My House of Horrors

Chen Ge glanced at the five children on screen, and he instantly recognized this rather famous supernatural game.

“This is called the four corners game. At midnight, four people are tasked with standing in the four corners of a dark, closed room and then walk along the walls in a clockwise fashion.

“When the first person reaches the first corner, they have to pat the shoulder of the next person lightly. Since there are four corners in the room and four people playing the game, when the people in the classroom start to move, there will be a corner that is left empty.

“When you pass the empty corner, cough once, and then you can continue on down toward the next corner.”

“How do you know this so well?” Chui Ming was surprised. He was holding a diary that he had found next to the projector, and the game’s rules were written on the first page.

“The version that I gave is the standard mode. If you wish to make it more interesting, you can cover your eyes and call out your name, then ask the name of the person standing there when you reach the corner. This way, it’ll be far easier for a fifth person to appear.” Chen Ge extended his hand to grab the diary, and Chui Ming subconsciously darted away. “What? Don’t you trust me? This Haunted House is so scary. Only by working together will we be able to survive.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just think it’s not that normal for a visitor to know the rules of such a scary game to its exact details.” Chui Ming seemed to have been left with some scars when he last visited Nightmare Academy, so he had a deep caution toward anyone.

“How is that not normal?” Reaching into his pocket, Chen Ge pressed on the black phone. “This kind of famous supernatural game is not that scary because many people have attempted it before. Actually, I have some rare games in mind, would you like to give it a try? This place could not be more suitable.”

Chui Ming gulped as he looked around. The classroom door was jostled by the monster that awaited outside, the model before the blackboard swayed back and forth, and the mannequins at the seats carried scary expressions; was it really suitable to play any kind of game in that kind of environment?

“Fine, I’m not going to joke with you anymore. If I’m not mistaken, Nightmare Academy’s welcoming ceremony involves playing this game, and we should be able to move on after playing it.” Chen Ge was familiar with the tricks because he was in the same business.

“The ghost is about to come in, and you still have the time to joke, huh? Let’s get a move on.” Lee Yuan and Xue Li walked over. They made sure to stay away from the door.

“First, there is one thing that I need to correct. The entity that is knocking against the door now is a monster, not a ghost; they are completely different things.” Chen Ge took the diary from Chui Ming. He opened it and placed it on the podium. He stood before the blackboard, and the model with the horrible smell swayed behind him like a pendulum.

“This diary is unnamed, but from the handwriting, it seems to belong to a student. It is worth noting that the handwriting in this diary is uniform, meaning that there were probably multiple owners,” Chen Ge analyzed easily. “My observation is that the handwriting changes after completing each game. Does this mean that the people who participated in the game died after writing in this diary?”

Chen Ge spoke very fast. With the training from the black phone, the man was calmer the scarier the environment was. “Combining the video on screen and the diary, let me reconstruct the situation for you. The four new students didn’t listen to their teacher and entered this school at night to play the four corners game. During the game, an extra person appeared, and then all four of them disappeared. So, we would need to finish what they started and experience this game ourselves.”

Two hours per visit… Chen Ge planned to narrow that down to less than half an hour. He nudged the model away. “Excuse me.”

While the other visitors were still reading through the diary, Chen Ge moved to the corner of the classroom and discovered a ring attached to the wall. He pulled on it, and the blackboard shifted silently.

“There’s some kind of mechanism installed here. I get it now.” Chen Ge turned to yell at the other visitors. “There should be four rings in this classroom, one in each corner. Four of us need to stand in the four corners and then pull on them at the same time. After that, we should be able to escape.”

Chen Ge, who had been through a lot, had far greater thinking and reaction speeds than a normal visitor. Plus, he had his wealth of experience to rely on. Basically, with a little clue, he could reconstruct the whole story.

Before the visitors understood what was happening, Chen Ge already came out with the solution to the problem. The few visitors moved to the corners of the classroom with some suspicion. After they pulled on the rings together, the blackboard gradually rose to show the hidden path behind it. The monster outside the door heard this and knocked on the door even harder.

“Quick, let’s go!” Lee Yuan and Xue Li stood at the corner closest to the hidden path. Neither of them wanted to stay there any longer, so once the hidden path appeared, they let go of the ring and ran toward the blackboard. However, once they did so, the blackboard started to slide back into place.

“Four of us have to pull on the rings at the same time to keep the blackboard lifted.” Chen Ge understood it then. The reason that Nightmare Academy designed this was not to scare the visitors but to split them up. After all, visiting a Haunted House alone would be far scarier than visiting it with nine other people.

“I believe that we will have to split up. Four of us have to stay back to pull on the rings, and the rest will go in.” After Chen Ge said that, the others looked at each other, and it was clear that none of them wanted to stay.

“How about the three of us stay behind?” The little fatty, Lee Bo, said, “Ladies first, after all.”

Lee Yuan and Xue Li were a couple, so naturally, they would not split up. Thus, the final candidates to stay back were Chen Ge and the three students. The four stood in the four corners, and the mechanism was activated. Once Lee Yuan and the rest got into the hidden path, something did happen.

The blackboard came down suddenly, creating a loud crash as it hit the floor.

Someone has let go of their rings?

Narrowing his eyes, with his Yin Yang Vision, darkness did not affect Chen Ge that much. He looked around the other corners and saw that all three students had let go of the rings. They stood facing the wall with their heads lowered and their fingers knocking on the wall lightly.

So, these three students are the Haunted House’s actors.

The truth dawned on Chen Ge; he had been isolated.

The four visitors that came at the end are probably all their workers.

He was not angry or afraid. After all, Chen Ge had done much worse to his own visitors.

After giving it some thought, Chen Ge opened his mouth to say, “What happened? Why did the blackboard fall? Which of you let go? Are you guys still there?”

There was a trace of surprise and fear in his voice, giving the impression that he was trying hard to keep calm.

“This is Lee Bo, I’m here! Now what should we do? It is so dark in here; I don’t dare move!”

From the corner closest to the blackboard came Lee Bo’s voice. His lips were wide open, and he screamed with a voice that was almost breaking. When he spoke, Lee Bo looked in Chen Ge’s direction, and the joy of revenge was shining in his eyes.

“Don’t be afraid! Stand where you are, I’m coming to get you!” Chen Ge’s voice was full of concern and warmth like he was worried for the boys’ safety. “Please don’t panic, I am trying to figure out a solution! Who is still here? Please speak up, let me know your exact location!”

“I’m standing next to the diary. When I was looking through it earlier, there was an extra notice at the bottom of the rules. If you fail to find the exit, we can play this second game to locate the new exit.” Chui Ming’s voice came from opposite Lee Bo. The two of them stood in the corners closest to the blackboard.

“Looks like we need to play this second game to escape. Later, I need you to follow my orders. No matter what happens, remember to stay calm!” Repaying their vengeance with kindness, Chen Ge reminded them, “When the real game starts, there might be an extra participant. That should be the Haunted House’s actor, so whatever you do, do not panic.”