My House of Horrors

“You will die?” Fei Youliang was confused. He had asked about his future wife’s name, but why would such a curse come out? There was no connection between them. He made sure he had followed the rules of the Pen Spirit game closely; he did not do anything that should have angered the Pen Spirit.

He thought about it, and an answer came to him. This must be one of the preset designs. No matter what question I asked, these three words were destined to appear.

Feeling like he had seen through the boss’ trick, the confidence that Fei Youliang had lost earlier started to resurface.

“The method to make these three words appear is interesting. Temporarily, I still don’t understand it, but to amplify the fear factor, the boss has forgotten to take care of the situation’s sense of logic,” he explained. “If it were any other visitor, they probably would have ended the Pen Spirit game or done something taboo to anger the Pen Spirit in their panic, and the appearance of these three words would have heightened their internal suspicion, thinking that the Pen Spirit had really appeared and allowed themselves to be feared. Unfortunately, their visitors today are the two of us. We have made no mistakes along the way, but the answer on the paper still comes up as irrelevant to my question. Therefore, this Pen Spirit game is nothing more than a scary trick.”

Even after his long explanation, Fei Youliang realized that Zhu Jianing still had not responded, making him feel like he was talking to a wall.

“Xiao Zhu? Why is your hand so cold?” He raised his head and saw Zhu Jianing was staring dumbly at the space behind him, his mouth wide open and his features twisted in abject fear.

“What are you looking at?”

The expression on Zhu Jianing’s face unsettled Fei Youliang. He did not seem to hear his teammate, and his whole body was shivering, just like the broken ballpoint pen they were holding. A bad feeling appeared in Fei Youliang’s heart. He had also sensed that the atmosphere in the bedroom had changed. There was an indescribable presence that had joined them in the room, one that had not been there earlier, and it felt like it was just behind him.

He wanted to turn to take a look, but something pressed down on his back, and every muscle in his body tensed. “What’s going on? What’s behind this?”

Various questions flashed across his mind, and the feeling of wanting to take a look but being afraid of what he might see made the man crazy.

“Xiao Zhu, tell me, what are you seeing? What is behind me‽”

A chill soon spread through his body; it felt like he had been dropped into an icy cave. Fei Youliang shivered involuntarily, and various purplish bruises appeared on his skin, like many invisible hands were grabbing him.

The thing behind him felt like it was trying to squeeze itself into his body, and the chilling presence pushing down on his shoulders became heavier and heavier!

Opposite him, Zhu Jianing seemed to use every energy in his body to squeeze out a warning.

“There’s someone behind you!”

“Behind me?”

There were two explanations to this warning; either someone was literally on his back or someone was standing behind him. Fei Youliang’s brain was churning when Zhu Jianing suddenly jumped up from the floor, shook Fei Youliang’s hand off, and ran out the room!

Zhu Jianing did not hesitate or even turn around once in his escape.

Fei Youliang, who was abandoned, still sat dumbly on the floor. The ballpoint pen seemed to have stuck to his hand, and no matter how hard he tried to shake it loose, it simply would not come off. Suddenly, his arm froze like something had taken control of it. Then the pen started to move on its own to write on the white paper.

“YOU WILL DIE! YOU WILL DIE! YOU WILL DIE!”

The series of blood red curses appeared on the white paper. Zhu Jianing had already left, and the one holding the pen was himself. He was certain that he did not move his hand, so this meant that these curses were written by something else in the room.

Even at a time like that, Fei Youliang still managed to maintain his cool. He was an adrenaline junkie, and he did not believe in ghosts. He believed in the rationality and logic of science above all else.

The thing that Xiao Zhu saw is probably some 3D imaging. Since the chairs are arranged in such a manner, it means that the position of the Pen Spirit game is constant. With the careful manipulation of angles, it would create an authentic looking effect. That should be the tactic employed there, but why would my body be shaking?

He admitted that he had underestimated this broken ballpoint pen and the Haunted House in general. If given another chance, he would not have entered the Haunted House with so little preparation, and he definitely would have picked a better partner.

The chill on his back continued to spread. As if depleted, the pen in Fei Youliang’s palm finally collapsed and broke into pieces after it finished the crazy scrawls. When the pen left his palm, the last word it wrote was “DIE”.

Is it over? Fei Youliang felt his senses returning to his arm. It was then that he finally sighed in relief. His muscles were still rather frozen. He wanted to work some temperature into them, but he realized the pressure on his shoulders had not left, and he was still unable to move!

He had thought he had survived the Pen Spirit game, but the real experience had just started.

Why can’t I move still? Fei Youliang creaked his neck inch by inch to look over his shoulder. His eyes were narrowed into slits, and he was fully prepared, but when he turned, he saw there was nothing behind him.

It was all for naught? But then why would Xiao Zhu react in such a crazy manner? What did he actually see?

Fei Youliang’s mind churned hastily, and the pressure on his shoulders increased like someone was stepping on them.

Shoulders? Stepping on them?

An image flashed through his mind, and Fei Youliang slowly raised his head.

Raven-black hair falling all over her head, her face bloated from asphyxiation, the eyes popping out of her pockets, anger rimming the edges.

There was a hanging woman standing on Fei Youliang’s shoulders!

His lips fell open, but no sound came out. Every hair on his body stood upright, and his glasses slowly slid off his face. Fei Youliang felt as if his heart had stopped at that moment.

“I…”

Before finishing the sentence, the focus in his eyes started to lax, and his body collapsed weakly toward the floor.

…

Chen Ge waited for a few minutes before entering Mu Yang High School’s scenario. He did not want to enter too soon after the two previous visitors.

I haven’t heard any screams for so long… looks like I underestimated those two.

After putting on the skin mask, Chen Ge’s first destination was the Sealed Classroom. He placed the paper box with the twenty-four name tags on the lectern. The tables and chairs have been moved. They have been here and probably stumbled across something.

What that something was, Chen Ge had no clue. After all, even he had not fully understood the secret of this sealed classroom yet.

After putting the tables and chairs back into position, and the papers and textbooks back into the drawer, Chen Ge suddenly heard footsteps coming from the junction not far ahead. Someone was running through the corridor.

Who could that be? He put on the bloodied coat and the mask made from multiple human faces and slowly slipped out of the classroom.