The voice-activated light went out, and the corridor was plunged into instant darkness.
When Ma Feng stepped out of the room holding his phone, he froze.
He stamped his foot and called out again, but the voice-activated light overhead didn't come back on.
He raised his phone and aimed it at the light fixture. The glow from his screen was slowly fading.
"What's going on?"
A shadowy figure was vaguely approaching beside him. Ma Feng lowered his voice and turned around. "Sister Snake?"
"It's me — Sun Xiaojun." The familiar voice sounded right next to him, but his teammate's arrival brought Ma Feng no sense of security. If anything, it only made him more anxious.
"Have you noticed your phone screen getting dimmer and dimmer?" Ma Feng reached out one hand and braced it against the wall. The darkness was making him uneasy.
"So your phone's been dimming too! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me — gave me a scare. I thought my phone was broken."
Hearing this, Ma Feng's frown deepened. Honestly, there weren't many normal people among this group of tourists.
He swept his phone around according to his memory, searching for any sign of Shangguan Qinghong and Sister Snake.
With each swing of the phone, the light dimmed a little more.
"Ma Feng, Shangguan Qinghong — I think we should exit this scene first." Sister Snake emerged from a nearby room. "I can't even imagine someone daring to create a pitch-black scene inside a haunted house. This isn't visiting a haunted house anymore — it's testing the absolute limits of human endurance, both physical and mental. We all underestimated how crazy this haunted house owner is."
As she spoke, she was already walking back the way they'd come. She didn't want to stay here for even one second longer.
"But if we don't search for a hidden passage in this scene, we'll have to go to the maternity hospital next door. A hospital is definitely the place with the most deaths in this little town. The haunted house owner put these two scenes last, which means their horror level should be about the same." Shangguan Qinghong stepped out of the room behind Ma Feng as well — he had apparently been searching for something. "Besides, we've already wasted some time in this scene. By the time we run to the other one, the black fog might have spread over there too, and the difficulty will only increase."
"Visible horror and invisible horror aren't even in the same league. You'd best listen to me." Sister Snake showed her authoritative side. No matter what Shangguan Qinghong said, she was stubbornly set on leaving.
Though Shangguan Qinghong saw things differently, in moments like this he was more inclined to trust Sister Snake's judgment.
The three of them, along with Sun Xiaojun, retraced their steps. The glow from their phones had, without anyone noticing, shrunk to illuminate only a meter or two ahead.
After just a few more steps, all three phones seemed to lose power at the same time. The light vanished without warning.
Darkness fell — not a single ray of light. The three tourists felt as though their bodies had been frozen solid. They all stood rooted to the spot.
"Don't panic! The four of us hold hands, and the exit isn't far. Let's get out of here first!" Sister Snake became the group's anchor in this critical moment. In truth, she had rarely spoken since entering
In terms of gameplay design and scare placement, Chen Ge's haunted house was nothing like any other on the market. He had taken a route that no ordinary person could ever replicate.
Sister Snake had a vague understanding now of why Chen Ge's haunted house was so popular — but she felt she'd realized it far too late.
"Don't move around! Everyone reach out your hands and grab onto each other! People become fragile and helpless in the dark — the four of us absolutely cannot separate!" Sister Snake was extremely commanding, immediately taking charge. "I want everyone to understand — we are simply visiting a haunted house. Nothing dangerous is going to happen! Don't fall apart on your own!"
Ma Feng wasn't used to taking orders from others, but under these circumstances he obediently grabbed the wrist of the person beside him, just as Sister Snake had instructed.
"Everyone needs to get used to the darkness. When you lose your sight, your other senses become more active. The haunted house owner will very likely try to scare us through unusual means — sounds, for example, or touch." Sister Snake also grabbed the hands of the two people beside her. "Who's on my left?"
"Me." Shangguan Qinghong's hand was slick with cold sweat, making it clammy. He felt a bit embarrassed, but Sister Snake didn't care about that.
"Who's on my right?"
"That would be me." Sun Xiaojun answered quietly.
Now that all four had confirmed their positions, they stood in a line — Sun Xiaojun on the far right, Ma Feng on the far left.
"Let's stay close together, just like this, and walk straight ahead. When we came in, I specifically checked — the haunted house owner probably made sure there wouldn't be any obstacles in the dark that we could trip over. The corridor is fairly clean, so we just need to walk forward boldly."
The tourists did as Sister Snake said and began walking ahead, but after only a few steps, a problem arose.
"Do you guys hear that awful cat screeching? It seems like it's been there ever since we entered, and it feels like it's getting closer." The moment Shangguan Qinghong finished speaking, he suddenly felt something brush against his leg. The smooth fur sent an instant chill up his spine, and his body went rigid. "Something touched my leg!"
All four were holding hands. When one stopped, the rest had to stop too.
"Are you sure it was something? You didn't just step on something yourself?"
"I think it was hair! I'm serious!" It was pitch black in front of him — Shangguan Qinghong had no idea what had touched him. Based on the sensation on his leg, a flood of horrifying images surged through his mind.
"Don't stop! Keep moving forward!" Sister Snake yanked on Shangguan Qinghong's arm. "You were just brushed against — it's not like you lost a piece of flesh. What are you screaming for?"
Compared to Sister Snake, Shangguan Qinghong seemed like a pouting newlywed. He wasn't about to argue with her at a time like this. Deep down, he knew she was right.
The cat screeching in their ears grew more intense, and other sounds began weaving in between — the slow creak of a security door opening, the scrape of nails across a metal railing, and more.
"I feel like these cat cries are telling us to run for our lives. Maybe there are cats circling around us right now." Sun Xiaojun had already slipped into analysis mode out of habit.
"It's the first time I've ever heard of a haunted house using cats as actors." Sister Snake shook her head. In the darkness, she couldn't see a thing. "The cat screeching is pre-recorded. This scene must have dozens of stereo speakers installed — all to create that closing-in atmosphere with increasingly piercing cat cries. What Shangguan Qinghong touched earlier was probably the fur of a fake cat. The haunted house owner designed it this way to increase realism. When you lose your sight, the world no longer feels real. It's easy to be misled. Everyone, you must stay calm!"
All four said they would stay calm, but in reality they were moving incredibly slowly. Comparing their pace to the situation only highlighted just how much courage and effort it had taken for Chen Ge to sprint through the darkness.
"Why haven't we reached it yet? I remember the exit wasn't this far from us!" Shangguan Qinghong's legs were going weak. He was getting on in years, and his forehead was drenched in cold sweat — he was starting to struggle.
"In the dark, we gradually lose our sense of distance, time, and direction. All we can do right now is stay firm in our resolve, not waver, and just keep walking forward." Sister Snake kept encouraging the others — and in a way, she was encouraging herself too.