Not many people visited the amusement park on a weekday. Weixin walked in the lead, and if one listened closely, the sound of Talon’s cheerful laughter could still be heard from behind.
Why hadn’t he ever noticed before how annoying Talon’s voice sounded?
Not paying attention to the path ahead, Weixin suddenly bumped into someone. It was an amusement park staff member wearing a uniform who immediately started saying “Excuse me” while bending over to pick up several tickets scattered across the ground.
The person quickly straightened up after gathering them and handed the tickets to Weixin.
“You’ve been selected as today’s lucky visitor, and this is your prize: admission tickets to the Haunted House.”
“A Haunted House?”
“Yes,” the staff member said, gesturing toward the nearby building.
Weixin followed the gesture with his eyes. Originally planning to refuse, he changed his mind the moment he caught sight of the terrifying architecture and the black lotus-seed pods hanging outside the entrance.
Looking down at the two tickets in his hand, he noted, “There are four of us in total.”
“Do we really have to go in?”
Xun Jin felt rather hesitant. Although he was a ghost himself and a demon at that logically speaking, he shouldn’t be afraid of such things.
He wasn’t afraid of real ghosts, but fake ones terrified him.
Staring at the entrance of the haunted house shaped like a gaping demonic maw, Xun Jin looked all the more fragile and slight.
Talon grabbed his hand, rubbing his palm reassuringly. “It’s fine, just hold onto me tightly.”
Mann chimed in to encourage him as well, “Yeah, besides, what could possibly be scarier than Weixin?”
At that moment, Weixin was lifting the corner of a black curtain. Hearing Mann mocking him behind his back, he turned around and said coldly, “Are we moving or not?”
“Why don’t the three of you go in…”
Being pulled forward by the hand, Xun Jin remained rooted to the spot with his feet planted.
“It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t be scared. If you’re scared, just hold onto me.” Wrapping an arm around Xun Jin’s shoulder, Talon half-pushed and half-carried him inside.
Once they all stepped through, the heavy black curtain dropped behind them, causing the lighting to dim gradually. Xun Jin glanced back just in time to see the staff member outside the haunted house adjusting the brim of his baseball cap upward and giving him a wink.
Why is it Cianus?
Xun Jin lowered his gaze in displeasure.
He could more or less guess that Cianus was trying to manufacture an opportunity for him to be alone with Weixin, but Cianus hadn’t bothered to consult him beforehand, and had even chosen a place that terrified him.
Under these circumstances, how could Xun Jin possibly have the mental capacity to figure out what to do next?
Noticing that Xun Jin was no longer resisting so fiercely, Talon pulled him closer against his side, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
“I’ll protect you.”
Weixin had never been to a place like this before. This was his first time in a haunted house, and it proved to be just as boring as he had imagined.
Walking at the very front of the group, he kept a constant eye on the commotion behind him.
With a casual swipe of his hand, he batted away a prop dropping from the ceiling a hanging dummy with only the upper half of its body, dressed in white with long black hair, swaying back and forth as it bounced back up.
Weixin took two steps forward, then glanced back again out of lingering anxiety.
Talon, Mann, and Xun Jin were walking together. Sandwiched between the two men, Xun Jin had both of his hands held.
Keeping his head lowered the entire time, Xun Jin seemed to be walking with his eyes closed. He took microscopic steps, stopping frequently before proceeding only after confirming the path ahead was safe.
Both his waist and shoulders were encircled by other people’s hands.
Was he really that terrified?
He didn’t even realize he was being taken advantage of.
A wave of inexplicable irritation washed over Weixin, making him want to aggressively pry the three of them apart.
Never crossing his mind that his own possessiveness toward Xun Jin was at play, he simply blamed Talon and Mann for being complete eyesores.
“Tch.”
Refusing to look at them any longer, Weixin turned around and kept walking.
The interior of the haunted house wound and turned; while the footprint didn’t look large, the path itself was surprisingly long.
Fighting down the urge to look back, Weixin quickened his pace.
Suddenly, he felt something tugging lightly at the hem of his shirt a force so faint and featherlight that it barely registered as real.
