qinghong's voice softened. "I know Hanjiang is your territory. If you have enough power to have me transferred to a hospital under your control, then I accept my loss."
Shangguan Qinghong had only just woken from his coma and still didn't understand what had happened. The moment he opened his eyes, he found himself in a hospital room in an unfamiliar city — with his sworn enemy standing guard outside the door.
It was hard not to draw certain conclusions. He was a suspicious man by nature, and some very natural misunderstandings followed.
"Rest up and recover here. The police handled the transfer paperwork — it had nothing to do with me." Chen Ge felt he wouldn't get anything more out of this visit. He stuffed both diaries back into his backpack, stood up, and left.
"The police?" The room held only Shangguan Qinghong now, still turning over the deeper meaning behind Chen Ge's words.
…
Back at New Century Paradise, the moment Chen Ge passed through the main gate, he noticed the decorations were different from usual — extra additions everywhere. "Peak season is coming."
The park staff had all clocked out. Chen Ge sat alone in the haunted house employee break room.
He locked the door, sealed the windows shut, drew the curtains, and placed the black smartphone on his desk.
Swiping across the screen, Chen Ge navigated to the mission information page. His eyes locked onto the blood-red text displayed on the screen — Four-Star Trial Mission: Medium (This mission will expire in twenty-seven hours. Warning: After the mission expires, this scenario will be permanently locked)!
"Twenty-seven hours from now, this four-star mission can no longer be accepted, and the four-star scenario Medium will be locked forever." Chen Ge glanced at the clock on the wall. "Twenty-seven hours — that means this mission disappears tomorrow night."