Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Folded Three Ways, Still Scared No Matter How You Fold It

“Thanks, Brother Lu Yao!” Zhou Ran was instantly delighted.

Great Immortal Huang, standing to the side, curled his lips in a smug smile.

He shot Lu Yao a sideways glance, like he was saying, Hmph, let’s see what you can say now.

Then he lifted his chin and spoke arrogantly to Zhou Ran, “Young Friend Zhou Ran, let’s go in now. With me here, I guarantee I’ll clean out all that messy stuff for you this time.”

“Yeah, yeah. With Great Immortal Huang making a move, one is worth two. Zhou Ran, just relax,” the buzz-cut young man chimed in.

“Hey, what are you doing?” The staff member saw something was off and hurried over.

“Catching ghosts,” Zhou Ran answered without thinking.

The staff member’s mouth twitched.

His face basically screamed, Are you insane?

Book out a haunted house, then hire a master to catch ghosts?

If that wasn’t crazy, what was?

“Our haunted house is all fake. It’s just NPCs acting. Please don’t make things hard for our staff,” he said.

He looked at Great Immortal Huang’s strange outfit, then at the buzz-cut young man’s certain expression, and his doubts grew even stronger. [These people have to be out of their minds.]

“Then have all the fake NPCs removed,” Great Immortal Huang said arrogantly, stroking his beard. “Turn off that noisy music too.”

The staff member’s eyes widened. “Remove the NPCs and turn off the music? Then what the hell are you even playing?”

A haunted house depended on NPCs and scary music to create the atmosphere.

If they removed all of that, how was it any different from a normal escape room?

“Xiao Zhang, why are you being so stubborn? They paid money, so they’re the customer. Who are you to tell them how to play?” Another staff member walked over and glared at Xiao Zhang.

“Don’t mind him. We’ll do it right away.”

After speaking, the staff member turned around and went to shut off the haunted house music.

The whole place instantly became much quieter.

Only dead silence remained. Now and then, they could hear a faint electrical buzzing.

Great Immortal Huang nodded in satisfaction. “Mm, that’s better. Much quieter. Makes it easier for this great immortal to use my spells.”

As he spoke, he pulled a tattered banner out of his robe.

It was covered in strange symbols. He began muttering under his breath and walked toward the haunted house interior.

“Tch, Su Qian, want to go take a look?” Zhou Ran suggested excitedly.

“Sure.” Su Qian agreed and tugged Lu Yao along.

With the music off, the scary NPCs removed, and so many people going together, Su Qian wasn’t as afraid as she had been at first.

Most importantly, with Lu Yao beside her, she instantly felt much more at ease.

She also wanted to see how this so-called Great Immortal Huang was going to wrap it up later.

Lu Yao saw how interested Su Qian was and looked helpless. Fine. He would go with her.

“What a circus.” After they went in, Xiao Zhang snorted in disdain. “I really want to see how you’re going to ‘catch ghosts.’”

He and a coworker opened the surveillance feed, ready to watch Great Immortal Huang put on his act.

Inside the haunted house, even without the scary music, that creepy feeling still wouldn’t go away.

Dim, eerie green lights flickered on and off.

Blood-stained bandages and realistic severed legs lay scattered in corners. Faint red handprints showed on the walls.

With a loud bang, the door slammed shut.

The escape room officially began. Only by following clues and solving puzzles could they find the exit.

The layout twisted and turned, with narrow passages stretching in different directions.

It was like a huge maze.

Zhou Ran swallowed hard, staring at the terrifying props.

Without realizing it, he edged closer to Su Qian, searching for a bit of security. “Su Qian, those things look so scary. Are they really just props?”

“Don’t grab my arm. I’m scared too,” Su Qian said, her own heart racing. Without thinking, she clung to Lu Yao’s arm.

Zhou Ran held onto Su Qian, and Su Qian held onto Lu Yao.

Folded three ways, and no matter how you folded it, you were still scared.

Feeling the warmth on his arm, Lu Yao sighed. “Relax. I’m here.”

Those words were like a tranquilizer, making Su Qian feel steadier.

Su Qian’s fear was different from Zhou Ran’s.

After understanding ?five-element ghost-exorcising art?, she could actually see ghosts.

Up ahead, Great Immortal Huang swaggered along, waving the banner covered in strange symbols and muttering nonstop.

Every now and then, he stopped and swung it at the air a few times, as if he were fighting something invisible.

The buzz-cut young man followed behind Great Immortal Huang, holding odd little objects in his hands. He looked tense too, constantly glancing back, afraid something would pop out behind them.

Suddenly, a shadowy blur swept past ahead, moving extremely fast and dragging along an eerie, cold wind.

Everyone shivered.

“Ah! Th-that… what was that?” Zhou Ran screamed, his voice cracking as he clutched Su Qian’s hand.

Su Qian’s face turned pale too.

Her eyes widened as she stared at the direction the blur vanished. Her heart pounded.

She panicked and instinctively moved closer to Lu Yao, her voice trembling. “Lu Yao, it looks like… it looks like there really is something!”

“Don’t be scared. I’m here,” Lu Yao said, his voice sounding above her head.

Great Immortal Huang jumped even harder, nearly dropping his banner.

He flailed around with a peachwood sword and shouted, “What evil spirit dares show itself? Reveal yourself at once!”

In the surveillance room, Xiao Zhang and his coworkers burst out laughing.

“Hahaha, it was just a light projection, and they got scared like that!”

“Look at Great Immortal Huang – he’s still messing around. Does he really think he can catch ghosts? I’m dying!”

“And that kid’s still gripping that girl like his life depends on it. This is too funny.”

Xiao Zhang, a few staff members, and even some NPCs who had been cleared out all crowded around the monitor to watch the show.

“Something’s not right. When I got off work, I remember turning off the projector,” one NPC said, frowning.

“Hey, don’t say it like that, okay? You’re scaring me,” someone else said, shivering.

“If you turned the projector off, then what was that flash just now?”

The NPC scratched his head. “Then… I guess I remembered wrong.”

Their eyes drifted back to the surveillance feed.

On the screen, the people inside the haunted house were still panicking.

“It was only a minor evil spirit. This great immortal has already taken it down.” Great Immortal Huang put away his peachwood sword with an arrogant look.

“Truly worthy of Great Immortal Huang!” the buzz-cut young man said, full of admiration.