Chapter 31.1 Ye Family House No. 444 04
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The first person to livestream their adventure at Ye Family House No. 444 was said to have been driven insane, but he had actually been cured. It took about two years for him to gradually regain his sanity. Chen Yang intended to visit this person, who lived alone in an old residential building.
When Chen Yang pressed the doorbell, a thin and frail man came to answer the door. Standing at the entrance, the thin man asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
“He Tao.”
“That’s me. What do you want?”
Chen Yang and Du Shuo exchanged a glance and then said to He Tao, “We’ve come to inquire about Ye Family House No. 444.”
He Tao stared at them silently and grimly for a while. Just when Chen Yang thought he would slam the door shut, he took a step back, making way for them. “Come in.”
Chen Yang and Du Shuo entered, and He Tao closed the door behind them, disregarding them and sitting directly on the couch. The room was dim, filled with instant noodle cups on the table and an old television playing movies. Chen Yang also noticed protective talismans posted in the corners of the room and a statue of Divine Lord Guan in the wall corner.
After a while, He Tao spoke, “I advise you not to be curious or playful, and not to go to Ye Family House No. 444. Do not offend those things, even if you don’t believe in spirits, you should have reverence for these unknown entities.”
Chen Yang got straight to the point, “What did you encounter at Ye Family House No. 444?”
As He Tao recalled the incident, a flicker of despair and fear appeared on his numbed face. He stared intently at Chen Yang and said, “If you don’t want to die, don’t go! Don’t go!!”
His emotions were unstable, showing signs of madness. It seemed that the two years spent in the sanatorium were not enough for him to fully recover. Encountering something that triggered him still made his emotions unstable.
Chen Yang hesitated for a moment, unsure if it was the right decision to seek information from him. However, not seeking it might mean missing out on crucial leads, resulting in more deaths. So, he waited for He Tao to calm down before speaking, “There was a college student who, like you, went to Ye Family House No. 444 for a livestream adventure and died.”
He Tao froze. “How did he die?”
“What do you think caused his death?”
He Tao stared at the table and blurted out four words, “The Punishment of Gaze.”
He indeed knew something. But what puzzled Chen Yang was how He Tao came to know about the Punishment of Gaze. After all, during the livestream adventure back then, no fatalities occurred. The only eerie incident was when the screen suddenly went black midway through the livestream. Others screamed, and He Tao went mad.
He Tao sneered, “Do you think there were no casualties in that livestream?”
Chen Yang: “What do you mean?”
“There were seven of us back then.” He Tao’s smile turned into a crying expression. “In the end, I was the only one who survived.”
Chen Yang’s pupils constricted. “Six people died, and there was no trace of it?”
“No, nothing at all. They vanished as if they evaporated from this world. Six dead people, their existence wiped away, day by day. Even their parents don’t remember them. Who would remember their deaths?” He Tao’s face showed sorrow. “Only I remember.”
He stood up and took out a photograph from under the table. It was taken in daylight, with an old two-story building in the background. In the photo, there were a total of seven young college students.
“This is Liu Xiaojun, this is Mai Rong. She had a harsh way of speaking, but she was loyal. This is Chai Ming…” He Tao pointed out the names of the six individuals in the photos. “Now, only I remember them. Every time I mention them, others think I’m a delusional lunatic. Only I know it’s not like that. They did exist, but others have forgotten, except for me, who was involved in Ye Family House No. 444.”
“What exactly happened? Did they all have accidents because of Ye Family House No. 444?”
He Tao recollected that fateful night two years ago, the memories deeply etched in his mind, and the sense of fear still lingering in his bones. He described the events of that night in detail, frightening even Chen Yang. It reminded him of the horrors he experienced before turning sixteen, when he was plagued by supernatural entities.
Previously, He Tao’s group had a society club which aimed to create a filming project, but they couldn’t decide on the subject. So, someone suggested capturing the top ten horror legends in Shen City and broadcasting them live on the internet.
