Monkey hid alone on the second-floor staircase, keeping a careful watch on the surroundings.
He stood in a corner, able to see both the third-floor and second-floor landings at the same time. No matter which direction the killer approached from, he could flee at the fastest possible speed.
The lighting in the set seemed to grow dimmer. In the pitch-black corridor, the eerie background music made his heart race.
Monkey pinched himself hard, then took a deep breath. As a medical student, he knew well that a bit of pain and plenty of oxygen could help a person calm down quickly.
“The timing of the monster’s appearance was off. Just as Old Zhao discovered there was an eighth person mixed in with us, the monster accelerated toward us. That can’t be a coincidence.” He replayed everything in his mind. “After Old Zhao found the extra person, everyone panicked. If Brother Feng could have pulled out his phone right then and shone it on everyone’s faces, we definitely could have identified the eighth person. We missed our first chance. When the monster charged, if everyone had just stood their ground instead of being scared off, we wouldn’t have been scattered. We missed our second chance.”
Monkey let out a soft sigh. “Although everyone was afraid when the monster rushed us, they weren’t so scared they’d run. Everything happened because of the first person to flee—he set the precedent, throwing our thinking into chaos. If my guess is correct, that first person to run must have been the extra one. Just now, I heard Xiao Hui scream; she was the second to flee, and she was closest to that person. That confirms my suspicion.”
A bitter smile crossed his face. Guessing correctly was one thing; being afraid was another. Hiding alone in such a sinister place made his back feel cold. “The monster and the extra eighth person are working together, using the deserter mentality and herd instinct to spread panic, scattering us so they can pick us off one by one. Is it really necessary to elevate simply scaring someone to the level of strategy?”
Monkey was clever, but he was also timid. At school, he never dared to enter or leave the lab alone. “I need to get this information to Brother Feng and the others right away, then regroup with them.”
He pulled out his phone. The faint glow of the screen illuminated the space behind him. Suddenly, he shivered. “How did that doll get down here on the stairs? Didn’t I leave it in the third-floor hallway?”
Fearing he might attract the monster, Monkey didn’t dare turn on his flashlight. He increased the screen’s brightness and aimed it at the wall. There, lying flat on the ground, was a tattered rag doll.
“Could someone have accidentally kicked it downstairs while running earlier?” After racking his brain, that was the only explanation Monkey could come up with. The doll was stuffed with paper, with no mechanical parts, so it couldn’t be remote-controlled. “It does look pretty scary.”
Apart from being a bit worn-out, the doll wasn’t particularly horrifying. But the longer he looked at it, the stranger the feeling became—as if it were alive.
Monkey found this inexplicable himself. He stared at the doll on the ground, feeling that it wasn’t just a toy, but a pitiful little girl full of a sense of grievance.
“It must be an illusion. I need to stay away from this thing. Playing in a haunted house is about to give me psychological issues.” Monkey dialed Brother Feng’s number. A phone ringtone echoed from the third-floor hallway.
“He’s on the third floor? Or did he drop his phone by accident, like Old Zhao?”
The phone ringing inside the haunted house somehow made it even more terrifying.
Monkey didn’t hang up. He pocketed the phone and crept up to the third floor. Hiding at the stairwell entrance, he peeked inside. Brother Feng’s phone was lying right there in the hallway.
“Neither Old Zhao nor Brother Feng has their phone on them. I’ll have to try the others.” Monkey stood alone at the third-floor stairwell entrance, staring down the empty corridor. The doors on either side swung open and shut in the draft, making his legs go weak with fear.
He frantically scrolled through his contacts, searching for the others’ numbers. Just then, his phone vibrated—someone was calling him.
“Damn! What now?” He looked down: Shiling was calling. “Shiling? What does she want? Is she alone too?”
In front of girls, Monkey always acted fearless, a common failing of hot-blooded youths. “Shiling, did you get separated from everyone? Where are you? I’m coming to find you.”
“I’m locked in a room on the third floor—I didn’t see the exact door number. Hurry, something’s wrong with this room!” Shiling was a very quiet girl, but now her voice was urgent, on the verge of tears. Whatever she had encountered must have been terrifying.
“Slow down—how did you get locked in? The single rooms on either side of the hallway shouldn’t have locks.” As he spoke, Monkey walked along the hallway, trying to pinpoint Shiling’s location by her voice.
“I don’t know! I hid inside, closed the door, and then it wouldn’t open again! And this room is different from the others—in the very center, there are two dolls sitting side by side!”
“Sitting?!” At the mention of dolls, the hair on the back of Monkey’s neck stood up. He knew exactly how sinister the dolls in this haunted house could be.
“Please hurry!” Shiling’s voice was growing sharper, as if she were about to lose control.
“I’m on my way! Stay away from those dolls for now. Do as Heshan said before—don’t touch anything in the room. I suspect those dolls…” Monkey cut himself off abruptly, staring at what lay before him. Half a meter from his toes, a rag doll lay flat on the floor.
He had to suppress the urge to hurl his phone as he shuffled over to the doll.
“Long hair, expression of pain and self-blame—different from the doll in the stairwell. This one seems more… mature.” After speaking, Monkey’s own eyes widened. “What the hell? Why am I analyzing a doll so deeply? Have I scared myself into hallucinating? Or are these dolls just that lifelike? I keep feeling like they’re real people, with their own emotions.”
“This isn’t the time for that. As long as the doll in front of me isn’t the same one from the stairwell, that means the dolls can’t move on their own. Things haven’t reached the worst-case scenario yet. My top priority right now is to rescue Shiling.” He shook his head, giving himself a mental pep talk. “I’m just scaring myself. If the doll from the stairwell had followed me, how could it be in front of me? It should be behind me. Clearly, this is just a trick by the haunted house owner. There’s no need to be afraid.”
Having said that, he glanced nervously over his shoulder. “See? I told you, there’s really no need to…” His gaze froze on the spot one meter behind him. The rest of his words caught in his throat, because a doll was quietly lying there, face down.