Thick blood dripped from the ceiling, painting the entire corridor red.
The air was damp; every breath felt as though his lungs were soaking in blood.
Liu Kang stopped in his tracks. The intense visual impact nearly made him question his own senses. When he tried to turn around, a tremendous force slammed into his back.
His legs went weak and Liu Kang crashed to the ground. He looked behind him.
The muscular man and Ali had come barreling out of the passage. Neither had expected Liu Kang to stop so abruptly, and they couldn't brake in time, so they slammed right into him.
The three tumbled into a heap just as the ghost doll and the black dog darted into the hidden corridor.
The grotesque, terrifying faces crept closer, followed by row after row of pale, outstretched arms. But when they reached Liu Kang, something happened that no one had anticipated.
The horrifying spirits didn't advance any further. They stopped inside the passage, their faces twisted with fear and unease, and slammed the battered iron door shut with a heavy crash.
Chains rattled as the rusted iron door seemed to lock itself.
"Th-that… I guess we're saved, right?"
The three tourists lay on the ground, their expressions conflicted. They only dared look at each other's faces — they didn't even dare let their eyes wander.
"The exit?" Ali whispered, but the question was destined to go unanswered.
"Maybe it is the exit. It doesn't really look like one, though. Maybe the haunted house wanted to give us a parting easter egg?" The muscular man's voice carried a bitter edge. He slowly pushed himself up from the floor, his heart pounding like a drum.
"You might have a point there." Liu Kang got up as well. His body was trembling faintly — everything around him was far too overwhelming.
This was a world drenched in red. The floor was slick with bloodstains, the walls were laced with crimson veins, and thick, viscous blood seeped from the ceiling above.
"Insane. This is truly insane." Liu Kang's words came out in stutters. He had believed that the door behind them held hope, but the scene on the other side had absolutely nothing to do with that word. The psychological whiplash was almost enough to break a person.
The three tourists conjured up a hundred reasons to comfort themselves in their minds, but every single one of them wilted into utter uselessness before this blood-red reality.
"We…" Liu Kang hadn't finished speaking when the distant sound of footsteps suddenly echoed down the corridor.
The sound was crisp — like high heels striking ceramic tile.
"Wearing high heels makes it hard to move. Could it be a staff member coming to escort us out?"
"Forget what it is — let's hide first." Ali pushed open the door to a nearby classroom without thinking. Before he could step inside, he sucked in a sharp breath.
The classroom was packed with students. Every single one of them wore strange school uniforms — the kind that made Ali deeply uncomfortable, yet oddly familiar. "The boy I glimpsed in that flash seemed to be wearing this exact uniform. His name was… Lin Sisi?"
He'd been clutching the wooden box against his chest this whole time. In his nervousness, he'd forgotten to set down the box containing the oil painting.
The footsteps were closing in. The only places to hide on this corridor were the classrooms on either side. But no matter which door they pushed open, every room was filled with students.
"Let's just go in. These students look like they're all mannequins."
As if in direct response to Liu Kang's words, the moment he finished speaking, every student's head in the classroom slowly swiveled — a hundred pairs of eyes locking onto him in unison.
*Crack!*
In less than a fraction of a second, students began rising from their seats in waves. They seemed unaccustomed to their new bodies, moving with stiff, jerky motions as they pushed back from their desks — then charged at Liu Kang.
"Run! Run! Get out!"
Instinct took over. Liu Kang and the others shoved each other as they scrambled back out of the classroom. By now, the strange footsteps had arrived right in front of them.
A pair of blood-red high heels sat in the middle of the corridor, almost merging with the crimson hallway.
"Why are the shoes moving on their own?"
Blood dripped from above. Liu Kang looked up to find a woman wrapped head to toe in bandages clinging to the ceiling with her upper body, as though she were fashioned entirely out of blood.
A scream tore from Liu Kang's throat — he hadn't even known he could produce such a shrill sound.
His body was being dragged. Ali and the muscular man seized Liu Kang and the three bolted down the opposite end of the corridor. Just then, a familiar shriek of terror rang out from ahead.
"Bai Buhui?"