Everyone thought it was a brilliant idea, especially when they noticed a rapid increase in their number of followers after livestreaming a terrifying project. Their popularity soared as they livestreamed from locations with haunted rumors. When they were nearing the end of the top ten horror legends in Shen City, only Ye Family House No. 444 was left.
At that time, He Tao and the others were mocking how Ye Family House No. 444 made it to the top ten horror legends in Shen City without any sense of existence. They speculated if it was worth creating some horror effects for more excitement.
So, they livestreamed a ghost-summoning game in a room of House No. 444, which was rumored to have experienced deaths. Of course, nothing appeared. After dispersing, the seven individuals went their separate ways. He Tao remained in a room downstairs, continuing the livestream while discussing three tragic mass murder cases that occurred in Ye Family House No. 444. Then, he heard his companions screaming in terror, and that’s when the nightmare began.
He Tao covered his face in anguish. “I was downstairs and didn’t know what they encountered. When I was about to leave the room to see what was happening, I suddenly heard rustling noises from above. I used my phone’s flashlight to illuminate the area, and to my horror, I discovered a naked woman staring at me directly above my head. Her facial features were almost blank, but she had a vertical eye on her forehead.”
He Tao was terrified at that moment. Just the thought of him being alone in the room for so long while something watched him from above made his fear nearly unbearable. He crawled and scrambled out of the room, only to find that his classmates had all met gruesome deaths.
Mai Rong had ᴏɴᴇ ᴏꜰ ʜᴇʀ ᴇʏᴇꜱ ꜰɪxᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ᴀ ᴘʀᴏᴛʀᴜᴅɪɴɢ ᴡᴏᴏᴅᴇɴ ꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇ, resembling a deformed eye. Her face was covered in blood as she stumbled and ran inside. She pushed He Tao into a cabinet and told him, “Don’t make a sound, don’t come out. You haven’t offended… you’ll be safe.”
Then, a tall figure emerged, wearing a horrifying bronze mask. He grabbed Mai Rong, pinned her to the ground, and held a wooden stake in one hand and a hammer in the other. Slowly and mercilessly, he ᴅʀᴏᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴀɪ ʀᴏɴɢ’ꜱ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴɪɴɢ ᴇʏᴇ.
Mai Rong screamed in agony, struggling in pain, but eventually met her demise. She fell to the ground, facing north, ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ɢᴜꜱʜɪɴɢ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ʙᴏᴛʜ ᴇʏᴇ ꜱᴏᴄᴋᴇᴛꜱ, the two wooden stakes resembling deformed eyes.
He Tao was petrified with terror. After the tall figure departed, he emerged from the cabinet and found his deceased companions, their deaths mirroring Mai Rong’s. He rushed out of House No. 444, seeking help through a phone call. Upon his return, he found nothing but blood-soaked floors, devoid of any trace of his fallen friends.
The police arrived and initially considered him the culprit. Later, they diagnosed him with a delusional disorder. Over time, they forgot about Mai Rong and the others, concluding that only He Tao had entered House No. 444 at the time.
He Tao spent two years in a mental institution and was eventually released. Despite his mental decline, he continued to research extensively about House No. 444 and the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Mai Rong and the others.
“That is the punishment the Three-Eyed Ghost Tribe inflicts upon those who offend the Three-Eyed God of the Vertical Gaze. They also refer to themselves as the Vertical Eye Tribe. They possess three eyes and favor wearing bronze masks with vertical eye slits.”
Chen Yang: “Are you certain they all have three eyes?”
He recalled Du Shuo mentioning that there were no naturally born three-eyed beings in the mortal realm. According to him, if such beings existed, it would likely be an adornment on their foreheads. Certain witchcraft sects or sorcerers would wear eye-shaped adornments on their foreheads or paint an eye to signify the Divine Eye.
