Jiang Shuai scratched the back of her head awkwardly, “Just in case I get scared and pass out in the haunted house.”
Che Xiayun couldn’t help but laugh, “At least you know yourself well.”
Jiang Shuai handed out green glow bracelets, “In the haunted house, we can use these to find each other.”
Che Xiayun slipped the bracelet on easily. The soft silicone bracelet was light but a bit loose on her slender wrist, though it wouldn’t fall off.
After the three of them entered the amusement park, Jiang Shuai first took them on the merry-go-round and pirate ship, then up to the mountaintop panoramic elevator, and finally to the bumper cars, where they lingered until noon.
Che Xiayun enjoyed the leisurely pace, strolling around and clocking over 10,000 steps. As the third wheel, she had to stay alert for any unexpected displays of affection.
They bought drinks and found a stone table to sit at.
Jiang Shuai pulled out the sushi and tempura bento boxes from her bag two of them, one single portion and one couple’s set, both generously sized. “We’ll do something more thrilling this afternoon.”
Che Xiayun opened her bento box, speared a sushi roll, dipped it in a bit of salad dressing, and took a bite. The sushi rice was soft and fragrant, the salmon and crab stick tender and fresh, the cucumber crisp and refreshing. As she chewed slowly, she could feel the fish roe bursting in her mouth.
The tempura included large shrimp, eel, enoki mushrooms, green peppers, broccoli, eggplant, and lotus root.
Watching Jiang Shuai and his girlfriend enjoy their couple’s meal was too much to bear, so Che Xiayun decided to keep her head down and savor the fairly decent free bento box.
Tempura is a dish where ingredients are coated in batter and deep-fried. The first bite is crispy, but the moisture inside is minimal, making the meat less tender. Still, overall, it was acceptable. Che Xiayun thought the fried vegetables were even better, enoki mushrooms, green peppers, and eggplant all tasted quite good.
After lunch, while many people were still eating, they went to ride roller coasters, giant swings, and other thrilling rides before heading to the haunted house with relaxed expressions to queue up.
The haunted house itself wasn’t very large just three floors, each about 50 to 60 square meters. The first floor had two entrances, and each entrance allowed a maximum of three people at a time. Inside, there were task cards, and visitors had to complete the tasks to exit. The tasks and themes changed daily, keeping things fresh.
By the time it was their turn to enter, it was already 3:30 in the afternoon. The staff handed them a walkie-talkie and two small lights emitting faint yellow glows, reminding them not to bring their phones inside and to avoid harming the NPCs.
The staff then explained the day’s task: the setting was a mental hospital, a crime scene, and a morgue. The story went like this: Xiao Hong was a female worker at a clothing factory. One day, her daughter, Xiao Fang, died in a car accident. Unable to accept the loss, Xiao Hong went insane. After being admitted to a mental hospital, she couldn’t handle the external stimuli and hanged herself.
Their task was to find Xiao Hong’s most cherished keepsake and place it beside Xiao Fang’s body. They had a two-hour time limit. Both entrances would start simultaneously, and the two groups would compete to complete the task. The group that finished first or made faster progress would receive a small reward.
Standing at the entrance, Jiang Shuai was already terrified, clutching Ran Shan’s arm and trembling. Even through the black curtain, they could feel the eerie chill inside and the sound of wind howling against the glass windows.
Thinking of the two figurines she wanted, Che Xiayun “kindly” pushed Jiang Shuai inside. “Let’s go. Finish early, and if we win, you’re treating me to a big dinner tonight.”
“Ahhh!” Jiang Shuai shrieked like a stepped-on cat, darting behind the other two in an attempt to escape, but the staff had already closed the door.
The first room they entered was unmistakably the morgue cold, dim, and draped with fluttering white rags. There were no lights, only a sliver of light seeping in through the ventilation shaft, flickering with the rotation of the fan.
The fluorescent green bracelets on their wrists glowed like faint will-o’-the-wisps, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the room.
Ran Shan was also terrified, her teeth chattering as she clung tightly to Jiang Shuai’s arm, not daring to let go. Che Xiayun handed one of the small lights to Jiang Shuai. “You take one. One light is enough for me.”
“Okay.” Jiang Shuai took the light, pinched her arm to force herself to calm down, but in reality, she was trembling with fear, her face pale and her body cold.
Che Xiayun pushed aside the white cloth and stepped forward. “This room probably won’t have any NPCs appearing on their own. Don’t be afraid.”
Jiang Shuai and Ran Shan stuck close together, following her cautiously, not daring to make a sound.
The morgue wasn’t large, and it felt chilly, probably due to the air conditioning. There was only a specimen cabinet, a bed with a corpse on it, fake blood splattered on the walls, and a white skeleton covered in markings placed beside the cabinet. The atmosphere was somewhat eerie.
