"Looking for heaven in a well?"
He turned around and took a breath, forcing himself to calm down. The dark-skinned woman hadn't noticed his unusual reaction.
But just as he was congratulating himself, he glanced down to find the boy staring straight at him — with the exact same gaze he'd worn earlier when looking at
"
When they emerged from the haunted house and sunlight fell on him once more, the boy reverted to his usual self — taciturn, his eyes filled with a terror that couldn't be concealed. It was impossible to tell whether he feared the light or feared the living.
The dark-skinned woman thanked Chen Ge and led the boy away. Only after the two of them had passed through the amusement park's entrance did Chen Ge finally let out a long, deep breath. At that moment, the black phone in his pocket gave a single vibration.
He sat down on the steps in front of the haunted house, his mind replaying everything that had just happened.
Looking for heaven in a well — for this little boy, that might not have been a sentence born from a misunderstanding.
During their conversation, the woman had told Chen Ge that the boy's parents had disappeared when he was five or six years old. To spare him too much pain, she'd told a well-intentioned lie, claiming that his parents weren't dead — they had simply gone to a place called heaven.
She had hoped that as the boy grew older, he would come to understand the truth on his own. But things hadn't gone that way. The boy's thinking and psychology had developed severe problems — one could no longer call him a normal child.
What Chen Ge had least expected was the boy's answer when he'd asked why he kept standing by the well. The boy said he was looking for heaven.
His parents had gone to heaven, yet the child was searching for heaven in a well. Didn't that indirectly prove the boy had witnessed a murder with his own eyes — and in the end, his parents had been stuffed into the well?
"The bodies are hidden in the well!" Chen Ge uneasily fished out a cigarette. He didn't rush to call the police. Instead, he let his speculation run deeper.
"The boy's parents were teachers at Muyang Middle School. In the haunting school side quest I activated earlier, one of them just happened to be connected to Muyang Middle School and involved a water well. If they're talking about the same well, then the crime scene should be somewhere inside Muyang Middle School."
Chen Ge pulled out the black phone. An unread message still sat on the screen, and he tapped it open without hesitation.
"Different choices lead to entirely different outcomes. The first special guest has departed. During this period, you made the most correct choice. Congratulations — you have received a reward! Hidden trial mission unlocked — Muyang Middle School! This scenario is a branch of the four-star horror scenario Haunted School. Completing it will unlock the two-star horror scenario Muyang Middle School and reduce the difficulty of the four-star horror scenario trial mission!"
"Muyang Middle School Trial Mission (Scream Index Two Stars): This scenario contains four branch missions. Survive after experiencing all of them, and the scenario will be successfully unlocked."
"Mission Location: Muyang Middle School."
"Mission Requirement: Arrive at the mission site before 23:00 today and survive until dawn."
"Mission Hint: Everyone has a bottomless well hidden in their heart. Buried inside are unspeakable memories they would rather forget."
"Accept the mission? Warning: Trial missions exist for only twenty-four hours. If not accepted within twenty-four hours, it will be considered forfeited, and this scenario will never be unlockable."
The new message on the black phone caught Chen Ge completely off guard. He hadn't expected that the reward for hosting a special guest would be a trial mission for a two-star horror scenario.