Chapter 27.3
Editor: Jodi
Cheng Han suddenly heard a pained “Ow!” from beside him. He turned quickly, only to see Mu Nan squatting on the ground, his face twisted in agony, clutching his calf.
“What‘s wrong?” He asked him.
“Cramp, cramp!” Mu Nan hissed through clenched teeth.
Cheng Han: …
The group burst into friendly laughter, and Mu Nan, single-handedly, managed to dispel most of the spooky atmosphere.
But when the staff in black blindfolded them and separated them to lead them into the haunted house, Mu Nan’s legs really gave out.
“I’m not going! I don’t want the blindfold! I don’t want to walk alone! Help me! I want to go home! Waaahhh!”
His screams were even shriller than the female guests’. Cheng Han couldn’t take it anymore. He stopped the staff beside him, took off his blindfold, and said to the director, “Let him stick with me. Otherwise at this rate, we won’t be able to record anything.”
The director, who had never seen anyone so terrified of ghosts, could only nod. “Alright.”
Mu Nan, at this moment didn’t care about saving face, because he immediately grabbed Cheng Han’s shoulder, and the two of them shuffled into the haunted house like a train.
With the blindfolds on, all their other senses became especially sharp.
And the moment they stepped inside, Mu Nan felt a chilling breeze. Even the air seemed colder.
His grip on Cheng Han’s shoulder tightened as he mumbled non-stop, “Amitabha, Amen, Jesus bless me, prosperity, democracy, harmony… I’m a firm materialist, but Guanyin, please save me!”
The cameraman couldn’t hold it in anymore and let out a small chuckle.
But to Mu Nan’s frayed nerves, the laugh sounded like someone breathing right next to his ear, and startled, he let out a blood-curdling scream.
“AHHHHH!”
After screaming, he calmed down a bit but moved even closer to Cheng Han.
However the next second, he heard Cheng Han curse on camera for the first time ever: “If I fucking die, it’s going to be from you scaring me to death!”
Mu Nan felt a bit embarrassed. “Uh…. I’m sorry.”
“You two can take off your blindfolds now.” The staff member said as people in black left.
“You go first. Tell me what you see.” Mu Nan stammered.
After some rustling sounds, Cheng Han removed his blindfold. Then a few seconds later, he said, “My advice? Don’t take your blindfold off for the next two days.”
Mu Nan, already terrified, was so spooked by this that he squatted down on the spot.
“Is it too late to quit now? I regret everything! I never should’ve listened to you!”
“You’re really not going to take it off?” Cheng Han teased.
Mu Nan’s trembling hand reached for his blindfold. “I’ll take it off… I have to.” He pulled it off, but when Cheng Han didn’t hear the expected scream, he realized that while the blindfold was gone, Mu Nan’s eyes were still tightly shut.
Mu Nan took a deep breath, steadied himself, then cautiously opened his eyes.
And then—
“AAAAHHHH!!!” His scream pierced the air, and Cheng Han, already prepared, had covered his ears in advance.
Mu Nan and Cheng Han were standing in the middle of a classroom, surrounded by rows upon rows of “people.” These “people” were arranged in concentric circles, enclosing them, and each one had bright red lips twisted into a grin, with pitch-black pupils filling their hollow eye sockets.
The scene was so eerie that even Cheng Han, who had already taken off his blindfold, had been startled. So for Mu Nan, it was a hundred times worse.
Mu Nan screamed and bolted for the door, stumbling into a desk on the way out, and shaking his head, Cheng Han followed him.
“Is that Mu Nan?” A voice called from the end of the hallway. Cui Zhixing and Duan Shi appeared, their faces pale, clearly shaken as well.
Cui Zhixing ran up to him, peeked into the classroom, then recoiled. “Your starting point is way too creepy. Ours just had a tape recorder playing nursery rhymes.”
Mu Nan didn’t want to talk. He could already sense the torment ahead.
Soon, Du Ling and Ai Qianqian appeared at the other end of the hallway, holding hands for courage. The six of them gathered together.
“We’re on the second floor now. So, where do we go from here?” Cui Zhixing asked.
Just then, a crackling sound came from the speakers, and a broadcast suddenly started.
“This place hasn’t seen visitors in a long time.” A sharp, distorted female voice echoed above them. “Since you’ve intruded, you’ll pay with your lives.”
