Chapter 279: I’ve Been Waiting for You
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
Ol’ Wong and Xiao Gu were sent to the hospital while Chen Ge stayed behind to help the task force finish up their work at Fang Hwa Apartments. Seeing how hardworking he was, the few officers’ impression of Chen Ge improved tremendously.
Standing in the room opposite from Room 3239, Chen Ge avoided the gazes of the officers and took out his phone. When the man with the ruined face was made into a doll by Zhang Ya, the black phone had vibrated. However, the situation had been too dangerous for him to take a look.
A new message appeared on the screen. After the man with the ruined face was taken care off, the Third Sick Hall’s completion rate had increased to eighty percent!
If the completion rate reaches ninety percent, there will be a reward, so I need another ten percent.
Chen Ge looked at the phone. When the completion rate went over ninety percent, he would get the reward of a Trial Mission. After completely demolis.h.i.+ng the ghost stories society, he would gain the reward that came from the Third Sick Hall’s hidden mission.
In other words, the black phone is pitting me against the ghost stories society. Why does it hate the society so?
After the multiple interactions with the society, Chen Ge had a deeper understanding of them. Each member was the vessel for a monster from behind the door. To feed these monsters, or rather, to not let themselves be eaten by the monsters on their bodies, they had to continuously create ghost stories to fulfil the monsters’ needs.
From a certain perspective, they were no longer human beings but puppets controlled by the monsters. This was the biggest difference between Chen Ge and the majority of the members.
I have a feeling the society is not that simple. Their promotional flyer features a blood red door. This bunch of crazies must know more about the world behind the door than I do. Perhaps the mysterious chairperson is a ghost from behind the door himself.
Chen Ge got gripped by a sense of danger. He had a feeling the current employees at his Haunted House were not enough anymore.
“Xiao Chen!” The room door was pushed open, and Captain Yan walked in. Chen Ge immediately pocketed the black phone and slid down on the sofa to pretend to be weak.
“Captain Yan, you’re looking for me?”
“Take a look at this yourself.” Captain Yan took out Xiao Gu’s phone from the evidence bag. At around twenty-five minutes ago, there was a curious message that came into Xiao Gu’s WeChat—”Chen Ge, I will remember your name.”
“This message was sent from the phone of w.a.n.g Dajun, the security guard. We’ve searched the entire 23rd floor, but we cannot find his phone. Thus, we suspect that there are other runners, and they have w.a.n.g Dajun’s phone with them!” Captain Yan placed Xiao Gu’s phone on the coffee table. “There’s another question. Why would your name appear in the message?”
w.a.n.g Dajun was Ol’ Wong’s full name. Ol’ Wong was the reason that Xiao Gu had been at the third building.
“This person who took Ol’ Wong’s phone should be the culprit, the person who planned everything tonight.” Chen Ge understood the meaning of the sentence. The person had carefully planned, but he had underestimated Zhang Ya’s power and Chen Ge’s caution. If Zhang Ya did not come to his aid or he was pulled into either one of the two rooms, Chen Ge would have died.
Thinking about it, Chen Ge shuddered with fear.
“The message came from the culprit, proving two things. One, he is fearless, and two, you have done something to enrage him a lot.” Captain Yan placed Xiao Gu’s phone back into the evidence bag. “Neither is good for you. They might exact crazier revenge on you.”
The ghost stories society had lost four members at once. Even the man with the ruined face who controlled two Red Specters had been made into a doll. If Chen Ge were a remnant of the ghost stories society, he would have been mad as well.
“Remember my name? Is this a threat toward me?” Chen Ge looked at Captain Yan, who had turned to leave. A thought flashed across his mind, and he jumped from the sofa. “Wait a minute!”
“What’s wrong?” Captain Yan was shocked by Chen Ge.
“The phone! The time the message was sent!” Chen Ge grabbed the evidence bag from Captain Yan. He opened the phone to take a look; the message had been sent twenty-five minutes ago.
Twenty-five minutes ago, the man with the ruined face had just died, and Lee Zheng’s group had not arrived yet!
“There’s another society member hiding inside this building, and that person is most likely the real culprit!” Chen Ge narrowed his gaze. Said person had witnessed the whole process, but due to Zhang Ya, they did not show themself.
“The culprit is hiding inside the building?” Captain Yan nodded. “We’ve controlled all the exits, and the roads leading to and from Fang Hwa Apartments have been sealed. Temporarily, there is no one suspicious. Don’t worry, if they’re still inside this building, they won’t be able to escape.
The remaining three members were the hardest to deal with. Chen Ge could not place his hope in Captain Yan and his men. He gripped his hands together, and his knuckles cracked. Chen Ge felt like he had missed something.
The man is very clever. The message was sent twenty-five minutes ago, and he might have left already, but how did he escape the detection of the police?
Looking at the message on Xiao Gu’s WeChat, Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of something. Xiao Jia had started to go berserk after reading the message on Xiao Gu’s phone. However, the investigator who saw the message first only collapsed. Their conditions were completely different.
“Captain Yan, what happened to the investigator who entered the building first? Who has been taking care of him?”
“When I last saw him, he was lying inside the police car, still unconscious. Twenty minutes ago, the ambulance arrived, so he’s probably at the hospital now.”
“Twenty minutes ago, the ambulance arrived?”
…
The nurse station was silent. The People’s Hospital at 2 am was extremely quiet. Most of the patients were already asleep when a pair of eyes that were completely white slowly peeled open.
“Chen Ge…” The words left his lips unconsciously. Then he sat up in bed like he was sleep-walking. “This new scapegoat’s body is not bad, but the sensation of splitting consciousness is too painful.”
He clenched his fists, and the man’s expression turned eerie. There was a trace of envy in his words when he said, “No matter how good the scapegoat is, it won’t be better than the Red Specter.”
The man climbed out from bed and walked toward the door like an awkward puppet. He slowly got used to his body and picked up pace.
With no one watching, he entered the hospital’s safety pa.s.sageways. He avoided all the cameras in the lobby and sneaked into the dark alleyway behind the hospital.
“Three hours left, I should have enough time to return to the main persona.”
He staggered down the alley that was filled with pebbles and trash. His arms and feet were wounded from scratches, but he did not mind it one bit. Looking at the exit that was nearing, he slowly relaxed.
“It’s fine even if the plan failed. As long as I’m alive and bring the message back, nothing is certain.”
The streetlights outside the alleyway emitted a yellowish light. As the man got close to exit, a man holding a hammer walked out from the shadows to block the exit.
“I’ve been waiting for you for quite some time.”