A Few Things About the Haunted House / Dealing with the Haunted House

That's really impressive.

The passersby were talking amongst themselves, while the two mothers who knew about Yuria's situation felt a strange emotion rising within them when they looked over.

Yotsuya Touko was the one who felt it most deeply. The aura emanating from Yuria naturally reminded her of her own daughter. These two young girls, who should be in high school, carried a maturity that befitting adults.

Maturity, in many people's eyes, might be a positive word. But when applied to two girls who should be quietly enjoying the beautiful life of high school, isn't it tantamount to forcibly pulling up saplings several meters tall? They seem to have grown up and matured, but how much nourishment have they lost, and how serious has the damage they suffered?

Yotsuya Touko secretly didn't want her daughter to become like this. She felt the same way about Yuria.

When she saw the girl again, a flood of emotions welled up inside her, and she couldn't utter a word of greeting. So, Hua's mother, who was standing nearby, broke the silence.

"Hua has been learning to cook recently; she knew absolutely nothing about cooking before."

"Yes, Hua's lunchbox is really good. She puts a lot of effort into making these dishes."

"Yes, I was planning to help her, but she insisted on doing it all by herself. So I stood by and watched her work for a long time. Before I knew it, it was quite late. Sigh, that kid."

At this point, a look of relief appeared on Hua's mother's face, feeling gratified for her child's efforts. However, when she thought about the family situation of the child in front of her, this relief quickly disappeared from her face, and the topic turned to Yuria.

"Ah, speaking of which, I should thank you, Yuria. If you hadn't taught Hua how to cook for so long, this child probably wouldn't even be able to cut vegetables properly. She's just so clumsy."

"Cooking... Miko has been making bento boxes lately too."

Yotsuya Touko suddenly said,

"Yuria, you made plans with them, right? That's great, girls exchanging lunches to eat together. This kind of thing didn't even happen much when I was in school."

"Huh? Is that so? I'm alright. I remember when I was in school, my best friends would share their food with each other. Back then, bento boxes weren't as varied as they are now. They usually only had pickled cucumbers and dried mustard greens. Even so, students would exchange food. Because my mom's pickled cucumbers were so delicious, they were always in high demand."

"Mrs. Yurikawa, your school life was truly enriching. But children these days are much better off than they were back then."

Yotsuya Touko smoothed her hair, intending to chat with the person her age about life experiences, her arm was suddenly tugged.

"Cultural Festival"

Glancing over, Yotsuya Kyosuke, pouting, shook her arm and pointed with his other hand at the cultural festival site that had already been set up in the distance. Class projects were held in classrooms, while individual club projects took place on the school grounds. Compared to class projects, larger clubs had more members, could secure more sponsorships outside the school, and had more experience in organizing events. These larger clubs thus had the authority to organize their own projects.

However, in order to accommodate class projects, the activities of these large clubs often start a little later. But before that, there are all sorts of warm-up activities, such as the club's sponsors being allowed to set up their own stalls on campus, and many small vendors already hawking their food or trinkets that girls like.

For slightly more formal events, staff from the local branches of large companies also participate in organizing the activities.

Therefore, the cultural festival is a very lively event. For this city, it can be considered a joyous festival.

"Okay, okay."

Looking at Kyosuke beside her, she realized that only this child was carefree and had not yet reached the point where he needed to take on responsibilities.

"Yuria, could you please show us around first?"

"Yes, of course, no problem."

Chapter 286 A Few Things About the Haunted House

"A haunted house?"

There were many people coming and going in the corridor, which was due to the diversion of student club projects.

The "Sandwich Attack" moves among the crowd, rushing to investigate and handle any situation that arises. If they encounter a problem that even the other women find troublesome, the teachers waiting in the office can step in to mediate at any time.

Even if an accident occurs, it's alright, as city leaders and high-ranking police officers are also present, sitting in the principal's office drinking tea.

The current principal doesn't have many stories to tell, but one thing is quite admirable: his caution in handling matters. Last time, he took the safest approach to the silver jade incident, and he maintained an extremely cautious attitude towards this cultural festival as well.

He doesn't object to students holding cultural festivals, nor does he object to club sponsors entering the school, nor does he object to outsiders visiting the cultural festivals. Because these things have many benefits for the school atmosphere. The only thing he dislikes is the possible accidents that might happen during these processes.

