Chapter 36: Thrills and Chills
A dozen seconds later, Brother Feng finally snapped out of it. He pointed weakly toward the bathroom. "Mirror..."
Those two simple words seemed to carry a strange power. Chen Ge's expression shifted slightly as he dragged Brother Feng onto the bed before stepping into the bathroom himself.
The mirror on the wall had been shattered, shards of glass scattered everywhere.
Earlier, after Heshan had fainted, Chen Ge had covered all the mirrors in the haunted house with black cloth, and things had been calm for a while. Now, with the new scene opening, he'd let his guard down for a moment, and this incident had occurred.
For any entertainment facility, once labeled as having safety hazards, continuing operations becomes extremely difficult—Chen Ge knew this all too well.
He picked up a piece of glass from the floor, staring at his reflection in the shard. "I have to get rid of this thing as soon as possible!"
Chess has black and white, people have good and evil, and the same goes for ghosts and monsters.
That thing in the mirror harbored clear malice toward the living—Chen Ge could sense it. It was highly aggressive, driven by some hidden agenda.
Heshan fainting, Brother Feng being scared into smashing the mirror—these two "accidents" served as a wake-up call for Chen Ge, instilling a sense of urgency.
Covering the mirrors with black cloth wasn't a long-term solution. The thing in the mirror had become an obstacle to the haunted house's rapid development.
The mirror was broken, and nothing suspicious remained in the bathroom. After a quick look around, Chen Ge stepped out.
Clutching the hammer in his hand, he sat down beside Brother Feng. "Can you tell me what just happened?"
After resting for a few minutes, Brother Feng's breathing finally steadied, but his face was still frighteningly pale. "I'm not really sure either."
"It's okay, just say whatever comes to mind." Chen Ge watched Brother Feng closely. Unlike Heshan, who had been scared unconscious outright, this guy clearly had stronger mental fortitude—at least he'd fought back.
Brother Feng tried to sit up on the bed. His complexion improved a bit, but the fear in his eyes hadn't diminished. "I was being chased by your staff, and in a panic, I hid in this room. At first, nothing happened, but then I vaguely heard someone calling me."
"Did it call your name?"
"No, but I could feel it was calling me." Brother Feng grabbed his hair. "The sound was in this room. It took me a long time to figure out where it was coming from."
As he spoke, the terror in his eyes deepened. "The sound came from the bathroom mirror. I could almost hear it, but not clearly. I didn't know what it was saying, only that it had something to do with me."
"And then?" Chen Ge committed every word Brother Feng said to memory. This valuable experience would help him understand the monster in the mirror more deeply.
"Then I stood in front of the mirror, trying to figure out how it worked. I tried to take the mirror down, but when I touched it, the sound in my ears suddenly got louder. My mind started to get fuzzy. I looked at myself in the mirror, and the more I looked, the less it felt like me." Brother Feng reached the crucial part. He glanced nervously at the bathroom, as if something monstrous might leap out at any moment. "I was standing in front of the mirror, but the person reflected wasn't me. Normally, I'd be scared and want to get away, but the scariest part—thinking back on it now—is what happened next."
"What happened?"
Brother Feng said very seriously, "At that moment, I felt no fear or dread at all. Everything seemed perfectly normal. My body started leaning toward the mirror, my face almost pressing against it. I could clearly see the face in the mirror leaning in too. It looked exactly like me, but it felt so foreign. I couldn't say what was wrong, but I knew that face in the mirror wasn't mine. My thoughts grew more and more chaotic. My brain didn't give any commands, but my hand pressed directly against the mirror's surface. I felt like I wanted to crawl into the mirror—no, that's not right either. It was like I was trapped inside the mirror, desperately trying to get out."
When doing nightmare-level daily tasks, Chen Ge had experienced something similar. Reviewing his phone recordings, his body had slowly leaned toward the mirror back then too. "So how did you break free?"
"Because of the mirror again." Brother Feng gave an unexpected answer. "At that point, I had no idea what I was doing. When my face was about to touch the mirror, I suddenly saw, through the reflection, a cloth doll lying behind me."
"A cloth doll?"
"Yeah, just like the ones I saw in other rooms in this building—palm-sized, with a sewn-on beard." Brother Feng nodded, gesturing with his hands. "Suddenly seeing a cloth doll behind me, I started to feel scared. Fear burned through me like fire. In that moment, I had only one thought—get out of there—but my body wouldn't obey. My will and my body were fighting each other. It felt like sleep paralysis."
Brother Feng spoke calmly, but Chen Ge could sense the danger in it.
"Then, all of a sudden, I heard Heshan shouting from the second floor. I snapped awake, like waking from a dream." The fear in his eyes faded somewhat. "I was terrified out of my mind, so I grabbed a chair and smashed the mirror. It was pure instinct. Your horror house is way too scary—I forgot I was just on a tour."
At that point, Brother Feng seemed to remember something. He waved at Chen Ge. "I'm telling you all this for real. I'm not exaggerating or trying to dodge responsibility. I'll pay for the mirror at full price."
"You don't need to pay for the mirror. The best outcome is that you weren't hurt." Chen Ge stood up and paced around the room. "Where's that cloth doll you saw now?"
Brother Ge hesitated. "I think I kicked it under the bed. Is that one of your props too? Sorry."
Lifting the bedsheet, Chen Ge pulled out the cloth doll covered in footprints, brushed off the dust, and said, "You should thank this doll. It just saved you."
"The doll saved me? Okay... thanks. Can I leave now?" Brother Feng shrank back, his face growing paler. He thought the horror house owner wasn't quite right in the head, but since he was under someone else's roof, he had to bow his head, so he reluctantly muttered a thank-you.
"What if I told you that everything you just experienced wasn't from the horror house's props or special effects, but was real? Would you believe me?" Dressed in a bloodstained doctor's uniform, holding a worn-out cloth doll, Chen Ge tilted his head, sizing up the college student in front of him.
Poor Brother Feng, nearly six-foot-five, curled up like a little girl at the corner of the bed, looking utterly helpless. "So, do you think I should say I believe you, or that I don't?"