My House of Horrors

“Only five pictures? Then what about those without pictures?” Yang Chen felt very strong negative emotions from the rules set up by Chen Ge; this was encouraging competition between the visitors.

“Those without a picture will just fail the scenario. Don’t worry, there’s no punishment for those who fail.” The more Chen Ge said so, the more afraid Yang Chen became. This was not the first time that he had interacted with Chen Ge. Due to curiosity, he had approached the famed criminal psychological professor at his university to discuss Chen, Ge and the lecturer by the name of Gao only had two words to comment on Chen Ge—Stay away.

With Chen Ge leading the way, they all walked down the corridor.

“Come this way. Go down the stairs, and the entrance to the scenario will be behind you.” Chen Ge looked at the twelve visitors following him. “I repeat again, safety first. When you come across anything weird or cannot be certain if it is a prop, you’d better stay away from it.”

His hands on the heavy Screaming Door, Chen Ge pushed it open. Screams echoed in his mind, and a blast of cold wind came at them!

The temperature dropped even more. The few visitors squeezed together, and Chen Ge stood at the dark entrance, smiling at them. “The visitation time is thirty minutes. Have fun and good luck.”

After the visitors walked down the stairs, Chen Ge closed the door. He locked the door with chains, and it could not be opened from the inside.

“Those who visit three-star scenarios have survived the trials of a two-star scenario. They have a higher stress resistance level and should be able to visit the entire scenario.” Chen Ge entered the dressing room and put some make-up on. He opened the door to the changing room and selected an outfit that was suitable for him. “The new scenario has just been released, so I shouldn’t go overboard. Some background music and the phone spirit should be more than enough.”

…

The solid door slammed shut, and the sound of the lock moving made their skin crawl. The visitors stood on the stairs, and it felt like they were being imprisoned. A sense of helplessness rose in their hearts.

“Whenever we come here, it’s like we’re entering a different world.” The man from the supernatural magazine walked ahead. “My name is Ah Nan. These two are my colleagues…”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Yang Chen. These are my friends, we’re students from Western Jiujiang’s Private Academy. This is our fourth time visiting this Haunted House.” Yang Chen shook Ah Nan’s hand. He understood the importance of working together.

“Three editors from a supernatural magazine and three students from a medical university. With the six of you, I have a feeling we’ll succeed this time!” The large man swiped the sweat from his forehead. “My name is Fan Dade; I’m a chef at New East International Hotel. This is my younger brother, Fan Chong; he just came out from a break-up and cooped himself up at home, so I dragged him out to give him a distraction and relax.”

“You came to a place like this to relax?” The young man in jeans had a pale face. This was his second time coming underground. If not for the order from the futuristic park, he would not have come back to this place.

“How about the rest of you?” Fan Dade was friendly and reliable with his large physique.

“You can call me Xiao Lee. I… I’m a maintenance worker for robotics.” Xiao Lee put his hands inside his jeans. Thinking about the upcoming challenge, he felt like he was even stuttering.

“My surname is Zhou. I’m in real estate. This is my girlfriend, Duan Yue.” Ol’ Zhou picked up Duan Yue’s hand under her wrathful gaze as he patted her palm lovingly. Duan Dade’s little brother hugged his large stomach and felt that it was warm.

Everyone’s eyes eventually fell on the thin man that was at the back of group. He had one hand in his pocket and a face that told others to not get too close to him. Sensing everyone else’s gaze, he dropped his name. “Bai Qiulin.”

“Alright, now that we know each other, let’s get moving—we don’t have much time.” Fan Dade thought that he was quite lucky. Be it the editors or the students, they were people with strong hearts.

“Wait a minute, we have something to share with all of you.” Yang Chen took out a small notebook from his pocket. He shared the experience that his seniors had collected at the Haunted House with everyone else. Different from before, this time, everyone was a veteran, and they knew the terror of the Haunted House, so they paid him full attention.

“This information is so important; it must have taken you a lot of time to collect it, yes?” Ol’ Zhou nodded his thanks at Yang Chen.

“Of course, this is the precious experience our seniors gained from sacrificing themselves. Don’t spread this news or upload it on the app to prevent the boss from changing things,” Wang Dan said. He sounded unwilling, like he thought it was a bad idea to share this inside information with outsiders.

“Don’t worry, I will not leak it.” Ol’ Zhou held Duan Yue’s hand as they walked forward. Thinking about the notes, he said, “This Haunted House sure is scary. There is already a full notebook just on the things that people need to pay attention to.”

“The scarier things are still waiting for us. This time, we’re trying out a new scenario, and we’re the first batch of visitors. The experience of our seniors might not be able to be of much use, and we’ll need to depend on ourselves.” Yang Chen put the notebook back into his pocket. “Let’s prepare to go in now. We’d better switch our phones to silent mode, and do not use your phone in the middle of the visitation.”

“What will happen if you use it?” Xiao Lee was reminded of the mission that he had been given. He was there that day to take pictures and videos.

“Something scary will happen. I advise you not to try your luck. Once something happens to you, all of us will be affected.” Yang Chen knew that very well.

“Is it something that serious?” Xiao Lee grumbled and switched his phone to silent. The twelve visitors walked down the stairs and stopped at the entrance to the underground morgue. Before them was a rusted steel door, and behind it was a dark corridor.

“Why is there a room here?” Tails glanced to the side and saw a door next to the corridor. She pushed the door open, and the room was decorated like a crime scene. Things were cluttered, and there was a large blood stain.

“Don’t get separated. During the visitation, our biggest enemy is ourselves. Try to keep your curiosity in check and focus on the mission,” Yang Chen explained to the girl whom he saw as being younger than him.

“Okay.” As Tails pulled her gaze away, she saw the statue in the room blink. She was about to say something when Yang Chen and Wang Dan pushed the steel door to the underground morgue open.

There was a wall sconce every few meters in the corridor, and the walls were painted white. There was a weird smell in the air. When Wang Dan and Yang Chen smelled it, they were shocked. This was a familiar smell.

“This smells like… formalin?”