Chapter 134: Starting at Hell Difficulty from the Get-Go
Pei Hu stumbled back several steps before steadying himself, his face pale as a sheet.
"What's wrong? What did you see?" Wang Wenlong and Xia Meili rushed over from behind.
"Don't mind him, just a little bump in the road, scared him that much?" Wang Hailong's legs were trembling, his skin twitching slightly, but he still forced calm: "Just a few mannequins."
Even with mental preparation, the other three were still startled when they came over.
Over twenty figures suddenly appearing in a dim classroom was already terrifying enough. What made it worse was that they all turned their heads in the same direction, some of the mannequins' necks twisted a full hundred and eighty degrees, their heads hanging over their backs, staring at you—who could handle that?
"I was wondering why the earlier scenes weren't scary at all, turns out they were saving the big one for here." Wang Wenlong remained relatively calm, pulling out his phone and turning on the flashlight.
"Wenlong, the haunted house owner said not to use phones casually," Xia Meili reminded him from the side.
"He can't see us anyway, it's fine." Wang Wenlong shone the light toward the last classroom, the beam sweeping across each mannequin: "They should all be fakes—when the light hits their eyes, none of them blink. Wait! I see name tags, two of them!"
"Where?"
"On the mannequins' jackets!" Wang Wenlong aimed the light at a specific spot, and everyone looked there.
A name tag hung from the collar of a mannequin in the middle of the classroom, and another sat on a desk at the far end. To get both, they'd have to weave through all the mannequins.
"This haunted house owner is such a jerk!"
"It's okay with the five of us coming in, but if we followed his rules and went in alone to find the tags, we'd be messed up for sure."
"Enough, don't boost his ego and kill our own spirit." Wang Hailong paced a few steps, finally feeling the numbness in his calves fade: "We've got enough time; this classroom must have plenty of tags. We're not just going in to find them—we're going to search thoroughly and grab them all!"
"Long Ge, think twice! For five thousand bucks, it's not worth risking your life." Pei Hu was still shaken, his mind foggy.
"Is it really that serious? Stop blabbing, get over here!" Wang Hailong dragged Pei Hu to the doorway of the last classroom.
"Why am I going in first?!" Pei Hu showed a strong survival instinct.
"I'm afraid you'll run off. Acting like a scaredy-cat, does that fit your name?" Wang Hailong shoved Pei Hu into the last classroom, then turned to Dou Menglu and Xia Meili: "We three guys will check it out first. If it's fine, you two come in."
"Okay, be careful."
"It's fine, Wenlong already saw—they're all fakes." Wang Hailong and his brother Wang Wenlong entered the classroom too. The three stood on the podium, glanced down, and instantly felt their hair stand on end, their scalps tingling.
"This is insane, it's packed with people, not even room to step."
"Pei Hu, you're timid, go grab the tag in the middle. Wenlong, search the desk drawers, and I'll take the farthest one." Wang Hailong showed his big-brother demeanor, and though Pei Hu was reluctant, he couldn't argue.
"Long Ge, these mannequins look weird—their eyes seem to move!" Pei Hu hadn't even stepped off the podium before shrinking back.
"Can you shut up for once?" Wang Hailong was getting nervous too from Pei Hu's talk.
"It's normal to feel uneasy looking at mannequins. The owner's probably using the uncanny valley effect—things that look human trigger our instinctive disgust." Wang Wenlong offered an explanation, but even he wasn't convinced by it.
"Enough! Stop talking. The owner's already timing us outside—we've got twenty minutes to find all the tags to succeed. Don't waste time." With that, Wang Hailong braced himself and stepped off the podium, heading alone toward the far corner of the classroom.
"Long Ge's got guts." Pei Hu hesitated, then moved toward the middle desk. He was chubby, and as he stepped down, his belly brushed against a standing mannequin, which wobbled slightly.
"The guy who designed this haunted house must have had a rough childhood..." Pei Hu muttered, but before he finished, he felt a bump on his back: "Wenlong?"
He turned to see Wang Wenlong a couple of meters away.
"Who touched me?" He froze for a moment, looking at the still-swaying mannequin.
This mannequin was so realistic, like a real person—you'd barely tell the difference without a close look.
"Did this mannequin bump me?"
Pei Hu shuddered, not daring to linger, and reached the middle desk.
Sitting there was a girl, her uniform different from the others, stained with blood, as if she'd suffered something terrible in her final moments.
Pei Hu stared at the name tag on her collar, mustered all his courage, and reached out his chubby hand.
His fingertips inched closer to the girl, almost touching her neck, when the girl, whose head had been turned toward the window, suddenly moved.
"Holy crap!" Pei Hu's hand jerked back as if shocked.
"Did it really move? Could it be a person in disguise?" He glanced around—Wang Hailong was still at the far end, Wang Wenlong not far away. Having his buddies nearby gave him a bit more courage.
He reached out again and finally grabbed the name tag.
"Got it." Though it wasn't a big deal, Pei Hu felt a surge of joy. But as he tried to pull his hand back, he realized the tag was tied to the girl's neck with a string, knotted tight.
"What the hell! Is this guy insane?" He now wanted to kill the haunted house owner. Holding the tag, he stepped forward.
The classroom was too dark to see clearly. He pulled out his phone for light, bent down, and leaned closer to the girl.
Maybe it was his imagination, but when the phone's glow hit the girl's face, the mannequin's expression seemed to change.
Pei Hu didn't notice. Phone in hand, standing behind the girl, he focused on untying the knot.
But just as he was fully absorbed, Wang Wenlong beside him suddenly gasped, his voice faltering: "Something's off—I feel like this mannequin's been following me."
"You're overthinking it?" Pei Hu, fresh off his small victory, chuckled. He was about to continue untying when he suddenly noticed the girl sitting in the middle of the classroom had twisted her head onto her back, the distance between their faces less than half a finger apart.