An Zhiqing hadn’t realized this was a haunted house. Just from the outside, he already felt something was off, how could a house be this run-down in this day and age, and still be livable?
He immediately voiced his objection: “How about we just pay for a hotel ourselves? No need for the production team to arrange anything.”
The accompanying cameraman looked helpless: “The director specifically wants you to stay here. You need to complete tasks inside.”
An Zhiqing had been overbearing in his youth, and age hadn’t dulled that at all. He was about to argue further, but Qi Hui frowned. “That’s enough.”
He had no choice but to swallow his words, though he hadn’t given up on the idea of switching to a hotel, and kept shooting meaningful glances at Jiang Li.
A young man like Jiang Li surely hadn’t suffered much hardship, if Jiang Li suggested a hotel, Qi Hui probably wouldn’t object.
“An Zhiqing’s got a plan here”
“He thinks he’s being clever, but Qi Hui’s clearly seeing right through it”
“Textbook passive-aggressive behavior, now I understand why they got divorced”
“But will Jiang Li actually object?”
Jiang Li read the meaning in An Zhiqing’s eyes clearly enough, after all, he wasn’t as clueless as Xu Jiawen.
But for robots like him, lodging was simply a matter of finding somewhere to shut down, so he had no opinion on where they stayed.
As long as there was a door, that was enough, a bed wasn’t even a necessity.
Seeing that Jiang Li had no objections, An Zhiqing felt utterly disappointed.
The cameraman spoke up at this point: “Please head to your destination, everyone.”
Xu Jiawen, a former soldier with high compliance, was the first to get out and walk to the door, pushing open the dust-covered gate.
The moment he stepped inside, he frowned. Before him stretched a pitch-black corridor, barely wide enough for one person.
“Now I understand the grading system, the higher the difficulty, the higher the destination level, it’s not about comfort at all”
“Last time was Class C, this time’s Class A, that’s a pretty big jump in difficulty”
“What kind of show does this?”
“Don’t try to guess what the production team’s thinking, they seriously believe a haunted house will help these people bond, only someone with ten years of brain damage would come up with this”
“Who brought a flashlight?” Xu Jiawen turned to ask.
An Zhiqing looked baffled. “It’s just an overnight stay, why would we need flashlights?”
“Too dangerous without one.”
Ruan Yan listened in confusion, planning to throw himself into completing tasks once inside, what did Xu Jiawen even mean by that?
He walked straight to the door and only then realized the inside was completely dark, there was no way to walk in without a flashlight.
But who would carry a flashlight on them?
Just as they stood there at a loss, the ice-cold boy pulled a flashlight out of his backpack.
Ruan Yan: ???
An Zhiqing: ???
At this point, Jiang Li once again seemed mysteriously capable to the audience.
“Who carries a flashlight around with them!”
“And it’s not just any flashlight, it’s an Imalent MS18, with hundreds of thousands of lumens, one of the brightest flashlights out there”
“What does Jiang Li even do in his spare time???”
“Great question”
The little robot didn’t quite understand everyone’s astonishment, as a qualified exploration robot, carrying professional equipment was simply a necessity.
With the flashlight, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Xu Jiawen took the lead holding it.
Jiang Li walked at the back of the group, with only Duan Zhihan behind him.
Using the light from the flashlight ahead, he observed his surroundings.
This was a newly unlocked area for him, the dark corridor was narrow and long, the walls built from rough stone, occasionally marked with dark reddish stains, possibly human blood.
He examined everything so closely that the person behind him tugged at his collar as a reminder: “Focus on where you’re walking.”
The man’s fingertip accidentally brushed the back of his neck, lightly grazing his skin. He shivered involuntarily and, saying nothing, continued walking forward with focus.
Duan Zhihan raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised, so obedient this time. Guess he wasn’t upset anymore.
They walked for what felt like a long while before a pale, ghostly candlelight appeared ahead, flickering like a funeral banner in the wind.
An Zhiqing stopped, frightened. “Something feels off about this place, doesn’t it?”
Xu Jiawen agreed. “This house isn’t fit to live in. There’s a scent of blood.”
The livestream chat suddenly caught on.
“Do they not realize this is a haunted house?”
“There’s no sign saying ‘haunted house’ on the door, and there’s not even any staff around”
“Wouldn’t that make it even more thrilling?”
“Would the more timid ones get scared to actual tears on camera? I’d bet Jiang Li would get scared crying, Ruan Yan should be calmer about it”
Ruan Yan’s heart was pounding with nerves right now.
