My House of Horrors

The three students were squeezed together. Their focus was on the mannequin in the corridor, so none of them heard the weird noise coming from the room behind them.

“Shall we retreat back into the bedroom?” Yang Chen’s suggestion was the most conservative. He had no idea why he was afraid of a mannequin.

“Since we’ve given up on the visitation, there’s no need to keep moving forward,” Wang Dan said plainly. “Find a security camera and call for the worker to bring us out.”

Lee Xue looked at the mannequin standing in the middle of the corridor and whispered, “When we entered this place, I noticed that this place isn’t fitted with any security cameras.”

“Xiao Xue, why didn’t you tell us about something that important earlier?” Wang Dan managed to keep his cool because he knew, within his heart, when the visitors called for help at the camera, the Haunted House worker would appear to help them. Since they could escape at any time, he had not been worried.

“Because you didn’t ask.” Lee Xue rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, I believe a professional like Boss Chen will have equipped his Haunted House with enough security cameras. Perhaps he utilized those hidden cameras in this hidden scenario to not ruin the atmosphere.”

“Now it’s not an issue of atmosphere, okay?” Wang Dan squeezed behind Yang Chen. “The mannequin suddenly appeared in the middle of the corridor; it must have followed us out!”

“It is weird.” Yang Chen frowned. The stench intensified, and his heart quivered. “According to the diary, the boy who was abused by his father was quite fat, but the hanging man in the first room is relatively thin.”

“Will you stop the analysis at a time like this‽” Wang Dan rushed them with a series of grumbles. “Shall all three of us rush forward at once? The mannequin only has two hands; he won’t be able to stop all of us.”

“Be quiet for a moment.” Yang Chen pushed Wang Dan’s arm away. “The boy is fat and thus doesn’t match the hanging man. This means that there is another theme inside this hidden scenario! This whole scenario should be made up from two separate stories!”

“Two stories‽ Meaning there’s another monster that hasn’t shown itself?” Lee Xue understood what Yang Chen meant immediately, and she looked behind Yang Chen with fear. When her gaze fell on the bedroom that they had just exited, her eyes widened as color left her face.

“Xiao Xue? What’s wrong with you?”

Lee Xue seemed to have lost her ability to speak. The words stuck in her throat, and she forced them out two seconds later. “Behind you!”

Yang Chen and Wang Dan looked around at the same time. The dead body in plastic wrap was standing at the bedroom door. Its body was heavily twisted like it was trying to struggle free from the plastic wrap. The scariest thing was that there was a ball of smog radiating a thick stench forming behind the body, and it slowly morphed into a ball-like shadow!

“Is this special ef… What is this‽” Wang Dan was at the back of the group, so he was closest to the plastic wrapped body. When he turned around, his face was merely inches away from the dead body’s face. Naturally, he did not expect this. Before his head even turned back, his body already carried him forward. When he was about one meter away, he screamed, “Run!”

Yang Chen and Lee Xue were also shocked out of their daze. They chased after Wang Dan. They ran for their lives, but there was more surprise in store for them. Blocking the corridor was the hanging mannequin. It suddenly raised its head to reveal a face that was bloated with purplish spots. It used a speed that was faster than the three students to jump toward them!

“F*ck me!” Wang Dan, who ran from the back of the group to the front, saw the hanging mannequin that was rushing at them, and his face turned green!

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He was afraid, but he did not dare stop. Wang Dan used all the courage he had in his life as he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and rammed into the mannequin!

BANG!

The mannequin was knocked into the wall. Wang Dan continued to charge blindly ahead with his hands shielding his face. After he cleared the way, Yang Chen and Lee Xue also successfully ran past the hanging mannequin. However, these two students failed to notice one small detail.

After the mannequin fell, its lips creaked open to form a creepy smile. The rope around its neck slowly slithered toward Lee Xue’s ankle. Just as the rope was about to curl around the girl’s ankle, the mannequin seemed to remember some scary memory and quickly pulled the rope back.

“They’re still chasing after us!”

The three made such a commotion that the other visitors in the scenario could hear them clearly. They finally escaped Western Jiujiang’s Private Academy. Fear, terror, shock, and extreme physical activities, the three medical students felt like they had just come back from a tour of hell.

“I can’t run anymore.” Lee Xue was physically the weakest of the three. Her face was white as she gasped for air, cold sweat trailing down her face.

“Take a break. We… we can afford to take a break.” Yang Chen was also running out of air. He leaned against the entrance to Western Jiujiang’s Private Academy and turned to check up on Wang Dan. When they running for their lives, Yang Chen had clearly seen Yang Chen knock into the mannequin that blocked their way.

“Wang Dan, are you okay?”

The Wang Dan who would never admit defeat even when he was afraid was squatting on the floor. He had his hands over his head. He gritted his teeth to stop the tears from falling.

“Wang Dan! Don’t scare me!”

“Ol’ Yang, I don’t think I can do it anymore.” The feisty young man had tears in his voice. “The mannequin was not hollow. It’s so f*cking scared. I give up, let’s call the cops.”

“Okay, okay. We’ll stop now. Let’s find the exit.” Yang Chen also had quite a shock of his own. He tried to pull Wang Dan up, but all his attempts failed. Wang Dan’s energy had completely left him, and his legs were like jelly.

“Find the camera to call for the worker to come save us. I think I’ve seen through this Haunted House’s tactics. The scary stuff is all at the back, and the beginning is easy to make us let our guard down.” Lee Xue had given up on the struggle. She did not dare stay outside the scenario alone. With gasping breath, she walked toward the two male students. “With our current condition, walking to the exit normally is impossible.”

“I remember there’s a camera at every junction. Wait for me here, I’ll go get help.”

Yang Chen prepared to leave when Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming arrived. The two seemed to have noticed something. Instead of looking at the three students, their attention was focused on the entrance to Western Jiujiang’s Private Academy.