My House of Horrors

Chen Ge did not force Fan Chong to go to the police. He had to have his reason. The only thing that he could do was explain the situation, and it depended on Fan Chong to go to the police.

“Can you tell me about the fourth ending?” Chen Ge was interested in the game.

Standing under the sun, Fan Chong was quiet. His mind was a mess. “The fourth ending is more complicated. After experiencing three deaths, I had basically mastered the game’s rules and setting. I explored the town for half an hour before I was killed. This fourth ending needs some time to explain. How about you come to my place tonight, and I’ll let you see it for yourself?”

“That works.” Chen Ge nodded. “Then you should rest here first. If you need anything, just call me anytime.”

Then Chen Ge headed to the Haunted House. After completing the Nightmare Mission at Eastern Jiujiang’s tunnel, the black phone had rewarded him with a new talent—Ghost Ear. So, even over such a distance, he could hear the conversation between Fan Dade and Fan Chong.

“Xiao Chong, do you really plan to hide the thing that happened at our place from him?” Fan Dade was worried. “The ghost in the game seems to have escaped. Even if we go to the police with something like this, they will not believe us.”

“We’ll wait and see what happens after Boss Chen comes tonight. I don’t dare play the game anymore. Perhaps we can find a new owner for it.” Fan Chong bit his fingers, and his brows were locked together. The brothers did not know Chen Ge had overheard their conversation. They were seated at the corner, quietly talking among themselves.

Lunch break was over, and Chen Ge threw himself back into work. At 6 pm, the Haunted House closed. Chen Ge had Xiao Gu go and find a new place nearby to move to while he stayed with Xu Wan to clean the Haunted House. When they were done, it was almost 7 pm.

After removing her make-up, Xu Wan picked up her bag, and as she walked past Chen Ge, she casually asked, “Boss, there’s a new restaurant that opened up near our park, would you like to go with me?”

“I can’t make it tonight; I need to go to the police station.” Chen Ge saw no change in the girl’s expression, so he did not think much of it. “I’ll treat you next time.”

“Okay, that’s a promise.”

“Of course.”

After sending Xu Wan away, Chen Ge returned to the staff breakroom. He placed the comic and the recorder inside his bag. “Bringing the hammer to the police station doesn’t sound so good. After all, I’m just going to ask some questions.”

Holding the bag in one hand, Chen Ge locked the door and ran out of the park. When he was waiting for his car, Chen Ge took out his phone to call Captain Yan. The call was answered after three rings, which showed Chen Ge’s importance to Captain Yan. “Captain Yan, this is Chen Ge. Did you catch the killers for the previous cases?”

“The cases with the eye-gouging have been cleared, and the culprit for the body inside the statue has surrendered, but the main suspect, Doctor Gao, is still missing. However, it’s just a matter of time before he is caught. The whole city is under our watch, so he will fall into our trap eventually.” Captain Yan was so busy, and it was not until two days ago that he had gotten the chance to rest.

“In other words, most of the earlier cases have been cleared?” Chen Ge saw a taxi coming, so he quickly waved.

“Why? Sounds like you plan to give us more things to do...” Captain Yan became alert. This fellow, Chen Ge, was too cursed; cases followed him everywhere.

“It’s just a small thing. Captain Yan, do you mind if I come to the station to meet now?” Chen Ge entered the taxi.

Hearing Chen Ge, Captain Yan paused for three seconds before reacting. Even though he had predicted as much, he still found it unacceptable. “Wait a minute. Don’t you think you have been paying the station too many visits recently?”

“Captain Yan, you don’t know the issue. Earlier, I discovered a murder at Eastern Jiujiang, and the suspect has been surrendered to Eastern Jiujiang’s law enforcement, but then I realized that the case is not that simple—it might be related to other cases.” Chen Ge thought about it and added, “It’s related to disappearances and child abductions.”

When the words child abductions were mentioned, Captain Yan changed his mind instantly. “I’m at home now. I’ll see you at the station in fifteen minutes.”

“Okay.” Chen Ge hung up and told the driver, “To the police station please.”

After he said that, the driver started the engine slowly, but he kept glancing at Chen Ge through the rear-view mirror.

“Boss, is there anything on my face?”

“No, no...” The driver quickly turned his eyes away like it was a scary thing to talk to Chen Ge.

“Then why have you been looking at me?” Chen Ge did not think the driver would harm him—he was just curious about his attitude. The driver did not reply and focused on driving.

After paying, Chen Ge just got out of the car, and the driver quickly escaped.

“It feels like he doesn’t want to ferry me. Did I do something in the car that caused some misunderstanding? Is it because I’m coming to the police station?” Chen Ge thought about it, and it made sense. From a normal citizen’s eyes, who would go to the police station for no reason?

“Xiao Chen, an emergency came up for Captain Yan, so he might be late. Why don’t you brief me on what’s happening first?” Lee Zheng from Team one was asked to intercept Chen Ge. He was familiar with Chen Ge already although he had no idea why an inspector would get so close to a normal citizen.

Lee Zheng led Chen Ge into his office. He opened the computer and prepared a recorder and pen. “Tell me all the important things you know. If the reason is not enough, we won’t be able to help you meet the criminal.”

“Understood.” Chen Ge did not tell Lee Zheng about the game. Instead, he just described how the murderer kidnapped and murdered Tong Tong. When the police investigated a case, they found the murderer through clues, but Chen Ge’s investigation was the opposite. He had asked the phone spirit directly for the murderer. After knowing the murderer, he had collected evidence with that target in mind.

Lee Zheng, of course, did not know that Chen Ge already knew the killer from the beginning. He thought Chen Ge’s analysis was too creative, but the seemingly unrelated events were connected in some mysterious ways and managed to create an ironclad evidence chain in the end.

When Chen Ge was almost done, Captain Yan arrived. He came with good news. “I’ve already contacted the people at the prison. They’ve scheduled for us to meet the killer tomorrow 8 am.”

“Thank you, Captain Yan, but is it possible to move the meeting forward? I just have a few simple questions for him; I just need ten minutes.”

There were too many variables at Eastern Jiujiang. Chen Ge did not want to wait any longer; he planned to go there tonight.