The Liang brothers walked straight into the hallway, with the rest following close behind. Ma Feng lingered outside the corridor for a moment, studying the missing person notice pinned to the wall.
"The name Jiang Ming sounds familiar—wasn't that the name of Jiang Jiu's kid? Is the haunted house owner trolling him?"
The notice had a photograph attached, but Ma Feng had no impression of the child in it at all.
Once everyone had entered the hallway, the child on the missing person notice suddenly blinked, as if greeting someone far away.
A short shadow materialized at the corner of the wall. A faint scent of blood drifted through the air as the figure followed the group into the corridor, casually shutting the entrance door behind him.
"This place is way too quiet?!" In places of absolute silence, people sometimes startled even at the sound of their own voices. Liang Er and Liang San were very curious about how the haunted house owner managed this.
Everyone was a professional in their own right. They examined the scene bit by bit, only to discover with great surprise that the hallway not only had no speakers or audio players installed, but not even a single surveillance camera. Apart from a handful of shoddy lightbulbs that looked like they could burn out at any moment, there was not a single piece of high-tech equipment to be found in this entire sub-scene.
"Wasn't the word online that this haunted house's effects were movie-level? And they're relying on these lightbulbs? Give me a break." This time, not just Fu Bole—even Ma Feng felt that Chen Ge's haunted house was overhyped.
"No high-tech equipment installed, yet it can produce movie-level horror effects—that in itself is something quite terrifying." Zuo Han knew he was telling the truth, but to the others, it sounded like he was making excuses for Chen Ge's haunted house.
However, among those haunted house designers, there were some capable ones. Liang Er and Liang San stood blocking the hallway, their faces full of confusion: "The walls, the handrails—everything's the real deal. No soundproofing material applied, no high-tech gadgets of any kind. So how did he create this eerie atmosphere? There's not even an echo when we talk—it's like whatever we say gets swallowed by something the moment it leaves our mouths."
"Stop scaring yourselves. The principle behind this is probably just like magic—looks amazing on the surface, but once you figure out the trick, it's nothing special." Fu Bole clapped his hands. "Everyone, do as Brother Ma said earlier—split into three groups and start searching for the doll's body parts. One group per floor. The later scenes will follow the same format."
After saying this, he walked over to Ma Feng's side, making his intention obvious—he wanted to be in Ma Feng's group.
"We haven't even found the mole yet, and you're already splitting up? I'd say you lot won't even know how you died." Zuo Han shook his head at Teacher Wang. "The three of us stick together. Don't get involved with their business."
With the Hanjiang School of Forensic Medicine people sitting out, the remaining twelve split into three groups.
Ma Feng, Shangguan Qinghong, Fu Bole, and Wei Chaochao formed one group; Xiao Sun, Liang Er, Liang San, and the middle-aged woman from Amnesia City formed another; Qin Guang, Snake Sister, and the couple from Xinhai formed the third.
All twelve were still within the same building—they were simply searching different floors. The three groups weren't far apart.
Feeling that the haunted house was overrated and overhyped, Fu Bole led Ma Feng's group down to the second basement level, while Snake Sister and Qin Guang's group headed to the third basement level.
Liang Er and Liang San began searching the first floor directly. Both were big men—tall and stout—so being in their group gave a strong sense of security.
"You guys take the rooms on the left, we'll take the right. We don't interfere with each other, and you'd better not come wandering over either." Liang Er swept a glance at Zuo Han, issuing a warning.
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Zuo Han led Heshan and Teacher Wang into the corridor, beginning their search for clues from the inside outward.
"Brother, do you really think they're haunted house actors? They don't seem like it to me—there's something unusual about those people's bearing," Liang San whispered.
"We're here to beat the haunted house. Why worry about anyone else? All we need to do is meet Boss Ma's requirements." Liang Er stopped at the doorway of the first room around the corridor corner. Beside the old wooden door hung a small wooden plaque with a single line of text: If you need anything, please pull the light cord next to the door repeatedly.
"No knocking allowed—you're supposed to pull the light cord instead. Is he afraid that the sound of knocking will summon ghosts?" Liang Er grabbed the light cord. "That actor just now, Wu Jinpeng, seemed to say that making noise would attract ghosts, but we've been talking the whole way and haven't seen any ghost appear."
"It's so quiet here—could it be that the ghost has already appeared? Maybe ghosts don't make any sound, and we just can't find them for now." Liang San was quick-witted enough.
"Forget it, let's just see what happens. The first sub-scene of any haunted house should be the easiest—nothing too scary will show up here, or they won't be able to thrill the visitors in the later stages." Liang Er yanked the light cord as he spoke.
The moment he pulled it, the lights inside the room switched on.
He tested it several times. Nothing unusual happened.
"Are we being messed with?" Liang Er furrowed his brow, grabbed the doorknob, and gave it a hard push.
The decrepit door swung open, but before he could get a good look at the room's interior, something changed in the corridor.
A strange odor filled the air—a mixture of the stench of rotting corpses and the fresh scent of blood. Faintly, they sensed something drawing closer.
"Stay sharp. A ghost might be heading this way—when it comes, don't panic and run off. Just stick with me." Liang Er was decent enough to look out for the others. This was directed at Xiao Sun.
"The first actor in this haunted house is a real disappointment. Let's see if there's any originality coming up." Liang San stepped into the room. The first thing he saw was broken beer bottles scattered across the floor, though the sharp edges of the shards had all been filed down—probably to prevent injury to visitors.
Among the fragments lay a woman, covered in wounds. Apart from her face and hands, her entire body was covered in patches.
Those patches had grown directly into the flesh, looking absolutely terrifying.
"An actor? Or a prop?" Liang San grabbed the woman's arm. The sensation at his fingertips was very different from human skin. He was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he suddenly noticed the mirror hanging in the bathroom.
The mirror faced the doorway, and in it, a pair of strange eyes was sizing him up.
"Someone's there!" Liang San let go of the woman's arm and whipped his head around.
With his shout, the others turned to look as well. Everyone saw a man's face protruding from the door frame!
His features were twisted, his body clinging to the door frame like a puddle of mud. His pitch-black eyeballs were filled with malice and curses.
Xiao Sun was at the back of the group—the person closest to the door. He had been trying to recall what scare points this scene contained when he suddenly heard Liang San's voice.
He turned around instinctively and nearly brushed faces with that thing.
His complexion turned even paler in an instant. Xiao Sun stumbled backward, nearly bumping into Liang Er's stomach.
"When did this thing show up?!" Xiao Sun's voice was trembling. He'd been badly frightened.
"No idea. Didn't hear a single sound—it just appeared without any warning." Liang San rubbed his chubby chin. "This haunted house has something to it."
"Should we tell the others about this?"
"Let's wait a bit first."
Liang Er and Liang San began studying the creature outside. They discovered that this mud-like man was merely a puppet, with no particularly advanced technology installed on his body.
"Someone must have moved him here. I'm betting it's the Hanjiang Forensic Medicine people—they're on the same floor as us, really close." Liang San glanced down the corridor. At the moment, Zuo Han and his group were still inside a room at the far end and hadn't come out yet.
"They're suspicious, alright. But if it wasn't them, then it's worth thinking about. We run haunted houses too—there might be things here we can learn." The Liang brothers had a decent attitude about it all; they weren't entirely hostile toward Chen Ge's haunted house.