"What incredibly realistic scenery," the tall guy murmured to himself. "How did he pull this off?"
"You wouldn't dare open a haunted house without some serious skill. Besides, Ye Xiaoxin gave it such a high rating—clearly this place has something going for it." The woman stood behind the blond guy, glanced at the three other visitors who had tagged along, and walked over to greet them with a warm smile.
"Are you three together?" The woman was a natural people person—her tone, her mannerisms, everything about her put people at ease.
"No." The tall, thin man with his hands in his pockets gave a cold reply and walked ahead on his own.
"Be careful, this is a three-star horror scenario!" The woman grabbed the tall thin man's sleeve. He whipped his head around and glared at her, making her flinch. "I was just trying to look out for you."
"Sis Cat, don't bother with people like him. Once he's scared out of his mind, he'll come crawling back to us on his own." The blond guy planted himself between the woman and the tall thin man.
"It's fine. Since we're all going in on the same batch, we should look out for each other." The woman didn't seem the least bit bothered by the tall thin man's rude behavior. She walked up to him again. "My name is Cassie—you can call me Sis Cat, like the others."
The tall thin man thought about it and didn't refuse her kindness. "My name is
"Totally understand. That's what haunted houses are for, right? A place to vent stress, to let out a good scream." Cassie looked at him like she completely got it, then turned to the other two visitors. "And what about you two?"
The man in the black shirt was sharply dressed and very outgoing. "My surname is
"Who says you're my girlfriend?" The woman next to him swatted his arm. She wore no makeup, but her natural look was striking.
"Close enough." Mr. Zhou winked at the woman and grabbed her hand regardless. "This is my girlfriend,
"You two are such a sweet couple." Cassie smiled, though a hint of distaste flickered in her eyes—she hid it well, though. "Why don't you three stick with us? We can keep an eye on each other."
"You sound really professional," Old Zhou said with some curiosity. "Are you guys dedicated haunted house players?"
"I'm a haunted house reviewer—I've got millions of followers online. These are all members of my team." Cassie introduced the people around her.
The guy with dyed-blond hair and earrings was named Huang Xing. The tall guy was Ma Tian. The other girl was Cassie's assistant, named Zhang Lan. As for the last one, an older man, Cassie didn't give many details—she just called him Brother Wang.
These people all had very different personalities, but they managed to stay together and maintain a good relationship, mostly thanks to Cassie mediating between them.
"Professionals, huh? Then we'll just have to ride your coattails today." Old Zhou was smooth-talker, and he seemed completely oblivious to the look of distaste on Duan Yue's face as he chatted enthusiastically with Cassie.
"Don't worry. We've cleared haunted houses of this scale at least a dozen times." The blond guy was the boldest and most impulsive of the group—he took the lead, striding to the front.
"Let's go. This place is rated so highly online, I want to see for myself what's so great about it." For convenience in recording, Cassie walked straight into the scene with her phone in hand.
An eerie wind swept in from somewhere, scattering paper money across the ground. White lanterns swayed unsteadily, their ghastly glow illuminating the empty streets.
"The three key elements of haunted house design—story, scenery, and emotion. I'd give this scenery a six out of ten. Too bad there's no story backbone—hard to create any sense of immersion for the visitors. And the emotion? Don't even get me started. Can't feel any terror at all. What a waste of all these realistic props." Cassie delivered her commentary casually. The tall guy and the blond guy beside her nodded in agreement. Only Zhang Lan kept glancing back at Bai Qiulin—she had a nagging feeling there was something off about that man.
"Why does he keep his left hand in his pocket?"