Chapter 1123 - White Orphanage 2 in 1 (1/2)
“Love started from the moment I met you.”
“The last bus of the day came, but I waited until you arrived.”
“Can I please walk you home?”
Reading these words, they appeared to have the ability to evoke the readers’ memory of youthful love. It was innocent, unwieldy, yet uniquely blissful.
“Why would such characters be carved in such an eerie place? Could it be that a horrible and cruel story is hidden behind the innocence of young love? All of this beauty is just buildup, and they will be brutally torn open at the last moment. The contrast will be used to create some kind of despairing effect, right?” Sister Snake’s haunted house appeared to have employed similar tactics before. She touched the black skull tattoo on her arm. Her mind seemed to have sunk into the memory of the past. This was a woman with a story.
“The style of this avenue is completely different from the other places that we have visited before, so theoretically speaking, there should be plenty of scare points. Yet, so far, we have not encountered anything remotely scary.” The bad feeling in Zuo Han’s heart was getting stronger and stronger. He felt like this was the calm before the storm. “We should stop inspecting the bus stop. We need to move on to the next location immediately!”
Zuo Han looked at the black fog that was following behind them and quickly decided to call the rest to hurry down the avenue.
“We need to leave this place immediately. This ghost fetus scenario has completely shattered my understanding of this haunted house. None of the experience I have collected can be used here. Why is that happening?” Everything had happened a bit too suddenly. It felt like there was a pair of invisible hands that were slowly pushing them to the brink of despair from the back of the scene.
“Less than fifteen minutes after the game started, the scenario has already entered the third stage. All the ghost actors within the four-star scenarios have started to go on a rampage. The chance of survival with just the three of us is close to zero.” Zuo Han understood that he had basically fallen into the worst possible scenario. “The few haunted house designers are completely unreliable. If they do not change their prejudice now and stop underestimating Boss Chen’s haunted house, they will probably ‘disappear’ in the next sub-scenario, and then what shall I do to solve this conundrum?”
He was using his mind so much that Zuo Han’s forehead was soon soaked with sweat. He was now under a great deal of pressure. On one hand, he had to face an unknown and scary enemy, and on the other hand, he had to carry a bunch of dead weights and possible haunted house actors hiding among them. Facing both internal and external pressure, he really tried hard but failed to come up with a reliable solution. “Everything’s happening too quickly! This four-star scenario does not give me any down time to think or even calm down from the previous scares at all!”
After the woman in the red raincoat left, the buildings on both sides of the avenue lost their sense of scariness, and the avenue seemingly turned back to a normal street. The visitors left the avenue easily and came to the entrance of an orphanage that had a white and back color scheme.
The rusted iron door was left half open. A spine-tingling lullaby drifted out from an unknown source. The orphanage looked like it had been abandoned for quite some time, but there were children’s clothes hung on a clothesline to dry in the yard. There were also plenty of freshly dug holes in the ground. They appeared to be used to bury some things. Many signs of human activity could be seen around the orphanage’s yard, but the visitors could not find the presence of any living individuals.
The wind chime that hung on the awning jingled lightly as Zuo Han pushed opened the front door of the orphanage. A rather sad tune drifted out from one of the rooms. At the end of a very long dining table sat a broken and ruined altar.
“This has to be a privately-owned orphanage; a government-ran orphanage would not allow such an obvious religious structure within the confines of the building.” Mr. Wang stared at the altar, and flashes of images from his past flickered through his mind. “Some of the owners of private orphanages believe in religious karma. They set up shrines of their respective faith in their own rooms, but this is the first time I have encountered an orphanage that directly places such an altar right in the lobby of the orphanage.”
Walking past the long wooden dining table, Mr. Wang’s expression slowly turned darker and uglier. The altar had the name Fang Yu carved in all its corners. It looked quite frightening.
“These are carved out by one’s bare nails character by character. The deep black stains on it are blood stains. They have completely seeped into the wooden boards. This is strange. It feels like someone has spent years scratching these words out on this altar.” Mr. Wang was confused. “Did the boss need to go to such length just to create a prop inside the haunted house?”
“This might not have been made by Boss Chen himself. He has provided many clues to local law enforcement on murder cases. I suspect some of the props inside his haunted house are directly lifted from murder crime scenes,” Zuo Han whispered softly to his lecturer. This topic was considered inside information, so he was not willing to share it with unnecessary people lest they made a big deal out of it.
“This haunted house boss has provided many clues to local law enforcement for murder cases?” Mr. Wang was so shocked that the question fell out of his mouth. “I have indeed heard word on the street lately that things have been quite uneasy, and Jiujiang’s local police station has recruited a new informant. That person is the boss of this haunted house?”
“Sir, due to that incident, you no longer have any contact with the people at the station, so you might not know this. The boss of this haunted house is very…” Zuo Han thought for a long time, but he did not know how to put his thoughts into words. “Both of his parents disappeared mysteriously. To investigate their disappearance, he has overturned old cases throughout Jiujiang that date back to two decades ago. I do not even know how to describe such a person. The best description that I can come up with is for normal people to keep a respectful distance away from him.”
“He managed to help overturn old cases that date back to twenty years ago?”
“Yes, but that is not even the scariest thing about him.” Zuo Han lowered his voice even more. “He has provided many important clues to Jiujiang law enforcement for many heavy crimes, and they have solved many cases through him, but the case of his parents’ disappearance has seen no progress at all. I suspect there is a big conspiracy behind this. The case behind his parents’ disappearance is not as simple as it appears.”
“And that is why you have been coming to visit his haunted house?” Mr. Wang valued Zuo Han greatly. He believed that Zuo Han was one of the best students he had ever had the pleasure of teaching. He knew Zuo Han was unlike the other students; he was definitely not the kind of student who would skip class for fun.
“I am afraid I am still too unqualified to help investigate the case of his parents’ disappearance.” Zuo Han looked at the altar before him. “I cannot see through this man at all. I cannot tell even a little bit what he is thinking. Honestly, sometimes, I do not even dare look him in the eye. I tried to put myself in his shoes to analyze his psychological status and personality, and the conclusion that I arrived at sent chills all over my body. He has superb rationality and calmness in all situations. He also possesses a superhuman adaptive ability and extremely high intelligence.”
“Is there any similar character comparison to him in our current database?”
“No, he is like a monster. After all, he is able to come up with so many exquisite and brilliantly designed set pieces alone and can help find clues for so many heavy crimes that stumped even the local forces. Compared to him, no one has the qualification to be called a genius.” Zuo Han’s hand softly caressed the surface of the altar, his fingers feeling the grooves of the characters that were carved on the wooden board. “The more that I learn about him, the more afraid I become, but the more afraid I become, the more curious I am. I want to get to the bottom of the truth. Actually, if possible, during the last holiday before my graduation, I plan to apply to work here with Boss Chen.”
“The student with the best overall score at a medical university coming to work at a haunted house?” Mr. Wang even wondered if he had misheard his student. “You are far more gifted than I am. What you are lacking is experience. If he really is as impressive as you say he is, even if you come to work here, I doubt you will find out anything useful to you.”
When the two spoke among themselves, a wooden door that led to one of the other rooms was pushed open, and an old man with a head of white hair shuffled out holding a thermos. He was caught by surprise when he saw so many people gathered in the lobby.
“Are you here to adopt the children?” The old man’s voice was shaking. He looked like he was in a very weaken state, as if he could faint at any given moment.