Chapter 922: Ball of Paper

Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

“Where is he?”

“What happened?”

The door was half open. Liu Gang looked out at the empty corridor and sucked in a cold breath. The male assistant was not that brave, but he was no coward.

What did he see when he was outside alone?

The same question appeared in everyone’s mind. None of them knew why the assistant had lost his composure. If this was not something planned beforehand, they were in big trouble.

“Brother Gang, your friend sure is a bit of a coward.” Lan Dong stood next to Liu Gang, his eyes filled with confusion. They had all been standing inside the dormitory. The assistant could have easily knocked on the door for help, so why did he run down the corridor? Was it because his brain was overwhelmed by fear until he lost his basic common sense, or was the thing that scared him standing by the door?

The hair on the back of Lan Dong’s neck stood on end. He looked around but did not notice anything scary.

“His phone is still here.” Ah Li was about to pick up the male assistant’s phone when he noticed a bloody note next to it. “Look!”

He picked up the note, and the following was hastily written on it.

‘There is a hidden path behind a mirror on the eastern and western campus that we used to escape the school, but after we left, we realized...’

“We didn’t finish the game, so why were we given the hint?” Ah Li held the note. “Is this purposely here to misdirect us? Mirrors are something that we need to pay attention to, especially after dark. It’s best not to walk around them at night.”

“The sacrifice of Brother Gang’s assistant is not without value. At least it has revealed something important.” Lan Dong took the note. “The boss has been watching us and is ready to come after us at any moment. The message on the note should be real. We’re livestreaming this whole process, so the boss wouldn’t do something to the hint. After all, he still needs to be in business. If he does something as malicious as purposely misdirecting his visitors, he will only earn the people’s ire.”

Before the camera, Lan Dong tried his best to analyze the situation. He was trying to distract people’s attention, but he had underestimated the impact from the assistant’s disappearance. Even Liu Gang’s livestream was filled with question marks.

“Hold onto the note. During the later exploration, whenever we see a mirror, we’ll go and give it a push.” Liu Gang tried to make himself calm down. This was the first time that he had heard such a scream from his assistant; it was as if his life was threatened.

“Since we’ve received the hint, we can skip the other two games. We’ll go look for information related to Mr. Bai and hurry to meet up with Bai Buhui and find the art club.” Lan Dong did not dare act carelessly anymore. After all, in just seconds, a living human had disappeared, and that was quite scary. They did not know how or why he had disappeared, and the unknown added to the anxiety.

“Let’s go.” The team of six thus turned to a team of five. With the camera watching, Liu Gang still had to act at ease. Going down the dark corridor, strange noises came from the abandoned male dormitory. They sounded like scurrying rats or something brushing against the peeling walls. The weak light from above shone down on the doors around them. There were names that could be seen occasionally on the wall.

“This appears to be the student dormitory; I doubt Mr. Bai lives here.” Lan Dong and Ah Li walked ahead. When they reached the end of the corridor, they realized that there was another staircase leading down. “There appears to be another floor below...”

The light was not strong enough to pierce into the darkness. The five of them stood at the corner of the stairs, and no one dared go first. The rusted banister creaked noisily like someone was climbing up the stairs while holding it. Lan Dong shone his phone downward, and something seemed to reflect the light in the thick darkness.

“Is it a mirror?”

“Don’t forget, eyes can reflect light, too.”

“How about we stay up here?” the only girl in Lan Dong’s team said. She pulled on Lan Dong’s shirt. “Do you remember the last exploration we had? Brother Four said that he saw a pair of red eyes in the dark before the accident...”

“Don’t remind me of that coward. After he left, our livestream release rate increased so much. We were dragged down by him earlier.” Lan Dong’s team had previously had four members, but the fourth had chosen to leave due to certain reasons.

“Certain people have that natural quality to attract those things. Brother Four was only being cautious.” The girl halted. She knew that Liu Gang was streaming, so she left Lan Dong some face.

“Girl, there are no ghosts in this world, only people who act like ghosts.” Liu Gang patted the girl’s shoulder. “I do not believe in ghosts because I have seen people more malicious than ghosts like this Haunted House boss.”

The girl pulled back her arm and stopped talking.

“This place didn’t even have a sign. How about we just ignore it?” Ah Li suggested softly, and Liu Gang grabbed this opportunity.

“That’s right, the lower basement level doesn’t even have lights. Perhaps it’s the Haunted House’s unfinished area. It’s not that I’m afraid, but the areas are probably not fit for visitation yet.” Liu Gang explained that to the viewers, but to his consternation, the winds in his chatroom had changed. Many viewers wanted to see what was in the basement, and many viewers had clear tags that they were Ye Xiaoxin’s fans.

The disappearance of his assistant had indeed flustered Liu Gang, but he reminded himself endlessly that this was just a Haunted House. Other than scaring people, what else could happen? He was livestreaming this, so the other party would not physically assault him. If that happened, the Haunted House would go out of business. He would not be injured, and being scared would not kill him. With that in mind, Liu Gang felt better. “If you guys want to see it, then I’ll bring you down to see it. How troublesome can that be?”

He switched on the flashlight on his phone. Lan Dong and Ah Li walked ahead, he and Xiao Chun were in the middle, and the cameraman followed at the back.

“Many ghost stories are related to stairs. The corners of the stairs are places where Yin energy gathers and the hiding place for many dirty things.” Lan Dong could maintain his calmness as he moved down step by step. When the light swept the corner of the wall, a child’s face appeared.

“Do—don’t panic!” he yelped, and his shaky hand pushed on his glasses. He aimed his camera at the corner of the stairs. There was a child squatting at the corner of the stairs. His head was tilted on his shoulders like his neck was snapped.

“It’s fine. It’s just a mannequin, but the handicraft is impressive.” Lan Dong approached the mannequin carefully and realized that there were many dirty balls of paper littered around the child. He picked up a random one and opened it to read.

“That day, it was my turn to do cleaning duty. When I was going to throw the rubbish out, I saw a child squatting at the corner of the stairs. His neck was twisted at a crazy angle. At the time, just like you, I walked to his side and picked up the paper ball that he dropped.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read