Chapter 34: Unexpected Company in the Dark

“Let’s go!”

Gu Qianqian charged in first, leading the way.

Lin Xiaolu, however, kept her eyes squeezed shut, clutching tightly to Gu Qianqian’s coattails, and was dragged inside like a dangling charm.

Hua Mu’ai followed last, stifling a bored yawn.

‘It’s all fake; what’s there to be afraid of?’

‘Only little kids would make such a fuss.’

The moment they stepped through the entrance, a pungent smell of disinfectant assaulted their senses.

The corridor was dimly lit, with a few oil lamps flickering on the walls, barely illuminating the path beneath their feet.

No sooner had the group entered the gloomy corridor than the iron doors on both sides suddenly began to rattle violently with loud bangs.

Through the small windows on the doors, pale faces pressed against the glass, unleashing bloodcurdling screams.

“Ah—!”

Lin Xiaolu’s shriek nearly blew the roof off, prompting everyone nearby to instinctively cover their ears.

Gu Qianqian, however, remained perfectly calm, even leaning closer with keen interest to observe.

Just then, the floor beneath their feet jolted violently, and four walls slowly descended from the ceiling.

Hua Mu’ai had intended to grab both Gu Qianqian and Lin Xiaolu, but before she could act, chaos erupted all around them.

“Mental patients,” clad in tattered hospital gowns and grotesque makeup, burst forth from both sides of the corridor.

They let out terrifying, incomprehensible laughter, charging into the throng of visitors like genuine lunatics, scattering the crowd in disarray.

“Ahhh! Stay away!”

“Help!”

Screams echoed one after another.

Hua Mu’ai watched helplessly as Gu Qianqian and Lin Xiaolu were swept away by the crowd towards the other side.

She tried to follow, but several frenzied “patients” lunged at her, holding her back firmly.

“Get lost!”

She snarled, yet found herself completely unable to push through.

As the walls fully descended, the narrow corridor was segmented into five independent spaces.

Immediately after, the walls at the front of each partition slowly slid open, revealing new passages.

‘Damn it!’

‘What kind of stunt is this damn haunted house pulling? Forced grouping too?’

She glanced around, only then realizing that in this separated space, she wasn’t alone; there was one other person.

Judging by their build, it appeared to be a girl.

She was dressed in simple casual wear, with a black mask and a baseball cap, concealing herself completely.

From start to finish, the girl hadn’t uttered a single sound, remaining as quiet as a mannequin.

Amidst the surrounding cacophony of wails and shrieks, her composure stood out starkly.

Hua Mu’ai frowned.

The girl’s placid, unruffled gaze grew increasingly familiar the longer Hua Mu’ai looked.

Under the dim lighting, the girl stared silently at Hua Mu’ai for a few seconds before slowly removing the mask from her face.

Hua Mu’ai’s pupils abruptly constricted.

“Xia Xingyan? What are you doing here?”

The girl’s lips curved into a slight smile as she observed Hua Mu’ai’s ghost-stricken expression.

She tucked the mask into her pocket, tilted her head, and her cool, clear voice spoke, laced with a perfectly pitched hint of confusion.

“Have we… met before?”

Hua Mu’ai suddenly realized.

‘I’m in my pink-haired form (TL Note: Refers to Hua Mu’ai’s current female appearance, which she dislikes as she identifies as male); Xia Xingyan shouldn’t have seen me like this before.’

Suppressing the surprise churning within her, she forcibly swallowed the “Are you stalking me?” that had almost escaped her lips.

“Ah, well, I have a friend who attends Saint Cherry Academy.

She has your photo on her phone and said you’re their school’s student council president, incredibly beautiful, so I remembered you.”

Xia Xingyan simply uttered an emotionless “Oh,” her tone so flat it betrayed no hint of feeling.

To break the awkward silence and to get a clearer picture of the situation, Hua Mu’ai asked.

“By the way, isn’t today a school day? What are you doing on Golden Island?”

“Tired from studying, so I came out to relax a bit. Is that not allowed?”

