A light scent of blood lingered in the air. It was not raining outside, but the red raincoat that the woman was wearing was wet.
Her black hair stuck to her face, and water droplets slid down her collar. The woman walked into the restaurant with her head lowered. She did not look at anyone and found a place to sit alone.
"We should stay away from her," Jia Ming said softly as he stood up to move to the other side of the table.
He did not discuss this with Lee Zheng beforehand. When he stood up and crossed paths with Lee Zheng, the others could clearly see that Lee Zheng was holding a gun in his hand.
"Sit still!" Lee Zheng pushed Jia Ming back to his seat. He silently glanced at the woman in the red raincoat out of the corner of his eyes and then lowered his voice to ask Jia Ming, "Do you know this woman?"
"She's a madwoman. Everyone who wears red here is a madwoman. Do not get close to her, and it's best to stay as far away from her as possible." Jia Ming's body was shaking lightly. "That's what the shadow told me. If you want to die, don't drag me down with you!"
"Does red have a special meaning here?" Lee Zheng still had many questions that he wanted to ask. Ever since he entered the small town, he had noticed that something was wrong, but due to the lack of information that he had, he could not tell whether Jia Ming was lying or not.
"Red represents danger. Do not get close to her. That is the iron rule inside the door." Jia Ming's voice became smaller and smaller. "The shadow is not in my body now, but he has used this body to do many things, so I know some secrets."
"Inside the door?" Lee Zheng memorized every word that Jia Ming said. "Is there anything else that we should pay attention to here?"
Perhaps because he realized that he could not escape, or perhaps because he had seen Chen Ge, he decided to change his plan. Jia Ming became much more obedient. "Do not enter any buildings that have their doors closed, and do not walk past any buildings that have their doors open. Gray represents safety, and red represents danger. If you see black, do not waste time running. Use your remaining time to think about your last words."
While Jia Ming was conversing with Lee Zheng, footsteps came from the restaurant's entrance again. The group turned in that direction.
"Tonight is so crowded." A man in a black coat dragged a large suitcase into the room. Five blood-red female heads were tattooed on his arm, and he held a white bone whistle in his mouth.
No one in the hotel responded to him, but he was very friendly. He greeted the customers one by one, and when he saw the red raincoat, his body froze. He quickly walked past the red raincoat and came to the counter. "Boss, I'm looking for a room."
His voice was much softer, as if he was afraid of disturbing the woman in the red raincoat.
"Why is there someone else?" Chen Ge pushed the dining cart out of the kitchen. They searched the kitchen for a long time. Other than some cut meat from an unknown animal, there was only some cake left.
The shop owner did not prepare the cake for the customers. From the menu in the kitchen, it could be seen that all the dishes prepared by the restaurant were the glutton monster's favorites.
In other words, the menu here only served the glutton monster, and the cake still needed to be processed. To give a simple example, the kitchen did not prepare ketchup or strawberry jam, but part of the cake was red.
"A Red Specter with a sweet tooth? That's not a bad idea. " Chen Ge pushed the cart. After the mission was over, he planned to transform this hotel into a scary scenario related to food.
Several minutes after entering the kitchen, when Chen Ge came out, he realized that there were quite a number of people in the lobby, and the appearance of the woman in the red raincoat surprised him the most.
Speaking of which, under the influence of the door, Li Wan City had indeed turned into a unique place. A living person could sit together with a Red Specter.
"Perhaps that's what it's like behind the door. There are ghosts formed from lingering spirits and people trapped in nightmares." Chen Ge placed the undyed cake on the table. "Eat as much as you want. I won't charge you anything. I just need you to answer a few of my questions later."
"Are you sure? You're not going to open it? Perhaps you'll be tempted. " The woman was well dressed. She dragged the box and walked to stand before Chen Ge. She straightened her body and moved her fingers away from the box to place them on the hem of her dress. She seemed to have two meanings when she said open it.
"There's no need. If there's a need, I'll do it myself." Chen Ge carried the heavy backpack with one hand. The hammer had just smashed through the blood vessels and tongues, and the thick stench of blood still lingered on them.
