Missing Person Notice

At 4:30 PM, Chen Ge stood alone in the Haunted House prop room, staring at the table full of items, unable to make up his mind.

"What do I need to prepare for staying in a haunted house?"

"ID card, phone, power bank, lighter, fruit knife, multi-tool hammer... right, I should bring this doll too."

Chen Ge stuffed the doll that had appeared in front of the mirror last night into his backpack. After confirming he hadn't missed anything, he zipped up the bag and walked out of the room.

"Xiao Wan, you can leave early today. Lock up for me in a bit; I have something to take care of."

"Boss, it's not even five o'clock yet. Are you going on a trip?"

"The keys are on the table in the prop room. See you tomorrow."

Seeing Chen Ge acting like he was about to cut loose, Xu Wan let out a resigned "oh," dropped the Haunted House flyers, and scurried into the prop room.

"This girl." The evening breeze ruffled the flyers, and Chen Ge shook his head, picking up a stone to weigh them down. "I hope she doesn't see me on the morning news tomorrow."

Unlike the relaxed and easygoing demeanor he projected, Chen Ge was actually extremely nervous; he had been on edge all afternoon.

Last night's nightmare-level mission had opened the door to another world for him, and it made him clearly realize that the missions issued by the Black Phone were indeed dangerous.

"Trial missions are definitely harder than daily missions. I must be extra careful tonight." To ensure he survived the night, Chen Ge rode a shared bike toward Ping An Apartment before the sun had even set.

The mission information only provided a location. To find Ping An Apartment, Chen Ge had to combine the information from a complaint left nine months ago with directions he asked for along the way, taking over two hours to reach his destination.

"The apartment building is in such a remote place—does anyone actually live here?"

A dirt road overgrown with weeds wound crookedly into the depths of the woods. There were no streetlights, and through the sparse branches, he could vaguely see a dark gray building in the distance.

Chen Ge had asked many people on his way, but most had never even heard of Ping An Apartment. Finally, an elderly man in his sixties pointed him in the right direction, kindly warning him that people had died there in the past and it was very unlucky; even in broad daylight, the locals would take a detour to avoid it.

Chen Ge had his own troubles he couldn't voice. If it weren't for completing the mission on the Black Phone, who would go out of their way to stay in a place like that?

"It's 6:50 now. The mission requires me to arrive before 11:00 PM, so I have enough time to figure out the situation in this haunted house."

Following the winding dirt road, Chen Ge entered the depths of the woods. After walking for a few dozen meters, he finally saw the legendary haunted house.

The courtyard was surrounded by high, dark gray walls with only one entrance. The rusted iron gate was pushed open on both sides, and a brand-new, heavy lock hung from it.

"The gate is so dilapidated, yet the lock is so new. Wait, what is this?" A piece of white paper was pasted next to the iron gate. Chen Ge originally thought it was some kind of advertisement, but after looking closely with the light from his phone, he realized it was a missing person notice.

"Zhang Qing, female, 27 years old, 157cm tall, thin build, a black mole near the bridge of her nose on her right eye, likes to wear red clothes... If you have any information, please contact Mr. Wang. A generous reward is guaranteed!"

The bottom of the notice listed contact information and an address for Mr. Wang. What caught Chen Ge's attention was that the address provided for Mr. Wang was this very haunted house.

"That's a bit strange." He instinctively felt something was wrong, took a photo of the notice with his phone, and then entered the courtyard.

The building was much larger than he had imagined, consisting of a three-story main building, a warehouse to the side, and a structure that looked like a water room.

"With the wall plaster peeling off like this, it must be at least twenty or thirty years old." Although the building was severely aged, it was kept quite clean; there was no trash on the ground, and the weeds had all been cleared away.

Parking his bike in the courtyard, Chen Ge shouldered his bag and entered the main building. "Is anyone here?"

The long corridor was pitch black. After a dozen seconds, a door near the stairwell opened a crack.

"Hello." Chen Ge walked toward the room, but the occupant seemed unwilling to face him, leaving the door open only a finger's width.

There were no lights on inside. Chen Ge could only see a woman standing behind the crack in the door. Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she stayed up late often, and her mental state seemed very poor.

"I'd like to ask how much it costs to stay here for a night?" Chen Ge's voice was soft, trying his best to appear friendly. However, to his surprise, the woman's reaction was bizarre; she smiled at him and immediately slammed the door shut.

"What does that mean?" Before he could figure it out, footsteps echoed from the second floor. The only sound-activated light at the corner of the corridor flickered on, and a middle-aged man with a limp walked down.

The man seemed to have heard what Chen Ge said earlier and asked, "You want to stay at my place? How long do you plan to rent?"

"Are you the landlord?" Chen Ge walked over proactively. "I'm only staying for one night."

"One night?" The limping man looked Chen Ge up and down, his gaze as if he were trying to see right through him. "Fine. Let me see your ID, and come up to the second floor to pay."

Just as Chen Ge was about to follow the man upstairs, a noise suddenly came from the iron gate at the courtyard entrance. Hearing this, the limping man frowned, his expression turning sour instantly.

He stopped in his tracks, and Chen Ge had no choice but to wait.

Before long, a haggard-looking middle-aged man entered from outside. His clothes were worn, and he was clutching a thick stack of flyers.

"Wang Qi, I've told you before, your girlfriend isn't here! If you keep pestering me, don't blame me for being impolite!" The limping man stood in the middle of the stairs, blocking the way.

The middle-aged man ignored the limping man and kept his head down, walking toward the stairs.

"I'm talking to you!" The limping man gave him a hard shove. The unprepared middle-aged man slammed directly into the wall, and the flyers in his hands scattered across the floor. One of them landed right at Chen Ge's feet.

"It's a missing person notice, exactly the same as the one on the apartment gate." Chen Ge narrowed his eyes. He calmly picked up the notice, secretly keeping an eye on the top of the stairs.

The middle-aged man didn't fight back. He climbed up from the floor and silently gathered the flyers, looking like a walking corpse.

"Don't mind him, the man is a lunatic." The limping man beckoned to Chen Ge, signaling him to head to the second floor.

"A lunatic?" As Chen Ge passed the middle-aged man, he stole a glance at him. "The scenario description for Midnight Escape mentioned that a mental patient had infiltrated the apartment building. If this man is the lunatic, could he be the murderer I'm looking for?"