Chapter 51 – Haunted House
I went to the haunted house for real, and it’s true that I lost face.
First, Cheng Che completed the solo mission and obtained the clues. But when he tried to leave, he found that the door wouldn’t open. He pushed the door and shouted for two to three minutes, “Butler (NPC)! Why is this door locked?” “Help!” “Captain, come and save me!”
Until Lin Xingling came over and knocked on the door:
“Don’t push, the door opens inward. Just pull it.”
Cheng Che: … It makes me look stupid.
But he couldn’t think much about it, so he pulled the door open and finally saw Lin Xingling again after more than half an hour. Cheng Che almost cried at that moment.
“What happened?”
A child rushed out and immediately hugged himself. Lin Xingling thought he was scared and hugged him tightly, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Captain is here.”
Wu You came out from another room: …
“Oh, isn’t this the short-legged hug monster? Haven’t seen you for a few minutes, and you’re so clingy?”
Cheng Che let go of Lin Xingling and glared at him.
Wu You: “Why are you squinting at me with your monolid?”
Cheng Che: “You…”
Wu You: “Don’t snarl at me. Your snarl doesn’t even look like a cat anymore. It’s more like a dog.”
Cheng Che: “…”
A fierce battle was about to break out. Lin Xingling wanted to intervene but couldn’t stop them. His own two team members instantly started fighting, throwing punches and kicks with great enthusiasm.
Coincidentally, Liang Feng and Phantom also came out and enjoyed a free “martial arts performance” in the haunted house corridor.
The three of them tacitly refrained from intervening to stop the fight. Liang Feng even held back Lin Xingling, who wanted to go up and intervene, and advised him, “Fighting is a sign of intimacy.”
Lin Xingling smiled bitterly, “You two, please stop.”
Cheng Che pinched Wu You’s neck and said fiercely, “No, it’s impossible!”
Not angry, so he didn’t use much force.
Wu You easily broke free from his grip and pressed him against the wall. “That’s right, we’re going to fight to the death.”
Calm as Liu Ying, he took out his phone and recorded this scene, saying that he would send it to Phantom as a behind-the-scenes vlog.
Liang Feng raised his thumb, “You’re really smart.”
“…”
Even the NPC butler couldn’t stand it anymore. He came over and pulled them apart, and with a reproachful tone, he told Lin Xingling to control his “Blue Elf.”
The Blue Elf refers to Cheng Che, the young boy with a blue T-shirt and blue eyes.
This nickname is quite cute…
Wu You: “Blue~ Elf~”
“Do you believe that I’ll… I’ll kill you!” Cheng Che flipped him off.
“Tsk, stop quarreling.” Lin Xingling immediately hugged Cheng Che, like a mother hen protecting her chicks, and said, “The two of you combined are smaller than my shoe size. What are you arguing about?”
Now it was Liu Ying and the others who laughed, while Cheng Che and Wu You were just unwilling to admit defeat.
Liang Feng suggested, “You two should draw lots. The one who loses apologizes first, and the winner apologizes last. Can we turn the page after that?”
“Rock, paper, scissors, rock, paper, scissors…”
“They both chose rock again.”
They drew lots three times and got the same result each time. Liu Ying sighed, “They are really in sync.”
Cheng Che & Wu You: “Heh.”
They were ready for the fourth round.
Cheng Che: “Rock, paper, scissors…”
Wu You extended his fist and quickly punched him before he could react, laughing and saying, “Rock!… Alright, I admit defeat. Sorry, Brother Che!”
Cheng Che, who got punched out of nowhere, showed a helpless expression of an honest person.
Everyone laughed, except for Lin Xingling who looked at him helplessly, “Well, it’s time to apologize to Xiao You.”
Apologize, huh?
The honest person grabbed Wu You and started hitting him with punches, saying sorry with each hit, repeatedly saying sorry… until Wu You was rolling on the ground, he finally stopped.
After finishing, he ran to Lin Xingling and hugged him. Lin Xingling protected him, and Wu You, taking into account that the captain was “old, weak, sick, and disabled,” didn’t fight back.
After resolving the issues of the two unfortunate individuals, the six of them split into two groups. Xiao You, Xiao Pei, and Brother Feng went upstairs to investigate the children’s room, while the remaining three went to the basement to prepare to collaborate and solve the next puzzle.
The NPC butler mentioned that four detectives had already entered the villa for investigation before them, so there was a high chance of encountering the other team, and they should try to get along peacefully.