Che Xiayun wasn’t afraid of ghosts or corpses she had encountered them before and wasn’t frightened. “Come on, let’s look for clues,” she said.
After adjusting for a moment and realizing it wasn’t as scary as she had imagined, Jiang Shuai pulled Ran Shan toward the cabinet and picked a simpler section. “I’ll take care of this side.”
Che Xiayun circled the hospital bed once. The outline of the corpse under the white sheet appeared to be only about 1.3 meters tall. “Hmm, this corpse must be Xiao Fang’s.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of something hard hitting the floor echoed, followed by two piercing screams that reverberated through the entire morgue.
“Ahhh! Help! Help!”
“Ah, It, it it, Ah!”
As soon as Jiang Shuai opened the cabinet door, a disfigured head sprang out. It reeked of rot and decay, with half of the flesh on its face decomposed into a dark reddish-black mess. Plump white maggots wriggled gleefully across it, and one eyeball dangled from its socket, bouncing mockingly against its cheek.
Che Xiayun was startled by their screams and glanced over. The terrifying head was still dangling from the cabinet, and the white skeleton had been clumsily knocked apart, scattering bones everywhere. “What happened?”
Jiang Shuai, trembling with fear, clung to Ran Shan and stammered as she pointed at the head, “It suddenly popped out.”
Che Xiayun examined it carefully and said flatly, “That means it’s fake. A real head would just fall to the ground and roll away.”
Even so, Jiang Shuai took several steps back, afraid the head might suddenly drop in front of her, and refused to go near the cabinet again.
Che Xiayun opened the other cabinet door and found a small task clue card inside. She took it out and read it aloud: “A little surprise, the real clue card is on the morgue bed.”
Jiang Shuai cursed loudly to soothe her wounded nerves, “Damn it, what kind of garbage is this? No clue and they’re just trying to scare us!”
“Uh,” Che Xiayun pocketed the task card and addressed the head, which might have been an NPC, “Sorry for knocking the skeleton apart. You’ll have to put it back together again.”
Just as Jiang Shuai was about to call her crazy, the head suddenly lifted and nodded slowly, its eyeball trembling along with the movement.
Her pupils dilated in terror, and she leaped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Screaming, she hid behind Ran Shan, trembling uncontrollably. “Ahhh!”
Che Xiayun ignored her and walked straight to the morgue bed. After a moment’s thought, she lifted the white sheet. Upon seeing the corpse’s true appearance, she gasped. The little girl’s face was blurred, her hair tied in twin ponytails, and her waist and abdomen were crushed into a bloody, flattened mess, almost as if she had been severed at the waist.
Jiang Shuai, both scared and curious, took a look and screamed again. Ran Shan had had enough and slapped a hand over her mouth. “Shut up.”
But where was the clue card?
Che Xiayun lifted the entire white sheet and shook it, but nothing fell out. She took out the previous clue card and read it carefully again. “On the morgue bed?”
“Could it be under Xiao Fang’s corpse? But how do we move it? Even a slight touch might make it fall apart, and then we’d have to trouble the NPC to reassemble it again.”
Che Xiayun furrowed her brows. After Jiang Shuai barely managed to calm her emotions, she came over and asked, “Haven’t you found the clue card yet?”
“Nope,” Che Xiayun shared her thoughts with them. “I suspect it’s probably under Xiao Fang’s corpse, but it’s not easy to retrieve.”
Jiang Shuai scanned the area and pointed at the corpse’s head. “Under the pillow would be easier to get.”
Che Xiayun’s eyes lit up, and a hint of delight appeared on her face. “Right, it’s very likely under the pillow.”
She gently lifted the edge of the pillow and spotted a clue card. Carefully, she used her fingertips to pull it out and held it in her hand.
“Found it.”
Jiang Shuai and Ran Shan gathered around to look. Just as the three of them huddled together to examine the clue card carefully, the exit door was suddenly pushed open from the outside!
Two strikingly beautiful women of similar height appeared at the doorway. The slightly taller one had an exceptional aura, with a cold yet enchanting face, while the other appeared somewhat petite, with a slightly round face, large eyes, and an overall adorable look.
The rush of cold air mixed with the smell of decay made Ma Qingyu hold her breath. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the other group exploring the haunted house was none other than Che Xiayun, Jiang Shuai, and Ran Shan.
The two groups locked eyes, each equally stunned.
Wei Ziyue happily grabbed Ma Qingyu’s hand and pointed at the bewildered Che Xiayun. “Sister Yu, look! This is the young lady I saw at the bar last time. She’s way more handsome in person than in the photos. And we ran into her again this time, what a coincidence!”
Che Xiayun snapped out of her daze and forced a smile that seemed to have just escaped from a freezer. “What a coincidence.”