Then the voice faded, leaving an eerie silence. The PD handed over a mission card: [From now on, until you find a way to escape the haunted school, one of you will die every two hours. And trust me, you won’t want to experience how you’ll die.]
Great, Mu Nan thought to himself. His legs were already turning to jelly again.
The six of them stood in a circle, staring at each other as the seconds ticked by.
Cui Zhixing, a little anxious, was the first to speak. “Based on the usual setup, we probably need to look for something. Since we have three guys and three girls, I suggest we pair up into three groups. That way, we can watch each other’s backs and be more efficient.”
“I agree.” Du Ling said. “I’m fine pairing with anyone.”
Ai Qianqian, visibly scared, said, “I… I agree too, but can I pair with Mu Nan?”
“You want to pair with him?” Du Ling asked, surprised. “Can’t you see he’s even more scared than you are?”
Ai Qianqian nodded. “That way, I won’t look as scared.”
Mu Nan: … Fine.
The six quickly paired off. No matter how scared Mu Nan was, he had no choice but to muster some gentlemanly courage and walk ahead of Ai Qianqian.
As a top-tier starlet, Ai Qianqian’s looks were stunning. Her small, delicate face, rosy lips, and sweet perfume would make it hard for most men not to feel a flutter.
But right now, Mu Nan’s heart wasn’t just skipping beats—it was about to stop entirely, so forget feeling any kind of attraction.
He had no stray thoughts, only inching along the wall as carefully as possible.
They were assigned to the fourth floor, which was full of teacher offices. The offices had no transparent doors or windows, so they had no idea what was inside until they opened them. For the two most timid people in the group, this was anything but friendly.
“The-then-then… then, I’m opening it?” Mu Nan’s hand reached for the doorknob hesitantly.
Ai Qianqian hid behind him, clutching his shirt tightly as she nodded nervously.
Thankfully, Mu Nan’s luck held up for the first two offices. No ghosts appeared, and he even found a prop card in one of the drawers: When facing the ghost boss, this card can freeze her for five minutes, giving you a chance to escape.
Mu Nan didn’t hesitate and handed the card to Ai Qianqian. “You take it. Girls run slower.”
But in the third room, his luck finally ran out. As he and Ai Qianqian were rummaging through the desk, the cabinet next to them creaked open on its own.
And inside the cabinet stood a twisted, grotesque corpse. Its face was rotting, exposing pale white eyeballs and decayed, blackened flesh. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth, unnaturally long.
Mu Nan and Ai Qianqian were completely stunned, frozen in place, unable to even think about running.
The corpse began to move, its head slowly and stiffly turning toward their direction.
“AHHH!!!” Both of them let out bloodcurdling screams and turned to bolt for the door.
But just then, Ai Qianqian actually reached out and shoved Mu Nan toward the ghost, then ran out ahead of him, even slamming the office door shut behind her.
Mu Nan: ???
The push left Mu Nan practically face-to-face with the ghost, and in that split second, he thought he’d lose it completely. But when the ghost was less than half a meter away, he suddenly noticed the traces of special effects makeup on its face.
The decayed flesh was just tissue paper stuck to the face and painted over. The dark circles around the eyes were clearly makeup too. The production crew probably didn’t have the budget to make it look movie-realistic, so it only worked if you didn’t look too closely.
He was still a little spooked, but he reached out and flicked off a piece of tissue hanging from the ghost’s face. “Go fix your makeup.”
The ghost: …
After he finished saying this, he opened the door calmly and walked out of the room.
Ai Qianqian hadn’t gone far. When she saw Mu Nan come out, she asked, “Are you okay? How are you holding up?” There was a hint of guilt on her face. “I’m sorry about earlier. I was just too scared.”
Too scared, yet you still remembered to close the door? You, are really too impressive.
Mu Nan didn’t say this out loud. He reminded himself that this was just a show, and there was no real danger. A scare was just a scare.
But over the next hour, Ai Qianqian doubled down, treating Mu Nan like her personal shield. She made him go first into every room and hid behind him whenever a ghost appeared.
At first, Mu Nan was angry, but eventually, he just gave up and accepted it.
For him, it was just two hours. Once it was over, it’d be done. But for Ai Qianqian, once this aired, the viewers would tear into her.
What’s more after all the repeated scares, Mu Nan even felt like his courage had grown. Since it was all just staff members in costumes, once he figured that out, he stopped getting so scared his legs turned to jelly.