Hua Mu’ai was so taken aback she was momentarily speechless.

Though still puzzled by Xia Xingyan’s presence, at that moment, she could only turn away stiffly.

‘The immediate priority is to get out of this haunted house first.’

“Well… let’s keep going then.”

The two walked one behind the other down the eerie corridor.

Only then did Hua Mu’ai realize she might have underestimated this haunted house.

‘This wretched place is far more terrifying than the one I visited with Su Wanning twenty years ago!’

‘It’s all this pink-haired form’s (TL Note: Refers to Hua Mu’ai’s current female appearance) fault!’

‘If it weren’t for this awful form, how could I, a true, upright man (TL Note: ‘Chun yemen’ refers to a genuinely masculine and brave man), possibly be scared by a haunted house!’

Yet, her heart stubbornly pounded faster, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on her back.

‘It’s all fake, it’s all fake…’

Hua Mu’ai continuously tried to steel her nerves.

Just then, a cool, soft hand suddenly gripped her arm.

Startled, she spun around, meeting Xia Xingyan’s calm eyes.

She had intended to pull her hand back, but the grip was surprisingly firm.

Hua Mu’ai struggled for a moment but couldn’t free herself, so she simply let Xia Xingyan lead her.

This, surprisingly, brought a slight calm to her wildly thumping heart.

The two continued, one after the other, and the deeper they ventured into the corridor, the more unnerving the surroundings became.

Splotches of blood on the walls, “severed limbs” scattered across the floor, and the sound of a woman weeping emanating from the overhead speakers all pushed the atmosphere to its most oppressive point.

Xia Xingyan’s grip on her hand grew steadily tighter.

Eventually, Xia Xingyan simply pressed her entire body against Hua Mu’ai.

The girl’s pleasant jasmine scent became increasingly pronounced, and her warm breath gently fanned Hua Mu’ai’s ear, sending a tingling sensation through her.

Hua Mu’ai’s cheeks flushed warm.

‘This atmosphere is all wrong.’

“Hey, why are you clinging so close?” she finally couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m scared.”

Xia Xingyan’s voice remained cool and clear, betraying not a ripple of emotion.

“If you weren’t still wearing that expressionless face, I might almost believe your nonsense,” Hua Mu’ai retorted testily.

“I just… don’t usually show my emotions.”

Xia Xingyan leaned her head against Hua Mu’ai’s shoulder, a hint of grievance in her voice.

Hua Mu’ai couldn’t be bothered to argue with her.

Because she noticed that with Xia Xingyan’s proximity, she wasn’t quite as scared anymore.

Thus, the two completed the most terrifying stretch of the journey.

Finally, a glimmer of light appeared ahead, seemingly the exit.

Hua Mu’ai let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey, we’re almost out, why are you still clinging to this young lady (TL Note: A self-referential term used by Hua Mu’ai, despite identifying as male, due to her current female appearance)?”

She wanted to free her arm from the soft embrace.

However, instead of releasing her grip, Xia Xingyan pressed even closer.

“You smell really good,” she murmured, “very much like a classmate I knew at Saint Cherry, named Bai Shiyu.”

Hua Mu’ai’s breath hitched.

‘Why would she suddenly bring up that name? Has she discovered something?’

“It’s probably just a coincidence,” she replied, a hint of guilt in her voice, “there are plenty of people in the world with similar scents.”

Just then, a tremendous roar erupted from above.

A “monster,” entirely wrapped in bandages with only one blood-red eye visible, leaped directly from the ceiling, lunging at the two of them with bared fangs and claws.

“Holy crap!”

Hua Mu’ai was scared out of her wits by the sudden assault, her mind went blank, and her body instinctively darted backward.

As a result, her foot caught on something unseen, and she lost her balance, toppling straight backward.

And in her fall, she dragged Xia Xingyan down with her, holding on tightly.

“Ah!”

Hua Mu’ai let out a shriek as both of them lost their footing and crashed heavily to the ground.