Chapter 30: Why Is There an Extra Person?
Heshan pleaded earnestly for a long time, but the senior students remained unmoved. They all thought he was deliberately exaggerating to cover up his own cowardice.
As the saying goes, hearing is false, seeing is true. After wandering around the haunted house for a few minutes, they felt it was nothing special.
"Xiao Shan, if you're scared, just hide behind me." The woman called Sister Hui took the lead and walked alone into the room next door: "The setup's pretty much the same. It's not as interesting as watching crime scenes in the dorm."
"Let's stick to the groups we had earlier." Monkey scurried after Sister Hui: "Let's find the door and get out soon. I'm already getting bored."
Old Song and a quiet girl named Shiling followed along too, leaving only Heshan, Brother Feng, and Old Zhao in the hallway.
"Honestly, pretty disappointing." Old Zhao was a chubby guy with skin whiter than most girls. He was in poor shape, and sweat beaded on his forehead after just a few steps.
"Alright, enough talk. Let's move." Brother Feng waved his hand and strode forward, with Old Zhao close behind.
Soon, only Heshan remained in the hallway. He had no way to voice his frustration. He was the only one still on high alert: "If this keeps up, something's bound to happen."
He took two steps forward, then suddenly stopped: "The background music seems different. Why does it feel oddly familiar?"
Before he could think it over, a crisp sound reached his ears, intermittent, as if coming from the path they had taken.
"Is someone following us?" Heshan didn't dare linger and quickly caught up with the students.
When "Black Friday" started playing, the midnight escape game truly began. The light grew dimmer, debris in the hallway occasionally rolled on its own, and from the distant stairs, the clatter of chains grew steadily closer.
"Found something!" Sister Hui, at the front, pulled a cloth doll from the room: "Look, there's a doll right in the middle of this room."
"Senior, don't touch anything in the haunted house. Last time, we triggered a trap by messing with a coffin." Heshan tried to share his experience, but no one paid him any attention. He could only stand silently at the edge, watching his seniors recklessly court disaster.
"This doll's definitely suspicious. Is it a symbol, placed in the center of the room?" Monkey lifted the doll's head. It looked like a five- or six-year-old girl, but without eyes, and its body was charred black: "No eyes probably means darkness. The burned body—does that mean it went to hell?"
"Maybe it hints at murder?" Brother Feng pressed the doll's body: "The stuffing isn't soft. It's kind of hard. Open it up and see."
Monkey unzipped the doll's back. Inside, it was stuffed with shredded paper. He pulled out a piece, and the handwriting was messy and childish, clearly from a young writer.
"What does it say?"
Monkey, the only one who had read the note, looked uneasy. He held the paper out for the others to see. On it were just five words: "You're all going to die!"
"Every piece of paper seems to have the same words."
"What a grudge."
"Throw it away. It's bad luck." Shiling, who rarely spoke, seemed especially afraid of the doll. She glanced at it and quickly moved to the edge of the group.
"It's just a doll. Don't make a big deal out of it. It's probably just a decoration." Monkey stuffed the paper back into the doll and tossed it onto the hallway floor: "Let's check the next room."
His voice trembled noticeably, showing he wasn't as calm as he pretended.
"Hold on." Xiao Hui raised her left hand, holding a few torn pieces of paper: "In the room with the doll, I also found these. Take a look—they seem to be ripped from a diary."
"Let me see." Old Zhao took the papers and read aloud: "I think there's someone hiding in the house. I don't know if it's under the bed or in the closet. I told Mom, Dad, and my sister, but they all seem worried about something and didn't have time to listen. Late at night, Dad checked all the doors and windows in the apartment before going to sleep. I don't know what they're afraid of, but I know there really seems to be someone hiding in my room..."
"Damn! What the hell?" Old Zhao couldn't even finish reading. He handed the papers back to Xiao Hui: "It's all designed to mess with us. Take it seriously, and you lose."
"The details are well done, but it doesn't scare me." Xiao Hui put the papers back in place, and the group moved on to the next room. None of them noticed the cloth doll, tossed on the floor, suddenly twitch.
"Let's just find the exit. Stop wasting time."
After searching four or five rooms with no luck, they reached the right side of the hallway.
"The third floor is big, and we haven't searched it all, but I think the exit is very unlikely to be here. If I were the haunted house owner, I wouldn't put the exit and entrance on the same floor." Brother Feng analyzed rationally.
"Should we split up?"
"No way! If we're not on the same floor, we'll get picked off one by one!" Heshan interjected, but everyone chose to ignore him.
"We've been in here for ten minutes, and nothing's happened. The atmosphere's decent, but it's far from scary. I think splitting up is better." Old Zhao wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued: "Don't forget why we're here. Only by finding the exit and leaving within the time limit can we truly win back our pride!"
"Makes sense. Let's stick to the original plan."
Just as they were about to finalize it, Heshan, unable to take it anymore, stepped forward: "Can you just listen to me for once!"
He walked to the center of the group and pointed down the hallway: "For the past few minutes, I've been hearing chain sounds from the stairwell. Something's been following us!"
At Heshan's words, the others finally tuned in. Listening closely, they could indeed hear the chain sounds growing clearer.
"The owner said this scene is called 'Midnight Escape.' Since it's an escape, there's bound to be a killer." Old Zhao patted Heshan's shoulder: "Don't get too into character. The killer following us is probably a staff member in costume. Knowing it's just a person pretending, what's there to be afraid of? Right?"
The others laughed, thinking Heshan was just being overly sensitive.
"Don't panic. Your senior's got your back. No matter who comes, we're not afraid." Old Zhao pulled out his phone: "Didn't we agree to record a short video in the haunted house and post it on the owner's community page to mock him? I think this spot's perfect. Come on, everyone, look at the camera."
He angled the shot to include everyone. His eyes scanned the screen, and just as he was about to speak, an indescribable chill shot through him!
His whole body trembled, and with a jerk, he flung the phone away!
"Fatty! What the hell are you doing?"
"What's wrong? You scared me!"
Old Zhao didn't answer. His gaze swept over everyone, his teeth chattering: "Look for yourselves. Counting me, why are there eight people here!"