Four visitors stood in the four corners of the classroom. The surroundings were pitch black, with no light at all.
Background music seeped in from somewhere, the kind that sent chills racing down your spine.
"If you're all ready, then let's start playing this game."
Out of concern for safety, he gave the other participants one more warning: "A haunted house never sees sunlight—it's steeped in heavy yin energy, making it extremely prone to breeding all sorts of peculiar things. Playing a spirit-summoning game inside a haunted house is genuinely dangerous. When I came in, I took a look around. The building housing Nightmare Academy sits on the shady side of the entire street, and the haunted house itself occupies the shady side of the building. That puts us at the most yin of yin positions. To make matters worse, there's an even taller building right next to this one, completely cutting off the only source of light to Nightmare Academy. That kind of terrain is terrifying."
"We're still students—don't make it sound so scary!" Li Po unzipped his jacket, revealing a summer school uniform underneath—the same one that senior had been wearing when they first entered the haunted house.
"What I'm trying to say is simple enough. Playing a spirit-summoning game inside a haunted house, you might actually encounter something real. If you feel scared, your best bet is to leave this room immediately. Because some things might not be pre-set mechanisms of the haunted house—they might be actual hauntings."
"Got it, can we start now? This place gives me the creeps—I really can't stand it." Xiao Gou stood in the corner across from Chen Ge, and as he spoke, a strange smile played on his lips.
"All right, then I'll start." Chen Ge felt his way along the wall toward Cui Ming. According to the rules, he needed to walk to Cui Ming's position.
Moving slowly forward, Chen Ge groped through the darkness. To make it more realistic, he even closed his eyes.
His fingers touched the corner of the wall, and Chen Ge opened his eyes. A pale face was pressed right up against him in the dark.
He lightly tapped the shoulder of the person in front of him. Chen Ge was moving clockwise—Cui Ming was the one ahead of him. Cui Ming needed to go to Li Po's corner, and Li Po needed to go to Xiao Gou's corner.
Cui Ming said nothing. He felt his way along the blackboard toward Li Po.
He came up behind Li Po and tapped Li Po's left shoulder, then tapped his right shoulder. It seemed to be a prearranged signal between them.
Chen Ge noticed that after Cui Ming did this, the tension visibly drained from Li Po's shoulders.
The game proceeded smoothly, and when it was Chen Ge's turn the second time, things took a turn.
Xiao Gou tapped Chen Ge's shoulder. He was standing in Chen Ge's original position, and according to the rules, Chen Ge should now head for the corner where Cui Ming stood, while everyone else remained in place.
But halfway through Chen Ge's walk, Xiao Gou suddenly started moving forward and followed right behind him!
And he wasn't the only one—Cui Ming and Li Po began moving at the same time.
The three of them coordinated perfectly. Their movements were feather-light, producing no sound whatsoever.
When Chen Ge reached the corner where Cui Ming had been standing, Cui Ming was already gone. No one occupied this corner.
If it had been anyone else, they would have felt uneasy by now. Logically speaking, there should have been someone in this corner.
Xiao Gou kept his distance from Chen Ge, already imagining the look of panic on Chen Ge's face in his mind. This welcoming ceremony for new visitors had been prepared specifically for Chen Ge—ordinary visitors never got this kind of treatment.
Darkness was the most primal fear. You couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything, and the rules that had been established suddenly changed. No one could stay calm under these conditions.
Xiao Gou stared eagerly at the dark figure not far away, silently reciting his lines and adjusting his expression, ready to charge forward at any moment.
But just then, something completely unexpected happened.
Chen Ge pulled a ballpoint pen wrapped in tape from his jacket pocket and paused in place for one second.