"Brother Ma, if you have something to say, let's go into one of the rooms. It's really dangerous out here in the corridor." Xiao Sun grabbed Ma Feng's arm and forcefully dragged him down the hallway.
"No, no, I've been thinking for a while, and I still feel like..." Ma Feng let himself be dragged by Xiao Sun, devoid of the energy to even struggle. His head swam, the world spun, his body ached, and his eyes stung with a tearful ache.
"Brother Ma, don't talk anymore, I get it. But we've made it to the deepest part of the haunted house. This is probably the last scene. Are you really willing to give up just like that? Wouldn't all our previous efforts be wasted then?" Xiao Sun gripped Ma Feng's collar. "There are no hopeless situations in this world, only people who despair of their situation. We might be just one step away from success!"
Ma Feng clamped his mouth shut, staring blankly at the surrounding darkness. Everything was hidden within that blackness—monsters, vengeful ghosts, danger, and the way out.
His fingers slowly tightened into a fist. A faint spark kindled in Ma Feng's eyes.
"If you don't believe in miracles, you can never create one. The haunted house owner thinks no one can escape from here, but think about it carefully—wasn't this haunted house built for people to visit? Is there really a haunted house in this world that's impossible to beat and escape from?"
Xiao Sun's words were full of power, pointing the way forward for Ma Feng.
Gritting his teeth, Ma Feng also felt that giving up now would be a terrible waste. He rubbed his dizzy head and spoke slowly, "Xiao Sun, let go first. I can walk on my own."
Leaning against the wall, Ma Feng straightened up and began to feel his way along the corridor. "There's a door every three meters. We'll stick to the wall. As soon as we hear the cat cries, we duck into the nearest room. Once inside, shut the door immediately. One person stands guard behind it, using their back to hold it shut, while the other searches the room for the secret passage. We'll divide the work to maximize our advantages."
"Okay!" Seeing hope reignite in Ma Feng, Xiao Sun felt like he might tear up.
It was so inspiring; in a daze, he even glimpsed that old version of himself who refused to surrender.
Xiao Sun, who firmly believed he was just an ordinary person, often read passages full of "power" to encourage himself, all in the pursuit of living a normal life.
"All effort will be rewarded. Brother Ma, we'll definitely find the way out!" The two encouraged each other as they struggled onward through the stairwell.
Every game has a method to beat it. Ma Feng had always been a very clever and capable person. Apart from some character flaws, his actual abilities were very strong.
With Xiao Sun's help, even though he hadn't adapted to the darkness yet, he began to discern the patterns of the ghosts' movements.
After being terrified into a daze five more times, he and Xiao Sun finally reached the very bottom floor of the dark building.
Along the way, Ma Feng was covered in bruises and scrapes. Besides the physical pain, his mind had been subjected to unspeakable torture.
Whenever Ma Feng was on the verge of passing out, Xiao Sun would wake him up immediately. Those calls of "Brother Ma" kept Ma Feng teetering on the edge between nightmare and reality.
He clung to a final breath of will and persisted until now.
Entering the last room on the lowest level of the dark building, Ma Feng let out a long sigh of relief. Xiao Sun also heaved a comment, "That wasn't easy. I don't think even a ghost could get out of this scene."
"This is the last room. The secret passage must be in here. Search carefully." Ma Feng's voice was weak and listless. If there had been light, one would have seen that his face was paper-white and his lips had turned purple—a sight not unlike that of a haunted house employee wearing corpse makeup.
They entered the room and had just touched the bedroom door when a man's voice suddenly came from inside.
"You're the ninth person I've killed. Let me think... what should I take from you? Your nose? Your ears? Forget it, I'll take your eyes instead."
"I know you've been looking for the secret passage. Actually, the way out is hidden in my room, hidden in that bedroom full of cat corpses."
"Isn't it despairing?"
"Knowing the way out, yet being unable to escape. I like the look on your face right now."
After the man finished speaking, the sound of a knife slicing through something rang out from the bedroom again, followed by blood seeping from under the door. Ma Feng felt something sticky beneath his shoe.
"The killer is giving us a clue! The way out is hidden in that room full of cat corpses!" Ma Feng's face contorted. The exit was in the very room he had hidden in earlier, but he and Xiao Sun had run all the way to the bottom floor of the building.
Without a breath, Ma Feng nearly fainted from rage. He took a step back, his shoe splashing in the blood.
"Who's there!"
The man's voice came from the bedroom, followed by the sound of cats wailing inside!
Knowing they were discovered, Ma Feng and Xiao Sun started running wildly toward the exit.
"To the first floor! To that room full of cat corpses!"
The ultimate killer was chasing them from behind. The entire dark building scene entered its most tense and terrifying moment.
Cat cries erupted one after another from all directions. Xiao Sun and Ma Feng ran for their lives through the corridors.
Ma Feng's heart was pounding rapidly. This should be the most thrilling experience of his life.
"I can't! I can't run anymore! I can't hold on!"
"Brother Ma! Believe in yourself!"
"I really can't run anymore!"
"Don't stop! We can win!"
Xiao Sun's voice kept coming from ahead. Ma Feng had completely lost his sense of direction. Xiao Sun's constant encouragement was his path forward in the darkness.
Chasing the sound of Xiao Sun's voice, Ma Feng unleashed every ounce of his potential, pushing himself to match Xiao Sun's pace with everything he had.
The killer was right behind them, like a shadow. Only by escaping through the secret passage did they have a sliver of a chance at survival.
The urgency was indescribable. Only one thought remained in Ma Feng's mind—run!
His muscles had memorized the height of the steps. Even without using his eyes, Ma Feng didn't stumble on a single staircase.
"Come on! Don't fear the darkness! When the sky is dark enough, the stars will shine brightly!"
"A person can because they believe they can!"
"If you're to be a grass, be an orchid; if you're to be a tree, be a pine!"
Words of people carry the power of belief. Dazed in spirit and body on the verge of collapse, Ma Feng was driven by Xiao Sun's encouragement all the way back to the top floor of the dark building.
He ran with incredible speed. All distracting thoughts vanished from his mind. His consciousness seemed to merge with his legs.
It was as if Ma Feng no longer existed in this world—only a pair of legs that kept running, searching for the exit.
Bursting through the door, Ma Feng and Xiao Sun rushed into the room filled with cat corpses. The two of them rummaged frantically through the cat bodies like they had gone mad.
The cat cries in the corridor grew more and more piercing. The entire scene seemed to undergo some kind of transformation—the walls cracked, the building shook, and strange mouths appeared on the ground, as if ready to swallow the visitors at any moment.
Various strange noises began to appear as well. What frightened Ma Feng and Xiao Sun the most was that from outside, a voice strikingly similar to Chen Ge's suddenly rang out.