His eyes bulged outward, nearly splitting the sockets open. Yellow Hair sat on the ground, feeling like he was suffocating!
"Have you seen my hand?"
Bai Qiulin looked down at him from above, then his neck suddenly snapped apart, and his head dropped straight down.
"Where is my hand?"
……
Zhang Lan and the others, who had been heading in the direction Yellow Hair had gone, suddenly heard a scream from around the street corner—Huang Xing's scream.
The sound was piercing enough to rupture eardrums. It was hard to imagine what kind of horror a man would have to encounter to let out such a shrill cry.
"This is bad!" Zhang Lan's face changed the moment she heard Yellow Hair's voice. She turned to Lao Zhou and Duan Yue beside her. "Something happened to Huang Xing! There's something wrong with Bai Qiulin!"
"Screaming your head off in a haunted house is perfectly normal, you know. It doesn't necessarily mean Bai Qiulin is up to something," Lao Zhou replied casually.
"If it was a prop that scared someone into losing control emotionally, they'd keep screaming continuously. There's no way someone would let out just one cry and then go completely silent." Zhang Lan analyzed the situation as she walked ahead.
"Oh, got it." Lao Zhou quietly filed away what Zhang Lan had said. "So you think that Bai Qiulin really is a psychopath?"
"Not necessarily." Zhang Lan's expression grew grave. "Actually, there's something else I've been too afraid to tell you."
She stopped walking and looked at Lao Zhou and Duan Yue. "People online have said that this haunted house is actually haunted. For real."
"Actually haunted? You think Bai Qiulin is a ghost?" Lao Zhou and Duan Yue both stopped in their tracks. "No way. What era is this? Who still believes in that stuff?"
"I also think it's impossible," Duan Yue said. "When a person experiences fear beyond their limits, aside from fainting, a very small number of people can experience hallucinations." Her voice betrayed her, though—she was clearly terrified. She gripped Lao Zhou's arm tightly, her expression frantic.
"In any case, this haunted house is terrifying. The owner is a master of psychology. Even without any real ghosts, he can draw out the ghost lurking inside every visitor's own heart." Zhang Lan slowed her pace and walked together with Lao Zhou and Duan Yue.
The three turned the corner and saw the bridal sedan chair at the end of the street. Its curtain was still drawn open.
"Huang Xing and Bai Qiulin came through here." Zhang Lan didn't dare enter the old house nearby by herself. To build up her courage, she pulled Lao Zhou and Duan Yue along.
She pushed open the courtyard gate, and the three of them happened to see Bai Qiulin emerging from the main hall.
"Stay where you are!" Zhang Lan screamed, demanding answers from Bai Qiulin. "Where's Huang Xing? Weren't the two of you together?"
"How should I know? We split up not long after we started walking. I only came running over because I heard him scream," Bai Qiulin said, one hand in his pocket, his face cold and impatient.
"Did you find anything?" Zhang Lan asked cautiously, not taking a single step closer to Bai Qiulin.
"I searched this house inside and out. Didn't see him anywhere." With that, Bai Qiulin started walking toward Zhang Lan and the others.
"Don't come over!" Zhang Lan shouted again.
"Xiao Lan, we're all visitors here. Let's not let things get ugly," Lao Zhou said, trying to mediate.
"You don't understand. I've read the reviews. This haunted house owner once had employees disguise themselves as visitors to go inside and 'play along'! Absolutely deranged!" Zhang Lan pointed at Bai Qiulin. "There's definitely something wrong with this man right here! You have to trust me—the deadliest threats always come from the people right beside you!"
"You think I'm a haunted house employee?" Bai Qiulin let out a cold laugh. "Did you get your brain squeezed in a door or something?"