Back where it all began, Wang Yan decided to use his last shred of stubbornness to prove it once and for all.
"This time I will clear it!"
He dragged his girlfriend back the way they came, wringing every last drop of strength from his body as he sprinted with everything he had.
Zhang Jingjiu was sitting at the entrance of the restaurant, phone in hand, studying "An Actor's Self-Cultivation," when he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps.
Slowly looking up, he saw Wang Yan and his girlfriend run past him once more, looking even more wretched than before.
"It seems they really are enjoying the haunted house experience. Screaming and running for their lives is the best catharsis there is. Maybe that's the whole point of a haunted house." Zhang Jingjiu had his own moment of epiphany — he realized his profession was far more complex than it appeared on the surface, carrying a deeper and more special significance.
Wang Yan and his girlfriend ran all the way back to Liwan Private Hospital. Driven by a do-or-die, nothing-left-to-lose mentality, they charged straight in.
The ward door was half open. A patient holding a medical chart noticed the two familiar figures and marveled at Wang Yan's audacity. But after that initial surprise, more and more patients began emerging from the wards.
Scaring visitors — ghosts and spirits could harvest the negative emotions they craved from their prey. More importantly, the act of terrifying people was simply *fun*.
"Don't look back! Hesitate, and you'll be torn to pieces!"
Following the stairs down, Wang Yan and his girlfriend sprinted all the way to the third basement level without stopping.
"'The end of the hospital' — this must be what it meant." Wang Yan dragged his girlfriend down the corridor at a full sprint. After passing a room painted with red lacquer, they suddenly realized that every footstep behind them had vanished.
They had been chased by the hospital's patients, but the pursuers had abruptly given up mid-chase.
"What happened?" Wang Yan knew the haunted house staff all too well. Once you provoked them, they would never stop until you fainted from terror. This was his second time entering the hospital, and after repeatedly antagonizing them, there was absolutely no way they would let him leave easily.
"The staff wouldn't be this merciful. If they stopped chasing, that can only mean something even more terrifying is up ahead!"
Wang Yan's reasoning was razor-sharp, but sadly, there was no turning back now.
The deepest rooms at the far end of the third basement level seemed like forbidden ground — dead silent, with even the haunted house's background music having cut out entirely.
"Wang Yan..."
"Don't talk." Wang Yan still hadn't found the entrance to the morgue. Something felt wrong, and when he glanced back, he saw that the red-lacquered door he had just passed through had opened on its own.
"Is someone in there?" After all that sprinting, Wang Yan's brain was oxygen-deprived to the point where his vision had started doubling.
Every ward door in the hospital was white. Only that single door had been deliberately painted red — as if warning visitors and staff alike to stay away.
The atmosphere grew suffocating. Wang Yan desperately searched for the morgue entrance, knowing his time was running out.
He pushed open door after door, but simply could not find it.
A faint metallic tang of blood gradually crept into the air. Wang Yan heard a new set of footsteps behind him — the sharp click of high heels!
The heels struck the ground, yet each click seemed to land directly on his heart. Every hair on his body stood on end, and his clothes were already soaked through with sweat.
His girlfriend was faring even worse — her legs had gone completely limp, and she could only stumble forward with Wang Yan dragging her along.
"What kind of thing is hiding in that room? Even being chased by a whole swarm of staff before, I was never this scared! My body is shaking on pure instinct — every single cell is screaming at me to run."
The high heels drew closer and closer. The crushing, suffocating pressure became more than Wang Yan and his girlfriend could bear, and the two of them finally decided to duck into a room and hide.
"This way!"