My House of Horrors

“But I’m supposed to be behind you!” After hearing Xiao Gou’s voice, Lee Bo calmed down quite a bit. After all, this proved that he was dealing with a human being and not something else.

“That’s not wrong, but…” Xiao Gou looked at the corner before him and lowered his voice to a whisper. “This is not how the script is supposed to go, right?”

“I know, but you have to ask Chui Ming about that. I only walked toward you because he came to me.” Lee Bo was confused, having no idea what was happening.

“Looks like the problem lies with Chui Ming. Chen Ge is just ahead; he hasn’t moved on, and he has no reason to move on his own.” Xiao Gou fished the Bluetooth earpiece out from his pocket. He was going to put it in but was afraid of being discovered by Chen Ge. After giving it some thought, he signaled for Lee Bo to calm down as he headed toward the corner where Chen Ge was. With his hands on the wall, Xiao Gou sought his way through the darkness. When he reached Chen Ge’s corner, he became more cautious as he reached out to touch Chen Ge on his shoulder.

The height hasn’t changed. This person should be Chen Ge, but how come his body temperature is so low? This is so strange.

“Xiao Gou?” Before Xiao Gou could come to a decision, Chen Ge suddenly called his name.

“What… what’s wrong?” Pulling his hand back, Xiao Gou stumbled through a reply.

“Something’s not right. When I walked over here earlier, someone was standing in the corner. She was smaller than Chui Ming, but I don’t think it was Lee Bo. I suspect the Haunted House’s workers have snuck into our ranks.” Chen Ge sucked in a cold breath. His voice felt like it was squeezed through his teeth, and it sounded very scary.

“One extra person? The Haunted House workers might have joined us?” Xiao Gou stared at Chen Ge’s blurry face, and his mind was blank. Are you telling three Haunted House workers that we might have been infiltrated by the Haunted House’s workers? Is this some kind of joke?

“I’m not lying to you, be careful,” Chen Ge said seriously, and this flustered Xiao Gou. Even he started to wonder if the leader had sent in reinforcements to help them.

“Okay.” Xiao Gou nodded. When Chen Ge moved to the next corner, he silently took out the earpiece from his pocket and put it in.

“Can you hear me?” With his face against the wall, Xiao Gou used his clothes to shield the light from the phone screen, and he whispered to ask his colleagues at the surveillance room.

“Yes.” A middle-aged man’s voice came back through the device. “I was about to call you. Why didn’t you follow the script? Do you know how much trouble I went through to come up with this system? It’ll be able to enhance the horror factor of the game to its maximum. Stop playing around and get back to your stations and follow the script this time.”

“Boss, there appears to be some problem here. Have you sent in other people to help us?”

“I don’t think so.” The middle-aged man was confused and was baffled by Xiao Gou’s words. “Stop talking lest you get exposed. If there’s some accident, I’ll be first to inform you.”

Xiao Gou was still worried, so he added, “Boss, I’m not sure where everyone is now. Can you see where everyone is through the camera?”

“How can you not remember something so simple after so many rehearsals?” The man was getting impatient. “You are now on the right side of the blackboard, the one nearest to the door. Lee Bo is on the left side of the blackboard, and Chui Ming is in the furthest corner of the classroom. Chen Ge is moving. Oh, he’s now stopped in the corner closest to the backdoor. Also, how did you all screw this up? You’ve finished a round, and there are still people in all four corners.”

“Boss, don’t worry, now that I know everyone’s location, we’ll follow the script again.” Just as Xiao Gou said that, footsteps came from the last row of the classroom. The person did not attempt to hide the sound of his footsteps at all.

“Is someone moving?” To add to the atmosphere, there was no light in the classroom. Xiao Gou could only see a shadow moving at the back of the classroom.

“No one is moving. All four of you are standing in the corners; no one is moving.” The middle-aged man looked at the surveillance and told Xiao Gou what he saw. He was doing that out of kindness, but he had no idea the depth of horror his little update had brought to Xiao Gou.

