Their escape route had been cut off, and the barking was growing louder and more distinct by the second. Liu Kang and the others completely panicked.
"We've been played! Watch your surroundings!"
"Where is that barking coming from?"
"Stay calm! There are five of us together! Even if the haunted house actors come out, there's nothing to be afraid of!"
"A haunted house can't design a puzzle that's impossible to solve! There must be clues hidden nearby! Everyone, look for them!"
The group devolved into chaos, until Xiao Chun—the only woman among them—stepped forward. "There are two pairs of slippers in the shoe cabinet, one big and one small. There are also two cups of different sizes on the dining table. Now look at the greeting card on the sofa!"
Xiao Chun held up the card she had just found. The ink on it hadn't even dried yet—*Happy Birthday to my daughter! You've always wanted a pet, so today Daddy is giving you a big dog!*
"The big dog was Teacher Bai's birthday gift for his daughter! The barking might be coming from somewhere in this room! We can't stay here too long! We need to figure out a way to leave!"
Xiao Chun rushed to the door and pulled it hard. It opened with a sharp click.
Everyone inside froze.
"The door… wasn't locked?"
This little trick made the panicked group flush with embarrassment. Liu Kang cleared his throat. "Let's just get out first."
The barking grew louder. The faint lights in the room began to flicker, and a massive dark shadow appeared on the wall!
The muscular cameraman was the first to bolt from the room. He made it only a few steps down the hall before skidding to a halt.
"What's wrong?"
"Brother Kang, look at the middle of the corridor!"
Standing in the same hallway they had walked through earlier was a child-sized doll—the same one they had seen on the stairs in the male dormitory!
"The ghost doll?"
Its horrifying head sat perched atop its neck, its round, bulging eyes staring straight past the muscular man and Liu Kang.
"How did it follow us? Did it close the door?" The cameraman's fear mounted with every word, his grip on the camera growing unsteady.
The livestream chat had already exploded, bullet comments flooding the screen, but Liu Kang had no attention to spare for it. He noticed that the doll's eyes were unsettlingly human-like, brimming with all sorts of emotions.
"Look at the doll's eyes—it seems to be staring at someone in particular!" Liu Kang turned to follow the doll's line of sight, and his gaze landed on Lan Dong, who was the last one out of the room. "The doll is holding a grudge! Lan Dong took its key! He pulled its head off!"
"Why is everyone looking at me?" Lan Dong adjusted his thick black-framed glasses and walked toward Liu Kang and the cameraman, but both of them backed away in unison.
"Xiao Dong, that doll seems to have come here for you." The cameraman had no loyalty whatsoever—the moment he opened his mouth, he dumped all the blame for the doll following them squarely on Lan Dong.
"Come here for me?" Lan Dong got goosebumps the moment he saw the doll, but he kept his composure. "You've all been manipulated by the haunted house emotionally. Just think about it rationally—this doll was obviously moved here by the haunted house staff. The one who closed the door earlier was staff too."
"Dong-ge, listen to me—just give the key back to the ghost doll. Some things shouldn't be taken lightly." Xiao Chun pleaded earnestly, but Lan Dong was stubborn as ever and refused to listen to anyone.
"The fact that the ghost doll appeared here is definitely the handiwork of the haunted house staff. If anything, this only confirms how important that key is!" Lan Dong held the key in his hand, looking down at the doll from above. "If it's really a ghost, then come and take it from me yourself, right in front of my face?"
Before he could finish speaking, Lan Dong's neck jolted violently—as if something had wrapped around his throat and was trying to rip his head off!
His arms trembled and the key clattered to the floor. Lan Dong clutched his neck with both hands, his face instantly turning a ghastly blue-purple.
"Dong-ge?!"
Liu Kang and the cameraman were frozen in terror. It was A-Li who reacted fastest—he pulled out Lin Sisi's phone and activated the camera, aiming it directly at Lan Dong.
"Look above your head!"
On the screen, a girl was standing on Lan Dong's shoulders, both hands pulling desperately at his head!
"The ghost doll is real!"
Brotherhood turned out to be a rather fragile and thin thing at a moment like this. A-Li retreated quickly with the phone in hand, and then he saw the shadow behind Lan Dong twist and distort!
The situation was dire. And just when everyone was tense and panicked, something even worse happened!