The patrolling officer, nicknamed "Sandwich Attack," found the class's project somewhat unbelievable. But after thinking about the other classes he'd seen along the way, the haunted house didn't seem so strange after all. Even though the school was all girls, maybe they genuinely had a real interest in haunted houses?

Or, how about we come and take a look when it's time for the shift change?

After thinking about it for a moment, the student quickly passed by the class's project.

She noticed it, and so did the passing tourists. Among the projects organized by these girls, projects like the "Cry Two Three Drench Die House" in Qishan were particularly eye-catching. After all, it was a long-standing stereotype that girls were extremely afraid of Ghosts and the like.

"Um... classmate, can I go inside and have a look at your haunted house?"

Soon, a young man volunteered to go to the stamp station and ask the student in charge of stamping.

"Of course, no problem."

Hua smiled and stamped his seal on the blank stamp paper that he was handed over.

"You can go in now; our staff is ready. The haunted house might be a little scary, so please be prepared."

It's a bit scary, are you prepared?

The young man didn't believe it, but he didn't want to undermine the students' confidence. So he just smiled, thinking that when they came out, he should pretend to be almost scared to give them some confidence.

The classroom door was already open, with a red curtain serving as a cover.

Pulling back the curtains, the room was dimly lit. Such a poorly lit space easily creates the illusion of a large area. With the addition of obstructions to define the route, the classroom, which wasn't actually that big, could feel like it had been a long walk. These obstructions could also be manipulated to create sounds and strange phenomena, and incidentally accommodate actors, so that they could suddenly give tourists a fright when they were in a panic.

However, judging by these students' methods, they are probably still far from sufficient.

The young man thought about it, but when he actually stepped into the classroom, he hesitated.

Looking at the image projected before my eyes, it was truly unbelievable.

How could this be?

I just can't understand how the first issue of the month could possibly create the illusion of a vast space in a small classroom.

He instinctively walked forward, but after dozens of steps he still hadn't touched the edge.

The young man was dumbfounded by the scene before him, where everything was ablaze with red except for the flickering yellow candlelight.

Visual illusions are one thing, but why does he also experience an illusion while walking? Shouldn't the route be deliberately obstructed to restrict tourists' movement?

"Strange, this is very strange."

The young man squatted down on the ground. In this dark red world, the ground beneath his feet was blurry; all he could tell was that it was red.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like there was something on the ground staring at him.

"On the ground..."

Hesitantly, he silently pulled his phone out of his pocket. Luckily, the receptionist was clueless and didn't know that tourists weren't allowed to bring their phones in. Otherwise, he might have been in trouble with these students in their haunted house today.

He turned on his phone's flashlight and shone it on the ground, and then he saw it clearly.

On the ground, on that bright red ground, were things staring at him—eyes that blinked and moved like living beings.

The normal human eye has a relatively large number of pupils, which can give people goosebumps.

"Ah!"

The young man cried out in alarm, dropping his phone to the ground, which also extinguished the light.

The moment he shouted, the candles that had been glowing suddenly went out. His vision went completely black, and he couldn't see anything.

His fear intensified, and he tried to pick up the fallen phone from the ground. However, those eerie eyes stirred his thoughts, warning him that he shouldn't do it.

In that instant, he completely forgot that he was in a haunted house.

My phone...

Muttering to himself, just as he was about to suppress his fear, close his eyes, and pick up his phone from the ground, a light suddenly appeared on the ground.

For some reason, the phone's light returned to normal and illuminated a bright area.

The young man took a deep breath and saw the light, which gave him a sense of security.

Within the range of this light, the terrifying eyeballs on the ground finally disappeared—no, not exactly disappeared. There were indeed eyeballs on the ground, but they were drawn on by someone, and very crudely, and didn't look like human eyes at all.

"I must be seeing things... I'm just imagining human eyes in my mind."

Comforting himself with this thought, the young man felt a little better, even though he couldn't explain why the candle had suddenly gone out. He believed that with the light from his phone, he would be able to escape this eerie place—no, this haunted house created by a student.

Finally, he remembered that it was a haunted house built by students.

"That's actually a bit scary."

"Were those candles blown out by the students?" the young man thought, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with his right hand.

"I really underestimated these students. But even though it's despicable, your haunted house won't scare me anymore."

He picked up his phone, intending to shine the bright light on the road in front of him, when he suddenly noticed something strange.

