Wang Yan and Yang Chen exchanged a glance. As forensic medicine students, they knew that smell all too well — there was no way they could be mistaken about it.
"This is way too real, isn't it? You're running a haunted house and you actually brought in real formalin? Does Boss Chen not care about costs at all?" Wang Yan froze at the entrance to the tunnel, refusing to go any farther.
"An underground morgue, formalin, white-painted corridors…" Yang Chen peered inside the tunnel and stopped as well. "Why do I feel like I'm back at school?"
"Have either of you ever been inside your school's underground morgue?" An Nan walked over and furrowed his brow slightly after catching the scent of formalin. "I've heard that in your medical courses, the professors personally take you down to haul cadavers. You medical students should be pretty familiar with morgues, right?"
"Who told you medical students have to be familiar with morgues?" Wang Yan snapped out of his daze and took a few steps back. "I've never set foot in one. Go ask them."
Li Xue also shook her head. Only Yang Chen reacted strangely — he walked into the tunnel alone and sniffed the wall. "That faint formalin smell is seeping out from inside the wall. The scent has soaked right into it. You can't achieve that by just splashing some formalin around. I'm starting to suspect Boss Chen tore apart some abandoned morgue from a medical school and secretly had it shipped back here."
"That smell isn't harmful to your body, is it?" Xiao Li stared at the tunnel, unable to will his legs to move.
"We medical students breathe it in every day and we're fine. Besides, the smell isn't even that strong." Yang Chen ran his hand along the wall and lightly scratched the white paint with his fingernail. "I once heard a senior student say that the walls in our school's underground morgue are also painted white. Apparently, all white-painted corridors are used for transporting cadavers — the 'great teachers,' as they're called. The unpainted ones are for students and staff."
"Is that really a thing?"
"I used to think it was just our school. But after coming to Boss Chen's haunted house today, it seems like all underground morgues are done this way." Yang Chen called to Wang Yan and Li Xue. "The three of us will walk ahead. Once we're inside, stay close — no matter what you encounter, do NOT split up! As long as we stick together, we'll have a chance to clear this."
"I agree with your plan, but what about the photos once we find them? The haunted house owner said there are only five photos on the walls."
"Five photos, three of us, and we only need one." Yang Chen made a significant concession. "Everything is for the sake of clearing the level. Boss Chen changed the clearance requirements to divide us. Based on what I know about him, we shouldn't run into anything too terrifying before we reach the core area. But once we get our hands on the photos, that's when the real horror begins."
"I think so too. The photos are just meant to distract us." An Nan strongly agreed with Yang Chen's assessment. "The three of us editors are just here for the experience. Five photos — we only need one."
"Five photos, you six people take two of them, and three are left. I don't have a group — taking one for myself isn't unreasonable, is it?"
"Guys, I've already taken on two one-star scenarios and one two-star scenario today. I was hoping to clear a three-star scenario in one go. I'm begging you — give me one photo." Xiao Li was at his wit's end. Behind him stood Virtual Future Amusement Park, and he'd come in looking for anything useful. These photos sounded ominous, and without one it seemed like you couldn't take a single step forward. Even just to complete Teacher Mu's assignment, he had to get his hands on a photo.
The photos had been divided up, with only Lao
Lao
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"We haven't even gone in yet. There's no point arguing about this now — we can discuss it once we're in the core area." Wang Yan felt that his group had done the most work yet only ended up with one photo, which didn't seem fair, but he didn't say it outright. His tone just carried a note of impatience.
"Stay close, everyone." Yang Chen walked at the very front. The deeper they went, the darker it became. Without any other source of illumination, at a distance of six or seven meters, you couldn't make out someone's face at all.
"Bro, maybe we should just skip the tour." Fan Cong stood at the entrance to the tunnel. If you looked closely, you could see the fat on his body trembling slightly — he was shaking from fear.
"We're already here. It'd be such a waste not to go in." Fan Dede looked at his younger brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're just too much of a shut-in. You need to come out and experience new things once in a while. Don't keep locking yourself in your room. I know you're upset, but does a breakup mean you stop living? Life goes on."
"It's not because of the breakup that I stay home all the time." Fan Cong felt helpless with his older brother. He seemed to have other reasons but couldn't say them out loud. In the end, he had no choice but to be dragged into the underground morgue scene by his brother.
The chef and his brother brought up the rear, followed by
They soon arrived at the first fork in the road. One corridor was unpainted, and the other was painted white.
On the wall of the white-painted corridor, four blood-red characters read — LIVING SOULS, GO NO FARTHER.
The unpainted corridor, perhaps because it lacked the reflective sheen of white paint, looked dim and gave off an extremely eerie feeling.
"The white-painted corridor is for transporting corpses. We take the unpainted one." Yang Chen didn't hesitate and walked straight over. But the moment he stepped inside, he stopped again.
"Old Yang, what's wrong?" Wang Yan nearly bumped into Yang Chen. Following Yang Chen's gaze, he too froze in his tracks.
All the guests crowded around, and they could see it clearly — inside this unpainted corridor, a round object was continuously bouncing up and down.
"Is that… a human head?"
"It's too dark to tell." Yang Chen hadn't expected to encounter something so bizarre right at the start. "Don't be afraid. There are plenty of us. Let's go take a look together."