Chapter 63: Someone in the House
"Your sister-in-law really cares about you."
"Of course." Captain Li put his phone away, then suddenly felt something was off. "What kind of generational mix-up is this? You call me uncle, but you call my wife sister-in-law?"
He spoke for a while with no response, and when he turned around, he realized Chen Ge had already fallen asleep.
The police car drove straight to the entrance of New Century Amusement Park. Chen Ge was woken up by Captain Li and groggily got out of the car with his backpack.
"Stay safe! Zhang Peng hasn't been caught yet. Given the current situation, that desperado is mentally twisted, and he'll likely stop at nothing to get back at you." Captain Li gave his instructions with concern.
"Got it." Mentioning Zhang Peng snapped Chen Ge back to alertness. He waved at Captain Li and entered New Century Amusement Park.
The old gatekeeper was already asleep. Chen Ge walked in through the main entrance without the man noticing a thing.
"I got a lot tonight. The favorability quest is complete, so I can ask Zhang Ya for one reasonable request. But would asking her to get rid of the mirror monster be too much of a waste?" Chen Ge pulled out his black phone and opened Zhang Ya's dedicated page. The favorability level had upgraded from "Deeply Devoted" to "Yours and Only Yours."
"I need to study this carefully and make the most of this opportunity." Without exiting the page, Chen Ge pushed open the haunted house's barrier fence, phone in hand, and stepped inside.
"Once I have money later, I can rent a place outside. Sleeping in the staff break room all the time feels kind of weird." Chen Ge walked down the pitch-black corridor. He knew every inch of the haunted house, so even without turning on the lights, he wouldn't bump into anything.
"Creak."
As he passed the first-floor restroom, the wooden door seemed to shift in the wind, letting out a faint sound.
The restroom door wasn't sturdy to begin with, and after Chen Ge had smashed it with a sledgehammer that day, the door panel was already warped.
He tried to close it properly, but as he shook the door, he noticed the restroom window was half-open.
"Did I forget to close the window when I left the haunted house?"
The sky outside was starting to brighten. Chen Ge checked the window carefully, but there were no footprints or anything on the sill. "Am I just too on edge lately?"
He grabbed a mop leaning against a cabinet and headed toward the surveillance room at the end of the corridor. The haunted house had been newly equipped with cameras covering almost every corner. A quick check would confirm if anyone had gotten in.
Pushing open the surveillance room door, Chen Ge sat at the desk and turned on the computer.
All the surveillance footage was stored inside. Chen Ge first found the camera number near the restroom entrance and opened the video.
He was only checking out of caution, but after a few minutes, Chen Ge suddenly spotted a stranger in the footage!
The man kept his head down, came out of the restroom, and quickly ran into the corridor.
"Someone really did get in. There's another person hiding in the haunted house besides me!" Chen Ge was wide awake now. "This guy seems to know there's a camera at the restroom entrance. He's very purposeful, heading straight into the depths of the corridor. He must have been in the haunted house before."
There were several cameras along the corridor. After the stranger vanished from the restroom entrance footage, Chen Ge found the next camera number. This one was at the corridor corner, and its footage seamlessly connected with the restroom entrance feed.
The screen switched, and the video showed the stranger running deep into the corridor before charging straight into the surveillance room.
"He's heading right for the surveillance room, definitely to destroy the footage. This guy isn't just experienced—he knows every room in my haunted house like the back of his hand."
Not many people fit both criteria. Chen Ge had already narrowed it down to a likely suspect, but just as he was about to dig deeper, he saw himself appear in the surveillance video.
"Backpack, mop, and black phone in hand—the stranger hasn't left yet, and I've already walked in. That means... he's in the surveillance room right now!" The moment he saw himself in the footage, Chen Ge grabbed the mop beside him and spun around!
The utility cabinet, just over two meters away, had just been pushed open, and a man with bloodshot eyes and a knife in hand was crawling out!
"Zhang Peng!"
Chen Ge shouted the name when he saw the man's twisted face. Spurred on by Chen Ge's voice, Zhang Peng gripped the knife and charged at him like a madman.
After the initial shock, Chen Ge quickly steadied himself. He threw open the surveillance room door, swinging the mop as he retreated, fighting while falling back.
Though Zhang Peng only had one usable hand, he fought with reckless abandon, as if he knew there was no escape and just wanted to drag someone down with him before the end.
Chen Ge dodged left and right, moving toward the repair room. He looked flustered, but his mind was clear.
Zhang Peng was here for a kill-or-be-killed fight. Running alone wouldn't cut it—he had to fight back. A mop wasn't enough to seriously hurt him, so Chen Ge thought of the Skull Crasher's sledgehammer. He'd hidden it in the repair room earlier, afraid the police might misunderstand if they found it.
The attacks grew fiercer. Zhang Peng seemed to see through Chen Ge's plan. He didn't dodge at all, letting the mop hit him just to get closer to Chen Ge.
Soon, Chen Ge reached the repair room door. He seized a gap to push it open, but before he could step inside, he felt something extra on him, like a weight pressing down on his back.
"You're dead today!"
Zhang Peng, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. A flicker of life returned to his eyes, and his knife swings became more agile.
"What's going on? Was the mirror monster controlling Zhang Peng just now? And where did the monster go now?"
His movements grew sluggish. Chen Ge reached back but felt nothing. His spine bent under the pressure, and when he twisted his head to look, he saw a shadow, about the size of a grown man, clinging to his back!
"The mirror monster!"
Panic flashed in his eyes for a moment, but Chen Ge lunged forward, crashing into the repair room. He scrambled toward the cabinet where he'd stashed the tools.
"It's not time to give up yet. Zhang Peng and the shadow are one unit. If I can take out Zhang Peng with the sledgehammer, I can break this!"
It felt like a small mountain was crushing his back. Chen Ge had clearly underestimated how fast the shadow had grown. Compared to when he first encountered it, the monster had become far more troublesome.
A choking sensation gripped his neck. The weight on his back kept increasing. Laughter from different people echoed in his ears. Already exhausted, Chen Ge barely made it to the cabinet before he couldn't hold on.
His head spun, his ears rang. He didn't need to turn around to know Zhang Peng was charging at him with the knife.
The monster on his back pinned him down. Chen Ge used all his strength to open the cabinet door, but just as he was about to rummage through the pile of junk for the sledgehammer, his black phone fell out of his pocket, the screen still on Zhang Ya's dedicated page.