My House of Horrors

“Sister Ghost!” When Small Ghost heard the scream from Sister Ghost, he was worried, but he did not slow down.

“Hey! The one in front! You haven’t finished your story!” Small Ghost ran as fast as he could, but he could not catch up to Ol’ Zhou, so he shouted, “As long as someone becomes friends with the ghost student, he will leave, but what will happen to the person who befriended him?”

Even though Small Ghost was too afraid to rescue Sister Ghost, it showed that he cared about her.

“The ghost student will only appear on the day of the death. After he finds his friend, naturally, he will take his new friend away with him.”

“What the f*ck! Doesn’t that mean that you’ll die if you befriend him‽” Small Ghost slowed down, thinking about saving Sister Ghost.

“Think of it this way, perhaps your friend will become the new ghost student. It doesn’t sound that scary when it’s put that way, right?”

“Right your head!”

“Either way, it’s not my problem.” Ol’ Zhou held his chest but ran so fast and could even converse normally. The original team of seven soon turned into a team of five. The screaming of the ghost student had not stopped, but they could sense that his speed had greatly slowed.

“We can’t wander about aimlessly like this!” At this crucial moment, Bai Buhui gained control. He had been led away by emotions earlier and followed Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue deeper into the education block. “Even if we are trying to escape, we should head toward the library to meet up with Liu Gang!”

“But do you know where the library is?” Ol’ Zhou leaned against the wall to catch his breath.

“I don’t, but we can ask.” Bai Buhui took out his phone, activated the flashlight, and aimed it at the corridor behind him. “I’ve seen many horror movies and played many horror games. In fact, I’m a haunted house designer myself. The situation earlier wasn’t created by 3D imaging. There was certainly a real person behind it!”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Since there’s a real person behind us, no matter how scary it might appear to be, there is no need for us to be afraid!” Bai Buhui’s hand that held his glasses was shaking. His heart was not as calm as he appeared. “We’re just visiting a Haunted House. As long as we trust that everything is fake, there is nothing to fear!”

His repetition was more like a pep talk for himself. By then, the ghost student had arrived from the other end of the corridor. The boy was wearing a strange uniform, and there was a falsehood about him.

“Let’s be friends!”

“I refuse to believe this!” Bai Buhui gritted his teeth. He held the phone and purposely aimed the bright light at the ghost student. In the dim corridor, the flashlight appeared particularly blinding. Being shot by the light, the ghost student picked up speed as his body flickered out of view.

“Ah!” Bai Buhui shouted at the ghost student as the latter resisted the bright light to charge at Bai Buhui. The scary face expanded in Bai Buhui’s pupils before the boy phased through his body. After finding two friends, the ghost student’s spirit had weakened a lot. It used its last energy to pass through Small Ghost and then disappeared.

“It was a fake? A projection?” Bai Buhui’s legs were frozen, and he was covered in cold sweat. He had almost fainted from that scene earlier. Thankfully, he was more determined than others and managed to hold onto his consciousness.

“Brother Bai, are you okay?” Small Ghost did not realize that his term of reference toward Bai Buhui had changed. “What was that? It was so real. How did this Haunted House manage that?”

“Using some simple visual technology, we can achieve similar effects. Our futuristic theme park has scenarios scarier than this.” Bai Buhui scoffed with condescension as he tried to move his feet that were petrified from fear.

“Today’s technology sure is impressive.” Small Ghost and Big Ghost wandered over. “But since that thing is fake, let’s go get Sister Ghost. She must be so frightened.”

“Yes, we can’t just leave her behind.” Bai Buhui turned to look at Ol’ Zhou and Duan Yue. “The two of you had better come with us. We can’t get separated.”

After realizing the Haunted House’s secret and knowing that all the ghosts were fake, they instantly felt less afraid. They retraced their steps, but they failed to find Sister Ghost. It was as if she had disappeared into thin air.

“Where is she? How come we didn’t hear anything? Technically speaking, after Sister Ghost discovered that the ghost was just a projection, she should have told us, unless…” Bai Buhui looked around. “There are other actors here. They have linked this whole thing together! The projection was just part of the plan!”

The group was discussing the issue when urgent footsteps came from the other end of the corridor. A young couple was running their way.

“They look so familiar…”

“It’s the students!”

“These two probably don’t know that they’ve been exposed.”

Bai Buhui, Small Ghost, and Big Ghost shared a look. This was perfect because they were finding a place to vent their anger.

“Finally, there are actual humans! This Haunted House is too scary!” The couple was haggard, their faces were pale, and it looked like they had been through a lot as well.

“How did you two manage to find us?” There was a sharp rudeness in Bai Buhui’s question. As the designer of the futuristic theme park’s Haunted House, he was hostile toward anyone affiliated with Chen Ge’s Haunted House.

“We heard the scream, so we ran here,” the male student answered politely. “Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine, of course. We are fine.” Small Ghost and Big Ghost surrounded the duo with darkened faces.

“That’s good news. By the way, when we were coming here, we saw someone following you guys from behind with a camera. That’s very suspicious. You have to be careful!”

“A camera?” Bai Buhui narrowed his eyes. “Your acting is not bad, but you’d better use your brain before you speak. The guard who carried the camera has already disappeared. So, what you said is basically admitting that you are responsible for his disappearance.”

“Us?” The male student was confused.

“Stop acting!” Small Ghost was agitated. He pulled on the student’s collar. “Where is Sister Ghost? Where is she? Where have you hidden her?”

“Sister Ghost?” The male student heard this unusual name and wondered if he had triggered some kind of hidden scenario.

“We know everything. Stop resisting.” Bai Buhui had lost his patience. “Tell us the location of Sister Ghost and the library!”

“How am I supposed to know that!”

The male student panicked. He flung Small Ghost’s hand away and grabbed his girlfriend as they slowly retreated. He had heard from his peers how scary this Haunted House was; now, he finally understood it. Not only was the scenario scary, even the other visitors were scary. Small Ghost and Big Ghost had unfriendly countenances, and the rest did not look pleasant either. The male student slightly pulled on his girlfriend’s hand before they turned to run down the other end of the corridor!

“Stop!”

“Don’t think you can run away!”

After the couple escaped, Bai Buhui, Small Ghost, and Big Ghost chased after them. Ol’ Zhou looked at the rampaging group and sighed lightly. “This is so tiring…”

His hand was pulled. Duan Yue dragged Ol’ Zhou, and they continued another chase. This time, they raced out from the education block and followed the corridor to enter the lab building.