682 Danger

 

The female student almost fainted from fear when she saw her mother. She didn’t think her mother would someday become so unfamiliar. The face with the heavy make-up leaned close to her. The face was pale thanks to the red dress. “Didn’t you say you’d stay with mom and love me forever?”

The eyes bulged. A hoarse voice came from the woman’s throat. Deep inside the woman’s throat was another face! It was a man. His eyeball grew inside the mother’s esophagus. His mouth opened and closed to mimic the mother’s voice. The student’s body kept shaking. She retreated, and fear climbed all over her face. “You are not my mother!”

The girl screamed and went to grab the doorknob. She yanked the door open. The mother didn’t stop her. The girl rushed towards the front door. She pulled at the chain and slammed her body into the door, but it was pointless. At that moment, she finally understood why her mother had added so many new locks. It was not to prevent the ghosts outside from coming but to stop her from escaping!

“Mom! Look. It’s me!” The mother had all the keys. The locked door blocked the girl’s exit. The lights were still out. The girl begged. Her back was against the door. She had nowhere to run as she watched her mother walk out of her bedroom. In the dark, the mother in red slowly approached. The face carried an exaggerated smile. The mouth widened to reveal the brightened teeth and dark throat. “Don’t run. Come to mommy.”

The hand hidden behind the woman’s back reached out. She was holding a knife from the kitchen. “You’re sick. When you’re treated, we’ll be as happy as before.”

“I’m not the one who is sick. You are!” The girl screamed for help, but the house was like a special prison made for her.

“Mother will always love you. That is why I’ve been killing and stealing dead bodies for you. Don’t be afraid of pain. It’ll be over soon. We’ll be together forever, living in the happy theme park.” The woman said. Suddenly, she charged at her daughter with her knife raised. “I’ve put on a bright red dress for you today. Soon, you’ll be just like me. Don’t worry. Mom will never let you be alone. We’ll be together forever!” The voice came from deep down the mother’s throat. She attacked her daughter without hesitation.

“Don’t come any closer!” The girl screamed as she crawled away. Her mother’s knife cut into the door. If the cut had fallen on the girl’s body, even if she didn’t die, she would be incapacitated. The mother really wanted to kill her.

“Honey, don’t run. Come to me.” The mother turned around and stared at the girl on the ground. “Look at how sick you are. You used to listen to my every word. But you’re like a completely different person now.” The woman moved in the dark. She wasn’t fast, but it was very scary. “Mom will treat you. Mom will turn you back into the obedient baby.” The air in the room was sucked dry. The girl looked at her approaching mother, and she almost lost her breath.

Things kept falling out of the mother’s red dress. But since the lights weren’t on, the girl couldn’t tell what they were. It was not until her mother was close and she touched the things that the girl realized they were all kinds of meat.

“What do you think? Do you like them? This is the medicine I’ve searched so hard for. They come from various age groups. Haha!” Her mother had her cornered. The girl had nowhere else to hide. Suddenly, someone knocked on the locked front door heavily!

“Help! Save me!” The knocking shattered the silence inside the room and gave the girl a ray of hope. She summoned her courage, pushed her mother away, and rushed to the front door. “My mother wants to kill me! She’s sick!” The girl pulled on the metallic chain but even if she pulled until her nails bled, the door didn’t budge.

“Save me! Save me!” The girl grabbed the chains in despair. She knew she had no way of escaping. No one could open this door with multi locks. Footsteps came from behind her. The girl turned around with fear in her eyes.

Her mother’s body was like a segmented worm as she crawled on the ground. Her face became scarier!

“You used to be so obedient. You would never resist me like this. It looks like your illness is very severe.” The mother held the knife with both hands. The bulging eyes stared at the girl before the woman charged at her!

The girl pushed over the shoe rack, and she grabbed a random shoe to block. Her scream echoed down the whole corridor. At that moment, the sound of glass breaking came from the girl’s bedroom. The heavy footsteps echoed. The girl had closed her eyes. When she was dominated by despair, a man rushed out of the bedroom and slammed the madwoman to the side.

“Are you alright?” The man switched on the flashlight and aimed the ray at the woman.

“I, I…” The girl was stunned. She could barely finish her sentence.

“Go and check on the main power switch. I’ll deal with your mother.” The man didn’t seem to know fear. He evaded the woman’s attack and then slammed her heavily to the ground. The hit was heavy enough to stun a normal person, but it had no effect on the woman. “Do you really intend to kill your daughter?”

The two hands held the red threads as Han Fei strangled the woman by her neck. The world’s most powerful curse flowed into the woman’s body. Strange patterns appeared on her skin. She was like a butterfly flying in the dream. The curses consumed the strange patterns. The woman was in great pain. She opened her mouth wide and screamed. As the patterns were destroyed, the woman rapidly grew old. Blood and minced black meat came out of her mouth. When the pain was at its maximum, a black cocoon about the size of a thumb came out. The cocoon had a human face. It was connected to the woman’s blood vessels.

“What is this?” When the black cocoon was exposed to the light, it immediately shriveled. The soul of a fetus inside it collapsed as well.

“Ghost fetus?”

