Chapter 62: Four-Star Scene!
After three consecutive failed attempts, Chen Ge decided to give up and wait until he returned to the Horror House to study further.
What he didn’t expect was that after exiting Zhang Ya’s exclusive page, another unread message appeared on the black phone.
“Wasn’t the favorability task already completed?” Chen Ge didn’t overthink it and opened the second message.
“Lucky favored one of the vengeful spirits! Congratulations on completing the rare-level Red-Clad Vengeful Spirit favorability task. This task is one of the side quests for the four-star horror scene—Spirit Medium Ghost School!”
“Note: When the favorability task completion reaches 100%, it will trigger the trial quest for the four-star horror scene, Spirit Medium Ghost School (the quest is valid for three months). After completing all trial quests, the scene can be successfully unlocked!”
“Spirit Medium Ghost School—Scream Index: Four Stars!”
“Side Quest One: Red Dance Shoes (On the campus after midnight, the Blood Swan spreads its wings; she is a vengeful ghost full of resentment, also a dancer in red robes). Quest location: West City Private Academy.”
“Side Quest Two: The Man Hanging Himself Standing Up (I never joke with others, whether in life or in death). Quest location: West City Private Academy.”
“Side Quest Three: Stench (He gathered all the trash back to his dorm, just to cover up a secret he couldn’t tell). Quest location: West City Private Academy.”
“Side Quest Four: The Unsendable Spirit Game (Spirit, oh spirit, can you tell me who’s next to die?). Quest location: Muyang Middle School.”
“Side Quest Five: The Fifth Stall in the Restroom (Every midnight, someone always sees a red figure appear in the restroom. To catch her, I hid in the fifth stall). Quest location: Muyang Middle School.”
“Side Quest Six: The Deep Well (My younger sister and brother didn’t come home after school—where did they go?). Quest location: Muyang Middle School.”
“Side Quest Seven: The Unopened Classroom (At the end of the hallway is a classroom sealed with strips, never entered by anyone, yet at night, the room is crowded with figures). Quest location: Muyang Middle School.”
“Side Quest Eight: Eternal Life (In the unopened area of the underground corpse repository, there is a group of people who live forever). Quest location: Jiujiang Medical University’s School of Forensic Medicine.”
“Final Quest: Unlocked.”
After reading the information on the black phone, Chen Ge was stunned: “A four-star horror scene?! A one-star horror scene can already make a medical student break down. How terrifying must a scene with a scream index of four stars be?”
Everyone has a threshold for horror tolerance; once it’s exceeded too much, something could go wrong.
He read through the side quests of the Spirit Medium Ghost School again. Just reading the descriptions made his skin crawl. More importantly, these were only side quests. The final, climactic quest was still in an unlocked state, meaning he likely needed to complete the first eight side quests before he could attempt the ninth.
“A four-star horror scene is still a bit too challenging for me. Maybe I’ll take it on in the future.” Chen Ge closed the message and checked the info section on the black phone. In the unlockable horror scenes column, besides the Deadly Hearse and the Third Ward, there was now a Spirit Medium Ghost School. Unlike the first two horror scenes, this one’s name was blood-red.
“Putting all campus paranormal events into one horror scene—even if this Spirit Medium Ghost School is successfully unlocked, it probably can’t be opened to everyone.” Chen Ge browsed the black phone’s ratings for horror scenes, and an idea gradually formed in his mind. One-star horror scenes were fine for anyone to enter, but to access three-star or higher scenes, one had to clear one-star and two-star scenes first. In a way, this served as a form of protection for visitors.
“This way, replayability increases significantly. Even visitors who’ve played through once might keep challenging for higher-starred scenes until they achieve a perfect clear. Every visit brings a different experience, and my Horror House will become known to more people.” Thinking this, Chen Ge’s mind inexplicably conjured the image of He Shan, the only visitor who had consecutively challenged two scenes in the Horror House: “That kid is like my lucky charm. When the next scene unlocks, should I trick him into coming for a blessing?”
He had many ideas. For instance, after tiering, special rewards and certificates could be issued to encourage visitors to push their limits and challenge even more terrifying scenes.
“Feels like being a behind-the-scenes boss.”
Chen Ge couldn’t help but smile. In the future, professional teams might come to his haunted house to strategize, just to experience more extreme thrills.
“What are you grinning about? Looking like you’re up to no good.” Captain Li emerged from the building, having completed his basic inspection. “Team One and Team Two have reported back; no sign of Zhang Peng for now. The atmosphere in this school is off, and the environment is complicated. Let’s pull out first and wait for the criminal investigation team to arrive before making a move.”
“Alright.” Chen Ge was also eager to leave. He had already achieved everything he came here for.
Everyone withdrew from West City Private Academy, sealed off the perimeter, and waited for backup.
It wasn’t until the sky began to lighten that the criminal investigation team arrived. After a long night of hard work, everyone was exhausted.
After a brief greeting with them, Captain Li drove the police car to take Chen Ge away first.
“Another sleepless night.” Sitting in the police car, Chen Ge finally relaxed, stretched, and lay down in the back seat.
“You act like getting into a police car is like coming home?” Captain Li muttered discontentedly. “By the way, I’ve had a few questions I’ve been meaning to ask you but haven’t had the chance.”
“Then don’t ask.” Chen Ge had already guessed what Captain Li was about to ask. He covered his head with his backpack and pretended to sleep.
“Why did you show up at West City Private Academy in the middle of the night? And how did you know the exact time the girl jumped? This was four years ago—even the forensic autopsy has a confidence interval, yet you could tell me the answer so confidently. That’s too abnormal.” Captain Li sat in the driver’s seat and started the car.
“I guessed it all.” Chen Ge turned over. “Uncle Sanbao, can you turn on the air conditioning?”
“Do you really not see yourself as an outsider?” Captain Li grumbled but turned on the AC. Just then, his phone suddenly vibrated.
“Uncle, answer the call.”
“Say one more word, and I swear I’ll throw you out.” Captain Li glanced at the caller ID, pressed the answer button, and said nothing. The other end was silent too. After two or three seconds, the call ended.
“Who’s bold enough to prank call a cop?” Chen Ge turned his head to look but noticed Captain Li’s expression had softened considerably.
“It’s my wife. Every time I’m out on a mission, she calls to check if I’m safe. Since some missions are sensitive, we agreed long ago—no need to speak. As long as the call connects, it means I’m fine.”