"Is that a curse?"
Anyone would feel unsettled seeing a statue carved with their own name get its head chopped off, and
He waited for the headless female ghost and Stench to arrive. The four Red Cloths surrounded the Costume in the middle, and only then did Chen Ge step forward.
"Is that shrine your attachment?" When the Costumed Red Cloth didn't respond, Chen Ge took another step closer. "This originally had nothing to do with me, but the clay figure in the shrine has my name carved on it. Someone's been targeting me, so I have no choice but to follow this through to the end."
The Costume seemed to understand Chen Ge's words. She shook her head, as if to say that the shrine and the clay figure inside had absolutely nothing to do with Chen Ge.
"My name is Chen Ge, and 'Chen Ge' is written on the clay figure." Chen Ge set down the chainsaw in his hand. "You can't take on four Red Cloths by yourself, and I don't want to hurt you. Step aside."
Under the pressure of the four Red Cloths, the Costumed Red Cloth finally moved to the side, no longer blocking their path.
"
The shrine was the biggest secret inside this cycle haunted house, and Chen Ge worried there might be a trap, so he didn't go retrieve it himself.
A pale hand reached into the shrine. Xu Yin grabbed hold of the clay figure's body. At the same time, every "death" character carved into the inner walls of the shrine began to bleed outward. Threads of blood clung to the surface of the clay figure, as if trying to bind it tightly within the shrine.
"Go help."
It took the combined effort of the headless female ghost and Xu Yin, two Red Cloths, to extract the clay figure. The sculpture was utterly ordinary — the kind of thing a child might casually shape from river mud — barely resembling a human form.
"Let me see."
When Chen Ge reached for the clay figure, Xu Yin pulled it away. He pointed at the black bloodstains on the sculpture and gave a slight shake of his head, seemingly warning that those bloodstains could cause Chen Ge serious harm.
"There's a curse on it? Then hold it and let me get a good look." Chen Ge leaned in close to Xu Yin. Only from this distance could he make out that beyond the two characters "Chen Ge," the clay figure was covered in countless "death" characters — tiny, carved all over its surface. Just looking at it sent a chill down his spine.
"This thing really doesn't look much like me. Covered in 'death' characters — it's probably the Underworld Fetus."
Chen Ge didn't know why the shrine contained something like this, nor did he understand why that person called Jiang Jiu had built this scene inside the haunted house. But he knew that
"Place the sculpture on my shadow."
Xu Yin did as instructed. After he set the clay figure on Chen Ge's shadow, the bloodstains on its surface began to gradually fade, as if whatever they contained was being absorbed by Chen Ge's shadow.
"I once found a wooden box in the Strange Talk Association. Back then, Zhang Ya was also extremely interested in the black bloodstains inside that box. The Strange Talk Association had gone through tremendous trouble to bring that box out from behind the Door. Could this clay figure also be something from the other side?"
Having entered the world behind the Door multiple times, Chen Ge knew full well that bringing things out from that world was extraordinarily difficult. In the real world, you almost never saw anything connected to the world behind the Door.
The bloodstains on the clay figure gradually vanished. The "death" characters carved into the sculpture tightened one by one. The bloodstains had apparently been protecting the clay figure — now that Chen Ge's shadow had absorbed them, each "death" character drove into the sculpture like a nail.
The Costumed Red Cloth tried to stop him, but after she drew near to Chen Ge's shadow, she seemed to sense something. Without Xu Yin needing to block her, she sensibly retreated to her original position.
The last trace of blood disappeared. The clay figure cracked apart on Chen Ge's shadow. His heartbeat returned to normal, and the voice deep within his consciousness faded away.
"These black bloodstains brought out from behind the Door seem to be of great help to Zhang Ya. I should keep an eye out for more in the future."