My House of Horrors

A cold draft blew down the corridor, and empty test papers fluttered in the wind. There was no one in the classrooms on either side, but weird noises kept coming out from them. Kong Xiangming and Yang Chen’s teams searched the rooms on the left and right. They only took three minutes to reach the end of the corridor, where they met up again. They were standing at the door to the Sealed Classroom.

“The boss has changed the locations again.” Yang Chen’s face did not look so good. “How many have you found?”

“None,” Wei Wu said readily. After all, his purpose there was not to look for any nametags.

“You sound so happy even though you haven’t found anything?” Wang Dan was a straight shooter. “Ol’ Yang, I think we should just move on our own; bringing them will only increase our burden.”

“There’s a familiarization process since we’ve just entered the place. The place is complicated, and the boss understands psychology. The hiding spots are masterfully designed, so it’s normal to not find anything.” Yang Chen thought that these two were weird, but he could not pinpoint exactly what was weird about them. “There will be at least three nametags inside this classroom. We’ll all go in together and finish this as soon as we can!”

After pushing the door to the Sealed Classroom open, Yang Chen was the first one to rush into it. “Don’t dawdle. Our seniors explicitly ordered us to move as fast as we can! The longer we stay, the higher the chance of something scary happening!”

The three medical students each took responsibility for their own section. They kept their heads lower so that they would not meet the eyes of the mannequins. They did not reach out to touch the mannequins and grabbed the nametags when they saw it. Their action was accurate and fast; it appeared like they had been training for this. Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming did not enter the classroom. They stood outside the door, looking at the mannequins in different poses.

“I seem to see living spirits in these mannequins.” Kong Xiangming forced this observation out from his lips. His voice was soft enough that only Wei Wu could hear him.

“Making living humans into toys so that they won’t have their peace after death. This is a cruel fella.” Fear flashed through Wei Wu’s eyes. “Do you think the mannequins represent the people who were once his enemies?”

“It’s probably not that simple. There are too many mannequins. I suspect a large part of them are innocent victims, perhaps even unfortunate Haunted House visitors.” Kong Xiangming took in a soft breath. “There are so many people who go missing in the city annually. Perhaps some of them have become mannequins inside this Haunted House. Our target this time is crueler than we thought. We have to be extra careful.”

After hearing Kong Xiangming, Wei Wu took a cautious step back. His eyes that landed on the few students were filled with pity. How would these visitors know that the mannequins that scared them so were probably the visitors that once disappeared?

“Come in to help! What are you standing there for‽” Wang Dan finished searching his area and saw Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming still standing outside. A fire surged through him, and his tone turned heavier.

“Calm down.” Yang Chen tried to calm Wang Dan. The three of them searched the classroom for a long time but could only find two nametags.

“Things have changed; we need to speed up.” Yang Chen left the classroom with the nametags. When he passed Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming, the curious feeling heightened. “Gentlemen, if you plan to cooperate with us, please show us some sincerity.”

“It’s a waste of time placing our hope on them; we should rely on ourselves.” Wang Dan lost his patience. He and Lee Xue followed behind Yang Chen as they entered the bathroom next to the classroom. Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming did not follow but instead shared a look.

“These three students are quite interesting. Shall we turn them into mannequins as well?” Blood vessels surfaced on Wei Wu’s neck. Kong Xiangming shook his head. “Be careful not to draw unwanted attention.”

Yang Chen pushed the partitions open one by one. He found another nametag inside the fifth cubicle. Looking at the painted eyes, Yang Chen shivered. “This Haunted House sure is insane.”

“Ol’ Yang, those two visitors are very weird.” Lee Xue was the only female. Even though she was young, she had all the good points of a female forensic doctor. Courageous but cautious with extremely good observational skills.

“I’ve noticed that as well.” Ol’ Yang signaled for Lee Xue to keep her voice low. “Those two are too calm, and they don’t seem nervous even though they’re in an unknown space. In fact, they seem comfortable with this area.”

“Especially the one that looks ugly. He appears like he’s in deep thought often like he’s planning something.” Lee Xue nodded. “I suspect they’re not really visitors. Do you think they’re the Haunted House’s actors?”

Yang Chen and Wang Dan was shocked by this sentence, and a chill climbed up their spines. “That’s a real possibility!”

“According to He San, the boss is someone who would do anything. One time, he mixed himself among the visitors. Seven people entered the Haunted House, but in the picture, there were eight people…”

“No wonder they don’t look scared and couldn’t find a single nametag.” The more they discussed it, the more convinced they were. “Thankfully, we found this out sooner rather than later. If we were tripped at the most crucial moment, we might really have been scared until we peed our pants.”

“This Haunted House has reached the stage of being crazy to scare people! Where’s the humanity‽” Yang Chen took out the notebook and added a new rule to the three taboos—Don’t trust any strangers!

“Even the most cunning fox cannot beat a good hunter. Since we’ve guessed their identity, we’re one step closer to victory!” Yang Chen was good at raising morale. “We’ll continue to pretend we haven’t discovered anything. When they expose their true identities, we’ll prove that we’ve known all along. I believe their expressions then will be very interesting!”

“Indeed, we just need to focus on searching for the nametags. One, this can help make them lower their guard, and two, even if we’re mistaken, it won’t be awkward.”

“You need to be careful of others when you visit a Haunted House. Before this, I thought the 200,000 was just a promotional trick, but now that I’ve experienced it myself, I think the prize money is too little.”

“Hurry up, we’re on a tight schedule. If we stay here too long, it’ll arouse their suspicion.” Yang Chen waved at the two of them. “We’ll try to catch up to that couple as well. They’re still in the middle of argument, so they will be perfect to distract the attention of these two actors.”

The three students finished their discussion and exited the bathroom. They paused for a while at the first junction inside Mu Yang High School before turning down the corridor to head to the Deep Well.

…

Chen Ge took the recorder and led Gu Feiyu into the underground scenario. Unable to resist Gu Feiyu’s endless begging, he did not force the young man to follow him.

“Xiao Gu, after I go down, go into the scenario on the side to pick out several larger props to block the entrance.” Chen Ge checked the items he had and entered the parking lot after making sure that he had everything. “Stay guard over the entrance. I won’t call you, and don’t move the props no matter what happens down there.”

Gu Feiyu looked at Chen Ge in the Doctor Skull-cracker’s outfit and failed to see him as a Haunted House actor. From his perspective, his boss did not look like he was going to scare people but commit murder.