Chapter 1: Go Experimenting For New Article

The growing social network makes people update news more quickly. From there, we began to look forward to the daily rumors. Hundreds of online journalists emerged just to serve the curious needs of people.

“Hey, do you know what? Sensationalism has just reported on the latest news that singer Stella Feline is actually not the biological daughter of businessman Feline. Stella also robbed her step-sister's childhood fiancée, not the step-sister stole her lover," one of them hurriedly ran to her friends and announced important news.

"What? Didn't he himself admit to having an affair after being married for three years? That year's DNA test was also posted." another asked again and expressed disbelief.

“But the news posted on Sensationalism is infallible. Get out your phone and read the news. It's on the front page," the girl urged her friend.

The news quickly spread everywhere on the internet. Several passersby had to stop to watch this sensational news and almost rub it in.

Visits to the Sensationalism newspaper page and comments skyrocketed and showed no sign of stopping. As mentioned above, Sensationalism is an online newspaper that has been established for more than ten years. It brings sensational news of all genres. The popularity of Sensationalism is always in the first place because of the absolute accuracy of each news. Rumors passed from one person to another just by being in this place became true.

A girl sitting on the subway wearing glasses, headphones, and bowed her face to surf the news on Sensationalism. The announcement that the next station was coming soon made a large number of people including her in the subway step closer to the door. After exiting the subway station, the girl looked at her watch and walked faster to a tall building. Out of the elevator, she took out her ID card from her pocket. She put the card in the scanner for timekeeping.

"Roxanne Rowan - Sensationalism's horror editor," the top of the screen immediately displayed the girl's information.

Roxanne walked down the quiet corridor. A clapping sound made her slow down her steps. The applause grew louder and stopped at the celebrity news department. The article about singer Stella Feline this morning really shook and brought the department to a new position. Roxanne paused for a moment and then quietly passed. She made her way to the last room and went inside.

The department for news about spiritual events carries the atmosphere of its name. Silence and tension pervaded everything because this department was full of strange people, including Roxanne.

Roxanne was a quiet and taciturn person. She always lowered her face to avoid eye contact. Whenever she went out, Roxanne always wore headphones and was isolated from the world. She always lived in her own world.

Roxanne went to her seat and started turning on her computer for a new day of work as usual. The door in the last corner opened. A woman came out and headed straight for Roxanne.

“Roxanne!” The shrill voice and the clatter of high heels made everyone panic, “Do you still want to work? One week to the end of August and you still haven't sent me a post?"

The deputy editor slammed the report down on Roxanne's desk, making her jump. Roxanne immediately stood up and crouched ninety degrees.

“I apologize to Miss Freya. I'm still trying to finish it within the next two days,” Roxanne stammered, and her hands were involuntarily intertwined.

“You…” Deputy editor Freya was about to say something when suddenly the department door opened again.

The person who entered was the editor-in-chief of the online spiritual journalism department, Sophia. Sophia dressed stylishly in a short cup skirt. She always decorated herself with a variety of precious jewelry. The bag in Sophia's hand was also the latest Dior version that was being hunted. Sophia took off her sunglasses from her eyes and looked around the room with distaste.

“I just heard from my superiors that this month, my department still hasn't had any good articles. What kind of business do you guys do?" Sophia gritted her teeth and looked at Freya, “Is that how you manage them? As for Roxanne, have you written anything yet?”

“I will warn them again. Rest assured, editor-in-chief,” Freya replied expressionlessly, causing Sophia to glance at her and then leave.

“Deputy editor…” Roxanne mumbled, but her eyes still didn't raise to look directly at the person in front of her.

“Hazz, it's okay. You just kept writing. I will take care of the editor-in-chief’s works. Let's all work together,” Freya patted Roxanne on the shoulder and turned to cheer everyone on. Then, she entered the room in a tired state.

Roxanne sat down in her chair and adjusted her glasses with her hand. The deputy editor was always like that, always scolding and urging people but always standing up to protect them when they were reminded by the editor-in-chief. In this department, articles written by Roxanne herself were always more independent and better than others. Therefore, it was very welcome by the editor-in-chief because if that month had Roxanne's article, Sophia would have additional praise and bonus.

Roxanne opened her working directory. She looked at the few short lines on the screen and sighed. Roxanne had to turn these one hundred words into two thousand words in just two days. This was extremely easy for the online celebrity journalism department. However, Roxanne's writing was unique and genuine because she had experienced such spiritual things. This time, Roxanne wrote about the issue of 'calling the dead' but she couldn't figure it out by just looking at articles and videos online.

