My House of Horrors

There was no screen in the elevator to show which floor they were on. Under the glow of the green light, the visitors’ panicked faces looked quite scary. They looked like ghosts who had returned on the seventh day of their death.

“Since there is no worker accompanying us, who can explain whether this means that the visit has officially started or not?” the man who walked at the front asked. He had come with his girlfriend, so he decided the he would not give up so easily.

“Ol’ Chui has been here once. If you have any questions, you can ask him.” The shortest of the three students pulled on Chui Ming’s arm. The former appeared to be unfazed by the scare, but his body was more honest. The elevator continued to move up, and the few visitors all turned to Chui Ming.

The boy was taller than his peers. His skin was very white, and he blushed from being the center of attention. “We haven’t officially entered the scenario yet. The elevator will open to send us into the scenario. Nightmare Academy has six floors in total, and each floor has its own unique story. It is totally random which floor the elevator will stop at.”

“Which floor did you get the last time you came here?” the man in black asked.

“I can’t say for sure. The number of the floor is written in the corridor, but that day, I surrendered before even walking into the corridor.” Chui Ming looked like an honest child. He would answer all the questions that people asked.

“Didn’t dare enter the corridor? Is it because there are actors hidden inside the corridor?” Once Chen Ge spoke, he exuded an air of professionalism.

Chui Ming nodded. “There are a lot of actors working here, and they are very good at their job. The corridor is one of the places where they focus. Unless it is absolutely necessary, we’d better avoid that place.”

“Understood.” Chen Ge turned to look at the three students. As time moved forward, the atmosphere in the elevator became suffocating. The three students were squeezed together, and it was the timid Chui Ming who appeared the most collected.

“Based on my understanding, the entire tour of Nightmare Academy can last for two hours. Later, there will be plenty of parts where we’re required to work together.” Chen Ge looked at his teammates. “My name is Chen Ge. How shall I refer to the rest of you?”

“We are classmates. His name is Chui Ming, this is Lee Bo, and my surname is Gou, so you can call me Xiao Gou.” Of the three students, Chui Ming was the tallest and the shyest; Lee Bo was on the larger side, and he looked quite cute; Xiao Gou was very thin and was the shortest of them all. He was quite a chatterbox even though he was about as timid as Chui Ming.

“I am Lee Yuan, and this is my girlfriend, Xue Li.” After the couple gave their introduction, everyone turned to the silent woman who stood in the corner. The woman appeared like she had just survived a break-up, and she was still caught in its aftermath. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she was probably there to vent.

She is emotionally unstable. Hopefully, she won’t collapse inside the Haunted House.

Chen Ge studied the woman with his Yin Yang Vision. When he gave the worker his ID, he had already been recognized by Nightmare Academy’s workers. When the worker was handing out the items, he had purposely been singled out. Chen Ge obviously noticed that, but he was too kind-hearted to take issue with such things.

Now that there was such a strange person within their ranks, Chen Ge’s first thought was to suspect that she was actually a Nightmare Academy employee.

He studied her for a long time but could not find any residue of special make-up on her face. Assuming that she was really a worker there, it meant that she was an actor who would not rely on special make-up.

After jotting down this detail in his mind, Chen Ge stopped paying her any attention.

Hong!

The elevator shuddered, and the visitors all went to grab the railings on the walls. Several seconds later, the doors slowly opened, and a strange stench drifted into the cramped space. Compared to the natural presence at Chen Ge’s Haunted House, the smell was chemically enhanced, and it stung the visitors’ nostrils. The elevator doors opened to a world of darkness.

“Should we go out?”

“Brother Chui, is it this floor that you visited last time?”

“It doesn’t look like it. When the door opened last time, it led to a large hall with a new student welcoming ceremony.”

“What the… why is it so dark in here?”

“Is someone there?” Xiao Gou grabbed Chui Ming’s arm as he slowly nudged to the elevator doors. He switched open the flashlight and was about to aim the light outward when a head suddenly poked out from one side of the door.

Screams echoed in the elevator immediately. The three students knocked into each other, and Lee Yuan and Xue Li hugged each other tightly. The silent woman staggered one step backward, and her back knocked into the elevator wall. Of the whole group, only Chen Ge was unaffected as if he already predicted that this would happen.

After the screams petered out, the owner of the head switched on the lights in the corridor. The green light in the elevator went out, and the old-fashioned ceiling lamp in the corridor came on. The lamp flickered on and off. The wire was exposed, and the light pulled the shadows of the visitors long.

“Are you the new students?” The worker outside the elevator stood under the light. He was wearing an ill-fitting school uniform. “May I take a look at your offer letters?”

After checking the tickets, the worker made a vague gesture. “We haven’t had new students for a very long time. There are rumors saying that this place is not safe, that it’s haunted, but those are merely malicious rumors created by our competitors. This is just a normal school.”

Lee Yuan and Xue Li were the first to enter the elevator, so when they left the elevator, they were also at the front. Just as the couple were about to step out, a voice suddenly appeared next to their ears. “Don’t leave! Run! Do not go there!”

Xue Li was given the fright of her life, and she rushed out of the elevator while screaming. The other visitors followed suit. When everyone was out of the elevator, someone finally turned back to look. The innermost wall of the elevator had a pale green face that was screaming. Unfortunately, the visitors had already left the elevator. The blood red elevator doors that were decorated with strange electrical wires slowly closed. The sound of the man’s screams echoed in the empty elevator.

“3D projection?” Chen Ge had been staring at that face. It looked very real, but the eyes were rather empty as they stared fixatedly at a certain spot. This should be some sort of set program. If someone was standing there, it would be very scary, but unfortunately, since there was no one there, it was rather awkward.

“Look, there are always people who are trying to smear our name, but we are actually a very normal school.” The senior in the school uniform led the new students deeper into the corridor. “The school organized a welcoming ceremony for all of you. You should go take some pictures and hand in your physical check report. If there’s no problem, please come to the third floor for the welcoming ceremony.”

After walking a few steps, the senior stopped. He pushed open the door of an adjacent room. “Come and take some pictures.”

The words ‘photography club’ were written on the wooden door. The space inside was bigger than anticipated. A bunch of photography equipment was left in the corner, and the projector in the middle of the room was showing some kind of movie.