Logic told him there was no real danger, this was probably a deliberate setup by the production team, but he couldn’t help thinking, what if there really was?
He glanced back at the camera, telling himself to stay calm. Everyone’s fear was his chance to shine.
Finally, they made their way through the narrow, winding corridor into the living room.
The spacious living room was brightly lit, decorated with warm, homey children’s drawings on the walls, and a dedicated glass observation deck offering a sweeping view outside.
Seeing this, An Zhiqing let out a breath of relief. “This house doesn’t look like much from outside, but the interior’s better decorated than most hotels.”
Being in a well-lit environment gave people a sense of security. The panic in Ruan Yan’s heart faded too, and he casually sat down on the sofa.
Beside him sat a brand-new teddy bear, its mouth unfortunately stitched shut with red thread, making it look as if it were crying.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Ruan Yan swore he saw the toy’s eyes move.
“The props are so realistic!”
“Now I want to visit this haunted house myself”
“I see Ruan Yan’s legs shaking”
“Even Ruan Yan couldn’t hold it together for more than a few seconds, Jiang Li’s probably about to cry, never actually seen him cry before”
Ruan Yan didn’t dare sit anymore, walking toward the more crowded area, noticing a glass case on the cabinet.
Inside the glass case sat a bloodstained skull, its dark, hollow eye sockets staring back at him. He stumbled backward in fright: “This is a human skull!”
He was certain it was real bone, it didn’t look like plastic at all.
Ruan Yan’s voice trembled, while the ice-blue-haired boy spoke dismissively: “There are bony ridges on both sides of the nasal bone, with vertically aligned crests above them, can you really not tell that’s a mandrill’s skull?”
Ruan Yan, mocked: ???
The comments equally felt the deep sting of that remark, while also marveling at Jiang Li’s breadth of knowledge.
“How does this school dropout know all this bizarre trivia?”
“That’s exactly the kind of knowledge that seems impressive but is completely useless in practice”
“Impressed but confused”
“Wasting his talent in the entertainment industry”
Ruan Yan’s face burned with embarrassment, though thankfully at this moment Xu Jiawen discovered a note on the table.
Xu Jiawen read the words on the note aloud: “Welcome to your destination. There are rooms for rest on the second floor. Please place your luggage in your assigned room, then head to the dining room, where we’ve prepared a lavish dinner for you. Attendance is mandatory.”
“The entire house is open for exploration, and we encourage you to look around, but please remember these three rules: One, do not reveal what you personally see. Two, you may exchange information with your companions. Three, make sure you’re always with a companion.”
“That last one is unsettling”
“Aren’t the first and second rules contradictory?”
“I’d dare go into a purely scary haunted house, but this kind, I really wouldn’t dare”
“Is this really a travel show?”
Jiang Li also noticed the contradiction between the first and second rules, but he pushed the confusion aside and headed upstairs to his room with his suitcase.
The second floor’s lighting was dimmer than the first, growing darker still toward the far end, and something resembling a mouse scurried past.
He found the room with his name on it and turned the handle to open the door.
The moment the door opened, a shrill scream echoed in his ears, and a half-visible white figure appeared outside the window, dark red blood trickling down agonizingly slowly.
However eerie the scene looked, the boy calmly turned on the light with an expressionless face, placed his suitcase in the closet, and even wiped the dust off it with a tissue.
“I’m scared to death and Jiang Li isn’t fazed at all!”
“He really has a composure that doesn’t match his age”
“An Zhiqing next door collapsed from fright, the cameraman’s reassuring him it’s just for show effect”
“I want to quit the show right now”
Once he finished putting away his luggage, the little robot walked to the window to check things out.
The window was completely sealed shut, he couldn’t open it to verify whether it really was human blood.
Even if it was human blood, it didn’t matter much, ghosts, to him, were just spiritual entities, similar to holographic projections. Nothing to fear.
This must be what wasn’t allowed to be revealed, only one person could see it, while other objects could be discussed openly. Jiang Li walked out of the room, completely calm.
Everyone else must have seen things in their rooms too, An Zhiqing’s face was deathly pale, Ruan Yan kept glancing around nervously, and Duan Zhihan spoke flatly: “Let’s head to the dining room.”
Jiang Li had no objection to this and followed the group forward.
The dining room was to the right of the living room, featuring a large white marble table set with food and utensils, as if welcoming guests from a long journey.
The observant Qi Hui noticed something odd: “There are only six of us, so why are there seven place settings?”