“Walk slower, I’m scared…”
Xun Jin’s voice carried a trace of tears, the end of his sentence laced with lingering grievance.
“…”
The lighting inside the haunted house cast an eerie greenish hue. When it shone down onto the crown of Weixin’s head, his facial expression became entirely unreadable.
Xun Jin attempted to look up and gauge the other person’s reaction, but upon catching sight of that looming silhouette, he shrank back and lowered his head once more.
An abrupt, mistaken impression hit him that the person standing right in front of him might not even be human, causing his grip on the clothing to loosen gradually.
Before Xun Jin could pull his hand back, however, it was snatched up in a tight grip. Startled head to toe, he assumed his worst premonition had come true. Tears welled up in his eyes instantly, spilling over alongside a soft “Wuwu—” sound resembling the whimpering of a small animal.
Frowning, Weixin tried to keep his tone calm. “What are you crying for? Are you that scared?”
In reality, though, his heart had already leaped straight into his throat at the sound of Xun Jin’s sobs.
Gently rubbing the hand he held, Weixin looked down at the other’s trembling shoulders.
Xun Jin was crying in silence, save for that initial little sound.
“Why is it you…”
Xun Jin sniffled.
Weixin paused mid-gesture. “Can’t it be me?”
Finding himself caught by Weixin while crying made Xun Jin feel even more mortified.
Yet he was genuinely terrified what else could he do?
Expecting Weixin to mock him mercilessly once again, he waited, but no mockery came.
Not knowing how to comfort someone, Weixin simply stood there in front of him, watching him weep.
Wiping away a couple of tears, Xun Jin stammered between sobs, “I got separated from them… just now, right before, a ghost was chasing us, and then we ran…”
“The path was too narrow, and he didn’t hold my hand right they grabbed the wrong person, that was a different ghost! They ran faster than me, and I just couldn’t keep up…”
The more Xun Jin recounted it, the more aggrieved he felt. Thinking back, that ghost chasing him had practically brushed against his back on multiple occasions.
On top of that, the ghost had kept laughing with an eerie, spine-chilling sound.
“Wuwu…”
Letting out another choked sob, Xun Jin bit his lower lip hard to swallow the rest back.
Weixin stepped a fraction closer to him, wanting to reach out and wipe away his tears, but hesitating out of self-consciousness, he dropped his hand back down and simply muttered:
“Those two are useless idiots.”
“Get me out of here…”
Anxiously glancing over his shoulder several times, Xun Jin terrified himself with the thought that the ghost might still be trailing them.
“Yeah,” Weixin answered.
Xun Jin didn’t hear him and gave Weixin’s hand another nervous shake.
Weixin’s heart raced. He suddenly felt a sense of relief that the lighting was so dim; otherwise, Xun Jin would surely find his expression right now bizarre.
The corners of his mouth twitched upward silently within the shadows as his voice grew slightly clearer:
“I’ll get you out of here.”
He gave Xun Jin a gentle tug, but the other person didn’t budge.
Looking apologetic, Xun Jin spoke in an even smaller voice: “My legs have turned to jelly…”
Suddenly, he felt a warm, sturdy body lean in close, and the next second, Xun Jin was scooped up horizontally into a bridal carry.
Struggling twice, Xun Jin was promptly pressed firmly against a broad chest as Weixin supported his slender back.
“Wait…” Xun Jin wanted to say that carrying him like this wasn’t strictly necessary and would exhaust Weixin.
“Don’t look.”
Shutting his mouth instantly, Xun Jin wrapped his arms around Weixin’s neck and buried his face directly against his chest.
After another moment of silence, still maintaining the exact same posture, Xun Jin asked with rising anxiety:
“Is it still there?”
“Still there.”
“What on earth is it?” Xun Jin’s voice trembled.
Scanning the completely empty corridor with a look of absolute serenity, Weixin spoke in a grave tone: “A human head hanging from the ceiling, plus a bunch of severed hands and feet floating nearby. Be careful not to touch them.”
Too terrified to utter another sound, Xun Jin tightened his grip around the neck of the person carrying him.