Chapter 223: The Sixth One

The four rooms corresponded to the four children's corpses. The method of hiding the bodies was full of a sick sort of humor, cleverly bypassing a normal person's psychological defenses. Fear always struck right when my guard was down.

Fortunately, I had been tempered by the Underworld Live Show live broadcasts. Although fear gripped my heart, I wasn't scared out of my wits.

I entered the room piled high with rag dolls and dug out the fifth girl's "corpse."

This plastic mannequin had subtle differences compared to the others. The word Redemption was written on her forehead. Her hands stretched upward like someone plunging into an abyss, desperately reaching out to grab onto something.

All five children were actually dead. This was completely different from my initial guess.

"The hair is made from pieced-together real human hair. The cause of death should be a fall from a great height, resulting in fatal internal organ damage." The mannequin was truly exquisitely designed, recreating every single detail: legs fractured from the plunge, a deformed and dislocated pelvis, and red paint applied to critical spots on her body.

"Too real. It doesn't even look like a mannequin—it looks like a real person who fell to their death." I found nothing else in the room aside from the two fake corpses. I stood in place and pondered for a moment. 'The Haunted House has its own theme story, but all five children are dead. This doesn't match the introduction written outside at all.'

I inadvertently glanced down at the girl's "corpse." The word Redemption was written across her forehead.

"The words on the other mannequins' foreheads were all carved with a knife. Why is this one different?" I crouched down and compared the lettering on the "corpse." The characters carved with a blade didn't match the ones drawn on the fifth corpse's forehead with a marker.

"The work of two different people?" I was a little confused. I took a step back and accidentally stepped on a rag doll. I casually picked it up, but the moment I saw the fine brushwork on the doll's face, a sudden realization hit me.

I placed the rag doll next to the fifth corpse. The strokes and lines of the writing on them were completely identical.

"Whether it's the same person or not, they at least used the same type of pen." I glanced around the room, which was filled with hand-drawn rag dolls, each bearing a different expression. I gave the mannequin corpse a wide berth, half-expecting her to stand right up the next second.

"Time is running short. I need to check the third floor first." I turned to head out the door, but the moment I looked back, I froze.

That mechanical mannequin that had been smashing its head against the ground had somehow "crawled" all the way to the doorway of this room!

I stared at its bizarre expression, my gaze falling on the two knife-carved characters on its forehead.

"Resentment!"

The mannequin's expression vividly interpreted the meaning of that word. Forcing down the fear in my heart, I walked over to it. "I already ripped out the external wiring. Are there batteries inside?"

I pinned its neck down with one foot, grabbed it with both hands, and forcefully twisted the mannequin's head off.

"Dry cell batteries, a joystick! Fuck, isn't this design way too sick?"

Tossing the mannequin's head aside, I headed up to the third floor. The wooden staircase grew narrower and narrower, giving me a gnawing feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

Creak! The dilapidated wooden stairs let out a terrifying groan that tortured my ears. I planted one foot down, but just as I lifted my other leg, the seemingly sturdy step suddenly snapped in half. Something that looked like a rat darted out in a flash.

I scrambled backward, but another terrifying thing occurred. Just a short distance away, a pale red figure suddenly flashed out from the room piled with rag dolls!

It was a basic human silhouette, and it looked like a young girl.

"How did they do that?" Dumbfounded, I watched the pale red figure run downstairs. At first, I thought she was just another masterpiece created by the Haunted House's designer. But thinking back, I had searched that room inside and out without seeing a single living person. The thing that had just bolted out was definitely not a mannequin or a hidden staff member!

"Stop right there!" Steeling myself and ignoring my fear, I sprinted after it. "Counting this red shadow, a total of six children have appeared in the house. This doesn't quite line up with the theme story."

I chased that figure all the way out of the Haunted House's first section, then watched helplessly as it ducked into another passage on the right.

"What the hell was that?" Standing at the intersection, I looked at the theme introduction on the wall again. "Five children were playing pen fairy in the house, and the corpses of five children were indeed found inside. Then what is this extra one?"