An Zhiqing hesitantly offered, “Maybe they just prepared an extra one.”
“No.” Duan Zhihan picked up the letter placed at the head of the table.
“What does the letter say?” An Zhiqing swallowed nervously.
“There’s one more person besides us.”
The moment Duan Zhihan’s words landed, the dining room fell into an unbearable silence. Even knowing it was just a show, An Zhiqing’s legs still went weak.
He glanced at Jiang Li, and only after confirming the boy wasn’t scared did he continue: “The letter says this guest is very shy and requires a special ritual to be summoned.”
“Let’s just forget it then.” An Zhiqing said timidly. “Who knows what would come out.”
Duan Zhihan’s tone remained steady: “There must be a reason we were brought to this dining room. They wouldn’t ask us to perform a ritual for no reason.”
If Xu Jiawen had said this, An Zhiqing wouldn’t have been surprised at all, since Xu Jiawen was the meticulous type who’d never settle for eighty percent when he could give a hundred.
But Duan Zhihan was different.
Duan Zhihan had always had a lazy, easygoing temperament, never taking this variety show seriously at all, he’d normally settle for eighty percent without ever pushing for a hundred. Why be so serious about a task now? Wouldn’t it be nicer to just coast along?
An Zhiqing thought about it for a long while but couldn’t figure out the reason, though he didn’t dare argue against Duan Zhihan’s opinion.
No one else objected either, and they decided to follow the pen-spirit ritual described in the letter to summon the guest. Duan Zhihan simply wanted an opportunity to bond further with the little one.
The pen-spirit ritual was a variant of an ancient Chinese divination practice, requiring only a simple setup, just a pen and paper, with everyone’s wrists suspended in the air, holding the pen together.
“This is way too thrilling!”
“It’s night time, I’m almost afraid to watch this”
“Anyone got protective charms to share?”
“Protect, protect, protect”
Summoning the pen spirit at night was different from doing it in broad daylight, and with only six people in this enormous house, a certain mental tension was inevitable.
But when it came to the step of holding the pen, Qi Hui relaxed her brows and said to An Zhiqing, “I don’t want my hand touching his.”
Xu Jiawen looked toward Ruan Yan.
Jiang Li: “I don’t want to touch anyone.”
“The tense atmosphere just evaporated”
“Never expected it to get stuck on this issue”
“Jiang Li’s comment was way too savage”
“Group attacks, now that’s a skill he’s mastered”
After an awkward round of discussion, the order for holding the pen was determined from inside out as: Xu Jiawen, Qi Hui, Ruan Yan, An Zhiqing, Duan Zhihan, and Jiang Li.
The guests gathered around the table, murmuring in low voices: “Pen spirit, pen spirit, I am your present life. If you wish to continue this bond with me, please draw a circle on the paper.”
Under the dim yellow lighting, the little robot hoped they’d finish this game quickly.
Not out of fear, but because his hand was resting on Duan Zhihan’s hand, skin against skin, an uncomfortable warmth spreading between them.
Duan Zhihan wasn’t just staring at him without blinking, his eyes were also full of an unmistakable “you’re taking advantage of me” look.
Who’s taking advantage of who!
If it weren’t for the ritual in progress, he would’ve pulled his hand away without hesitation, but for now, he had no choice but to endure it, second by second.
The change happened abruptly. The moment their words fell silent, a flurry of footsteps echoed from upstairs.
Those footsteps sounded like a child playing a chasing game, and the next second, everyone heard a child’s shrill laughter, someone had arrived in the darkness.
An Zhiqing collapsed straight onto the floor, cold sweat beaded on Ruan Yan’s forehead, and Qi Hui’s expression turned grim as well.
If the thing had simply appeared outright, it would’ve been one thing, this kind of unknown, lingering dread was the most terrifying, letting people’s minds conjure up the most horrifying possibilities imaginable.
The little robot merely watched the spiritual entity with curiosity, no fear on his face at all.
A beautiful, defenseless-looking boy, completely unfazed in this dark and gloomy haunted house, the scene carried a striking impact.
“Is this person incapable of fear?”
“People used to criticize Jiang Li’s expressionless acting as lazy, but seeing this, I don’t think it’s laziness at all, he’s genuinely like this in real life”
“He seems like he’s never smiled once”
“What kind of romance-novel male lead persona is this”
“Sorry, wrong genre, this belongs in the danmei channel”
To Jiang Li’s disappointment, the spiritual entity vanished into the darkness, it had appeared to be a small child.
