Chapter 52#
The Storyteller (Part 4)#
“Wait, Xiao Ye hasn’t come back yet.” Xia Wenshi only realized Ye Sheng was missing after returning to the room. His face changed drastically, and he got up to look for him.
Brother Hu stopped him: “Don’t be impulsive. Ye Sheng and his friend are clearly not simple characters. If they encounter trouble they can’t solve, what can you do by going there?”
“…”
Xia Wenshi was speechless and sat back down dejectedly.
Liang Qingqing thought about what happened in the front hall, her voice trembling: “Luoluo, I’m a little scared.”
Su Wanluo lowered her eyes and comforted her friend: “Don’t be afraid, nothing will happen.”
After the ten people stood in position, snap, the lights in the room suddenly went out.
The familiar light music flowed in the room again, only this time, no one appreciated such flowing water and clear breeze. The host’s voice seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
[Don’t turn on the lights when playing games. Of course, you can light candles. Oh, you must light candles.]
Su Wanluo gritted her teeth, relying on last night’s memory, groped to the cabinet and took out candles and a lighter. Sizzle, she lit the candle, and the orange light illuminated everyone’s pale faces.
The host said.
[After the first day of exploration activities, I believe everyone should have some understanding of what happened here, and you’ve been tired all day. So, tonight let’s relax and play a four-corner game.]
Four-corner game…
Everyone’s face turned pale, pupils dilated.
They were all paranormal adventure streamers, no one was unfamiliar with the rules of the four-corner game—
Four people stand in the four corners of a room. Starting with the first person, they walk clockwise along the wall to behind the second person and tap their shoulder. After receiving the signal, the second person continues to walk along the wall to the third person’s position and taps their shoulder. And so on.
After one round, the fourth person will walk to the position where the first person stood.
Logically speaking, that corner should be empty, but the weird thing about this game is that as you play, a fifth person might appear, standing in the initial position.
If they played this game yesterday, everyone wouldn’t be so terrified.
But after experiencing the daytime events, they all seemed to know who the “fifth person” would be.
“Is this connected… Yesterday we were asked to tell ghost stories, today we are asked to meet the ghosts in the stories.” Liang Qingqing’s voice sounded like she was about to cry. For her, the shadow in the mall’s underground parking lot was her permanent nightmare. She had finally woken up from that dream with great difficulty, why force her to recall it? Moreover, that day she only heard the voice and didn’t see the appearance clearly at all. What would she see in this four-corner game?
The girl in the couple had already started sobbing quietly, but her boyfriend’s face was even more terrified and desperate than hers.
Xia Wenshi said weakly: “Can we not play?”
As soon as his voice fell, a strange noise came from the cabinet.
Everyone was like startled birds, daring not speak anymore.
Su Wanluo was always the calmest person in the crowd. Holding the candle, she said softly: “Don’t be afraid, even if we encounter ghosts, they are fake.”
Brother Hu opened his mouth, wanting to say something about the strange things happening in the house, but gave up after a moment of silence.
Su Wanluo placed the candle in the very center of the room and smiled: “I’ll be the fourth person for the first round.” In the four-corner game, the fourth person is the most dangerous.
Seeing her willing to take the risk, the girl in the couple hurriedly wiped her tears and said: “I’ll be in the same round as you.”
“Okay.” Su Wanluo nodded.
Two more people joined immediately.
The four people for the first round of the game were set.
The host spoke.
[So, to prevent the others in the room from interfering with the game. After the four people stand in the corners, the remaining eight people sit around the candle. For the safety of your companions, please make sure to watch the candle closely.]
[Each round of the game ends after five laps. If a ’new member’ is seen joining during the game, the lucky one who sees the ’new member’ please clap three times immediately.]
[After hearing the applause, you must blow out the candle immediately. Remember, be quick!]
Everyone huddled together trembling.
Liang Qingqing looked at Su Wanluo worriedly.
Su Wanluo put the candle in her hand: “It’s okay.”
Six people sat in the middle of the room, surrounding a red candle, sitting down with tense nerves.
When Liang Qingqing stared at the candle, she froze, keenly sensing that this candle was different from yesterday’s.
The red candle body was actually carved with rose patterns, detailed and emitting a faint fragrance.
But after the game started, she was in no mood to pay attention to these.
The host’s words were clear, now their companions’ lives were in their hands.
The game began. Standing in the first corner was the girl from the couple. Her legs were weak, and she walked forward touching the wall according to the rules. In the dark environment where nothing could be seen clearly, she closed her eyes, walked to the second corner, and tremblingly tapped her companion’s shoulder.
The second person was a boy. After receiving the instruction, he moved quickly.
The third was Qi Lan. Qi Lan closed her eyes, moved forward in the dark, and gently tapped Su Wanluo’s shoulder.
Su Wanluo clenched her fist lightly. Her expression was calm, but from her slightly rapid breathing and trembling hands, one could still see the unrest in her heart.
No one knew what she was thinking.
There was no sound in the room, only her own breathing could be heard.
Step by step, steady and long. At the last moment, Su Wanluo’s body trembled, her mind couldn’t help but run wild.
