The Door in the Painting

What concerned Zhang Ze most was the severed hand.

This hand was not as simple as he had imagined.

The hotel female ghost had wanted to eat the hand, only to be eaten by it instead. Clearly, its owner was far more dangerous and terrifying than the hotel female ghost.

A Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghost.

An ordinary ghost.

The difference in strength was obvious.

"Cool moonlight, my longing for you flows into a river~"

Suddenly, Zhang Ze's phone rang.

Zhang Ze thought Li Sanbao had called him again about something, but when he checked, he saw that it was the official account of New Century Amusement Park Haunted House—Chen Ge's phone number.

"Zhang Ze, I watched your livestream."

"At first, I thought you were trying to show me goodwill, but I was wrong. Your livestream was aimed directly at mine."

"Are you trying to build hype for your haunted house?"

There was a hint of anger in Chen Ge's voice.

Clearly, after watching the livestream, Chen Ge understood Zhang Ze's intentions.

Even an idiot could tell that Zhang Ze was targeting him.

Combined with Zhang Ze's earlier call, where he had said that Chen Ge could take over his venue if he died, the provocation became even more obvious.

"Boss Chen, we're engaged in fair competition."

"My haunted house has only just started. I might not even have the venue ready yet. From the storyline, props, and actors to publicity, funding, and popularity, I need to build everything from scratch."

"But I'm confident that once I launch my first scenario, it will definitely surpass your haunted house!"

"Of course, if I die, I'll allow you to inherit what I leave behind. And if something happens to you by accident in the future... I'll take over your haunted house too."

Fight, or he could not survive.

Having completed the Nightmare Mission, Zhang Ze spoke more forcefully.

The system had made it very clear.

Zhang Ze's haunted house had to surpass Chen Ge's.

He and Chen Ge were bound to be competitors.

"Then let's wait and see."

Chen Ge left behind those words before ending the call.

Zhang Ze put down his phone and turned his attention back to the system interface. He had now completed Nightmare Mission No. 1 and No. 3, leaving only No. 2.

[② (Daily): Increase the haunted house's Scream Index and make it more appealing than Chen Ge's haunted house. Reward: Roulette Draw ×1]

As long as he completed the Murderous Painting scenario,

its Scream Index would reach two stars.

That would instantly surpass Chen Ge's haunted house.

Chen Ge's haunted house now only had the mediocre Zombie Horror Night and the half-star Ghost Marriage. Even if he completed Peaceful Apartment, it would amount to no more than one star.

Zhang Ze was starting with a two-star scenario.

How could he lose?

Besides, Zhang Ze was already a "Nightmare New Star." In the eyes of vengeful ghosts, he was irresistible. There was no way he could be like Chen Ge and date ghosts or become friends with them.

He could only rely on real strength to get through this.

He would go all out!

Eight in the morning.

After a simple breakfast, Zhang Ze entered the wealthy residential compound and arrived at Mrs. Zhou's detached villa.

He had made up his mind.

Today, he had to deal with the Murderous Painting.

"Mrs. Zhou?"

Zhang Ze knocked on the door.

Mrs. Zhou opened it, her face haggard. Having kept vigil the night before, she clearly had not slept well.

After Zhang Ze explained his intentions,

Mrs. Zhou had no objections.

She wanted the painting dealt with as soon as possible. Keeping it in the house was deeply unsettling, and Old Zhou's death was connected to the painting's curse. If Mrs. Zhou had been braver, she would have handled it herself long ago.

However, when Mrs. Zhou knocked on Little Zhou's bedroom door,

intending to explain things to him and persuade him,

"Creak~"

The door was unlocked and opened right away.

When Mrs. Zhou entered the bedroom, she found it empty. Only paintbrushes and sheets of paper were scattered across the floor.

Little Zhou was gone?

"It's over!"

"It's over, it's all over!"

Hearing the commotion, Zhang Ze also entered Little Zhou's bedroom. He saw a thick layer of paper piled across the floor, covered in several sketches outlined in simple lines.

"Mr. Zhang, Little Zhou is gone. It's all over now. It must have been that painting."

"Old Zhou also disappeared for a while before he died. By the time he showed up again, he was already dead."

"I'm calling the police. The police will definitely know what to do. No matter what it takes, burn that painting, or chop it up for firewood—there must be a way to save my son!!"

Mrs. Zhou was beside herself.

Zhang Ze stopped her from calling the police.

"This is a supernatural incident."

"The police can't handle it."

He knew very well that the Hanjiang City police knew almost nothing about supernatural matters. Later, the Ghost Story Association had even killed a police officer, and the police had barely been able to fight back.

Letting the police get involved in a supernatural incident

would only cause meaningless deaths.

"Then what do I do?"

"I've already lost my husband. If my son dies too, I don't want to live anymore!!"

Mrs. Zhou was overwhelmed with emotion.

She was completely different from how she had been yesterday.

There was no helping it. Old Zhou had only recently died. If Little Zhou died too, the blow would be far too much for her.

Zhang Ze did not explain.

He picked up several sheets of paper from the floor. Little Zhou had drawn all of them himself. Many featured characters from Boonie Bears: the two bears, Big Bear and Second Bear, Bald Strong, and a Red-Clothed woman whose face could not be seen clearly.

The watercolor on several of the drawings had not fully dried yet.

The first drawing: the bears appeared.

The second drawing: the Red-Clothed woman joined the scene.

The third drawing: the Red-Clothed woman failed to approach Little Zhou, but she stood before another woman. That woman had been drawn with a green watercolor pen, and Zhang Ze did not understand it at first.

Then he looked again at Mrs. Zhou's pajamas.

She happened to be wearing a green one-piece pajama suit.

Did this green woman represent Mrs. Zhou?

In the fourth drawing, Little Zhou stood in front of the Red-Clothed woman and entered the bedroom with her.

There were four drawings in total.

They were very simple.

Perhaps the situation had been too urgent. Many figures were drawn with rough strokes, and one had to see Little Zhou's earlier drawings to identify what each color represented.

After Zhang Ze recognized them, he guessed what had happened.

The Red-Clothed Female Ghost in the painting had originally planned to kill again.

But her target had not been Little Zhou. It had been Mrs. Zhou.

Little Zhou seemed to have bravely blocked the Red-Clothed woman in order to protect his mother, so the Red-Clothed woman took Little Zhou away instead.

As for where they had gone in the end, it was Old Zhou's bedroom.

That was where the Murderous Painting was located.

"I have a way to bring Little Zhou back."

"You don't need to call the police yet."

"Let me go into the bedroom alone. No matter what happens during that time, don't open the door. If I haven't come out after a day, then call the police."

Zhang Ze said to Mrs. Zhou.

Mrs. Zhou nodded gratefully. She had completely lost track of what to do. With Zhang Ze stepping forward to take charge, she naturally followed his instructions.

Zhang Ze entered the bedroom alone.

He closed the door tightly.

This time, the moment Zhang Ze entered the bedroom, he clearly felt that he was being watched. He had felt nothing like that the last time he came in.

Clearly, the "Nightmare New Star" was taking effect.

Zhang Ze naturally knew that the gaze came from inside the painting. He cleared his throat and said,

"I know what you want."

"There must be certain conditions for you to kill people."

"Otherwise, you wouldn't kill so slowly."

"Now I fulfill all of those conditions. Give me a chance. Let me become your nourishment. I have something you want."

As soon as he finished speaking,

the painting before him began to change. The Red-Clothed woman gradually faded until, in the end, everything in the painting vanished completely. Rather than disappearing, though, it had become something else.

It became...

a door.