【I have a haunted house】Chapter 10: I Started to Panic...

"A false alarm," Ice Sister's chest rose and fell, her heart thudding violently. It had been a long time since she had lost her composure like this.

The eerie music drifted in the air, and in the dim light, she gazed at her reflection in the mirror. Her pupils slowly contracted into a single point.

In the mirror, the curtain behind her was unraveling by itself! A paper figure’s face slowly emerged, and it was unmistakable—its paper face was grinning at her.

"Who’s in there?"

In the face of extreme fear, one becomes irritable and impulsive. Ice Sister spun around, grasping the edges of the curtain, desperate to uncover its mystery. But the curtain’s design was intricate, with multiple layers of gauze and bed drapery interwoven. After struggling for some time, not only did she fail to uncover the innermost part, but her arm became entangled as well.

Just when things seemed at their worst, a new sound filled the room—the unmistakable sound of footsteps.

"I haven’t moved... where is that sound coming from?" With her junior missing, and the eerie atmosphere enhanced by the "Black Friday" soundtrack, Ice Sister's mental defenses had already begun to fracture. She had reached her breaking point, and the footsteps now felt like the final straw, the last blow to her already fragile composure.

Her legs grew weak, unable to carry her. Fear, like a beast freed from its cage, began to devour her rational mind.

Ice Sister forced herself to turn her body, struggling to free herself from the curtain’s grip. The footsteps grew louder, yet the source remained elusive.

"It’s impossible! The room is this small—if anyone were near, I’d see them!" Her mind was in turmoil, and the simple furnishings of the room only deepened her inexplicable terror.

Outside, the white lantern swayed, casting even dimmer light, and the reflection in the copper mirror blurred. Ice Sister's pupils trembled, and her beautiful eyes locked onto the mirror. There, at some point, her reflection had vanished. In its place was a woman in a bridal gown!

Timeless beauty is the allure of a perfect woman, yet the pale, unreal beauty before her sent chills down Ice Sister’s spine, as though she were gazing upon a long-forgotten work of art.

Staring at the woman in the mirror, Ice Sister’s shoulders trembled, and for the first time, fear appeared on her face.

She had dissected many corpses, and she was familiar with the sensation the woman in the mirror invoked—a feeling that could only be experienced when confronted with the dead!

"There’s a real corpse hidden in this haunted house!"

The thought struck her like a wave crashing down, and fear overwhelmed her like an unrelenting tide. She scrambled to retreat from the copper mirror, but in doing so, bumped into something behind her.

At the same time, the footsteps finally ceased, and Ice Sister's mind froze in that instant. She didn’t question why—her instincts simply took over. In the strange background music, she slowly turned her head.

Their eyes met. Behind her, a woman in a bridal gown, her face embalmed, was smiling at her.

"Ah!!!"

A scream shattered the eerie silence of the haunted house, echoing so clearly it could be heard even outside.

With her arms bound, Ice Sister's legs gave way, and she collapsed to the floor.

Her face turned pale, and the terror that had been suppressed inside burst forth in the form of tears, uncontrollable and blinding. She couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes for a long time. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, and her mouth hung open as she coughed weakly.

"Xiao Wan, quickly bring her out!"

"Understood." The female ghost across from Ice Sister removed a Bluetooth earphone hidden in her hair and crouched before her. "The tour ends here. Take a breath. I’ll get you out."

A few seconds later, the door to the "wedding scene" opened, and Nick rushed inside, panicked. "Where’s the other one? There’s only one of you!"

He hadn’t spotted Diff on the monitors and was afraid something had happened, so he rushed in.

"The other one is too scared. After rushing in, he stood in front of the copper mirror and passed out. I was worried he’d ruin the experience for the other visitors, so I dragged him behind the bed..."

"Fainted?" Nick didn’t know what to say. "The safety of the visitors comes first. Next time this happens, immediately notify me!"

"Yes, yes." While Xiao Wan helped Ice Sister, Nick dragged Diff, who was unconscious on the bed, out of the room. The big guy was completely out of it, and no one knew what had happened to him.

"Let’s go, we need to get him to a place with better air!" Nick lifted Diff onto his back and ran toward the exit of the haunted house. Reaching the first floor, he pulled open the opaque curtain and kicked down the safety bar. "Everyone, clear the way!"

Nick laid Diff near the ventilation outlet of the haunted house. He pinched Diff’s nostrils, applied ice packs, and performed emergency measures, drawing the attention of the surrounding visitors, who were all bewildered.

"What happened? He walked in but came out unconscious..."

"He went in for a haunted house tour and fainted? First time hearing that."

"Did he faint from fear? The reviews said it wasn’t that scary..."

"My God, I’m starting to get worried..."

After a short while, Xiao Wan helped Ice Sister out. She was a completely different person from when she had entered. Ice Sister’s hair was disheveled, her face pale, her steps unsteady, and tears still lingered at the corners of her eyes.

"She’s completely changed!"

"What in the world happened to her inside?"

"She said she’s seen corpses before. Why is she so shaken now?"

Xiao Wan helped Ice Sister onto the steps and handed her a bottle of water. Ice Sister still seemed dazed, her hand trembling as she held the water.

"Don’t block the wind. Step aside!" Nick was also feeling a bit of a headache. It was normal for Ice Sister to cry from fear, but why had Diff suddenly fainted? If he was that scared, why didn’t he admit it? Why push himself to be brave in the haunted house?

Good news rarely travels far, but bad news spreads like wildfire. More and more tourists gathered around the haunted house entrance, and even the park manager, Xu Shu, was alerted. He arrived riding an electric scooter.

"Xiao Chen! What’s going on? Why did a visitor faint?" Xu Shu pushed through the crowd with his scooter.

"I don’t know. Maybe it’s heatstroke..." Nick’s answer didn’t convince even himself.

"Heatstroke? In this weather?" Xu Shu approached and immediately lifted Diff onto his back. "Help me out. We’re sending him to the infirmary!"

Before they could go far, Diff slowly regained consciousness, though it was unclear whether it was from the pressure on his acupoint or some other reason. He blinked his eyes and suddenly sat up, his eyes bloodshot, mumbling, "Mirror... mirror..."

"Shit, calm down!"

"Did he get possessed?"

Sunlight bathed his face. After a few seconds, Diff returned to normal. He rubbed the back of his head, realizing that everyone was staring at him, and suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

"Feeling better? Why did you faint in the haunted house?" Xu Shu, in his park uniform, was very attentive. He handed Diff a bottle of water.

"I don’t really know what happened. I was terrified, ran into a room, and saw a copper mirror on the wall. In the mirror, someone was calling my name. After that, I don’t remember anything," Diff said, utterly confused. "Maybe it’s part of the haunted house experience?"

"A mirror experience in the haunted house?" Xu Shu glanced at Nick, whose face was not looking too good.