Don't Look Back

Before dawn.

Chen Feng finished his workout, ate a bowl of instant noodles with a sausage, and had a glass of Guojiao—ice-cold Iced Black Tea. He had planned to enjoy a shower and go to bed.

Suddenly, a system notification arrived:

[Ding! Your avatar Liu Xiaohu is hungry. Please eat as soon as possible.]

Damn.

His avatar needed to eat too?

The moment Chen Feng switched back to his alt, his stomach growled in protest. He was so hungry his heart raced and his hands shook.

"I need food. Now!"

Following the map on the back of the flyer, Chen Feng jogged all the way to the park cafeteria.

He pushed open the glass door and smelled food in the air. There were stir-fries under heat lamps, hotpot ingredients and barbecue meats in refrigerated cases, desserts, fruit, fried snacks, sushi, an ice cream machine, a chocolate fountain, and drinks at the bar. If a buffet served it, this place had it.

"Damn. My avatar eats better than my real body."

Chen Feng had thought tonight's instant noodles and sausage were a luxury. Compared with this spread, they were garbage!

Best of all, everything was free.

As the saying went, some people valued money more than their lives. In the world of ghost stories, it was the opposite: your life was the price, not your money.

All food, attractions, and accommodation in the Horror Amusement Park were provided free of charge.

"At this rate, I might as well move my real body in too."

Chen Feng picked out some food and was about to dig in when a middle-aged man sidled up to him and asked mysteriously, "Brother, selling?"

"What?"

Chen Feng eyed him warily. Selling what? His ass?

Just so we're clear, I'm not into guys!

Seeing Chen Feng hesitate, the man clicked his tongue. "Guess you don't know how things work."

As the man walked away, Chen Feng worried he might miss something important and hurriedly called him back. "Hey, what are you buying? Fill me in."

The man turned around. "Information. Get it?"

"Selling information? Aren't you afraid of losing Game Coins..."

Chen Feng paused, then caught on at once.

Right. Selling information cost Game Coins and made it impossible to exchange them for souvenirs, but the other visitors didn't know what the souvenirs did. They just wanted to finish five attractions and leave this hellhole as soon as possible. Trading information was their best option!

"My surname's Wang. Everyone eating here came to trade information."

Mr. Wang told Chen Feng that everyone now knew something bad would happen if they lost their last Game Coin.

They had also worked out loopholes in the rules:

1. Revealing information about an attraction cost one Game Coin.

2. Revealing information about an attraction to multiple people at once cost one Game Coin per person.

3. Whether a Game Coin was deducted depended on what you believed. If a visitor thought they had revealed information, the coin would be deducted.

4. Anyone who learned an attraction's secret would receive no Game Coin for completing it.

5. Two people who had not tried an attraction could share what they had observed without losing Game Coins.

"Impressive."

Chen Feng saw the group in a new light. Push people hard enough and they could get clever.

Looking around, Chen Feng even spotted the two brothers who had survived the second attraction discussing it with someone.

So people had been doing this for a while.

Chen Feng said, "I've got information on Goldfish Catching and Air Rifle. Which one do you want?"

Mr. Wang smiled. "Brother, information on Goldfish Catching isn't worth much. It's a group attraction. Once one person figures out how to clear it, everyone else can see what to do."

"By the way, the rules on revealing information are strict. If you hadn't tried Goldfish Catching, that last sentence would already have cost me a Game Coin."

Chen Feng's mouth fell open. "That strict? What did you reveal?"

Mr. Wang explained, "Saying nobody wants information on Goldfish Catching tells you how difficult it is. That counts as revealing a secret."

Chen Feng wondered whether the man was being too careless. "Then talking to me about this is risky."

Mr. Wang pulled up a chair and sat down. "It's fine. I know a little about reading faces. You look like a straightforward person."

"Me?"

Chen Feng told him the truth. "I'm not just straightforward. I don't even have a heartbeat."

"Young people have quite the sense of humor." Mr. Wang asked, "I have information on the Haunted House. Want it?"

"Sure."

Wanting to deal honestly, Chen Feng said, "I'll go first. But don't record what I say and play it for someone else to get me in trouble."

"Come on now."