Therefore, when Lin Xingling walked with the two children into the pitch-black basement and bumped into a disheveled woman ghost in a fluorescent white dress, he thought it was the other team and showed no signs of panic.
He even greeted, “Hello?”
Cheng Che held onto Lin Xingling’s arm tightly.
With his nearsightedness and slight night blindness, Lin Xingling asked, “Are we also… players? Are you alone?”
“Captain…” Cheng Che tiptoed and whispered in his ear, “Th-that’s a ghost, right?”
Lin Xingling was confident, “How could it be? The butler said we would encounter the other team. Don’t worry, don’t be afraid.”
Cheng Che: …I’m not afraid of ghosts, I’m afraid of being dumbed down by you.
Damn it! Which player would glow like that? He must be sick, afraid that you wouldn’t be able to see him, right?!
But in the pitch-black basement, it seemed like there were indeed other people present, making occasional rustling sounds in the darkness.
Following the development of a horror story, the people hiding in the darkness were scarier than the visible ghosts.
But it’s just a game…
The woman ghost in white raised her head, revealing a pale face devoid of blood and stuck out a long tongue.
“Ah!!!”
Liu Ying screamed in fear, let go of Cheng Che, and ran back. With a loud bang, he bumped into the wall, and it sounded genuinely painful.
From a distance, a familiar voice was heard, “Who is it? Are you alright?… Holy shit, it’s a ghost!!!”
Lin Xingling & Cheng Che: Stunned—
The woman ghost opened her big mouth, “Woo wow wow!!!”
“Damn damn damn damn!” Cheng Che was scared out of his wits.
Without thinking much, he grabbed Lin Xingling and ran, also grabbing Liu Ying who was hiding nearby. The three of them ran back to the first floor as if their lives depended on it…
“Damn, that’s really… really fucking scary…”
Cheng Che let go of Liu Ying and patted his chest, his heart seemed like it was about to jump out.
“Ha… Ha, don’t curse… cough…” Lin Xingling, out of breath, criticized and educated him while trying to catch his breath.
Liu Ying: …
The unfamiliar girl who was pulled up by Cheng Che, thinking she was Liu Ying: “Um… Did you mistake me for someone else? Your friend should still be downstairs, right?”
The two, hearing the girl’s voice, looked puzzled and turned their heads, “Ah…”
Mistaken identity? Wrong person? Where is the person?!
The two of them were bewildered, and the girl was even more lost… She had heard from the NPC butler that her boyfriend should have gone to the basement to find her, so she thought of going down to the basement to search.
As a result, as soon as she went downstairs, she encountered a terrifying woman ghost in the pitch-black darkness. Then she was dragged back up by two unknown boys who didn’t recognize her boyfriend.
The three of them looked at each other.
“Well… shall we go down to help you find your boyfriend? And bring Liu Ying up as well?” Lin Xingling said after hearing the girl’s words.
It could already be anticipated that Liu Ying would definitely cry a lot… Cheng Che nodded, “Sh-should we go?”
They said it and walked. The two of them, along with the girl, went downstairs again. When they reached the basement door, they found it locked.
From inside, they could hear the maniacal laughter of the woman ghost and Liu Ying’s heart-wrenching cries, as well as… the voice of the girl’s boyfriend, saying who knows what.
“Damn it…” Cheng Che cursed, knocking on the door and shouting, “If it’s one against two, what kind of skill is that… if you have the guts, open the door. We… we’ll make it fair, five against one!”
Lin Xingling chuckled and began searching for any clues around.
As luck would have it, with his and the girl’s careful search, they found the power switch and installed it. Pressing the button, the entire hallway and basement lit up.
The door also opened.
Cheng Che, who was pounding on the door: ?!
Cheng Che’s hand was about to hit the door, but Cheng Che himself rushed forward, tripped, and made the woman ghost laugh…
The woman ghost covered her face and ran away, hiding behind several rows of bookshelves.
Hamster Ball: What the hell?!
“Are you okay? Does it hurt? Let me rub it for you. It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt, it flew away.”
Helping Cheng Che up and patting the nonexistent dust off him, Lin Xingling massaged his hand and rubbed his face, as if afraid that the obedient little one would get hurt.
The girl on the side was left dumbfounded.
Cheng Che glanced at her helplessly, his gaze seemed to say:
This is my idol. A few days ago, he got kicked by a donkey while saving me and got seriously ill. I have no choice. I have to bring him everywhere I go.
“Wu wu… um… cough cough cough…”
“Stop crying. I’m not afraid of the female ghost. I’m afraid of being scared by your crying,” said the boyfriend as he protected Liu Ying, who was curled up in the corner.
