Chapter 33: The Proper Use of a Missing Person Notice
His calves were trembling. If his body weren't somewhat uncooperative, Monkey might have slapped himself hard across the face. Vowing never to jinx himself in a haunted house again was something he figured he'd never do for the rest of his life.
Separated from his teammates, isolated and helpless, standing alone in the middle of a dark corridor, facing a killer who could appear at any moment—and worst of all, with a doll trailing behind him that he just couldn't shake off. This hellish haunted house experience had Monkey struggling to breathe. "How did it get here? When did it follow me? Why is it moving?"
Countless questions flooded his mind in an instant. Twenty years of life experience shattered mercilessly. Clutching his phone, Monkey's body trembled uncontrollably.
"Monkey, are you coming or not! Hurry! Get me out of here! I feel like the cloth dolls in the center of the room are staring at me! They really seem to be watching me!" On the other end of the line was another hysterical voice on the verge of breaking—Shi Ling's situation was just as dire.
"Sis, if I save you, who's going to save me?" Biological instinct drove Monkey to take a step back. His ankle seemed to bump into something. He looked down instinctively and saw the doll that had been in front of him now leaning against his shoe.
Its black hair had a tangible texture, and its face, marked with burn scars, tilted slightly upward. Though its features were barely discernible, it gave off a peculiar feeling.
"It's smiling!"
Monkey didn't know why this thought surfaced in his mind, and he didn't want to dwell on it now. He felt like he'd experienced too much in just ten short minutes.
His face tense, he shifted his feet, trying to leave. But maybe because he'd stood too long or was too nervous, a muscle in his calf knotted into a hard lump, and a sudden sharp pain shot through him.
"Damn it! Cramp!"
Monkey collapsed to the ground. All pretense of dignity gone, he clutched his leg and shouted down the corridor: "Anyone here! I quit, I quit!"
Chen Ge and Xiao Wan were on the first floor. They had just managed to escort the terrified Old Song out of the scene. As soon as they returned through the staff passage, they heard the blood-curdling screams from the third floor.
To ensure the visitors' safety, they didn't hesitate and rushed straight to the third floor.
Entering the corridor, Chen Ge spotted Monkey writhing on the ground. He signaled Xiao Wan to stay back, turned on his flashlight, and walked over. "Are you okay?"
"I quit, I'm never doing this again. Let me go."
Compared to before he entered, Monkey seemed like a completely different person.
Chen Ge didn't agree immediately. He crouched down, pressing on Monkey's knee. "Push hard, straighten your knee joint."
While helping Monkey relieve the pain, Chen Ge scanned the surroundings. He found it odd too: "Xiao Wan and I weren't even in the haunted house. How did this guy get so scared?"
Aside from two cloth dolls on the floor, there was nothing unusual. Chen Ge tentatively asked, "Buddy, what did you see just now?"
"What did I see? Don't you already know?" Monkey's eyes were red, looking thoroughly wronged. "Those two dolls chased me around. Were you controlling them? You were hiding behind the monitor, laughing your ass off, weren't you?"
"Dolls chasing you?" Chen Ge paused, deciding not to tell Monkey the truth. He really didn't want to further damage the guy's fragile psyche. "I'll take you out first."
"Wait, there's someone locked in a room, almost scared out of her mind. Take her out too." Monkey called Shi Ling on his phone.
While he was distracted, Chen Ge picked up the two dolls from the floor and held them in his palm.
They weren't big, nor were they finely made—like toys a child might craft in a handicraft class.
"These little things scared an adult into cramping up?" Chen Ge poked the doll's face with his finger. Whether it was an illusion or not, he sensed a feeling of annoyance and displeasure from the doll, mixed with a helpless resignation, as if it couldn't resist and had to accept it.
"Interesting..."
Amid Shi Ling's cries for help, Chen Ge and Monkey finally found the room she was in and opened the door from outside.
"Don't worry, I'll get you out."
The quiet female student ignored Chen Ge. She was huddled against the wall, her lips pale, stammering in fear: "The dolls are watching me! Wherever I hide, they follow me with their eyes!"
"Dolls again?" Chen Ge looked toward the center of the room, where two larger dolls lay flat.
"They were sitting up before! Really!" Shi Ling's pretty eyes were filled with terror.
"I know, it's all... part of our attraction." Chen Ge comforted the girl, then walked over to the dolls. One had a sewn-on beard, and the other wore an apron-like outfit.
"Judging by the outfits, one must be the father, the other the mother." He placed the dolls from his hand on the floor too. Now four dolls lay there, like a family of four.
"This matches the exact number of victims in the Ping An Apartment massacre. The Midnight Escape scene is modeled after that apartment. Could these four dolls represent the four who died back then?" Just as Chen Ge thought this, his black phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw a new message.
"Lucky favored one of the vengeful spirits! You have triggered the sole hidden mission of the Midnight Escape scene! The lingering obsessions of the dead have not yet been laid to rest. Fulfill their wishes, and they will serve you."
"Sole hidden mission? A new scene from the black phone comes with its own hidden mission?" This was a major discovery for Chen Ge. "The obsessions of the Ping An Apartment victims must be tied to Wang Qi. Bringing Wang Qi to justice and making him face due punishment should count as fulfilling their wishes, right?"
Chen Ge helped Shi Ling and Monkey downstairs, but his mind was still on the hidden mission.
After they exited through the staff passage, Chen Ge didn't immediately return to the Midnight Escape scene. Instead, he ran to the prop room and pulled out the missing person notice for Wang Qi from the bottom of a box.
"This should be useful to the victims." With a tentative thought, Chen Ge went back to the third floor and entered the room Shi Ling had been in.
As soon as he stepped inside, he saw something strange.
The three dolls representing the father, mother, and older sister lay flat in their original spots, unchanged. But the smallest doll was lying face-down by the door, as if trying to crawl out.
Chen Ge picked up the doll at his feet and examined it closely. It looked like it had been caught playing dead—not scary at all, and in his eyes, even a little endearing. "The lingering remnants of the dead must be attached to them."
Closing the door, Chen Ge sat down in the center of the room with the doll in hand. "Maybe we can talk."