Chapter 195: It Hurts! It Hurts!
Inside the office, besides the tape recorder and newspapers, Chen Ge also discovered many clues about Xu Zhenzhen.
For instance, a broken photo frame tossed in the corner of the bookshelf held a father-daughter photo, but both faces had been smeared out. In the office drawer, there was also a man's will, which mentioned the name Xu Zhenzhen three times.
This Xu Zhenzhen had yet to show up, yet the haunted house was filled with traces of her belongings.
"Is the Tian Teng Hospital using real-life news to set up scenes? Aren't they afraid of actually summoning Xu Zhenzhen?"
The haunted house itself was heavy with yin energy, devoid of sunlight, and combined with the special scene arrangements, it was an ideal hiding spot for ghosts and monsters.
"They say what you think about during the day, you dream about at night. If everyone in the haunted house keeps muttering Xu Zhenzhen's name, what if she actually hears them?"
Without fully understanding the situation, Tian Teng Hospital copied scenes straight from the newspaper and wove all the clues into a hidden storyline. This approach seemed clever, but it was actually playing with fire.
"There are 'gods' watching from above. If you don't believe in them, there's no need to provoke them either."
Chen Ge was extremely bold, but undeniably, he held a reverence for the unknown. That's why every time he took on a trial mission, he prepared thoroughly.
The progress on conquering Tian Teng Hospital had exceeded halfway, and the hidden clues were gradually becoming clear.
"Time to get out." Chen Ge didn't know if Xu Zhenzhen was truly in the haunted house. He was a goal-oriented person—his purpose for coming in was to conquer the haunted house, not to explore other matters.
After circling around, Chen Ge returned to the tape recorder, ready to grab the tape and leave.
As he approached the recorder again, he faintly heard a suppressed crying sound.
The voice was very low, seemingly coming from inside the recorder.
"Is the ghost in the tape coming out?" Chen Ge stepped back, reaching into his pocket to grip the ballpoint pen, while gently pushing the "corpse" on the table with his other hand. He was afraid that if something unexpected happened, he wouldn't be able to look after this actor.
But to his surprise, with just a light push, the "male corpse" slumped weakly under the table.
"Something's wrong? Is it Xu Zhenzhen?" Having seen real ghosts before, he naturally knew that in this situation, a real ghost could indeed appear. "Am I really that unlucky? Can I encounter a ghost just by visiting someone else's haunted house?"
When Chen Ge thought of his title as the "Ghost's Favorite," he couldn't stay calm anymore. He quickly moved to help the male corpse on the floor, afraid of missing the critical window for treatment.
"An actor dies for real while performing—what kind of mess is this!"
As Chen Ge crouched down and lifted the actor's hands, a head suddenly emerged from under the desk, which had been hidden by the actor's body.
It was so close that Chen Ge couldn't dodge in time, and the head bumped straight into his chest.
His heart rate spiked, but it stabilized after a few seconds.
Looking at the head in his arms and then at the "male corpse" on the ground, Chen Ge had already figured everything out. "Brother, are you getting back at me for not giving you face in the nursery earlier?"
The "male corpse" had been lying on the table, covering his face. Now that he had fallen over, his face was exposed, and Chen Ge could see that the man hadn't even changed his makeup—just a layer of fake blood smeared on.
After checking that the "male corpse" was still breathing by placing a finger under his nose, Chen Ge stood up. He decided not to stay any longer and prepared to leave.
Walking over to the tape recorder, Chen Ge pressed the buttons on it. After a few tries, he suddenly noticed that no matter which button he pressed, the indicator light on the recorder remained on.
"Can't turn it off?"
Chen Ge couldn't leave the tape in Tian Teng Hospital, but taking the recorder itself would be going too far.
As Chen Ge fiddled with the recorder, the faint crying grew louder, and some static noise emerged from the tape.
It sounded like the hum of electricity, unclear and indistinct.
Chen Ge recalled the description of the tape in his mind. After just a second or two, a suppressed voice abruptly came from the recorder.
It was impossible to tell if it was male or female, and it was fleeting.
"Someone's talking? What are they trying to say?" This was Chen Ge's first communication with the tape, and he dared not be careless. Any ghost placed in the black phone's prize pool was no pushover.
He listened patiently, and soon the voice appeared again.
"It hurts..."
Mixed in with the static noise, the voice sounded distorted.
As the tape played, Chen Ge heard it more clearly. "It's a man's voice. Sounds young."
He focused intently, listening closely, when suddenly one of the buttons on the recorder pressed down on its own.
Chen Ge turned to look at the "corpse" on the ground. The man had also heard the strange noise from the recorder and was secretly pulling a small remote control from his pocket, pressing buttons.
It was too late to turn off the recorder now. The ghost in the tape had awakened, and no matter which button the man pressed, nothing worked.
"It hurts..."
The voice in the tape grew louder, and the ghost's emotions seemed to be spiraling out of control. The only solution Chen Ge could think of was to take the recorder and leave.
"What's going on?" After several failed attempts to turn off the recorder, the "corpse" on the ground couldn't help but speak, scrambling up with a face smeared in blood.
"Is your equipment malfunctioning?" Chen Ge was at a loss too. He couldn't exactly say he had stuffed a ghost into the recorder and couldn't get it out now.
"It should be," the haunted house actor said uncertainly. He reached out to pick up the recorder, but before his fingers even touched it, a hysterical scream erupted from the machine.
"It hurts!"
The actor flinched, jerking his hand back as if shocked.
"What are you afraid of? Isn't this part of your haunted house design?" Chen Ge shielded the recorder, preventing any uncontrollable accidents.
"I was there when the tape was recorded, and none of these words were on it!" the "corpse" actor said seriously, pulling out his phone to send a voice message in a group chat. "Who added something to the tape in the director's office?"
No one answered. In that brief moment, the voice in the tape grew even more frenzied, filled with boundless hatred and resentment.
"It hurts! It hurts so much!"
The sound was as if a knife were actually cutting into his body, and he was frantically trying to cover the bleeding wounds, helplessly watching as more gashes appeared.
The haunted house actor's body trembled. At that moment, he was genuinely scared.
"Your haunted house is pretty bold, using real names and cases for your scenes. Aren't you afraid they'll come knocking one day?" Chen Ge lowered his voice, staring at the actor. "I've heard that you shouldn't casually say the names of the dead, let alone write them everywhere, or bad things will happen."
"Stop talking!" The actor's voice shot up. He briefly explained the situation in the group chat, then forced himself to stay calm and said to Chen Ge, "Just a minor glitch, a technical issue. It won't affect anything."
As soon as he finished speaking, hurried footsteps sounded from outside the door. The "cart-pushing female ghost" Chen Ge had seen earlier ran over, her face full of terror!
She held a piece of paper in her hand, almost out of breath.
"Aqin? What are you doing here?" the "corpse" actor asked nervously. He was already scared, and the female actor's panic only made him more anxious.
"There are words on the paper! I saw them by accident just now."
The woman placed the white paper in front of the "corpse" actor. "It seems like she's back!"