My House of Horrors

The four visitors occupied the four corners of the classroom. The surroundings were dark, and there was no light at all. Background music that came from an unknown corner drifted into their ears and would have caused any visitors present to break out in a cold sweat.

“If you’re all ready, we will start playing this game.” Chen Ge had attempted many supernatural games before, but this was his first time playing it with strangers.

Out of safety concerns, Chen Ge reminded the other participants again, “This Haunted House never ever sees the sun, so it gathers a very heavy Yin energy, and that attracts the presence of many strange things.

“Playing a game like this in a Haunted House is actually a very dangerous activity. When I arrived at this place, I noticed that Nightmare Academy is located at the Yin corner of the merchant street, and it is also located at the back end of the whole building. This is Yin on top of Yin. To make matters worse, there is a taller skyscraper built next to this building blocking the only source of sunlight to Nightmare Academy. This kind of geographical location is incredibly scary.”

“We are just students. Can you please not make thing sound so scary‽” Lee Bo pulled down the zipper of his top and exposed the school uniform underneath. It was identical to the uniform that the senior wore.

“What I’m saying is very simple. Playing a supernatural game in a Haunted House might cause us to really run into those things. If you’re afraid, you’d better leave this room as fast as you can, because certain things might not be a trap arranged by the Haunted House but something else completely…”

“I know, but can we please start the game already? This place is too creepy. I don’t want to stay here any longer.” Xiao Gou was in the corner opposite from Chen Ge. When he said that, there was a strange smile on his face.

“Okay, then I’ll start first.” Chen Ge walked toward Chui Ming while touching the wall. Based on the rules, he needed to reach Chui Ming’s location. Slowly moving forward, to make it appear more real, he even closed his eyes.

His fingers touched the corner of the wall. Chen Ge opened his eyes, and a pale face was floating in the dark. Chen Ge reached out to touch the shoulder of the man before him. Chen Ge was moving in a clockwise motion; he was supposed to move to Chui Ming, Chui Ming was supposed to move to Lee Bo, and Lee Bo was supposed to move to Xiao Gou.

Chui Ming did not speak. He followed the blackboard and moved to Lee Bo’s corner. When he reached Lee Bo, he patted Lee Bo’s left shoulder and then right shoulder. This appeared to be their signal.

Chen Ge realized that once Chui Ming did that, Lee Bo’s tensed shoulders conspicuously relaxed. The game progressed with ease, but when they did the second round, something changed.

Xiao Gou patted Chen Ge’s shoulder. He occupied the corner when Chen Ge had originally been. According to the rules, Chen Ge should have been moving to Chui Ming’s corner while the rest stood where they were. However, Chen Ge was only halfway through the motion when Xiao Guo suddenly moved to follow behind Chen Ge!

Not only him, both Chui Ming and Lee Bo also started to move at the same time. The three of worked well together. Their movement was light and did not make any sound. When Chen Ge arrived at Chui Ming’s corner, Chui Ming had already left, so the corner was unoccupied.

If Chen Ge was a normal person, they would have been overwhelmed by anxiety because, theoretically speaking, there should have been someone waiting in this corner. Xiao Gou maintained his distance from Chen Ge. In his mind, he could already see how panicked Chen Ge was. This new student welcoming ceremony was specially designed for Chen Ge—a normal visitor would not have been blessed with such an experience.

Darkness was human’s primal fear. Without the ability to see and hear, with the change in the rules, no one would be able to maintain their calmness. Xiao Gou looked at the shadow in front of him with anticipation. He repeated the script in his mind as he arranged his expression and prepared to jump forward. However, at that moment, something that he did not expect occurred.

Chen Ge fished out a ballpoint pen from his shirt pocket and stopped where he was for a second.

“What is he doing it?” After a moment, Chen Ge straightened himself and stood in the corner. Then Xiao Gou saw a blurry figure leave Chen Ge’s corner and move toward the next corner.

“There was someone in that corner‽” Xiao Gou stopped moving instantly. His first reaction was that the two other actors had made a mistake—they had strayed from the script. “So, what should I do now?”

Chen Ge stopped at Chui Ming’s original corner. Chui Ming and Lee Bo did not know what had happened. Following the plan, they had already moved to the next corner. Chui Ming and Lee Bo were waiting for Chen Ge’s scream. They had disliked Chen Ge for a long time. Now that the man had volunteered to walk into their trap, of course, they would not let him go so easily.

At least that was their plan, but they waited for a long time and did not hear Chen Ge’s scream. Chui Ming turned back to look. He still had not understood where the problem was when someone patted him on his shoulders. His hair stood on end, and Chui Ming instantly leaned against the wall.

“What’s going on? Has Chen Ge moved along without staying in the corner?” Looking at the shadow behind him, Chui Ming could only discern a rough outline. This person’s size was completely different from Chen Ge’s. He was too short and too thin.

Of all of them, only Xiao Gou matched this size.

“Brother Gou?” Chui Ming called after the shadow softly, but there was no answer. Chui Ming had no idea what the problem was. With confusion, he continued to move forward to where Lee Bo was.

When Lee Bo saw the tittering shadow moving toward him, he was given quite a shock as well. With no other option, he moved toward Xiao Gou’s corner.

Chen Ge was not scared. His teammates had made some mistake, so Xiao Gou was stunned. After giving it some thought, he decided to move back to his original location and pretended like nothing had happened.

After all, there were night-cams in the classroom. If there was a problem, the technicians would have informed them through messages already. Before joining the group, they had been given Bluetooth earphones. If needed, they could put it to use—this thing was one of the necessary items for a Haunted House worker.

Xiao Gou moved backward, and Lee Bo moved toward his corner. The two of them moved at almost the same speed. In the dark, to prevent himself from being exposed, Xiao Gou moved very lightly. He was being very careful, walking backward with his hand on the wall. When he was about to reach his corner, his finger suddenly touched another person’s hand!

His arm shrunk back as if electrified. He did not expect there to be an extra person coming from behind him!

“Who is this?”

“Brother Gou?”

Lee Bo was quite shocked as well. He had just assumed the spot when someone touched his hand.

“Why are you behind me?” Xiao Gou was surprised. This was not the first time that they had cooperated, but this was the first time that something like that had happened.