Chapter 152: Don’t Drag Me Into This!
After finishing a cigarette, Chen Ge stood up. "Who still uses tapes these days? Even if I wanted to listen, I’d need the equipment. Am I supposed to go scavenge a tape recorder from a junkyard?"
He had barely managed to stabilize Zhang Ya, and now another tape had surfaced. Chen Ge never thought he’d one day be troubled by being too "popular."
"The haunted house is big enough. As long as the guy on the tape doesn’t cause trouble, living together isn’t out of the question." Chen Ge scrolled through the information on his black phone, noticing a detail: the probability of drawing the Crying Tape was three percent, while the Cursed Love Letter he’d drawn before had a probability of three in a thousand.
Based on the probabilities the black phone had disclosed, this tape-related vengeful spirit wasn’t as powerful as Zhang Ya. Its strength likely fell somewhere between a Red Clothes and an ordinary vengeful spirit.
"It’s better if it’s weaker—easier for me to reach an agreement with him." Even Chen Ge felt a bit intimidated by vengeful spirits like Zhang Ya, who had their own dedicated page.
Pushing his bike back to New Century Park, he saw that visitors had already started arriving. Uncle Xu and Xu Wan had been standing by the haunted house entrance for a while.
"Chen Ge, where did you go so early in the morning? Why are there chicken feathers stuck to your clothes?"
With only a few tourists in the park, Uncle Xu had essentially become a part-time employee of the haunted house, helping sell tickets outside when he had nothing else to do.
"Morning exercise." Chen Ge casually brushed off the chicken feathers, opened the barrier at the haunted house, and began another day of business.
Throughout the day, Chen Ge was somewhat out of sorts. The clues in his mind were scattered and messy, like walking through thick fog, vaguely sensing an opening ahead. But he couldn’t tell if it was an exit from the predicament or the gaping maw of a monster.
At 4:30 PM, Chen Ge let Xu Wan leave early. He closed the haunted house doors and entered the staff break room.
"I need to prepare early." He placed his backpack on the table and stuffed it with a tool hammer, a butcher knife wrapped in red cloth, bags of salt, a lighter, and a flashlight. "Six bags of salt should be enough."
Opening the cabinet, Chen Ge pulled out a large tote bag, planning to bring the white cat and Little Little along.
"Let me think—what am I missing?" Opening a drawer, he immediately spotted a tape inside.
It had no markings, only an irregular bloody handprint, as if someone had gripped it with bloodstained hands.
"Something this outdated actually ended up in the haunted house drawer." Chen Ge didn’t need to guess—it was the black phone’s doing. He didn’t know much about tapes and, fearing this guy might cause trouble in the haunted house, simply stuffed it into his backpack.
"Seems like I haven’t missed anything." Chen Ge found Little Little and an old shirt that still smelled faintly of the kitten, shoved them into the tote bag, and spent a while gesturing to the white cat before it reluctantly jumped in.
"Stay here and don’t move. I’m heading out." Chen Ge walked into the utility room and eyed the Skullcrusher’s hammer hidden in the corner. "This thing carries heavy killing intent. Maybe I should bring it along too."
To fit the Skullcrusher’s hammer into his backpack, he had no choice but to take out the tool hammer and three bags of salt.
"Salt might not be that useful anyway—less is fine. The multi-purpose tool hammer works in many situations; I have to keep that on me." With no more room, Chen Ge had to strap the tool hammer to the outside of his backpack.
Adding a black briefcase full of streaming equipment, the table in front of Chen Ge was completely covered. "I still feel like something’s missing."
After thinking for a while, Chen Ge left the staff break room and entered the underground Muyang High School scene.
For this three-star trial mission, Chen Ge was going all out.
He arrived at the girls’ dormitory, picked up the battered pen from the chair, and said, "Pen Spirit, I want to use today’s prediction opportunity. Please answer one question for me."
Holding the pen upright, Chen Ge played the pen spirit game on paper.
"Can you tell me what dangers I’ll face when I enter the Third Psychiatric Ward?"
The pen trembled slightly. After a long pause, the tip landed on the white paper and wrote four characters: "Certain death without survival!"
As if to emphasize the point, the pen spirit wrote with force, nearly tearing the paper.
"A death trap?" Chen Ge’s expression darkened at the prediction. "Pen Spirit, I asked what dangers I’d encounter—you’re not answering the question!"
Before he even set out, morale was already wavering.
The pen spirit didn’t respond. Chen Ge furrowed his brows. "I hope you’re wrong, or we’re all doomed."
With that, he prepared to pocket the pen. Going all out meant the pen spirit, as a haunted house employee, couldn’t sit this one out.
The pen spirit seemed shocked by how things were turning out. Just as Chen Ge’s arm was about to leave the paper, it quickly scribbled over the four words.
"Is there still a chance?"
Chen Ge watched eagerly, only to see the pen spirit write four more words beneath the crossed-out ones: "Don’t drag me into this!"
"Don’t drag you into this?" Chen Ge casually slipped the pen into his pocket and strode out of the Muyang High School scene.
"Everything’s ready—let’s begin!" Chen Ge pulled out the black phone and used the unlock opportunity he’d earned after completing three nightmare missions.
"Lucky favored one of the vengeful spirits, congratulations on obtaining the Third Psychiatric Ward trial mission!"
"Third Psychiatric Ward (Scream Index: Three Stars): This abandoned hospital emits strange sounds every night. You will enter to investigate."
"Mission Location: Closed ward of the Third Mental Health Rehabilitation Center."
"Mission Requirements: Arrive at the Third Psychiatric Ward before midnight and survive until dawn."
"Mission Hint: The opposite of good is evil, the opposite of right is wrong—so what is the opposite of human?"
"Accept mission? Note: Trial missions exist for only twenty-four hours. If not accepted within that time, it will be considered forfeited, and this scene will never be unlocked."
Chen Ge had done all this for this moment. He clicked accept, and the phone screen changed, displaying a mission countdown in the top left corner.
If Chen Ge didn’t enter the Third Psychiatric Ward before midnight, the trial mission would automatically fail.
"Third Psychiatric Ward—once I complete this mission, I should be able to uncover more clues about my parents."
Carrying his bags and bundles out of the park, Chen Ge called Liu Dao. Liu Dao showed full sincerity, telling Chen Ge to stay near the park and that he’d come pick him up personally.
Half an hour later, when Liu Dao saw Chen Ge fully kitted out, he was taken aback. But he wisely refrained from asking, started the car, and drove straight toward the Third Mental Health Rehabilitation Center.
"Qin Guang’s livestream is at ten tonight. His last stream had great results, and this time it’s another full-channel promotion. Our studio has done everything we can—we sacrificed spots for two other streamers to secure you a decent recommendation. Tonight, it’s all on you."
Still owe one chapter, will make it up with three tomorrow.