"Eight?!"
"Are you kidding me?"
The moment Old Zhao said it, everyone's heartbeat started to race. In the midnight chase scene, the lighting was especially dim. The group stared at each other, their bodies frozen stiff.
"Where's the eighth person?"
"Don't panic!" Feng-ge pulled out his phone at the critical moment, just about to unlock it. From the other end of the corridor, the faint chain sounds that had been drifting in and out suddenly grew frantic.
"Someone's coming!"
Feng-ge had just unlocked his screen when a blood-soaked monster rounded the corner at the end of the hallway.
The timing was perfect—as if the monster had known exactly where they were.
"What the hell is that?!"
Beneath a blood-drenched doctor's coat, a chain dragged along the floor. The monster hung its head low, carrying a dripping iron hammer stained with red liquid.
Everyone tensed up. Only Feng-ge could barely maintain his composure. He ignored Chen Ge's earlier warning and switched on the flashlight right there inside the haunted house.
A beam of white light shot across the hallway, landing on the monster from a distance.
The light drew the monster's attention. The black hair parted to both sides, and it slowly raised its head.
In that instant, every hair on their bodies stood on end. The monster's face was a grotesque composite stitched together from countless male faces, suture marks crisscrossing over every feature.
The very moment the light blazed on, the monster seemed to be provoked. It went mad, charging straight at them with its grooved blood-gutter hammer raised high.
The chain clanged against the walls, and heavy, frantic footsteps echoed through the narrow stairwell. That deranged, frenzied figure closed in faster and faster. None of the medical school students could say who stepped back first, but it triggered a chain reaction. No one was searching for the extra person anymore. They scrambled over each other, fleeing in every direction.
Some ducked into nearby rooms, others sprinted up the stairs and hid on the second floor, and a few bolted all the way down to the first floor.
The scene was shrouded in darkness. Everyone had been terrified by the monster behind them. The chain sounds and footsteps growing ever closer had them panicking.
Avoiding danger and seeking safety is a trait shared by all living things—a guarantee that organisms keep evolving toward higher forms. When the brain sensed the approach of danger, they fled on pure instinct.
Xiao Hui had been standing near the staircase to begin with. When the monster charged, she froze, at a loss for what to do. At that moment, the man standing beside her suddenly took off running downstairs.
Blinded by fear, Xiao Hui didn't think twice and followed right behind him. All she cared about in that moment was not being caught by the monster.
Her phone was long gone—she had no idea where she'd dropped it. The calm and composure that the medical school students had been putting on shattered completely, and screams rang out one after another in the corridor.
People were scattered in the chaos.
Xiao Hui followed the figure ahead of her down to the first floor. The screams from the third floor above still hadn't stopped. The iron chain struck the steps—the monster had entered the stairwell too!
She didn't dare look back. Xiao Hui quickened her pace, staying as close as she could to the figure in front of her, terrified of being left behind.
Eerie background music played in her ears. Screams kept coming. Unease and terror slowly flooded over Xiao Hui, and for the first time she felt real fear.
The more frightened she became, the less she dared stay alone.
She pushed herself to catch up to the figure ahead. In the dark, horrifying haunted house, that silhouette had become her lifeline.
"Two people together—no matter what happens, at least we can watch each other's backs."