Will she really see it?
Then in that story, who will she see?
But she was destined to be disappointed. Reaching out, she only touched the cold wall.
No one.
The game continued.
Now in the second lap, Su Wanluo became the first person. Starting with her, walking clockwise.
Not hearing three claps, the girl who had been afraid didn’t know whether to cry or laugh now.
If the game continued like this, it would be passing the parcel with a bomb, not knowing in whose hands it would explode.
Helpless, she could only continue the game, walking along the wall, and tremblingly tapped the boy’s shoulder.
The boy walked behind Qi Lan.
Now Qi Lan was holding the bomb.
Qi Lan took a deep breath. She had explored many paranormal places with Brother Hu, and was bolder than many people. Following the rules, she arrived at the corner.
Again, no one.
Third lap.
The boy also touched the wall.
In the fourth lap, the danger fell on the girl.
She bit her lip and choked up, her eyes completely red.
Su Wanluo tapped her shoulder, and at the same time extremely lightly and quickly wrote the words “Don’t be afraid” on the back of her hand. But the girl could no longer react. Receiving the instruction, she lowered her head and walked touching the wall.
But this time, whether it was because her legs were too weak or she was too scared inside, she felt her walking was a bit floaty. This road became particularly long.
Every room in the villa was particularly large. Six people sat around the candle, not a single ray of light could penetrate out. The curtains were drawn tightly, she couldn’t see anything.
Tears fell to her lips. The girl told herself: the previous three people were fine, she would be fine too. She only needed to take this risk once, and she would be safe tonight.
Tap, tap, tap. No matter how slow she walked, she reached the end.
The girl dared not open her eyes, reached out, and touched gently.
—Touched the cold wall.
The feeling at this moment could no longer be described as ecstasy!
Her body trembled with excitement, restraining herself from screaming!
Her originally fearful and exhausted body seemed to be injected with new vitality. The girl walked quickly, wanting to proceed with the fifth lap of the game. But as she walked forward, her foot hit something hard.
The girl’s body froze, there was something in front.
Wait?
She clearly reached out and touched the wall.
The girl opened her eyes in disbelief, and then saw a scene she would never forget in her life. She saw two inverted legs, white bones standing eerily in front, clothes and pants covered in blood.
Immediately after, her foot was grabbed fiercely by something. Something cold like hair entangled her ankle, and a horrifying and weird voice sounded from below.
The girl suddenly woke up, realizing the story she told before was… the Inverted Senior Sister.
Yes, died jumping off a building, head landing first.
“Ahhhhh!”
At this moment, fear reached its peak, and the girl screamed, unable to hide her terror.
Everyone’s face changed drastically.
Su Wanluo suddenly clapped three times quickly!
Clap clap clap.
Liang Qingqing was also the first to react. She leaned down and quickly blew out the candle.
The moment the flame went out, the inverted walking senior sister looked at her with hatred and unwillingness.
In this instant, the girl screamed and fainted.
Su Wanluo was originally standing by the door. Hearing the sound, she turned around and quickly turned on the lights in the room.
Bang.
The light that flickered on the first night and was despised by all of them, unexpectedly became a life-saving straw now.
The light illuminated the people in the room sweating coldly.
Tang Jiahao walked over and supported his girlfriend, his face also full of tears from fright: “Do we really have to continue playing?”
Emotions of fear, despair, and panic spread crazily in the room. They were trapped in the haunted house, becoming playthings, living in fear since the first day.
Just then, the door suddenly opened.
Ye Sheng went upstairs, pushed open the door, and saw everyone sitting paralyzed on the floor, crying in a collective breakdown.
“?”
What happened?
“Xiao Ye!” Seeing Ye Sheng now was like seeing hope for Xia Wenshi. He sat up from the floor at once, rushing over with red eyes: “Wuwuwu Xiao Ye, you finally came! Damn it, scared me to death.”
But his hand couldn’t touch Ye Sheng at all.
Ning Weichen smilingly blocked Ye Sheng with the book in his hand. His peach blossom eyes had no smile, but his tone was full of concern: “Senior, did something happen?”
The end of the first round of the game gave everyone space to breathe.
Su Wanluo smiled bitterly: “Sit down and we’ll tell you.”
Xia Wenshi also wiped the sweat off his face with his hand, sniffled, and restrained his excitement. Ye Sheng had a power that naturally calmed people down. Anyway, seeing Ye Sheng gave him a sense of security.
Ye Sheng stood under the light, frowned, and said coldly: “Just say it like this.”
“…Okay.”
As the backbone, Su Wanluo concisely told what happened in the front hall and the four-corner game just now. She said with a trembling voice: “The situation now is that we are trapped in this haunted house. The host first wanted us to tell ghost stories, and now makes us play various spirit summoning games to meet the ghosts in the stories.”
Ye Sheng was not surprised by this at all. He had guessed this from the young man who fell off the building on the first night. However, he came to investigate Duan Shi and hadn’t paid much attention to it.
Seeing Ye Sheng still expressionless, Xia Wenshi asked cautiously: “Xiao Ye, aren’t you afraid?”
