How did another one appear?

He Shan tried his best to persuade them for a long time, but the seniors remained indifferent; they all felt that He Shan was deliberately exaggerating the facts to cover up his own cowardice.

As the saying goes, hearing is believing, but seeing is reality. After wandering around the Haunted House for a few minutes, they concluded that this place was nothing special.

"Xiao Shan, if you're scared, just hide behind your sister." The woman called Hui Jie took the lead and walked into the room next door alone. "The layout is pretty much the same; it's not even as interesting as watching crime scene shows in the dorm."

"Then let's stick to the groups we just decided on." Monkey trotted after Hui Jie, "Let's find the exit and get out of here sooner; I'm already starting to feel bored."

Lao Song and a quiet girl named Shi Ling also followed, leaving only He Shan, Feng Ge, and Lao Zhao in the corridor.

"To be honest, I'm quite disappointed." Lao Zhao was a chubby man with skin paler than most girls. His physical stamina was poor, and he would break into a cold sweat after walking only a few steps.

"Alright, enough talk, let's get moving too." Feng Ge waved his hand and strode forward, with Lao Zhao following closely behind.

Soon, only He Shan was left in the corridor. He had grievances he couldn't voice; he was the only one still maintaining a high level of vigilance. "If this keeps up, something is bound to go wrong."

He took two steps forward, then suddenly stopped. "The background music seems to have changed. Why does it feel inexplicably familiar?"

Before he could think it through, a crisp sound reached his ears—intermittent, as if it were coming from the path they had just walked.

"Is someone chasing us?" He Shan didn't dare to linger and hurried to catch up with the others.

When Gloomy Sunday began to play, the Midnight Escape game truly started. The light grew dimmer, debris in the corridor would roll on its own from time to time, and the sound of chains colliding on the distant staircase was slowly drawing closer.

"I found something!" Hui Jie, who was walking at the front, took a ragdoll out of the room. "Look, there's a ragdoll placed right in the middle of this room."

"Senior, please don't touch things in the Haunted House. We triggered a trap last time just by touching a coffin." He Shan tried to share his experience, but finding that no one was listening, he could only stand silently on the periphery, watching helplessly as the seniors recklessly courted death.

"This doll must be suspicious. Could its placement in the center of the room be symbolic?" Monkey lifted the doll's head. It looked like a five or six-year-old girl, but it had no eyes, and its body was charred black by fire. "Does being unable to see represent darkness? And is the charred body because it went to hell?"

"Maybe it signifies a murder?" Feng Ge pressed the doll's body. "The stuffing inside isn't cotton; it's a bit hard. Let's open it and see."

Monkey pulled the zipper on the back of the ragdoll. The body was stuffed with scraps of paper. He pulled one out at random; the handwriting was scrawled and childish, clearly written by someone young.

"What does it say?"

Monkey, the only one who had read the note, had an unnatural expression. He held the note in front of the others; it contained only five words—You are all going to die!

"It seems like every piece of paper has this sentence written on it."

"What kind of grudge is this?"

"Throw it away, it's bad luck." Shi Ling, who rarely spoke, seemed particularly afraid of the doll. She took one look and quickly walked to the edge of the group.

"It's just a doll, don't make such a fuss. It's probably just a decoration for the Haunted House." Monkey stuffed the note back into the doll and tossed it onto the corridor floor. "Let's go to the next room."

His voice carried a distinct tremor, showing that he wasn't as calm as he pretended to be.

"Wait a moment." Xiao Hui raised her left hand, clutching several torn sheets of paper. "In the room where we found the doll, I also found these. Take a look; they should have been torn from a diary."

"Let me see." Lao Zhao took the papers and read them aloud: "I discovered that there seems to be someone hiding in the house. I don't know if he's hiding under the bed or in the closet. I told my mom, dad, and sister, but they all seemed worried about something and didn't have time to listen to me. It's late at night, and Dad checked all the doors and windows in the apartment building before going to sleep. I don't know what they are afraid of, but I know that there really seems to be someone hiding in my room..."

"Damn! What is this?" Lao Zhao couldn't even finish reading and handed the papers back to Xiao Hui. "This is all designed to distract us. If you take it seriously, you lose."

"The details are handled well, but it's a pity it can't scare me." Xiao Hui put the papers back where they were. The group continued to the next room, none of them noticing that the ragdoll, which had been tossed onto the floor, suddenly shifted.

"Hurry up and find the exit, stop dawdling."

After searching four or five rooms in a row with no results, the group arrived at the right side of the corridor.

"The third floor is huge and we haven't finished searching, but I think the probability of the exit being on the third floor is very low. If I were the operator of this Haunted House, I certainly wouldn't put the exit and entrance on the same floor," Feng Ge analyzed rationally.

"Should we split up?"

"Don't! If we aren't on the same floor, it's easy to be picked off one by one!" He Shan interjected, but everyone chose to ignore him.

"We've been in here for ten minutes and nothing has happened. Although the atmosphere of this Haunted House is good, it's far from scary. I think it's better to split up." Lao Zhao wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued, "Don't forget why we came here. Only by finding the exit and leaving within the allotted time can we properly win back the face we lost!"

"Makes sense. Then let's stick to the original plan and split up."

Just as they were about to finalize the decision, He Shan, who could no longer bear it, finally stepped forward. "Can you all just listen to me for a second!"

He walked into the middle of the group and pointed to the other side of the corridor. "Starting a few minutes ago, I've been hearing the sound of chains in the hallway. Something has been following us the whole time!"

Only after He Shan said this did the others react. They tilted their heads to listen, and indeed, they could hear the increasingly clear sound of chains.

"The Haunted House owner said this scenario is called Midnight Escape. Since it's an escape, there must be a killer." Lao Zhao patted He Shan on the shoulder. "Don't get too immersed in the role. The killer following us must be a Haunted House employee in disguise. Knowing it's just a person pretending, what's there to be afraid of? Am I right?"

Everyone laughed, feeling that He Shan was being too sensitive.

"Don't panic, you have your seniors backing you up. We aren't afraid of whoever comes." As Lao Zhao said this, he took out his phone. "Didn't we agree to record a short video in the Haunted House and post it on the owner's community page to mock him? I think this spot is perfect. Come on, everyone look at the camera."

He chose an angle and framed everyone in the shot. As his eyes scanned the screen, he was about to speak when an indescribable, bone-chilling sensation suddenly rushed to the top of his head!

His fat trembled all over, and with a shake of his hand, Lao Zhao threw his phone away!

"Fatty! Are you out of your mind?"

"What are you doing? You scared the hell out of me!"

Lao Zhao didn't speak. He scanned everyone, his teeth chattering. "Look for yourselves—counting me, why are there eight people here!"