"The old man raised four children all those years without any incident, but the moment the little grandson opened the shrine, the entire family was struck by disaster. Everything that happened afterward in the old house was connected to the shrine. Once the shrine is opened, everyone present will inevitably encounter misfortune — no one can escape it." Chen Ge looked at the police officer. "When you played the medium difficulty last time, are you sure you didn't open the shrine?"
"No." The police officer shook his head.
"It looks like opening the shrine is unique to the hell difficulty." Chen Ge called Xiao Ling and the police officer over. "This scenario is very special. There are at least four ghosts inside — the innocent and kind little grandson, the grandfather who wants to protect his grandson, the intensely jealous grandmother, and the most terrifying one, the maid. The grandmother is sealed in the room behind the closet, covered in talisman paper. The maid is in the shrine, and the grandfather and grandson are in these photographs. All of these old objects are cursed. Once you touch them, you'll be infected by the curse too."
Chen Ge placed the old man's black-and-white photograph into his backpack. "It should be fine as long as you don't touch them with your hands."
"I think the noise outside has stopped. Why don't we go take a look?" The police officer was already scared, and after hearing the full story, he was even more rattled.
"Think of a way to clear the scenario first — there's no rush to go out." Chen Ge organized his thoughts. "This scenario is themed around curses. The original curse came from the maid. The second curse originated from the grandmother — she was extreme in temperament, her heart filled with hatred and jealousy toward the maid, and after she died, her curse was added to the house as well. Then the innocent people who opened the shrine were naturally overwhelmed with grievances, and those grievances would slowly be twisted into curses of their own. In short, everyone in this scenario left behind hatred and curses, forming an unbreakable deadlock."
"Then what do we do?"
"Either we resolve the curse at its root, or we become part of the curse."
"I don't really understand what you mean." The police officer had no idea what Chen Ge was planning.
"The reason curses persist is because of hatred — 'I suffered this much, so others must suffer just as much, or even more.' But if someone bears the curse without spreading malice, and instead repays those around them with light and warmth, couldn't we say the curse was ended through them?" Chen Ge's words left both the police officer and Xiao Ling completely bewildered.
"What do you mean?"
"As long as every one of us can hold on to who we are and not be influenced by the curse, things should turn around." Chen Ge took out the remnant scrolls he had found in the bedroom, each inscribed with one of the five elements — metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. "Five bedrooms, plus the talisman-covered chamber and the lobby — that's seven rooms total, exactly matching seven people. The police officer mentioned earlier that the overall layout of the rooms resembles a person standing on the shrine. What if we each stay alone in one room? Then every room would be filled with living presence. The entire scenario would be like a person come to life, suppressing the shrine?"
The police officer and Xiao Ling felt like Chen Ge was talking nonsense, yet there seemed to be a sliver of logic to it.
"When tourists in a haunted house stick together, it's not scary. What's truly terrifying is when everyone splits up. The designers know this, and when the central computer merges scenarios to increase difficulty, it would certainly push in that direction. If we follow their line of thinking — it's dangerous, but this might be the way to break through." Chen Ge raised the remnant scrolls in his hand. "These scrolls should protect us. But that's the brilliance of the scenario — there are only five scrolls for seven people. Disagreement among the tourists is inevitable."
"Setting the scrolls aside, according to you, someone has to stay alone in that chamber. Isn't that too unfair to that person?"
"It's more than unfair — it's downright cruel." Chen Ge smiled. "That's why I have a proposal. The person who enters the chamber gets an extra scroll."
"I can't make that call. Let's discuss it as a group." The police officer pushed the door open a crack. The giant spider in the hallway had already disappeared.
"Hurry up, everyone get out now!" Chen Ge shouted. "In this scenario, the wind chimes are the key. Every time the wind chimes ring, the scenario undergoes a change. The spider's appearance just now was already the third chime. If the wind chimes ring again, the ghost in the shrine might come out."
Chen Ge and the police officer explained the plan to everyone. Although everyone thought it sounded a bit absurd, there was no better option available.
Staying here and doing nothing would only make things worse.
"We agree with you, but who's going into the room covered in talisman paper?" The glasses-wearing man had seemed fearless when he was with the group, but faced with the prospect of going alone, he was scared too. "If you're willing to go, then we..."
"I'll take the most dangerous room." Chen Ge took out two remnant scrolls. "I'm here to clear the scenario. Just don't hold me back."
"You're still thinking about clearing the scenario?" The glasses-wearing man shook his head, feeling like Chen Ge was dreaming. "It's fine for you to take the chamber, but you can't take two scrolls. There are barely enough as it is — if you take two, what are the rest of us supposed to do?"
"Fine, I'll take only one." Chen Ge placed the scrolls on the ground. Throughout the entire exchange, not a single "tourist" spoke up on his behalf.
The assignments were made quickly. The police officer took the living room, and the woman with long black hair took the bedroom adjacent to the chamber.
After everyone had entered their respective rooms, the eerie wind chimes rang out once more.
"Xu Yin."
Chen Ge stood at the center of the talisman-covered room and contacted Xu Yin immediately, but he didn't have Xu Yin appear right away — he was waiting for the right moment.
"A Red Dress can freely leave its vessel. So where would that maid be hiding?" Chen Ge smiled, as if talking to himself. "Opening the shrine broke a taboo. Now I've separated everyone who broke that taboo for you. Can you really resist making a move?"
The first time he had entered the chamber, Chen Ge had noticed there were no surveillance cameras in this room, so he could act without restraint.
In truth, the moment he had learned the fierce ghost in the shrine could hold its own against the Red High Heels, he had made up his mind — he would find her no matter what.
A regular fierce ghost and a Red Dress were two completely different things. Even if he couldn't bring her back to the Horror House, devouring her would dramatically boost Xu Yin's and the Headless Female Ghost's power.
The spider projection crawled past Chen Ge along its fixed trajectory, climbed out of the closet, and screams erupted from outside the chamber.
A moment later the scenario returned to normal. Just as everyone was recovering from the fright the giant spider had caused, a faint smell of blood wafted through the air.
"She's here!"
Chen Ge gripped the closet door. He heard a woman's mournful singing drift through the hallway.