I pondered for a moment before the hairs on my arms suddenly stood on end. 'Five children were summoning a pen fairy in the house... That means aside from the five children, there should be one more thing inside—the pen fairy!'

This was just a horror-themed Haunted House attraction. How could a real pen fairy actually appear? My heart pounded, and the more I thought about it, the more wrong everything felt.

"It's not even midnight yet. The most terrifying things haven't even shown up. This live broadcast is spinning slightly out of control."

I took out my phone and checked the time. Without me realizing it, it was already 11:05 PM. It was quiet and deserted outside the Haunted House, with barely any pedestrians walking by.

"The Amusement Park is closed. I wonder if Tie Ningxiang and Yi Yi have found each other yet." The urge to retreat sprouted in my mind. Right now, the only thing giving me any comfort was that the United Heart Jade against my chest hadn't transmitted any strange sensations. That proved Tie Ningxiang was still safe for the time being, and she hadn't suffered any physical harm.

"The Clown, human blood, a kidnapping... This Amusement Park isn't nearly as peaceful as it seems on the surface."

Without lingering any longer, I followed the direction the pale red figure had fled and entered the right passage.

This building was also split into three floors, and its total area was more than double that of the building on the left.

"Finding a key in an abandoned hospital and escaping while dodging a homicidal maniac... It's an unoriginal theme, but looking at it right now, it brings an unexpected level of fear."

Thinking of the human blood on the padlock, I continuously reminded myself that if I ran into anyone dressed as a homicidal maniac inside the Haunted House, I had to be extremely careful. There was a very high chance they were simply playing themselves and had actually murdered someone.

I vaulted over the warning railing and walked down a gloomy corridor. The decorative style on both sides abruptly shifted, replaced by white ceramic tiles stained with blood and grime.

"The atmosphere is pretty good, but it still falls short of the Henshan Psychiatric Hospital."

The overhead lights in the corridor were off, forcing me to feel my way forward with the help of my flashlight. After walking a few meters, a large iron door covered with a paper seal appeared in front of me.

"Is this the entrance?" I examined the seal on the door. It was coated in a layer of dust, and the paper had yellowed and was practically peeling off.

"The Amusement Park just opened, but this seal doesn't look like it was put up recently." I had seen the seals used by the police to lock down murder scenes before, and they looked exactly like the one on this door.

The main door was shut tight and wouldn't budge. But off to the side, near the corner of the wall, there was a small door just wide enough for a single person to squeeze through.

I pushed it open with some effort. Bloodstains coated the rusted doorframe. Out of curiosity, I touched them with my hand. It was sticky—neither real blood nor ordinary paint.

Entering the interior of the Haunted House, I found that it imitated a hospital's layout. The corridor wasn't long, but it was designed in an 'S' shape. Unless you walked right up to the bend, you would never know what was waiting around the next corner.

"The designer is psychologically twisted to a whole new level." I picked up the medical records scattered across the floor. Looking at the black-and-white photos attached to them gave me the creeps.

"Died of late-stage cancer, died in childbirth, died from severe burns..." The text descriptions on the medical records were shocking, making me break out in a cold sweat. "Is this a hospital or hell? Every single one of them is dead?"

I stepped over the scattered medical records and soon reached the first ward. I peered inside through the glass on the door.

A hospital bed, a desk and chair, and a blood-stained bedsheet. The floor was littered with dark red bandages and a few disgusting, formless lumps of something unidentifiable.

I could see everything clearly from out in the hall. There were no wardrobes or anything similar to hide behind in the ward, so Tie Ningxiang and Yi Yi definitely weren't inside.

To save time, I didn't bother going in for a detailed search. I simply swept my gaze over the wards one by one.

If the first theme was about bizarre, supernatural horror, then this second section was pure, visceral gore. A lot of the things inside were too gruesome to even describe. At the very least, before stepping foot in here, I had never seen a Haunted House bold enough to commit to such a hysterical, unhinged design.

There were five wards in total on the first floor. The assorted clues left behind in the rooms indicated that incredibly bloody and violent events had occurred here. Some of the crumpled bandages bore teeth marks along with the bloodstains, and the bedsheets were riddled with holes from being clawed apart.