"Pei Hu!!"
Chen Ge was in the last classroom, fitting a head onto a mannequin, when a man's scream tore through the depths of the corridor.
The voice was thick with tangled emotions — far too complex to put into a few simple words.
"That doesn't sound like a scream of fear. It feels like a mix of shock, anger, and panic all rolled into one." Chen Ge finished attaching the last head and walked out of the classroom. "These visitors sure have stamina."
……
Pei Hu burst into Room 303, slamming his back against the door. Cold sweat drenched his forehead.
"Damn it — Wenlong is still down the well!" His palms were slick with sweat. He stared at Wang Wenlong's phone in his hand. "And I took his phone, too. That well is pitch-black, and I think there are a few mannequins buried in there."
Pei Hu didn't dare let that thought run any further. He peered into the room.
Room 303 was basically unchanged. A heap of dirty clothes lay scattered across the center of the living room, though the stench was gone.
"Why is there a pile of clothes dumped in the middle of the room? This place gives me the creeps. I'd better not go in — just standing at the doorway is fine…"
He muttered to himself, and then the door behind him let out a dull "thud… thud…"
It sounded like someone knocking, except the noise came from the bottom of the door.
"No normal person would knock down there, so it can't be Wenlong." Among the things moving in the corridor outside, once you ruled out Wang Wenlong, there was really only one left.
Pei Hu's face went pale. He stared at the bottom of the door where the sound was coming from. "It's that head! That mannequin head is knocking on the door!"
The realization sent a tremor through his legs. He wanted to lock the door, only to discover in despair that the lock was purely decorative — one firm push and the door would swing open.
"There must be a window in this room, right? But if I go in to check and that head rushes in behind me?" Pei Hu scratched at his head in agitation. Standing there wasn't going to solve anything. He gritted his teeth and stepped inside.
The thudding outside the door continued without pause, like a death knell — each impact hammering against Pei Hu's heart. "I need to figure out a way out."
He started searching for a way to escape, stepping over the pile of dirty clothes, circling the entire room. Nothing.
"The window outside is blocked by a thick concrete wall — there's no way out at all. Am I supposed to stay in here forever?" Pei Hu stood in the middle of the living room. "I came to tour a haunted house — how did it suddenly turn into this? Mannequins blinking, corpses hidden in a well, and now I'm being chased around by a disembodied head. Is the owner of this haunted house a demon? How did he pull all this off?"
"Bang!"
Before Pei Hu could finish thinking, the door took a massive blow.
"That much force? It must be that mannequin — she's come looking for her head again?" Just the thought of it was terrifying. Pei Hu glanced left and right in a panic and dove into the bedroom.
"Why doesn't this bedroom even have a door?!" He regretted it the moment he stepped inside, but it was too late now. The only place in the bedroom where a person could hide was under the bed.
He shone the phone's light underneath first, confirmed there was nothing strange lurking there, and then crawled straight in.
"Please, just let me go!" He squeezed himself under the bed with difficulty, tucked the phone away, and fixed both eyes on the bedroom doorway.
The dim room was deathly quiet — every faint sound was magnified.
A few seconds later, the living room door was pushed wide open.