Only after receiving this assurance did the director breathe a sigh of relief and hurriedly offer his polite thanks.
Meanwhile, over in the circular corridor.
Chu Yu and Chu Chen jogged along, panting, their stamina finally beginning to give out.
"Little brother, I can't do this anymore. All this running is about to make my heart stop."
Chu Chen was actually not much better off, but perhaps because the female ghost had been chasing him for so long, he had gradually begun to adjust. He had been trembling with fear just moments ago, but now he was no longer quite so frightened.
On the verge of exhaustion, Chu Yu glanced back at the female ghost.
Judging by the ghost's bedraggled appearance, she was probably worn out too.
Chu Yu finally stopped. She stood with a hand on her waist and began gulping down fresh air.
The female ghost, who had accidentally caught up with the two of them, hurriedly stopped in her tracks.
The staff member playing the female ghost stood there hesitantly, unsure whether he should pretend to have gone mad and take the opportunity to run away.
According to the task the production team had assigned him, once the guests successfully hid in a room, the staff member playing the ghost no longer needed to chase them and could simply slip away.
But if the guests remained in the corridor, the staff member playing the ghost had to keep chasing them until he forced them into a room.
Yet now, he had chased Chu Yu and her brother around for several laps, and not one of the three had thought to hide in a room. He was also wondering what he should do.
By then, Chu Yu had recovered. Keeping one hand on her waist, she approached the female ghost and suddenly raised her other hand to pat her shoulder. "Ma'am, I really can't run anymore. Let's negotiate."
The burly man dressed as the female ghost shuddered and dutifully took a step back. "I died such a horrible death~~"
"Enough about your horrible death. Name your price. How much to take us straight through to the exit?"
Chu Yu made the offer with great generosity.
Her words completely bewildered the staff member playing the female ghost.
What... did that mean?
All the staff members playing ghosts had signed cooperation agreements with the haunted house in advance. How could he suddenly break his contract right here?
Seeing him unmoved, Chu Yu assumed her offer was not tempting enough and could only offer an even greater reward.
"How much do you earn working here for a day? I'll pay you triple!"
Just as the staff member was at a complete loss, an instruction to withdraw came through his concealed earpiece from the production team in the nick of time.
Without another word, he turned and ran, still calling airily, "I died such a horrible death~~"
Utterly baffled, Chu Yu watched the female ghost suddenly run off into the distance.
She probably had not expected the female ghost to remain so unruffled even in the face of money.
Although she was somewhat bewildered, at least the threat of the female ghost was gone.
Chu Yu dragged the still-distracted Chu Chen toward the room, turning back to call to Gu Jinhuai, who had stood to the side watching the show the entire time. "Come on. Let's hurry up and solve the puzzles."
They pushed open the door and entered the room, where red double-happiness stickers and paper lanterns greeted their eyes.
Even the bedding and pillows were all red, and rose petals covered the bed. This was clearly a bridal chamber.
By now, Chu Chen had grown bolder too. He walked straight to the third door at the back of the room and knocked, but there was no response.
Judging by how the first two doors had opened, there should be some mechanism hidden in this room as well. As long as they successfully triggered it, they would be able to open the third door.
The three of them soon split up to search the room for clues.
Before long, Chu Yu discovered a pile of ingots folded from gold paper hidden in the bedside cabinet.
Chu Yu still vaguely remembered that, at the very beginning, the female ghost seemed to have mentioned someone murdering her entire family to seize their property.
Against that backdrop, this pile of gold ingots seemed rather special.
Soon, Chu Chen and Gu Jinhuai turned their attention over as well.
All three stared at the pile of gold ingots, pondering their true purpose.
A few seconds later, inspiration suddenly struck Chu Yu. "I've got it. These gold ingots are meant for us to burn as an offering to the female ghost. Because someone stole her family's property, she's full of resentment now. As long as we burn this money for her, we'll be able to leave the haunted house."
Gu Jinhuai frowned and looked over hesitantly. "Are you sure that's it?"
The more Chu Yu thought about it, the more sound her idea seemed. She nodded. "Look, these gold ingots are all folded out of paper. Doesn't that make it obvious we're supposed to burn them?"
Put that way, it did seem to make sense.
Chu Chen did not want to spend another moment in the haunted house and hurriedly went along with her. "Then let's hurry up and burn them to see."
And so, the three of them ultimately decided to burn the gold ingots as an offering to the female ghost.
They began searching the room for something to light a fire with, but to avoid safety hazards, the production team had never put dangerous flammable or explosive items such as lighters in the room in the first place.
"Could we be looking in the wrong direction? There's nothing in this room we can use to start a fire," Chu Chen blurted out in confusion.
Having found nothing, Chu Yu stopped searching. "Then there's nothing for it."
Her words immediately caught the other two's attention, and Chu Chen and Gu Jinhuai cast hesitant looks her way.
Chu Yu took a deep breath, then turned her head. "Which way did the female ghost run just now?"
Chu Chen instinctively pointed in a direction. "I think it was that way."
Chu Yu quickly headed in the direction Chu Chen had indicated.
By then, the voltage to the corridor's light bulbs had returned to normal.
In the corridor, now as bright as day, Chu Yu felt her way along the wall and soon discovered a concealed door where the female ghost had mysteriously disappeared.
The entire concealed door was set into the wall. Without looking closely, it was virtually impossible to notice anything amiss.
Chu Yu slapped the concealed door hard. "Anyone there?"
No one answered.
Chu Yu banged on the door even harder. "Any ghosts there?"