Chapter 107: The Sound Behind the Door (Sixth Update)
"The door was opened?"
Chen Ge's hand froze midair. The eeriest part was that the angle of the door opening in the mirror was almost identical to the angle of the stall door opening in the restroom.
Removing the black cloth, Chen Ge walked over to the restroom stall. He turned his head to look at the mirror and pulled the stall door fully open.
In reality, the restroom stall was empty, but the image reflected in the mirror was completely different. The narrow stall was a sea of red, with walls and floor seemingly oozing blood, as if it were another world.
Chen Ge still lacked the courage to enter the stall to investigate the truth. Gripping the door panel, he pondered whether to dismantle these things.
About ten seconds passed, and Chen Ge heard a very strange sound, growing closer from a distance, as if someone in wet clothes was crawling along the ground.
"Where's it coming from?" The sound grew clearer, drawing nearer to Chen Ge's location.
He glanced toward the corridor outside, then looked back at the mirror, finally determining that the sound was coming from inside the restroom stall.
"Is something coming?" Now wasn't the time for curiosity. Chen Ge decisively closed the stall door, propped the lock with a mop, and turned to look at the mirror.
The sound, like something dragging a corpse, entered the stall. Soon, a patch of blood red seeped through the door crack. It seemed to be searching for something, and a thick, rancid stench filled the air.
It lingered for a few seconds, then the sound gradually faded away, and the stench in the air slowly dissipated.
After a minute passed, the stall door in the mirror returned to normal, and the room became much brighter.
Leaning against the stall door, Chen Ge's palms were sweating. If he hadn't woken up, that thing crawling on the ground might have come out like the mirror monster.
"Covering the mirror with black cloth, the blood-red door still appears on time."
Chen Ge knew nothing about the world behind the stall door. He had no good solution for now and could only lock the problematic stall.
Splashing his face with cold water, Chen Ge returned to the staff break room. Opening the door, he found that Little had disappeared somewhere again.
"Did she come specifically to warn me just now?" Chen Ge sat on the edge of the bed, unable to sleep for a while, so he took out the black phone.
Swiping the screen, Chen Ge tapped on the daily tasks section.
"Easy Difficulty: A terrifying experience should not leave psychological trauma on the participant. Please improve the haunted house's safety protocols and inspect all safety hazards within the haunted house."
"Normal Difficulty: One tree does not make a forest. A good haunted house needs an excellent team to operate. Recruit more talent; they will help you through tough times."
"Nightmare Difficulty: There's always another person living in your room. Don't you want to know who it is?"
"Note! Some tasks are extremely dangerous! Choose carefully!"
The three refreshed daily tasks looked familiar to Chen Ge; he had seen them many times before.
"Easy and normal difficulty tasks are what I should be doing at this stage—expanding the team and improving safety protocols. But comparatively, the rewards for nightmare tasks are more tempting."
Danger and opportunity go hand in hand. More importantly, after hiring the pen fairy, he had one chance to foresee events each day.
In his view, using that chance on a nightmare-level daily task was quite worthwhile.
Taking out the pen wrapped in transparent tape, Chen Ge felt a bit embarrassed: "I'll ask the pen fairy when I get a chance if I can get her a better pen to stay in."
Finding a blank piece of paper and laying it flat on the table, Chen Ge recited the incantation to summon the pen fairy. After receiving her response, he asked the question on his mind.
"Can I safely complete the latest nightmare daily task on the phone?"
After saying this, Chen Ge stared at the paper before him. The pen trembled for a long time but didn't draw an answer.
"Is this question that hard?" The pen fairy's ability wasn't as powerful as Chen Ge had imagined. It seemed she couldn't answer anything related to the black phone.
Looking at the pen that was about to fall apart in his hand, Chen Ge quickly changed the question: "Forget that one. I want to ask, has there always been another person living in this room?"
The pen paused on the paper for a long time before finally writing the word "yes."
"Do you know what it looks like?"
This time, the pen fairy didn't answer. The pen in Chen Ge's hand returned to normal.
Chen Ge didn't blame the pen fairy. Foreseeing seemed to consume some of her energy, which was likely why she could only predict once a day.
"So there really is another person living here? I didn't notice at all. Judging by the task description, this thing seems different from ordinary ghosts." Chen Ge's haunted house now had many residents, and he didn't mind more strange things appearing, as long as they obeyed him and didn't harm visitors like the mirror ghost.
After much thought, Chen Ge chose to accept the nightmare-level task.
"Confirm acceptance of the nightmare difficulty daily task? Acceptance may trigger unforeseen situations."
"Confirm."
The screen flickered, and a new piece of information appeared.
"It lives in the same room as you. When you fall asleep, it appears."
"If it harbors good intentions, it will brush away the filth behind you and protect the peace of your home."
"If it harbors evil intentions, while you sleep soundly, it will stand by your bed, maliciously thinking of ways to destroy you."
"Below is a game called The Unseen Guest: At midnight, scatter water-soaked white rice around the house, place a pair of worn slippers outside the door, light a white candle on the bedroom floor, arrange the bed to look like someone is sleeping soundly, and finally, lie under the bed. The key to the task is that you must truly fall asleep. As long as you see its face, the task is considered successful."
"This task is the third nightmare-level daily task you've accepted. Upon completion, you can randomly receive a trial task for a horror scenario."
"Note: After completing three nightmare tasks, nightmare-level tasks in the daily tasks will change to random refreshes. Treat every nightmare task with caution!"
After reading it once, Chen Ge had memorized the task information.
"Why is the key to the task that I have to fall asleep? How can I see its face if I'm asleep? Is it in a dream?" Chen Ge wasn't entirely sure what the task meant, but since he had accepted it, he could only follow the instructions.
Putting on his coat, Chen Ge made another late-night visit to the park cafeteria, "borrowing" half a bowl of white rice.
"The haunted house is huge; scattering it all would be such a waste." After soaking the rice in cold water, Chen Ge sprinkled it around several rooms on the first floor of the haunted house. He placed a pair of slippers at the entrance of the haunted house corridor, then lit a white candle by the bed.
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