Why... is there an extra person in his shadow?

He glanced at the shadow cast by the lamplight at his feet out of the corner of his eye, a sudden smirk playing on his lips, and shone the lamplight behind him.

"You wanted to ambush me—"

There was no one behind him, nothing at all.

The young man froze, then looked down at his shadow again. The shadow remained in the same direction, even though the position of the light had changed. In front of his own shadow was another person, a long-haired woman.

Are you looking for me?

A hoarse voice rang in his ears, carrying an indescribable chill.

So, outside the classroom, since it was still early and not many people had come yet, Hua, who was eating bread, and "Sandwich Attack," who had patrolled around and was about to turn back for another patrol, heard a pitiful scream from the crowd passing by in the corridor.

"Aaaaaaaahh..."

Chapter 287 Dealing with the Haunted House

Now that we're human, we're probably not so easily frightened.

For some reason, Yotsuya Miko thought of her past experiences.

That was before she cultivated the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record, when she felt genuine fear because she couldn't deal with Ghosts. However, she eventually ended up in her current situation.

"So, students, do you understand now?"

The supervising teacher in front of her was trying to persuade her, his gaze fixed on her, who was still dressed as a ghost, and the many classmates standing beside her.

The thought of what these students had done made her lips twitch.

"Although the idea is great and the haunted house is indeed scary, this is a cultural festival, not a test of courage."

The young man's shrill scream was a terrible start to the entire cultural festival, and there was nothing that could be said about it. After all, the teachers were well aware that the class's project was the haunted house, and they were skeptical about how scary it would actually be.

They felt that even if it was terrifying, it shouldn't be so scary that it would almost make someone faint.

However, they still didn't think things through enough.

Fortunately, the school's planned emergency response measures did not malfunction. The moment the screams rang out from the classroom, the patrolling "Sandwich Attack" immediately rushed to the scene, stopped the project of Yotsuya Miko's class, and notified the teacher.

After learning the whole story, the young man finally snapped out of his fear. However... the outcome wasn't good; he was basically in a state of social despair. After communicating with the school's teachers, he left the school to avoid being recognized as a "coward" who had been frightened by the school's haunted house. That would have been too embarrassing.

However, through this young man, the teachers who were supervising and handling the matter realized that the haunted house project of this class was probably not a joke. Their haunted house could really scare people, even to the point of making them faint. After all, it was unlikely that a young man would be so easily scared out of his wits, which actually showed that these students' haunted house was quite authentic.

"The haunted house must be entered in groups of two to three. The students on patrol will record this and provide psychological support to visitors leaving the haunted house—if needed. Your haunted house activities... pay close attention to the physical condition of the visitors. If you encounter visitors who are easily frightened, please do not put any more pressure on them. Make sure the visitors are in good physical condition."

It's essential to take preventative measures in advance. After all, there are individuals with poor mental resilience or underlying health conditions who are more prone to accidents under immense pressure. These accidents can range from fainting and incontinence to, in severe cases, shock and death.

Previously, there was no need to pay attention, because it was genuinely hard to believe that a haunted house built by students could be that frightening. After all, if they had that kind of skill, would they still be studying at this school?

"Okay, I understand. Thank you for your help, teacher."

"Sigh, I guess it was a mistake on our part."

The teacher sighed and checked the time on her phone.

"You've already wasted so much time, and your project has also lost a lot of time. Try your best to ensure the haunted house operates normally. By the way, don't take this to heart. Today is the cultural festival, so just enjoy yourself and have fun. If anything goes wrong, we teachers will take responsibility. And if all else fails, the school leaders are here too; we'll definitely be able to keep it going."

He offered words of comfort to the students, then dismissed them and continued drinking his tea.

The teacher didn't seem to care much about this little incident. Instead, it sparked her interest in the haunted house in the classroom.

"If Yuki were still here... we could ask her to come check out this student-run haunted house."

Sipping the tea in my cup, I realize that many things are not yet at the point where I can forget them.

"I wonder how she's doing now. Well, it's been so long since we last talked. Should I give her a call now?"

As he spoke, the phone's contacts were opened, and a number was dialed immediately.

"Hello? Yuki..."

Meanwhile, Yotsuya Miko and her group, who had just come out of the office, breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's great! I thought our project was going to be canceled."

"Yes, after all, such a big incident has occurred."