Mr. Wang took out his phone and switched it off to show good faith. "I've got nothing against you. Why would I do that? Besides, I told you: it depends on what you believe. It only counts if you think you've revealed it."

And what if that's a lie too?

Chen Feng thought it, but, unusually, he did not call the man out. Instead, he said frankly, "The Air Rifle rules say you have to kill ten monsters. The trap is the owner. He counts as one of them."

Cold sweat streamed down Mr. Wang's face. "Good grief. That's nasty. If I hadn't bought that information, I'd have been as good as dead."

Chen Feng looked at him without speaking.

Mr. Wang knew it was his turn, so he began telling Chen Feng about the Haunted House. "The Haunted House has five rules too, but only one condition gets people killed: looking back."

"Looking back?"

"The rules say that no matter what happens inside the Haunted House, you mustn't look back."

"Or you die?"

"That's right. Once you enter, the Haunted House reads your deepest fears and makes them real. If you can't swim, you'll fall into the sea. If you're afraid of insects, a swarm of cockroaches will crawl out."

"Sounds creepy."

"Doesn't it? All you have to do is keep walking. No matter what happens, don't look back."

"That's the information?"

"Of course not. I'm going to tell you about two dead ends in the Haunted House—the traps."

"What traps?"

"The first is that the Haunted House takes the form of someone you know and calls your name from behind, trying to make you turn around."

"That one sounds easy to spot."

"Not as easy as you'd think. I saw plenty of people fall for it. The illusions are incredibly convincing."

"And the second?"

"The second is the nastiest. Inside the Haunted House, there's a space that looks like the world outside it. The owner—a guy dressed like a corpse—waits for you there. You think you've left the Haunted House, let your guard down, and look back. Then you're dead!"

"A trap inside a trap. A dream inside a dream. A classic. So how did you see through it?"

"The Game Coin! You get one when you clear an attraction. I felt no Game Coin in my pocket and immediately saw through the trick!"

Chen Feng could not help saying, "You really are clever, sir."

Mr. Wang laughed, pleased with himself. "Of course. You haven't truly made it out until you get the Game Coin."

Chen Feng's face darkened. "But you also said anyone told the secret can't receive a Game Coin. You've told me how to clear it, but I can't use that method."

"Well..."

Mr. Wang's expression froze. Realizing that very point was why he had started approaching people to trade information.

"Sorry about that, brother."

But Chen Feng was generous about it. "We're brothers, aren't we? Forget it. There is one thing I'd like to ask you, though."

Mr. Wang blinked. "What?"

Chen Feng asked seriously, "You said the Haunted House creates illusions. How can you be sure the Game Coin is real?"

Mr. Wang's expression froze. "Well..."

Chen Feng smiled. "Maybe you never got out. Maybe you're still in the Haunted House."

At Chen Feng's words, Mr. Wang grew agitated. "Impossible! The hotel is absolutely safe! The rules said so!"

What if the hotel is an illusion too?

A thunderclap seemed to explode inside Mr. Wang's head. He suddenly remembered Chen Feng asking him to turn around when they first spoke. "Don't tell me you're..."

The next instant, Chen Feng's face twisted into something hideous.

"You're... the owner!!!"

Every trace of color drained from Mr. Wang's face. He remembered the wooden sign of rules the owner held outside the Haunted House: "3. No matter what happens inside the Haunted House, don't look back!!!"

"Ahhh!!!!!"

Meanwhile, in the cafeteria.

Chen Feng really was trading information with someone, and that person really was a survivor of the Haunted House. "The Haunted House conjures up all kinds of things to trick you. I fell for traps inside traps at least five times. Even now, everything still feels fake."

"Then wouldn't it be impossible to clear?"

"No. The trick is in the visitor guide."

"The guide? You mean the hours?" Chen Feng realized at once: the amusement park was open from seven in the evening to seven in the morning!

"Right. I spent twelve full hours in the Haunted House. It didn't let me out until seven in the morning, when the attraction closed." The survivor gave a bitter smile. "I'd advise you not to choose that one. Even if you make it out, you'll be a madman."

"Thanks for the warning."

A system notification suddenly sounded in Chen Feng's ear.

[Ding! Since you cannot obtain a Game Coin, Horror Amusement Park – Haunted House is no longer eligible as a check-in attraction.]