Chapter 27: Shock

Su Tian used every ounce of self-control to suppress what would have been a piercing scream, though her voice still came out several octaves higher due to extreme fright.

In this terrifying atmosphere, her companions immediately understood her meaning, and all started screaming “Ahhhh!” while running frantically forward. As the long corridor was about to end, Han Shuo, who was running at the front, panicked and randomly pulled open a door to a room beside them and rushed in.

Jiang Chiyu, as if treating this like a game of house, although running quickly with them, remained remarkably calm and still had the capacity to observe their surroundings.

However, by the time he noticed what was written on the sign above the door, it was too late to stop them – all four had already rushed inside.

Jiang Chiyu: “…”

Tch.

Well, might as well go in.

So he followed them in, leaving the door open. Wei Sicheng, standing beside him, gave him a terrified look and quickly closed the door behind them.

The door slammed against its frame with a loud bang, as if trying to give them courage.

Jiang Chiyu: “…”

Wei Sicheng, still terrified, his voice trembling, said, “We have to close the door, or whatever that thing is might come in.”

Actually, except for Su Tian and Jiang Chiyu who had turned around, nobody else dared to look back to see what the thing was.

They just knew there was something.

Jiang Chiyu ignored him, thinking about how to phrase their current situation in the gentlest way possible.

The room was very dark, and since they had just entered, their eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the dim environment. Everyone started reaching for their phones to turn on their flashlights.

Jiang Chiyu, having failed to think of a gentler way to put it, decided that being direct would be less disturbing than letting them figure it out themselves. So he said without hesitation, “This is the morgue, better not turn on your flashlights yet.”

Their movements froze instantly.

Jiang Chiyu added, “You might see something rather shocking.”

It became deathly quiet..

Jiang Chiyu vaguely noticed something moving in the corner that wasn’t part of their group, so he kindly reminded again, “There’s an actor standing in the farthest corner from us. Sir, please don’t move, we’re all just kids who just came in, and we’re quite scared.”

The actor: “…”

You don’t look scared at all.

Zhou Ying: “Jiang Chiyu, you’re so brave.”

Su Tian still couldn’t forget about the head that had appeared next to Jiang Chiyu earlier. She didn’t dare look back at all, keeping her eyes tightly shut and, taking advantage of her small stature, buried her face in Zhou Ying’s back. “Are there things around us we shouldn’t look at? Can someone check for me?”

Jiang Chiyu’s eyes had gradually adjusted. He looked around the room, clicked his tongue once, paused, then clicked it again.

“They must be well-funded,” he remarked quietly.

From his two tongue clicks and five words, Su Tian understood the implicit message: “Don’t look under any circumstances.”

Hearing this, the others deliberately averted their gaze, avoiding looking at the room’s contents.

Su Tian felt the haunted house’s horror level exceeded her imagination. She slowly opened her eyes to try to adjust to the darkness, not daring to look around, and asked while trembling with her head down: “Should we leave?”

Everyone else nodded, looking toward Jiang Chiyu.

He had become their pillar of support almost immediately after entering.

The door had no window, so they couldn’t see outside. Jiang Chiyu said quietly, “Sure, but aren’t you afraid you might see something even more shocking as soon as we open the door?”

Everyone fell silent.

Jiang Chiyu wasn’t actually trying to scare them. While running through the corridor earlier, he had noticed tracks and surveillance cameras installed on the ceiling.

The head that had suddenly appeared beside him had moved along those tracks, likely operated by someone backstage. For the haunted house effect, they might have arranged such a surprise.

Han Shuo asked, “Then what should we do? We can’t stay huddled here forever.”

Zhou Ying quietly nudged Su Tian, and when she looked over, blinked and gave her a meaningful look.

Despite the environment, Su Tian understood immediately, but she remained silent for a moment.

Zhou Ying wanted Jiang Chiyu to open the door.

After all, he didn’t seem scared at all.

Just thinking about being in a morgue made Su Tian feel uncomfortable all over. She couldn’t stand staying there for another second.

She wanted to leave quickly too.

But she was more sensitive to others’ feelings, thinking that if Jiang Chiyu truly wasn’t scared at all, he would have pushed the door open and left already. He must be at least a little afraid.

So Su Tian pretended not to understand and just blinked back.

Everyone was standing very close together, and Zhou Ying didn’t dare make any big movements, so she quickly abandoned the idea.

In truth, Jiang Chiyu really wasn’t scared at all.

He had been brave since childhood, watching horror movies alone when he was just a few years old, and often liked to dress up as ghosts at night, making Su Tian cry several times.

Seeing Su Tian’s current state, she must have forgotten all about that.

Thinking about it now, Jiang Chiyu felt that some of the things he did as a child were quite terrible.

It’s probably better that she forgot.

He glanced at the small girl who only dared to look at her own shoes out of fear.

The reason he hadn’t actively pushed open the door to leave was because of what Su Tian had shouted earlier when she thought he was smirking, “Can you stop being so out of place all the time?”

His overly calm demeanor did seem quite out of place compared to the other four who were huddled up like quail eggs.

Jiang Chiyu thought that his behavior might indeed be affecting their horror experience, so he tried to speak and act less, planning to just follow them around.

But if he didn’t do anything, they might end up stuck here forever.

Jiang Chiyu silently sighed, tried his best to act more scared like them, then said, “There’s one way to cheat.”

“Tell us!”

Jiang Chiyu nodded toward the actor, “Um, I see he’s holding a walkie-talkie.”

“…”

…

The five of them pushed open the door and went out.

Nothing happened outside.

It was quite embarrassing, really. Jiang Chiyu’s suggestion had been to borrow the actor’s walkie-talkie and ask the director if there was anything outside.

His exact words were: “Mr. Actor, could we ask the director if there’s anything particularly scary outside? We’re all just kids, and we’re quite scared.”

Oh.

His tone was as calm as if he were reading lines.

The room actually had over a dozen “ghosts” lying on hospital beds pretending to be corpses. And one standing in the corner dressed as a mummy.

According to the original plan, when visitors approached this room, there would be a device to alert them to get ready. If visitors actually entered the room, they were supposed to slowly sit up and jump toward them, scaring them away.

But in their current situation, this very calm boy had pointed out their presence as soon as he entered, then politely “begged” them not to get up and scare anyone.

The mummy didn’t move, so the corpses didn’t move either.

They remained in this standoff for quite a while. The mummy was fine, but the corpses were getting uncomfortable, lying stiff on the sample beds until their backs ached.

*

「Translator’s note」👀 Hi readers.. sorry for going mia, I had a very busy week. I’ve already unlocked all 5 chapters I owe y’all for the 19th, 21st, 23rd, 25th and today.

Enjoy💞