He noticed the light turning on and looked up, saying, “Look, we’re saved.”
Lin Xingling: “Xiao Rong?”
It’s a small world indeed. Shanghai is still too small.
“Ah Rong!” the girl waved her hand and looked at the two people next to her, saying, “You guys know each other!… Hey! Clear! Stars!”
Just now, I only found them familiar, but now I remember everything.
“Um…” Cheng Che broke free from Lin Xingling’s embrace, his face looking a little displeased, and he pulled Liu Ying up, saying, “I pulled the wrong person just now, I came back… I came back to pick you up.”
Liu Ying: QwQ
“It’s you guys.” Lian Rong breathed a sigh of relief.
…Almost got scared to death by this child, Liu Ying.
…
Meeting acquaintances naturally brings more joy. After stabilizing Liu Ying’s emotions, Cheng Che led the four of them with laughter and joy to find the female ghost and communicate through gestures.
Female Ghost: Danger!!!
The female ghost deeply felt that the little blue elf child was not to be messed with, so she directly hid.
Cheng Che searched for her for a while but couldn’t find her.
“I… I’ll wait here.”
“Alright, stop acting childish. Let’s go and join Brother Feng and the others with the clues,” Lin Xingling pulled the person and walked away.
Liu Ying followed in fear.
Lian Rong and his girlfriend brought up the rear.
The female ghost, who watched them leave, whispered, “Whew…”
As soon as Cheng Che finished catching his breath, he suddenly appeared again, saying, “Caught you…”
Female Ghost: “Aaahhh!!!”
Damn it, scared the ghost.
Cheng Che: …
After Lin Xingling apologized to the staff, they dragged the little troublemaker away again.
At the same time, Liang Feng, Wu You, and the others had already found all the necessary clues from the voodoo dolls and the haunted piano in the children’s room.
They had just finished searching the balcony and were about to go downstairs when they were suddenly attracted by the melodious piano music coming from the nursery.
“I remember… We stopped the piano in the children’s room, right?” Liang Feng clenched his fist.
From the first stage downstairs, each team member was responsible for a different location: the parents’ room, the nanny’s room, the study, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room… Each room was assigned to one person.
In the second stage, they worked in teams of three, and they heard that they might encounter another team… but they hadn’t encountered anyone until now.
Phantom said, “Maybe it’s the other team?”
“Who the hell has nothing better to do than play their grandmother’s piano!” Wu You slapped his forehead and couldn’t bear to hear the familiar tune of “Für Elise” anymore.
“What is this playing now?” Liang Feng asked Phantom.
After carefully listening for five seconds, Phantom replied, “Nocturne, the fifth movement.”
“But please tell me tonight will be forever, forever love me and never leave me…”
“Don’t leave me, I won’t waste any more time in this world.”
As the music ended, applause could even be heard in the room.
“I have a bold guess. If the person inside is not the other team mentioned by the butler… then it should be an ‘Easter egg,’ right?”
Liang Feng speculated.
Wu You tugged on Phantom’s clothes and asked, “Shall we open the door and take a look?”
Liang Feng said, “Let’s go downstairs.”
Wu You patted his shoulder to boost his courage and said, “What are you afraid of, Head Instructor? Don’t be afraid of guilty conscience. We’re just playing a game. Don’t be scared, let’s go and have a look.”
…
After countless attempts to motivate Brother Feng with no results, Phantom pushed open the door of the nursery.
“Who is it?” Wu You asked from behind him.
At that moment, Liang Feng had already reached the staircase. Upon hearing Phantom’s answer, he turned around and hurriedly walked back.
Author’s note:
【Mini Theater】 – The Arrival of the Female Ghost
Female Ghost: You two play rock-paper-scissors, and I’ll eat the loser~
Cat Che: How about you eat Liu Ying?
Hamster Xingling (at the same time): Whimper whimper, eat me, spare my little ones!
(Liu Ying: Thank you!)
Female Ghost: Liu Ying is not on my menu.
Cat Che: Your mom is.
Hamster Xingling: Don’t insult people.
Cat Che: She’s not a person.
Another round of laughter
Female Ghost: ????
Cat Che: Let’s make it fair and play rock-paper-scissors.
Hamster Xingling: I’ll choose rock, and you choose paper, okay?
Cat Che: I’ll fucking choose a fist!
(Beat up the female ghost)
Female Ghost: Swearing and complaining
Female Ghost: (Profanity)