Chapter 9: Every Medical Student Would Cry
"Senior, I feel like those paper figures are staring at us," Heshan said, gripping the doorframe and refusing to step inside. "No joke! There's definitely something off about those paper figures! Could they be people in disguise? Damn, I keep feeling like they'll stand up from the ground the moment we get close!"
The paper figures that Chen Ge had processed with his corpse-makeup skill carried an indescribable eeriness—clearly lifeless, yet exuding a faint trace of vitality.
Gao Ruxue shot Heshan a fierce glare, wanting to call him a useless teammate. Fear was contagious; she hadn't been that scared initially, but his words made her skin crawl too. "Can you talk less? If you keep rambling, I'll leave you here alone."
She stepped into the room first, scanning her surroundings. The windows on the main house's walls were just decorations, offering no passage to the outside.
"Senior, let's get out of here fast. This room is cursed—sealed tight, the exit can't be here."
"The haunted house owner is good at psychological manipulation and reading people's minds, so we need to do the opposite. The more unlikely a place seems, the more carefully we should search it." Gao Ruxue moved around the room, the breeze she stirred causing the paper figures on the floor to sway.
Heshan watched from outside, trembling with fear. "But there's no cover in here—it's all open. Where could the exit be hidden?"
"No cover? Who told you that?" Gao Ruxue stood in the center of the main room, lifting her long, pale leg and stomping on the red coffin. "Come help me. I'm opening the coffin!"
"Opening the coffin?!" Heshan's mouth twitched, and he felt utterly unsettled. "Isn't that a bit inappropriate..."
"Are you planning to stay in this haunted house forever?" Under Gao Ruxue's coercion, Heshan inched into the room, carefully avoiding the paper figures on the floor, and bent down to grip the other end of the coffin lid.
"I'll count to three, and we'll push together."
"Okay."
"One, two..."
"Thump!"
Gao Ruxue had only counted halfway when a strange noise echoed from inside the room!
"What was that?" Heshan hugged the coffin lid, trembling in fright.
"Shh." Gao Ruxue made a silencing gesture, looking around before fixing her gaze on the red coffin in front of her. "It sounds like it came from inside the coffin."
When she said that, Heshan's face turned pale with terror, his Adam's apple bobbing as he gripped the coffin lid like it was a red-hot iron plate. "Sis, you're my real sister, let's get out of here now."
"Calm down. Don't you think it's strange that we heard a sound from the coffin just as we were opening it?"
"A sound from a coffin? That's not just strange—it's deadly!" Under the influence of Black Friday, Heshan's fear was magnified infinitely, and all he wanted was to leave as soon as possible.
"Think about it. A sound from the coffin means one of two things: either there's a staff member inside who'll jump out to scare us when we open it, or there's some mechanical device triggered by opening it, causing a third variable. Either way, the coffin is a key prop in this horror scene. If we want to escape, opening it is a necessary step." Gao Ruxue patted the coffin lid. "Don't hesitate. Just open it."
"I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds reasonable."
Heshan and Gao Ruxue pushed together, and the heavy coffin lid slid slowly. When it was about a quarter open, a sudden bang erupted from the worn-out coffin!
"Boom!"
The coffin collapsed outward, spewing countless paper figures and spirit money. A strange woman's laughter filled the room, and the door began to close on its own!
"Run!" Heshan was close to the door, and in his panic, he forgot about his senior, darting to the entrance. But before he could stick his head out, a woman's face appeared from outside!
Pale, delicate, breathtakingly beautiful!
"What the hell!!!"
Caught off guard, Heshan swung his fist at the face, but its owner seemed to anticipate his reaction, dodging as if rehearsed countless times.
"Ghost!" Missing his punch, he scrambled in panic, rolling and crawling toward the other side of the courtyard.
"Heshan! Don't run!" Gao Ruxue shouted, just catching a glimpse of a red figure following Heshan into the side room.
"The left and right side rooms are for the younger generation. Damn! Heshan went into the room where the vengeful spirit lived!" Gao Ruxue rushed to leave, but the door had already shut, locking her in the main room. "Are they trying to split us up and take us out one by one? This is just a haunted house tour—why so ruthless?!"
The coffin lay in pieces, paper figures scattered everywhere. Trapped in the center, Gao Ruxue's mind raced. She kicked at the door, and after over a minute, finally forced it open.
In just one minute, the outside seemed to have changed drastically.
"Xiao Shan? Heshan!" Gao Ruxue called out twice, but no one answered. The haunted house was silent except for the eerie background music and the rustling of spirit money scraping the floor.
"What's going on? This place isn't that big—Heshan couldn't have missed my voice. Did something happen to him?" Images of crime scene photos flashed through her mind, and she didn't know why they came to her now.
She followed the corridor, recalling the layout, and arrived at the west side room. "Xiao Shan ran this way."
"Creak..."
She pushed open the old wooden door, and a paper-cut wedding character fell off. Gao Ruxue stepped inside.
The room was decorated as a bridal chamber, but oddly, all the ornaments were white. It felt not festive but chilling.
"Where did he go?" The room's atmosphere was strange, with the only light coming from the white lantern hanging outside the door. Gao Ruxue moved slowly, a cold draft at her back making her exposed skin prickle, as if an invisible hand brushed against her.
Her shoes crunched on spirit money, and occasionally something odd touched her instep. The light was too dim to see clearly, so she gritted her teeth and quickened her pace.
Pushing aside the curtain to the inner room, Gao Ruxue stopped at the entrance. The room was empty, save for a bed draped in curtains and two bronze mirrors facing each other against the walls.
"I saw Heshan run into this room. It's only been a minute or two—how could he vanish? Is the exit hidden here? Did he stumble upon it and escape?"
Thoughts raced through her mind. She took a deep breath and stepped inside. As she moved, two sets of footsteps echoed in the room!
"Who's behind me!"
She spun around sharply, but only saw a bronze mirror reflecting her own figure.