"Okay." The woman dragged the box and took several steps back. The seductive look on her face disappeared; her expression changed faster than one could flip the page of a book.
"Hey, where's the boss? I've helped him find out what he asked me to do last time. "The man with the woman's head tattoo dragged the box to approach Chen Ge.
"He's gone out. I'll temporarily take over the hotel. I'm in charge here." Chen Ge had a smile on his face. In terms of service, he was definitely better than the previous boss.
"The boss has gone out?" The tattooed man was very clever. He realized the problem immediately, and he smiled apologetically at Chen Ge. "Then, I'll have to come back another day. I'm sorry for the disturbance."
After saying that, he didn't even want the box anymore. He turned around and prepared to leave.
"Wait a minute, did you not understand what I said earlier?" Chen Ge had Scissors stop the tattooed man. "Now, I'm in charge here. You only need to tell me what the boss asked you to find out."
The tattooed man stood where he was, and his eyes subconsciously wandered toward the kitchen. The more he looked, the more flustered he became. "That's not a good idea, is it?"
"Then what should I do?" Chen Ge moved slightly to the side to let the tattooed man see the crumbled walls inside the kitchen.
"Since you're the boss's friend, then you're also my friend. We're all friends, so of course, there's no problem." The tattooed man immediately changed his tone. His honest face formed a sharp contrast with the tattoos of five scary women's heads on his arms. "There are too many people here. Can I talk to you somewhere else?"
He turned and walked toward the second floor. He looked very familiar with the hotel, like he was a regular here.
"Scissors, come with me." Chen Ge called for Scissors to follow him. He did not treat Scissors like an outsider at all.
"Me?" Scissors was startled. He did not expect that even when Chen Ge was listening to confidential information, he would still bring him along. What kind of trust was that?
"Come quickly." Chen Ge and Scissors followed the tattooed man to the second floor.
"Earlier, I saw the secret room inside the kitchen collapse, but the female monster is not inside." The tattooed man sucked in a cold breath. "She can't leave the hotel, and she is not where she should be. This means that she has probably disappeared."
"You're very smart." Chen Ge said coldly. "I don't like interacting with people who are too smart unless they are useful to me."
"Big brother, don't be so direct! I promise that I will be useful to you, and I will be very useful. " The tattooed man held the bone whistle in his hand, and after a long pause, he said, "I know the way to leave this place, and it is related to a door."
"That is not a secret. You came in from the outside, so as long as you find the door, you will naturally be able to leave." Chen Ge's words almost choked the tattooed man. "Stop trying to be mysterious. I know more than you think, so I advise you to tell me something more practical."
"I also know the location of that door." The tattooed man gripped the bone whistle tightly. "Everyone who was brought in by the ghost fetus had their heads covered with black cloth. When they woke up, they were already on the street. I've asked many people, and everyone's location after removing the cloth was different."
"You said you were brought here by the ghost fetus? Is the ghost fetus a black shadow? Why would you call him that? "Chen Ge did not seem to care about how to leave this place. If anything, he was interested in the details.
"Big brother, your focus is so strange. Since you came here, you must have seen the shadow before. When you were making the choice at the ghost apartment …" The tattooed man suddenly stopped and looked at Chen Ge and Scissors with disbelief. "Wait a minute! Don't tell me you came in here on your own? You didn't go through the door? "
"If you don't want to die, answer my question first." Chen Ge took out the hammer.
"Calm down, I'm just surprised. Sometimes, there are some unlucky people who enter the blood fog due to various reasons, but such people usually don't survive more than an hour here." The tattooed man looked at Chen Ge, who was holding the hammer, and Scissors, who had a scary expression on his face. "A situation like yours is really rare."
"Can you tell me about the ghost apartment and the ghost fetus now?" Chen Ge's voice was low, and his eyes were scary.
"Don't panic. Since you're outsiders, I'll explain the rules of this place to you. Trust me, I'm doing this for your own good. " The tattooed man glanced outside. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he said, "In this world, unfortunate things happen every day, and unfortunate people keep appearing. Some people hold on to the last ray of sunlight and make it through the hardest times, but there are also people who sink into despair."