Ye Sheng said: “Afraid of what? Isn’t it all fake?”
Su Wanluo hesitated to speak.
Brother Hu touched his bald head with a bitter face: “Even if it’s fake, being scared can scare people to death.”
Ye Sheng didn’t speak.
The haunted house owner’s purpose was probably to collect fear.
If Song Zhang became an anomaly due to dying too miserably, full of resentment and fear, then other people’s fear might be his source of power.
Ye Sheng said: “Can’t escape?”
Liang Qingqing shook her head: “Can’t escape.”
Ning Weichen knew Ye Sheng’s purpose. He smiled lightly, looked at everyone, and curled his thin lips: “Since we can’t escape, then let’s play games with the host properly in the haunted house.”
Everyone was speechless.
Ning Weichen tilted his head and blinked: “Brother, do you want to play?”
Ye Sheng held back the urge to roll his eyes at him and walked towards the crowd.
When his gaze fell on that candle, Ye Sheng paused slightly.
…This kind of rose-carved candle shouldn’t appear here; it seemed most suitable for a date.
Ye Sheng had been investigating Duan Shi during the day and hadn’t gone to other rooms, so he asked: “Did any of you go to the male owner’s room today?”
Although she didn’t know why he asked this, Qi Lan still spoke up: “I… I went.”
Ye Sheng said: “Did you find anything? Even if it’s unrelated to the dismemberment night.”
Qi Lan bit her lip and said: “I saw a calendar in his room. The night of the murder was actually their tenth wedding anniversary, circled with a heart by the male owner in red pen.”
Liang Qingqing was stunned: “Wasn’t he killed for cheating? Why would he still remember the anniversary?”
Qi Lan smiled bitterly: “These two don’t conflict. He remembered the anniversary and indeed cheated… There was another woman’s business card in the pocket of the suit hanging in his closet.”
“On the back of the card, a line was written in blue pen: ‘I feel so sorry for you, President Song. Don’t get drunk for your mentally unstable wife anymore. If she really loved you, she wouldn’t make you so sad’.”
Liang Qingqing gritted her teeth: “What bullshit!”
A boy who had been silent spoke up: “Actually, I can understand the male owner’s thoughts. You girls always think a man’s mind is too simple or too complex. In fact, most of a man’s love is momentary. It’s not that not cheating means love, nor that cheating means no love.”
Liang Qingqing laughed in anger: “Then let me tell you, girls aren’t that constant either. Is it only men in this world who get tempted? Men who get depressed?”
The boy was a bit anxious: “No, you misunderstood my meaning. I’m not whitewashing his cheating. I mean, the male owner should still have loved the female owner at that time.”
Liang Qingqing: “He doesn’t deserve to speak of love!”
Qi Lan: “…”
Ye Sheng: “…”
Qi Lan continued: “I also saw several empty bottles of melatonin in his drawer. He should have suffered from frequent insomnia.”
Brother Hu sighed: “His situation is quite like a relative of mine. Wife also had depression, family atmosphere was gloomy, insomnia day and night, preferring to work overtime at the company rather than go home. I say what is this all about, wedding vows eaten by dogs. Only thinking of escaping when encountering things, like a child. Irresponsible people shouldn’t get married.”
Ye Sheng knew the truth better than anyone.
Duan Shi’s illness started as postpartum depression, but later she was completely driven mad by her husband’s cheating three hundred and sixty-five days a year.
The last sentence on the diary page was: I love this boy, isn’t it ironic.
Standing in Luohu Mansion, Ye Sheng thought, it is indeed quite ironic.
But he wasn’t interested in these loves and hates anyway.
The gap between the rounds of the four-corner game didn’t give them much time.
When the host’s voice sounded again, it was very satisfied, and he said greedily.
[It seems blowing out the candle doesn’t require eight people together. Now let’s play two games simultaneously.]
[Draw two people to go to the mirror in the bathroom and play the Mirror Ghost game. The rest continue to play the four-corner game in the room.]
[I have prepared the apples for you.]
Mirror Ghost.
In front of the mirror in the bathroom, light a candle, peel an apple with a knife. If the peel is cut continuously without breaking, you can see your past and present life in the mirror. Of course, if the apple peel breaks halfway, you will see a malicious ghost in the mirror.
When Ye Sheng heard this game, he even wanted to laugh a little.
The group’s faces turned pale. The four-corner game at least had many people, while the Mirror Ghost required one person to stand in the bathroom.
Ye Sheng said lightly: “I’ll go.”
Xia Wenshi’s eyes widened: “Xiao Ye, you’re going?!”
Ye Sheng nodded: “Mm.”
He had investigated almost everything he wanted to.
Couldn’t come for nothing.
He hadn’t used the remaining diary page containing the C-rank anomaly spiritual value after Duan Shi’s death, just for this male owner of Luohu Mansion.
B-rank, didn’t disappoint him either.
Ning Weichen volunteered obediently beside him, smiling: “I’ll go with Brother.”
Ye Sheng glanced at him and didn’t refuse.
Mirror Ghost.
Mirror, what a coincidence. He hadn’t tried one of the Fetus Girl’s skills yet, entering the mirror.