"My name is Hao Ren. I was a salesperson. Before I died, the company organized a weekend activity to reward us for last month's performance. I wanted to stay home and play games instead of going, but the boss said anyone who didn't participate wouldn't get the reward for last month's results. I had no choice but to grit my teeth and go. Who would've thought that during this one and only activity, the equipment would malfunction? All dozens of us were suspended high in the air, then fell from over a hundred meters to the ground. Every single one of us broke our bones and died miserably."
"The moment before death, it really... hurt so much..."
Meanwhile, in another cabin, the ghost sitting across from Gao Jie—its flesh torn and rolled back, with a long gash at the corner of its mouth—also began its story...
"My name is Ye Qian. I was a small-time model at an etiquette company. I'd been stringing along a wealthy bachelor, figuring out how to hint at him proposing to me. But in the end, I found out he was a married man. Furious, I deleted all his contact info and dragged my best friend to the amusement park to clear my head. I never expected an accident—a mirror in the Mirror Maze fell from above and shattered into pieces. I couldn't dodge in time, and a shard cut my throat, killing me."
"What pisses me off most is that those shards completely ruined my face. I hate it so much..."
If the participants weren't scattered across different cabins at this moment but gathered together, they'd notice that all these ghosts—with their varied deaths in different cabins—shared one common trait: every single one of them was a victim of the amusement park's accident four years ago!
But right now, due to overwhelming panic, Gao Jie... didn't listen carefully to the ghost's description of its own death. In his extreme terror, he barely registered what it said.
"Alright, handsome..." The disfigured female ghost, with that long gash on her mouth still oozing blood, even flashed him a sinister smile. "Now, it's your turn..."
My turn... my turn... Sweat poured down Gao Jie's forehead. Not only that, but his back was now soaked through with cold sweat. What am I supposed to say? My own cause of death?
What did this ghost just say? Right, she said she was killed by mirror shards. No wonder her face has such a horrible wound. But what am I supposed to say?
No, if I stall any longer, the ghost will get suspicious. Think fast, make up a story! At this moment, Gao Jie's mind was a jumbled mess from sheer terror. As a member of the school's broadcast team, he was usually a quick-witted college student, but that was only under normal circumstances. Now, facing a real ghost and having to answer a question like "your cause of death," he was completely at a loss.
Any cause of death will do, right? I'll just make something up and bluff my way through. I can't delay any longer.
With that thought, Gao Jie bit his lip hard, forcing down his extreme panic, and began his story in a trembling voice...
"I-I'm Gao Jie, a college student. My cause of death is... is... one weekend, my classmate invited me to sing karaoke at a KTV, but I didn't go because I had a cold. That afternoon, a huge fire broke out at the KTV. The fire exits were blocked, so many people died. Just as I was庆幸 I'd escaped death by not going, a clothes-drying pole fell from the sky and hit me right on the head. I didn't die in the fire, but—I was killed by that pole..."
Though his heart was racing, Gao Jie's story had some thought behind it. He'd noticed that the ghost's death story included a twist, so he mimicked that feature, crafting his own bizarre "cause of death." The part about a falling clothes-drying pole killing someone was inspired by a news report he'd seen.
After nervously finishing the story, Gao Jie sneaked a glance at the ghost. The terrifyingly disfigured female ghost seemed to be listening with interest, a creepy smile on her face.
"You're saying you were killed by a clothes-drying pole falling from the sky?"
The next instant, the ghost's "intrigued" expression twisted into one of extreme malice and venom. She let out a furious roar!
"If you were killed by a clothes-drying pole, how could you be here! You—you dare deceive me!"
"You're not a ghost from the amusement park!"
"No! You're not a ghost!"
In that moment, Gao Jie's face contorted in agony. His mind buzzed, as if exploding, and he felt a numbing, overwhelming terror.
Where did I go wrong?
I came up with a perfect cause of death, so why didn't it work? In the end, the ghost saw through my true identity.
At this point, besides sheer terror, Gao Jie's heart was filled with confusion and resentment. He had no idea what part of his death story had tipped off the ghost...
Even if I die, I'll die with regret!
But no matter how desperately he wanted to live, how unwilling he was to die, once the killing intent was triggered, there was no escape in this cramped cabin.
Pfft...
A huge spray of blood mixed with shredded flesh splattered against the cabin's glass. Inside, aside from scattered limbs and a thick stench of blood, there was no trace of any living person or ghost. Only the red cabin continued its slow ascent high in the sky, turning with the Ferris wheel...
And so, Gao Jie, with endless regret and pain, became the second victim in this story.
Though they couldn't see what happened in the other cabins, the moment Gao Jie was killed, the rest felt a sudden chill deep in their hearts—like some eerie telepathy.
Another person died...
For Li Yan, who had been through three horror stories, this feeling was all too familiar. It confirmed that chatting with the ghost was indeed the trigger for this ride's killing mechanism. But he still didn't understand why that participant had failed to fool the ghost.
Wasn't it just a story about a cause of death? Making one up wasn't hard. But what kind of story would actually deceive the ghost?
Li Yan had already thought of a "drowning" story for himself, but the sudden perception of death made him stop just as he was about to speak.