Roxanne thought for a moment, then went online and searched. Moments later, she found out that there was a group of people calling for participation to perform a game of Ouija. Roxanne immediately texted the host of the game and was told that they were going to do it tonight in an abandoned house in the western woods. She didn't think much of it, but offered to participate and was approved.

Roxanne spent her days in the company reviewing other people's summons to the dead. Despite looking at the videos with staged and fake cuts, she still carefully prepared the things that she thought could exorcise.

When it was time to get off work, Roxanne packed up and ran to the subway station within minutes. She needed to pack up and mount a small camera on the button of her shirt. Roxanne took the taxi to the rendezvous point and found two women and three men already waiting there.

“Sorry, I'm late,” Roxanne went to the gathering and began greeting.

Everyone else who saw her greeted her enthusiastically. There was still one person who hadn't arrived yet so they continued to wait. Moments later, a shiny black car pulled up and stopped. The one who stepped down was a boy with a scholarly appearance and thick glasses. He put a briefcase on his back and walked over to where everyone was standing.

“It's already crowded. So now let's go to the abandoned house," the host clapped his hands and led everyone deeper into the forest.

The two women and three men in the front were laughing and joking. They didn’t seem to care much about why they were here. They look so relaxed. Everyone held a flashlight to find the way. Even though the moonlight tonight was very bright, it could not compete with the darkness of the forest. Roxanne and the schoolboy walked in the last row. The two of them were filled with silence.

"It is human!"

“So many people!”

“So delicious!”

Roxanne clutched the crossbody strap of her chest pocket. Her body trembled slightly and her steps became more wobbly. Roxanne desperately wanted to wear headphones, but she didn't want to miss anything. Roxanne suddenly stepped on green moss for a long time on the ground, causing her to slip. The scholar immediately caught her arm so she was lucky not to get hit on the ground.

“Thanks… thank you…” Roxanne struggled to her feet, still reeling from her shock. The whispers also disappeared, replaced by the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves.

"Nothing," the student immediately released Roxanne's hand. His deep voice made her feel familiar and secure.

On one way to the abandoned house, nothing strange happened anymore. The door was damaged on one side making it loose. As soon as they stepped inside, a chilling feeling hit everyone, making everyone shiver and instinctively huddle together. The atmosphere was filled with gloom.

The host led them upstairs. The sound of the old stairs creaking with each step made the atmosphere even more terrifying. They came to a room without a door. The objects inside were still neatly arranged even though they were rotting. This was the gallery of the owner of the house.

Before coming here, the host told them about the story of this abandoned house. The previous owner of the house was a beautiful woman. Her husband was a talented painter. He pursued the field of abstraction but with little success. Then, he suddenly published a painting completely different from the field he pursued, the painting of the devil's eye. That painting put him on the road to fame overnight.

Since then, the artist's paintings are all related to the devil. A painting if sold would bring great value. However, much vanity for him was not enough. He wanted to earn a lot of money and stand on top of fame, so he made a contract with the devil.

The artist killed his wife in this gallery in exchange for that contract. When the police entered, he was frantically calling out the demon's name with a bloody knife in his hand. He said that it was the devil that made him do it. It was said that he had a conflict with his wife early on, so he killed her. Demons were just excuses.

Since then, the house had been sold to many people. However, no one could stay more than a week. At night, they all heard the creaking of the stairs and the clatter of knives against the wall. They said they also heard the voice of the wife begging her husband. Therefore, today they would call the spirits of the dead in this abandoned house to ask about the situation.

Everyone started to sit in a circle. Candles were lit around to create an atmosphere and connect the door between the living and the dead. The host placed a low table made of the wood of the chest board and placed the Ouija board on top. He asked everyone to put their hands on the planchette and focus their energies. The celebrant began the invocation of the soul.

“Pray for the ghost, devil, god, and saint in heaven, in hell or in any other direction, please enter this planchette, 3 incense sticks are lit. Please come and play with us. Please make the planchette rotate, the flags go round and round. Please come and play with us."

Just as the host finished his vows, Roxanne suddenly trembled and had difficulty breathing. Her glasses, on the other hand, was being gripped tightly. However, Roxanne's transformation seemed to be noticed by only one person.