“The three-eyed beings indeed possess three eyes, but they rarely appear in front of humans, opting to reside in seclusion away from society. Some historical records mention them, and in more recent accounts from the 30th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign, there were sightings of over twenty individuals with three eyes in Jincheng. The third eye is not a natural occurrence. It is a manufactured Divine Eye.”
He Tao brought forth numerous documents and placed them before Chen Yang. Chen Yang picked them up and flipped to the section about the origin of the three-eyed beings’ third eye.
It turned out that the three-eyed beings held a profound reverence for eyes. Thus, during their infancy, a small hole would be carved into their foreheads, and a black bead would be placed inside. Over time, the forehead would crack, creating a flesh seam with the black bead nestled inside, resembling a vertically positioned eye.
Chen Yang turned the page, and the next set of documents revealed the history of Ye Family House No. 444. The first horrific incident occurred seventy to eighty years ago, claiming the lives of a family of four.
According to testimonies from nearby residents, the head of the family was surnamed Ye and they were devout followers of a religious sect. At that time, the prevalent sect was the Luo Zu Sect, which, from today’s perspective, could be considered a cult.
The Luo Zu Sect was established during the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty and advocated for governance through inaction. It was a significant folk religious sect during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The renowned White Lotus Sect, which venerated Luo Zu as their Daoist ancestor, upheld the principle of governance through inaction. Additionally, the Luo Zu Sect worshipped the Eternal Mother, a deity they had created within their sect, considering her the supreme goddess, the creator and savior of the world.
However, it was later denounced as a cult by orthodox Buddhism.
The entire family of the first owner of House No. 444 were followers of the Luo Zu Sect. Initially, their murders were attributed to internal conflicts within the sect. Subsequently, the case was left unresolved.
Both the second and third horrifying incidents of annihilation at House No. 444 shared a common factor: the entire family in each case were devout followers of the Luo Zu Sect.
“What’s the connection between the Luo Zu Sect and the three-eyed beings?” Chen Yang was puzzled. How could a cult that believed in governance through inaction resort to the three-eyed beings’ punishment for offending the Three-Eyed God?
Du Shuo took the documents from Chen Yang’s hands and flipped through a few pages before responding, “The Luo Zu Sect creates its own doctrines and deities. Some of their followers can be quite extreme, excluding and denying other sects, which could provoke retaliation from the three-eyed beings.”
Considering the extremist behavior of certain members of the Luo Zu Sect in certain regions and the sect’s distorted doctrines, Chen Yang found Du Shuo’s explanation more plausible. Both families that resided in House No. 444 were followers of the Luo Zu Sect, so it was indeed possible that their denial of the Three-Eyed God resulted in retaliation.
If the aforementioned hypothesis held true, the next step was to determine whether the enforcer of the punishment was truly a member of the Three-Eyed Ghost Tribe. In other words, what exactly was the tall figure with the bronze mask that attacked He Tao? And why were all traces of the murdered individuals erased from the mortal realm?
He Tao: “That’s all I could find. As for the tall creature wearing the bronze mask, I couldn’t find any information. There’s absolutely no data available. But I know one thing: it’s still hiding in House No. 444.”
“Do you know how the individuals who were killed offended the Three-Eyed God?”
“They blasphemed, insulted, and showed disrespect.”
“That’s too vague.” Chen Yang shook his head. “It can’t be that they suddenly engaged in acts of blasphemy against the Three-Eyed God for no reason. Unless… you didn’t go upstairs, but your companions did, right?”
He Tao hesitated for a moment before nodding.
Chen Yang acknowledged his understanding. He then stood up and left with Du Shuo, still using the stairs as they descended. Du Shuo illuminated the stairs with his phone’s flashlight, listening to Chen Yang as he expressed his perplexity.
Suddenly, a dull sound emanated from the rooftop, followed by loud crashes. Chen Yang halted for a moment, took out his phone, and activated the flashlight, swiftly ascending the stairs. “I’ll go up and take a look.”
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