My House of Horrors

Fan Chong’s flailing arm hit the leading doctor. He had no idea what he had brushed up against, but it felt wet. The doctors’ coats are all wet?

Fan Chong glanced out of the corner of his eye. The spot where Fan Chong had hit the doctor sunk underneath the skin, and it did not return to normal after a long time. What happened to his neck?

It was quite a scary scene. The doctors were wrapped up in their uniform, but only his neck had sunk downward. It looked very irregular, like the uniform was holding not a person but a muddy statue.

The uniform moved, and the collar split open a small slit. A heavy mist of formalin leaked out, and it caused Fan Chong’s eyes to water.

“Spirited and rambling, complete with irregular actions. These are early signs of mania. Looks like you are seriously ill.” The leading doctor’s collar slowly returned to normal. He shared a look with the two other doctors. “Detain him. We have to perform a full physical examination for him.”

“I’m not sick!” Fan Chong was feeling despair. At other people’s Haunted Houses, at most, he would be scared until he fainted, but this Haunted House would recover them after fainting. He did not understand why people with such good medical skill would come to this Haunted House to become actors. “I’m really not sick, don’t come any closer!”

Hearing the yells from Fan Chong, the leading doctor shook his head. “Whether you’re sick or not is not dependent on you but the doctor. If you don’t believe us, you can go to the nearest hospital to have it checked out.”

…

Fan Chong’s screams echoed throughout the underground scenario. All the visitors who heard it shivered uncontrollably and turned to look at the direction where the screams came from.

Xiao Lee squatted on the ground and whispered to Bai Qiulin next to him, “This person sounds familiar.”

“Looks like something has already happened to Fan Chong and Fan Dade. There’s no need for us to go look for them.” Bai Qiulin still maintained his cold tone. He did not like to converse with others, a lone wolf.

The lights came back on, and the monster above Hu Ya’s head had disappeared.

“What was that earlier?” Ah Nan jogged over to help Hu Ya up from the ground. “Did you get a close look?”

Hu Ya shook her head. “It seems to have no face.”

“No face? If that’s not some kind of special make-up, then it has to be some kind of robot, right?” Ah Nan looked at the ceiling, and there were some water stains on it.

“The Haunted House looks old, but it is fitted with so much new technology. The boss sure is willing to invest.” The people who said it did not mean it, but the person who heard it did. Xiao Lee took out his phone to record this important discovery, and he sent it out.

“That’s right. This boss sure is something else. I hear Haunted Houses’ props are different from other fields. They cannot be recycled, and other than competitors, no one would want them.” Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue were close to Xiao Lee, and they saw everything that he did. With a smile of his face, Ol’ Zhou released his grasp on Duan Yue. The two of them stood next to Xiao Lee, surrounding him on both sides.

When Xiao Lee saw Ol’ Zhou walk toward him, he smiled. He had a good impression of Ol’ Zhou. From his perspective, the most reliable person was Bai Qiulin, and the nicest ones were Ol’ Zhou and his wife.

“Now that the lights have come back on, we should hurry to find Tails.” Yang Chen looked at the time. “I’ve calculated it—the time between the two lights out is three and a half minutes. I’m not sure whether the timing is fixed or random, but if it’s fixed, I suggest we find a relatively safe place in the next three minutes and wait until the next lights out is over.”

Yang Chen’s eyes scanned the rest of the group. When he was done, he lowered his head. “Fan Chong and Fan Dade are already out. Only we remain. We need to find what the monster in the dark looks like and confirm what will happen during lights out before we can decide what to do next.”

There was a speculation in his heart. Combining his previous experience, the way Yang Chen looked at other visitors became different. He did not share his inner thoughts, afraid that it might be used by the hidden threat, so he had to rely on himself. He had to find that person before the next tragedy happened.

Yang Chen was very smart, but ultimately, he was just a university student, just over twenty. He emphasized clearing the scenario—this was a challenge and validation for him. However, this was different for other visitors. For example, Ah Nan and Hu Ya. Compared to clearing the scenario, they were more concerned with finding Tails.

“There are only two paths—the chance of Tails taking this path is very high.” Ah Nan did not continue, but his meaning was very clear. The two editors continued to move forward. Bai Qiulin obviously did not care about what Yang Chen said. He and Xiao Lee followed the editors.

“Ol’ Yang, should we just ignore them and go off on our own?” Wang Dan suggested. “After all, we’re not close to them, and if they are so insistent of finding that missing girl, then let them be.”

“I think it’s better for us to stick together.” Yang Chen looked at Ah Nan and Hu Ya’s shadows, and his expression changed. He suddenly remembered a small detail.

When they were asked to sign the disclaimer, Ol’ Zhou’s group and the three medical students signed them inside the Haunted House, and he did not see the other visitors sign them. Indeed, they came in directly and skipped over the signing process.

A whirlpool appeared in Yang Chen’s heart. This means that the person I’m looking for should be hidden among the six people who came in later. One of them didn’t sign the disclaimer!

Fear crawled around his heart. Yang Chen narrowed his eyes, and he thought back to what he had said to the boss—they needed to gather ten people before they could start the visit. If they did not gather ten people in the end, could the boss have added his own workers into the ranks?

The boss had done that before. That had happened during their visit to the Mu Yang High School scenario.

I get it now. Yang Chen revealed a cold smile. No wonder I felt we’ve been dragged by the nose, and all of our suggestions were denied. A ghost has infiltrated our group.

He realized this secret, but he did not tell anyone. Instead, he trained his focus on the few visitors that had entered later.

The editors, maintenance worker, and the missing chef—each of them could be the ghost.