Chapter 114: I Have a Bold Idea
"Did you hear them say that?" Chen Ge suddenly became agitated.
"Yes. The day before your parents disappeared, they came to me and said someone wanted to give me a gift, but that person couldn't make it in person for various reasons, so they were delivering it on their behalf." Director Luo took a wooden box from the bookshelf beside him and opened the delicate container, revealing a very crudely made roly-poly toy inside.
He held the roly-poly in his palm: "Although the craftsmanship is rough, I think the symbolism is good. No matter what difficulties you encounter, you can't knock it down."
Chen Ge could barely wait any longer and pressed on: "What did my parents say afterward? And where did you hear those words?"
"They put down the gift and left. But because I don't have a habit of closing my office door, I accidentally overheard their conversation in the hallway." Director Luo thought for a moment: "They hadn't gone far when your father said—'The door to the Third Ward has been opened again.' Your mother replied, 'The door to the Third Ward has never been closed.'"
"That's it? Just two sentences?"
"I only caught those two. They said a few more things intermittently afterward, but I don't remember clearly."
After a few more exchanges with no further gains, Chen Ge left Director Luo's office.
"The door to the Third Ward definitely isn't an ordinary door. Could it be like the door in the haunted house mirror? A door leading to another world?"
He couldn't figure out why his parents would say that. He took out his black phone and combined it with the hints from the trial mission just now.
"The mission hint says 'he' comes from the Third Ward. Could that mean he comes from that blood-red world, the same as the mirror monster?"
His parents' conversation the day before their disappearance also mentioned the Third Ward. Could the reason for their disappearance be related to the Third Ward?
He knew his parents had vanished at an abandoned hospital on the outskirts of the city. The police had searched all the surrounding buildings but found no trace of them. Now he strongly suspected that his parents might have gone through that door, into that blood-red world.
"I can't confirm yet that the location for the Third Ward trial mission is the same hospital where my parents disappeared." Chen Ge gently slapped his cheeks, forcing himself to calm down. When it came to his missing parents, his mind was a bit unsettled: "A three-star scream index mission must be extremely dangerous. Even if I take the mission now, I might not complete it. I'll take it step by step and finish the current mission first."
The trial mission at Haiming Apartments was somewhat connected to the Third Ward. Completing this trial mission would also give him a preliminary understanding of the Third Ward mission, so he wouldn't be caught off guard.
By around four in the afternoon, the number of visitors had dwindled. Chen Ge handed the haunted house keys to Xu Wan and slipped into the utility room to prepare for tonight's trial mission.
The cloth doll left by his parents contained the park's guardian spirit and was only useful within the park, so this time Chen Ge didn't bring it along like before.
He picked and chose, finally only bringing a charger, a lighter, a safety rope, and his trusty tool hammer.
"This should be about right." He thought for a moment, then stuffed the remaining reward money from solving the family annihilation case into the backpack's inner pocket: "It's still early before my appointment with Dr. Gao. I'll stop by the custom doll shop first and buy a batch if the price is reasonable."
The sooner the hidden mission at Muyang Middle School was completed, the sooner this scene could start generating income for him.
After packing up, Chen Ge passed by the makeup room and accidentally spotted Xiao Xiao hiding behind the door. The room was splattered with fake blood, and she was covered in it too.
"Are you trying to rebel or what?"
Chen Ge picked up Xiao Xiao and walked out of the makeup room, asking Xu Wan to clean up, while he ducked into the staff break room.
"A room full of blood. Xu Wan will definitely think I did it. Will she think I'm a weird boss?"
He grabbed a towel, wiped the fake blood off Xiao Xiao, and then pinched her face: "Run around again, and I'll..."
He thought for a long time but couldn't figure out what Xiao Xiao was afraid of. Finally, he snorted and casually stuffed Xiao Xiao into his backpack as well.
Once everything was ready, he walked out of the haunted house and arrived at the park's main entrance.
The off-season hadn't passed yet, and the number of visitors in the park was dwindling. Not only was the parking lot outside empty, but even the direct bus had very few passengers.
"Keeping the park running takes a lot of money. With so few visitors, Director Luo must be having a tough time." Crossing the street, Chen Ge found the workshop that made large dolls based on information he'd searched online.
He spotted the sign at the entrance to the basement. After asking a guy selling frozen yogurt nearby, he learned the workshop was underground.
Going down, the walls on both sides were covered in graffiti he couldn't appreciate. At the end of the stairs was a glass door with a "For Sale" sign hanging on it.
"Anyone here?" Peering through the glass door, the interior looked like an underground warehouse, taking up a fair amount of space but seeming very desolate.
After waiting a while, a slightly chubby man in slippers shuffled out.
He looked about the same age as Chen Ge, dressed casually with a bit of baby fat on his face.
As the glass door opened, a wave of cold air rushed out.
"Are you the owner here? I want to order a batch of dolls." Chen Ge stated his purpose directly.
"Sure, come on in." The man invited Chen Ge inside: "What size? For ones under thirty centimeters, I can deliver within three days."
"Too small. I want life-sized dolls with movable joints. Can you do that here?" Chen Ge glanced at the various props and equipment in the workshop. It was more professional than he'd imagined before coming.
"Life-sized? With movable joints?" The chubby man's face lit up with sudden understanding, giving a knowing look without saying anything outright: "So, how many do you want to order?"
"Twenty-four. When can you finish them?" Chen Ge replied casually.
"Twenty-four?!"
The chubby man's voice suddenly shot up, startling even Chen Ge: "What are you yelling about? Is twenty-four a lot?"
"Are they all for you?"
"What would I do with dolls?" Chen Ge felt the other party might be misunderstanding and explained: "I run a haunted house. These twenty-four dolls are for the haunted house set."
"Oh, I see." The workshop owner let out a sigh of relief himself: "For haunted house dolls, I wouldn't recommend using too expensive fillers, since they get replaced often. We have two types here—solid and semi-solid. The expensive ones are twelve thousand, the cheaper ones three thousand. One more thing I should mention upfront: all the workers have left, and it's just me minding the shop. Twenty-four custom dolls will probably take about a month to finish."