Chapter 223: Stay Calm, Don’t Panic, No Fear! (Part 3)
"How did they follow us?"
Xiao Du’s voice trembled as he walked at the back of the group, closest to the mannequins.
"Did you hear any footsteps?" Han Qiuming shifted his gaze to Du Chaojin. "To move this many mannequins, there must be more than one staff member mixed in."
"Not a sound. They just appeared behind us out of nowhere, I swear." Xiao Du was terrified Han Qiuming wouldn’t believe him.
"No sound at all?" Han Qiuming furrowed his brows, staring at the mannequins for a moment before suddenly breaking into a smile. "I know the reason!"
He strode toward the mannequins, as if he’d truly uncovered the secret hidden within them. "The floors of the Third Ward are piled high with bedding. If the staff walk on the bedding, they won’t make a sound."
"The person who designed this haunted house is meticulous and knows how to manipulate people’s minds. They deliberately hid terrifying fake figures under the bedding to divert our attention, making us overlook the bedding’s real purpose."
Han Qiuming stopped beside the female mannequin, a faint smirk curling at his lips. "Using bedding to muffle footsteps—that’s a clever idea, but their performance is terrible. To create a sense of psychological pressure on visitors, they need to keep their distance. Let the visitors feel their presence but never touch them—that’s the best approach."
Xiao Du didn’t quite grasp Han Qiuming’s point. "Why is keeping distance the scariest? I think slowly closing in seems more frightening."
"Too much is as bad as too little. Pushing too hard makes visitors rebellious, and then they’ll do something like this." Han Qiuming yanked off the mannequin’s head, toppling it over. He looked at the remaining mannequins in the dark corridor and shouted, "Come out on your own. Don’t make me drag you out—it won’t look good for anyone."
"Who are you talking to?" Xiao Du felt like he couldn’t keep up with Han Qiuming’s train of thought.
"The Third Ward staff—they’re in special effects makeup, mixed in with the mannequins!" Han Qiuming adjusted his glasses, his expression calm, as if everything was under control.
But after more than ten seconds, the mannequins in the corridor remained frozen in their poses.
Several dark silhouettes stood staggered in the middle of the hallway, eerie even when motionless.
"Teacher Han, maybe we should just go. If their staff won’t come out, forget it."
Xiao Du tried to persuade him, but Han Qiuming felt his pride was at stake. "Since I’ve caught them, they don’t get a choice. I’m in a bad mood today anyway. That Chen guy wrecked our haunted house, didn’t he? Today, I’ll tear his place apart!"
Han Qiuming walked alone into the crowd of mannequins, pulling off each head and kicking them to the ground. "Keep hiding. Let’s see how long you can last."
Heads rolled, making the scene even more grotesque.
"Come back, Teacher Han!" Xiao Du’s heart raced as he watched the mannequin heads tumble across the floor.
"What’s the rush?" Han Qiuming had already ripped off four or five heads. "This actor’s got nerves of steel, letting the props get destroyed without showing himself."
"Brother and Brother Song are already far ahead—we need to go too!" Xiao Du kept urging. The rolling heads made his scalp crawl, and what really freaked him out was that the mannequins’ expressions seemed to be shifting—they looked like they were smiling!
"Don’t panic." After pulling off the eighth head, Han Qiuming himself felt something was off. "Mannequins have metal frames and joints inside. It’s hard enough for an adult to move four at once. Are the actors all hiding in the back? That makes sense—even in makeup, if they got too close, we’d spot them. So they must be in the rear."
Convincing himself, Han Qiuming pressed on, leaving a trail of decapitated mannequins behind him.
"Teacher Han!" Xiao Du watched him charge into the mannequin crowd alone, worried. Gritting his teeth, he ran over too. "Let’s go! Damaging so many props—if someone sees us, it’ll be bad."
"If he dares to mess with our place, he should expect his own to get trashed." Han Qiuming approached the last four mannequins, which were lying a bit farther away. "They won’t cry until they see the coffin. Fine, I’ll drag you out myself."
He grabbed the head of the fourth-to-last mannequin and, with a slight twist, popped it off.
"It’s still a fake?" Xiao Du’s voice was tense. "Teacher Han, what if the mannequins are moving on their own? When I came over just now, I thought I saw their expressions change."
"What do you know? Shut up!" Han Qiuming yanked off two more heads, his hands starting to shake as he reached the last one.
With both hands, he pulled out a head that looked like it was crying.
"What the hell?"
Han Qiuming held the head, staring wide-eyed at Du Chaojin.
"They’re all fakes?!"
Xiao Du’s vocal cords quivered. Standing amid the pile of mannequin parts, he didn’t dare move.
"It’s fine, don’t be scared! The staff here probably saw me coming and hid in the side wards." Han Qiuming tossed the mannequin head aside and hurriedly checked the rooms on either side.
"Come out! I see you!"
After searching several rooms with no luck, Han Qiuming emerged with a grim face.
"Teacher Han, is this haunted house really haunted? That Boss Chen is a lunatic—he’d do anything. He once locked me in an iron cabinet." Xiao Du’s scalp tingled as he started crying about that terrifying experience.
"Enough, it’s nothing to brag about." Han Qiuming waved him off, calculating the distance from the Third Ward’s exit to the corridor corner. "The actors brought the mannequins in and didn’t have time to run out of the building. I get it—they must’ve left through the staff passage. There might be a tunnel under this bedding."
No matter what he said, Xiao Du wasn’t buying it anymore. He just wanted to get away from Han Qiuming, feeling that sticking with him would lead to disaster.
"Look for the tunnel yourself if you want. I’m out." Xiao Du bolted.
"Such a coward, no wonder a tourist scared you into tears." Han Qiuming’s voice lost its confidence as he stepped deeper into the Third Ward. But as he lifted his foot, he felt a headless mannequin’s finger hook onto his pant leg.
Without a second thought, he kicked the arm away. "Trying to make it look real? Who are you scaring?"
Turning the corner, Han Qiuming faintly heard a rustling behind him, mixed with a "thump, thump" sound.
"Playing tricks."
He didn’t bother checking what was around the corner, instead speeding up to catch up with the tourists ahead.