The woman collapsed. The lights returned to normal at that moment. The girl returned to the living room. She looked at the man who suddenly appeared to save her. There was appreciation and fear in her eyes.

“Thank you for saving me.” The girl said softly.

“No need to thank me. I’m just a passing neighbor.” The man who saved the girl was Han Fei. When he heard the scream in the middle of his conversation with the previous Brain, he immediately rushed to help. This house’s front door had been reinforced. He couldn’t kick it down. So he opened the neighbor’s door and then jumped over through the windows. The whole process was dangerous and extreme. However, Han Fei didn’t think it was that serious.

“I’ll repay you for saving my life.” The girl finally calmed down. Looking at her fainted mother, the girl hesitated and said, “My mother is not crazy or a monster. She is sick. She can be cured.”

“I believe she has been cured.” Han Fei put away the red threads and curses. He found the keys on the woman and opened the front door. “Come in.”

Yan Yue’s father rushed toward the girl and her mother, “This is all my fault! If only I have discovered how strange Yan Yue has been acting earlier!” After examining the mother’s vomit, the man said confidently, “This is Dream’s doing. He can trap ghosts and humans in nightmares to control them!”

“I’ve seen the patterns on this mother’s body before. Dream is the manager, but he is conducting many strange rituals around the city. Dream wants to bring chaos to the city. I don’t think he is doing that just to get at you.” Han Fei saw similar patterns on the boy at the tuition center and saw the signs of a ritual with the hanging man at the Happiness Neighborhood. The chaos of the ghosts in the ritual had to do with Dream somehow. The man was silent as he examined the girl and her mother’s injuries.

“If you don’t tell me, more innocent people will die. This Dream is insane. They like to destroy other people’s happiness. Their targets are always people with happiness.” Han Fei thought Dream was disgusting. He felt revolted by the black cocoon and the butterfly pattern.

“Dream… is not a human. He is a ghost. He has been trying to resurrect himself, but that is impossible with his power alone. But the other managers won’t help him.” The man finally said, “Dream’s power is strange. But he can’t deal with the other four managers on his own. So the situation now is rather precarious.”

“Is there a problem at the theme park?”

“Yes. Ghost, who is responsible for the night, has been heavily injured; as the last Brain, my memory was wiped, and I couldn’t tell who my successor was; most importantly, Me is missing. Currently, there are only two managers at the theme park, Human responsible for the day and the unknown Dream.” The man had severe amnesia. His situation was similar to Han Fei's.

“Based on what you’re saying, Dream is now free to conduct his resurrection ritual. This is a perfect opportunity for him.” Han Fei thought he had to deal with five managers, but the situation was not as bad as he thought.

“Compared to Dream, I’m more worried about Human. Human without restraint is scarier than Dream.” The man hesitated. He only continued after Han Fei pressed. “Human is the hardest to satisfy. He has endless ambitions and expanding desires. At the same time, he is the best at disguises. In the morning, he is brighter than the sun, but at night, he will mutate to reveal his real appearance.”

“Is Human that scary?”

“Before my memory was wiped, the last memory I had was of Human walking into my room. He had found the secret deep inside the maze.” The man was naturally afraid of Human. He was anxious. “Let’s not talk about that anymore. We need to help them first.”

Brain carried the middle-aged woman into the bedroom and placed her on the girl’s bed. He looked at the pictures on the bedside table and the still recording camera. “I’m sorry. My daughter has harmed you. I will make up for it.”

“I’ve almost cured her. If you have the time, you should go to communicate with your daughter.” Han Fei picked up the camera to look over the recording. Suddenly, he pulled out his knife.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“There is another ghost inside the room! Look!” Han Fei rolled back the recording. After the lights went out, the girl sunk into despair. She was being chased by her mother. Technically, there shouldn’t be anyone inside the bedroom then, but the camera moved on its own to capture the despairing images. The man was using this method to collect human beings’ negative emotions and despair.

“I’ve seen a similar recording on the fourth floor of Happiness Neighborhood before! The despair in that video is oppressive.” Han Fei didn’t expect to find a clue related to Happiness Neighborhood here. He couldn’t tell if someone was guiding him or he was lucky. After he replayed the video, Han Fei ran to the door. Someone slid past the end of the corridor. The night took away all of his traces.

“Is Dream here?” Han Fei moved forward. Han Fei took another step forward. At that moment, Brain, who was watching the video suddenly, screamed. He seemed to see something special, and his eyes bled. Han Fei should go and check on Brain, but his heart suddenly raced. Terrifying speculation appeared in his mind. “Could Dream have gone to the fourth floor? To find Fu Tian and Yan Yue?” Staying on the fifth floor meant that Lee Guo Er and Fu Tian on the fourth floor would be in danger. That Yan Yue was suspicious too.

However, if he ran to the fourth floor, the previous Brain might be killed.

Han Fei made his decision and ran towards the fourth floor! “I’ve destroyed multiple of Dream’s rituals. He didn’t come after me directly, but he might have been observing me.

“Yan Yue has constant interaction with Dream. She appeared in my escape route, and it was her who led me all the way here.”

Han Fei came to the corner of the stairs. When he reached the fourth floor, he saw a stranger enter Room 404.

 

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