"I've interacted with more than ten people from the outside world. They all encountered the shadow when they were on the verge of collapse.
"The first voice came from their own shadow. With the shadow's guidance, they took the last bus on Route 104 to Li Wan City and entered the ghost apartment to seek salvation.
"The owner of the ghost apartment is also a shadow. No one has seen his real face. In our eyes, he is just a shadow, a shadow that can appear beside you at any moment and morph into your own appearance. He is like a monster born from the malice in our hearts. He understands all of our weaknesses and needs.
"The shadow calls himself the ghost fetus. According to the boss, the shadow is actually the shadow of a living person, but he has been abandoned by that living person.
"I know this sounds unbelievable, but that is the truth. Li Wan City, the ghost apartment, and many things that happened in Eastern Jiujiang are actually the shadow's doing. He did not hesitate to destroy everything just to do one thing — to turn himself into a human and then turn the living person who abandoned him into the shadow."
"Malice is contagious. The shadow was originally that person's shadow, but as he absorbed more and more malice and despair, he became a …" The tattooed man thought about it for a long time, but he did not know how to describe it. "In any case, he is a very scary thing. He planted most of his body and negative emotions in an unborn child. That is the ghost fetus' real body. The remaining small part of him is secretly protecting the ghost fetus and pushing the whole plan forward."
"How do you know all these things?" The shadow was very careful and did not reveal anything. From how Chen Ge saw it, he would not reveal these things to an outsider unless the shadow purposely wanted Chen Ge to know about them.
"The boss and I were the first living people to enter the door. We have lived here for a long time, so we can probably piece together the truth from the shadow's scattered words." The man removed his jacket. There was a black and red rope tied around his lower abdomen.
The rope appeared to have been tied around his abdomen a long time ago. It appeared like it had never been removed before. Now, it had all grown into his flesh.
The weirdest thing was, with the rope as the boundary, the tattooed man's upper body was normal, but his lower body was completely gray.
"This rope is made from the blood vessels of the boss' mother. Without it, I would have died a long time ago."
"But that does not prove that what you said is the truth." Chen Ge had his own judgment about everything. He would not simply listen to the words of others. That was one of the reasons he had survived so many Trial Missions.
"I cannot prove that this is the truth. I am merely telling you everything that I know. I hope that you can feel my sincerity and cooperate with me to escape this place together." The tattooed man put on his clothes. He understood Chen Ge. At a place like this, if Chen Ge believed him instantly, then he would not feel safe. "Continuing our earlier topic, I asked many people, and in the end, I discovered one of the shadow's secrets.
"Everyone who enters this place is put on the black hood at the ghost apartment, and after some time, they pass through the door and enter the door." The tattooed man's eyes slowly narrowed like he was about to say something very important. "The location of the ghost apartment is next to Li Wan City. It is a cluster of abandoned buildings called Ming Yang Residence.
"Many people who are sent here are unwilling to give up. They want to escape, so they will explore the outer perimeter of Li Wan City, but they have never returned.
"Initially, I also thought the door is at the ghost apartment, but after asking many people, I suddenly realized that the door might be inside Li Wan City." The tattooed man felt like he had discovered a great secret. "After entering the ghost apartment, everyone's subjective consciousness will become blurry, and the evil hidden deep inside their heart will be drawn out. However, there are a few with strong willpower who do not lose themselves. They clearly remember that they were not pushed through the door but moved toward a certain place for a very long time. After several years of searching, without attracting the shadow's attention, I finally found the location of the door. "
"Is it inside a residential area at the outer perimeter of Li Wan City? If I remember correctly, it should be one of the rooms on the first floor of the first building. " Under the tattooed man's shocked gaze, Chen Ge revealed the location that he wanted to say. "Oh well, it's not like I came out empty-handed. At least I know that the ghost apartment is at Ming Yang Residence, and I know that the shadow has placed most of his' body 'on an unborn baby."
Chen Ge asked the tattooed man a few more questions and realized that the man was not as simple as he seemed. He was naturally close to ghosts, like a weaker version of Fan Yu.
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