Footsteps were very audible inside the quiet classroom—there was indeed someone moving in the class!

“Boss, I’m confirming with you again, are you sure that you haven’t sent another person here?”

“No, how many times do I need to tell you that all four of you are standing in the four corners? No one has moved. How come you sound so weird today? Are you not feeling well? Is it because your mother has been lecturing you again?” The middle-aged was getting impatient.

In the camera, all four people were occupying their individual corners, but there came footsteps in the classroom!

It could only mean that there was a fifth person in the classroom! Who could it be? When did they get in?

Xiao Gou’s mind was fraying. He could not help but be reminded by what Chen Ge had said at the start of the game. Playing this sort of game inside a Haunted House was dangerous, because you might just summon the real thing.

“We’ve attempted this many times before, and there haven’t been any problems, but this time…”

If one walked along the riverbank often, one’s feet were eventually going to get wet. Xiao Gou was about to update the situation to the man in the security room when the man spoke ahead of him.

“Eh? What’s going on with Chui Ming?” the middle-aged man said with surprise. “Chen Ge is still standing at his corner. He hasn’t moved to Chui Ming yet, so why has he started to move ahead?”

When the middle-aged man said that, it was around the same time that the previous footsteps stopped, and the new shuffling footsteps began.

The three of us have cooperated many times. Chui Ming wouldn’t have moved ahead unless someone patted him on his shoulders!

When that thought entered his mind, Xiao Gou’s forehead broke out in cold sweat. It was true that he worked at a Haunted House, but it did not mean that he was fearless.

“Boss, who is occupying the corner Chui Ming had earlier?” Xiao Gou rubbed his palms, which were slick with sweat, on his shirt.

“What is wrong with your head today? I can see clearly from the surveillance that the corner is currently unoccupied.”

“You can’t see it on the camera?” Xiao Gou was really panicking. He was young in real life, which was why he had been given the role of a high schooler. “In other words, a ghost is standing in that corner.”

“What ghost? Are you trying to pull my leg? Aren’t three of you ghosts, or have you lost your mind after playing a visitor for too long?” The middle-aged man had no idea what Xiao Gou was talking about. “Quick, go back and follow the script. I’m going to have the recording of Chen Ge being scared, and I’m going to edit it into mini clips and spread them on all major websites. That’ll teach him a lesson!”

“Yes, boss, I’ll try my best.” Xiao Gou forced himself to agree. He looked at Chui Ming, who was still moving in the dark. After a moment’s hesitation, he took out his phone to send Chui Ming a message.

Chui Ming was on his way to find Lee Bo, and suddenly, his phone vibrated. He took out his phone and glanced at it while using his clothes to shield the light. It was a message from Xiao Gou, and it read, “The ghost is behind you!”

It was a simple question, but there were endless ways to interpret it. Chui Ming looked behind him, and there was a person standing in the corner that he had just vacated. It looked rather thin and lanky, reminding him of Xiao Gou.

Have Chen Ge and Xiao Gou swapped locations? I’m an actor, and in the Haunted House, actors are ghosts. So, this message means that Xiao Gou is now behind me, doesn’t it?

Confused, Chui Ming stopped moving. From his perspective, it was Xiao Gou who strayed from the script first, and there was nothing that he could do but continue with the mistake.

What is he trying to tell me?

For the sake of safety, Chui Ming reached into his pocket to find his earpiece. Before he could do anything, footsteps came from behind him. He held the phone in his hand and watched the figure come close. Very soon, Xiao Gou’s second message came.

“Don’t stop! We’ve attracted a real ghost this time!” After reading the message, with the weak light from the phone screen, Chui Ming lifted his head. He still could not see the face of the person behind him, but he managed to discern that the person was wearing a different school uniform form from the students of Nightmare Academy, and four words were emblazoned around the chest area.

“Mu Yang High School?”