Just then, another letter appeared on the staircase.
The little robot curiously walked over and bent down to pick up the letter.
He read the letter aloud, mimicking what the others had done: “If you’ve discovered that thing through the ritual, know this, it destroyed my family, killed my wife and child. No one can escape, no one can escape! Unless you capture its face with the exorcism camera.”
Hearing this, An Zhiqing felt both relieved and terrified.
Relieved, because they’d successfully performed the ritual and found a clue. Terrified, because the production team clearly wanted them to go find that thing, otherwise there was no way to leave this house, who would dare go look for it?
Duan Zhihan suddenly spoke up: “Seems like we need to find the exorcism camera first. Splitting up to search would be faster.”
An Zhiqing immediately grabbed Duan Zhihan’s sleeve: “Isn’t it too dangerous to search alone?”
Whether it was An Zhiqing’s imagination or not, he saw the young Best Actor smile faintly.
“Then let’s pair up.” Duan Zhihan compromised. “Assigning groups would take too much time, let’s just follow the order from the earlier ritual.”
Duan Zhihan’s suggestion sounded perfectly reasonable, and everyone nodded in agreement. Once the little robot finished nodding, he suddenly realized something was off.
If they followed the ritual order, wouldn’t that mean he’d be paired with Duan Zhihan?
Even though he could now approach the show with a level head, that didn’t mean he wanted more contact with Duan Zhihan.
Just as he was wrestling with this dilemma, Duan Zhihan walked over and leaned down: “Shall we go, Teacher Little Jiang?”
The noble little robot found himself quite pleased with this title, and hesitated for a moment before walking forward, only the very tips of his ears turning faintly red.
“Was this pairing intentional?”
“Whether it was intentional or not, that ‘Teacher Little Jiang’ nickname is way too sweet, I’m writhing on the bed like a worm”
“I want to hear him say ‘Teacher Little Jiang’ in bed”
“You have no shame”
“Neither do I anymore”
The house had four floors total. The door to the fourth floor was locked, so Jiang Li and his partner were assigned to search the third floor.
The third floor had a nursery, a media room, a study, and a storage room.
Considering the study likely had text-based materials that might contain information about the exorcism camera, the little robot went there first.
The study had a wall full of books, with an unfinished letter sitting on the desk. The paper bore the chilling words “It has come,” and there were small child’s handprints along the edge of the desk.
His gaze shifted to the nearby wall, where a family portrait hung, a middle-aged man holding his wife’s hand on the left, and cradling a seven-year-old son on the right.
But someone had used a red crayon to viciously deface the photo.
Just as Jiang Li was about to move closer for a better look, the study lights suddenly went out!
The room plunged into total darkness, and all he could hear was something crawling slowly across the floor, making an unbearable squeaking sound.
He wanted to check what kind of creature it was, but movement was difficult in the dark, and he found himself stuck in the narrow passage between the desk and the wall, only able to hear the creature getting closer and closer, crawling relentlessly up his leg.
Goosebumps rose across his skin. At that moment, Duan Zhihan stepped up behind him, close enough that they could hear each other’s breathing.
The man’s hand gently brushed off whatever was crawling on his leg, but that touch was even harder to bear than the crawling creature, itchy and tingling all at once.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed outside the door, similar to the ones heard in the living room, but this time more urgent.
Duan Zhihan looked at the calm boy, who showed no intention of clinging to him at all, and reminded him: “Aren’t you scared?”
“No.”
Jiang Li’s attention was entirely focused on the footsteps, but the man, unwilling to accept this answer, asked again: “Are you really not scared?”
The little robot found this rather exasperating, did he really seem that timid? He wasn’t the type of protagonist from a horror movie who needed comforting.
Just as he was about to lose his patience and snap at him, Duan Zhihan whispered close to his ear: “I’m scared.”
Ah, so it was him who was scared.
A subtle sense of superiority bloomed in the little robot. So what if he was a better actor, he was still this timid.
He offered a half-hearted comfort: “Nothing to be scared of, just don’t think about it.” And preferably, stay farther away from me.
Jiang Li wasn’t satisfied with their current distance, so he took two steps forward, and suddenly a picture frame crashed down heavily from the wall, glass shattering across the floor.
Right after, he heard a child’s delighted clapping sound. Before he could even process it, the human behind him wrapped his arms around him in fear: “That’s so scary.”
Jiang Li’s brow twitched: “…I know.” But could you please get your hand off my waist!