My House of Horrors

“Could Boss Chen’s parents…” Song An felt like his throat was filled with ice. When he said that, his lips were shaking uncontrollably.

“You saw the blood streak on the side of the bed in that room earlier. I didn’t want to say anything then because we had outsiders with us.” Guo Miao reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette to dangle on his lips. “Fake blood is definitely not that color. The scratch marks and blood stains that we saw probably came from an actual human.”

“There are many more similar scratch marks and blood stains inside this scenario. If all those are real…” Song An shivered as he looked around. This is not a Haunted House; it’s a slaughterhouse!

“Boss, shall we call the cops?”

“I had the same idea, but we’re in here for only ten minutes. If this is a misunderstanding, we’ll be shamed for the rest of our lives.” Guo Miao bit on the cigarette. “Let’s meet up with the others first.”

“Boss! Brother Song!” When Song An was conversing with Guo Miao, Xiao Du ran over, gasping for air. “The mannequins are alive! The mannequins are following behind us even though no one is carrying them!”

“The mannequins are alive‽” The bad news just kept coming.

“Yes, Mr. Han said that it was because of the workers hidden among the mannequins. To expose them, he dashed into the group of mannequins to drag them out.” Xiao Du’s breathing became calmer. He did feel safer around Guo Miao and Song An.

“Did he find any workers?” Guo Miao and Song An’s faces shifted. This Haunted House had many nasty surprises!

“There was not one worker among the mannequins!”

“If they were not manually moved, why are the mannequins following us? Han Qiuming might be an annoying person, but he is indeed a professional in this business.”

“No idea, but Mr. Han failed to discover any secrets after destroying all the mannequins. They’re just normal mannequins.”

“Wait, Mr. Han destroyed the mannequins?” The bad feeling within Guo Miao was slowly materializing.

“I warned him about it, but he still went ahead and pulled off all the heads.” Xiao Du pouted. “You don’t know what happened then. Mr. Han was standing amid the broken mannequins, saying that since Boss Chen has ruined Tian Teng Medical School, he was going to create chaos within his Haunted House as well!”

Listening to Xiao Du, both Guo Miao and Song An froze. What the f*ck! Does he not know the limits? Why do you have to go and provoke a crazed murderer‽

“What’s wrong with the both of you?” Xiao Du realized that both Guo Miao and Song An were not speaking, and the atmosphere was rather heavy. “Are you both scared as well? I was walking at the back of group, and it felt like people were following us. Every time I turned back to look, the mannequins moved closer, and I swore one of them even smiled at me!”

“Xiao Du, the mannequins aren’t that important.” The cigarette in Guo Miao’s mouth had been chewed in half. He removed it and shoved the broken halves into his pocket.

“How is that not important? Boss, there are at least twenty of those mannequins. If they all come alive, how are we going to survive?” Xiao Du was surprised by his boss’ reaction. This was different from what he had expected.

“Boss is right. There is a bigger problem that we need to deal with.” Song An’s expression darkened. “Let’s go find that Han Qiuming first.”

Song An’s sudden change in attitude confused Xiao Du. “Brother Song, didn’t you just have an argument with Mr. Han? You’re still going to look for him?”

“There’s no choice.” Song An said with a serious expression. “I cannot just let him die, can I?”

“Let him die?” Xiao Du’s lips fell open. When did things become so serious? Aren’t we only visiting a Haunted House‽

…

After Xiao Du and Su Luoluo left, Ye Xiaoxin stood where she was. She was brave and enjoyed the visit. Occasionally, she would take out her notepad to jot things down.

“You’re waiting for me?” Han Qiuming’s heart soared when he saw Ye Xiaoxin was alone.

“I prefer to do things slow and alone. Your friends are all ahead.” Ye Xiaoxin pointed forward with her pen. Due to the corner, they had no idea what had happened ahead.

Han Qiuming glanced at Ye Xiaoxin and did not move his gaze away anymore. He increased his pace to walk beside her. “I can help with your review; after all, I’m a professional. I’ve visited many Haunted Houses and worked with many foreign teams.”

“Is that so?” Ye Xiaoxin pushed open a random door and looked through everything with patience.

“Haunted Houses with a mental hospital theme alone, I’ve been to three. One of them was built directly on an abandoned mental hospital; that is true authenticity.” Han Qiuming saw that Ye Xiaoxin wanted to move the bed, so he quickly hurried in to help.

As he attempted to flirt, Guo Miao and Xiao Du’s call came from the corner. “Where is he? Qiuming! Han Qiuming?”

“He was just behind me earlier, where has he gone?”

“This place is too dangerous; we need to find him!”

“Han Qiuming!”

There were rushing footsteps in the corridor, and Han Qiuming pretended to not hear them. He helped Ye Xiaoxin move the bed and placed it on the floor.

“They’re calling you, aren’t you going to respond?”

“Why should I when they only want me when they come into danger?” Han Qiuming chuckled. “There’s probably something very scary later. These guys might look large, but they’re all useless. They all need to depend on me.”

Ye Xiaoxin did not comment, and they replaced the bed. “Actually, you can go with them, I would prefer to explore the place alone.”

“It’s fine. This way we can be on the lookout for each other.”

Since she could not chase Han Qiuming away, Ye Xiaoxin did not say anything else. She exited the room and entered the corridor. Guo Miao’s group had just run past.

“Did you notice the numbers left on the door? All of the rooms here start with the number 2.” Han Qiuming tried his best to show off, but Ye Xiaoxin was not interested. They walked for a short distance when Ye Xiaoxin stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

“This door is different from other rooms.” Ye Xiaoxin pointed at the plaque. It was smudged, but roughly, they could make out the words ‘Director’s Office’.

“Maybe the recorder is inside. Come on, let’s take a look.”

…

Guo Miao and Song An ran all the way. They screamed until their throats were raw, but there was no reply from Han Qiuming.

“This shouldn’t be! He was just behind me!” Xiao Du had a full head of sweat as various scary thoughts filled his mind. “Do you think Mr. Han was kidnapped by the mannequins?”

“Probably not. He would have screamed if something happened to him, but we didn’t hear anything.” Guo Miao frowned, looking at the collapsed mess of mannequins and the rolling heads. He gritted his teeth. “Don’t panic. He’s probably in one of the sickrooms. We’ll turn back and look.”