"You have no idea how devious this haunted house owner is. Staying together is the only chance we have of clearing it."
Bai Buhui was now certain that the two students were actors dressed up by the haunted house crew. He stopped being wary of the middle-aged man. "You don't want your wife to have a complete breakdown either, do you? We came here to enjoy the haunted house, not let the haunted house enjoy us."
"Fine, I'll stick with you for now." The middle-aged man still refused to trust Bai Buhui. "But let me say this in advance — if we run into something truly terrifying, the two of us won't be joining your group."
The more cautious the middle-aged man acted, the more convinced Bai Buhui became that he was just an ordinary tourist. "Relax."
The camera was now pointed at Bai Buhui. The host had changed, but the livestream chat was still having a blast. A user called "A Toast to the Moonlight" had even started placing bets in the chat, wagering on how long the new host would last.
"Lao Liu, you handle the camera. Gui Mei, you keep in contact with Liu Kang and monitor what's happening on their end. Little Ghost and I will scout ahead. The rest bring up the rear." Bai Buhui was clearly far more capable than Liu Kang. In a short span, he had assigned tasks to everyone based on their personality traits and abilities.
"Are we going to find Liu Kang now? We don't even know where the library is." Little Ghost felt a bit put out when he heard Bai Buhui wanted him scouting ahead.
"Listen to what I say." Bai Buhui replied coldly. "First, we'll use the spot where the camera dropped as our center and search the surrounding area. I'm giving everyone three minutes — whether or not we find anything useful, we leave immediately."
"What can you even do in three minutes?"
"Just do as you're told." Considering there were other tourists around, Bai Buhui added an explanation: "A colleague of mine visited this haunted house before. After paying a steep price, they picked up some valuable experience — don't linger in one place for too long. The longer you stay, the sooner the ghosts will come find you on their own."
Bai Buhui had an awful personality but formidable ability, so nobody argued. They all obediently did as instructed.
They pushed open nearby doors, and before long, they had results.
Little Ghost found the birthday card Teacher Bai had given his daughter, along with the Supernatural Research Club's Report Number Seven. Big Ghost, meanwhile, discovered Report Number Three in Teacher Bai's bedroom.
"Report Number Seven records the location of the Art Club — it seems to be in Paradise. Report Number Three is even stranger. It says there's a wishing well on the school grounds: make a wish during the day, and as long as you jump into the well at midnight, the wish will come true." Big Ghost reported his findings to Bai Buhui. The more they investigated, the deeper he felt himself sinking. The complexity of this scenario was beyond imagination — multiple main storylines were intertwined, and sixty minutes of exploration time simply wasn't enough.
"Paradise? A wishing well?" Bai Buhui noted down the two key phrases, then signaled Gui Mei to call Liu Kang. The group set off in search of the library.
They passed through the teachers' apartments and the office building, took a long detour, and finally arrived at the center of the haunted school.
After crossing a gloomy stretch of landscaping, they spotted a partial map of the haunted school on a notice board.
"The library is behind the teaching building!" Little Ghost had sharp eyes and spotted the library's location right away.
Bai Buhui nodded slightly, but his gaze drifted to the corner of the map — at the edge of the sports field, a well had been drawn.
"In this haunted school full of urban legends, the Supernatural Research Club should be aligned with the tourists. Their investigation reports are the most important clues." Bai Buhui thought quietly. "Report Number Seven says the Art Club is in Paradise. Report Number Three mentions the wishing well. These two reports were stored in the same room — there has to be a connection!"
A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes as he lightly pushed up his glasses. "Could the wishing well be the hidden passage into Paradise? If you jump into the well, you can enter the Art Club?"
"Who would ever guess a well is the exit? The secret passage behind the library must be a fake — a trap deliberately set by the haunted house actors. The route I've found might actually be the real one." Bai Buhui let out a soft sigh. "This Liu Kang really is beyond saving. The clues were right where they'd been standing, and he completely missed them."
Having memorized the well's location, Bai Buhui had Gui Mei call Liu Kang, but for some reason Liu Kang wasn't answering.
"Looks like he's run into trouble." Bai Buhui was exasperated but had no choice — he told everyone to follow him into the teaching building at the center of the haunted school.