406 Another Reason to Move to Jingzhou!
Within the cramped bathroom, Ruan Guangjian felt his entire body shaking. His legs were jelly, and his heart was racing. He could not help but scream earlier.
He had to admit that he was being immersed on a completely different level from when he had played the game.
When Ruan Guangjian had been playing Be Quiet, he had screamed the entire time. However, he was screaming less in the haunted house, not because it was less scary… but because he could not even bring himself to scream.
Until now, Ruan Guangjian had not seen any frightening ghosts or monsters. Even though Ruan Guangjian wanted to scream, he could not find the right time to.
However, the horrifying atmosphere had been intensifying his mental stress from the moment he stepped through the door.
When he entered, Ruan Guangjian had seen the dirty bathroom under the fluorescent light.
In the shadows where the light had not reached, he saw what looked like red bloodstains. However, he could not be sure.
The ground, toilets, and sink had a layer of grease covering them. The entire place looked rotten, filthy, and chilling.
He closed the door.
He locked it.
He switched off the lights.
He lit the candle and placed it in front of the mirror.
Each step that he took required tons of courage. Each step that he took challenged his bottom line.
Having to close and lock the door hinted to visitors that they would be locked in with the ghosts and monsters. That intensified the feeling of being cooped up. What's more, switching off the lights limited their vision. In the darkness, they would have no choice but to rely on the weak glow of the candlelight to look around.
When he saw himself in the mirror, Ruan Guangjian could not help but scream because half of his face had been covered in shadows under the glow of the candlelight. It had been exceptionally terrifying.
After screaming, Ruan Guangjian slowly calmed down.
"What was I supposed to do next…?
"That's right, cover my own eyes and wait for three seconds before looking into the mirror again."
Ruan Guangjian sucked in a deep breath, closed his eyes, counted to three, and opened them again. His pupils immediately contracted!
He couldn't see anything in the mirror.
He couldn't even see himself!
The candlelight continued to glow, but Ruan Guangjian's reflection had disappeared into thin air!
Before Ruan Guangjian could react, two red eyes suddenly appeared in the mirror. Those eyes were wide open, and two streams of blood were flowing from them!
The blood flowed very quickly from those eyes to the frame of the mirror, and then outside… into the sink!
"Ah!"
…
Outside, everyone heard another blood-curdling scream.
Pei Qian could not help but lift his hand to his chest. Since he was outside, he did not think that the haunted house looked particularly scary. In fact, Ruan Guangjian's screams were scaring him more than anything.
Unable to watch any longer, Pei Qian said, "If you see that he's about to collapse, fetch him out at once."
Everyone else nodded and waited to rescue Ruan Guangjian as if they were facing their greatest enemy.
…
After screaming, Ruan Guangjian calmed down quickly. He switched on the tap and began washing his hands.
However, what flowed from the tap was not clear water. Instead, it was a red, viscous fluid!
Ruan Guangjian let out a sharp cry again and quickly retracted his hands. The strange thing was that, under the candlelight, his hands did not look like they had been dyed red with blood.
Ruan Guangjian quickly switched off the tap. After bracing himself mentally, he lay down in the bathtub.
He lay there for ten seconds, but nothing happened.
It was then that he realized that he had left out a step.
There was a rusty timer next to the bathtub. Ruan Guangjian felt around, found it, and gave it a gentle tap. Then, the timer made 'tick-tock' noises as the countdown began.
In the quiet bathroom, the monotonous sounds felt like a rasp, filing away at Ruan Guangjian's faltering sanity non-stop.
He covered both his eyes with his hands, reciting the instructions in his head again and again: he was not to make a sound.
As the timer kept ticking, time passed, second by second.
Ruan Guangjian had thought that he only needed to wait for three minutes until the ticking sounds ceased. However, he had obviously been wrong.
He heard the sound of someone unlocking the locked door. Ruan Guangjian had even heard the sounds of someone inserting a key into the lock.
The person at the door kept trying to open it but failed each time. That was because the door was bolted.
After that, there was a loud banging on the door.
Bang!
Bang!
With every bang, Ruan Guangjian's heart rate quickened. Trembling violently, he had no choice but to cover his eyes with one hand and his mouth with the other. That was the only way he could stop himself from making a sound.
All of a sudden, the banging stopped. It was almost as if the person at the door had given up.
Although Ruan Guangjian knew that this was fake, he could not help but heave a huge sigh of relief.
However, just as he was relaxing, he heard the door bolt crack and then creak.
For some reason, the door had been unbolted and opened!
Ruan Guangjian heard heavy footsteps. It was almost as if the person who had just entered the cramped bathroom was wearing boots!
He heard labored breathing like the person was looking for something. The person's leather boots were causing dull thumping noises as they struck the floor. Yet, as they lifted off the ground, it sounded like they had been stuck in the puddles of blood.
He also heard deafening grinding sounds from behind him like someone was dragging metal against the ground.
It was probably either an ax or a hammer.
Ruan Guangjian continued to cover his eyes and mouth for his life, not daring to make a single sound.
Piak!
The person switched on the light. The fluorescent light rays shone through the gaps between Ruan Guangjian's fingers and onto his eyelids, causing his vision to light up at once.
The person's footsteps ceased, but his breathing did not sound far away.
The bathtub's curtains were slowly pulled open.
The labored breathing was getting closer. Ruan Guangjian could almost feel puffs of air blowing out of the person's nose and onto his own hands…
Click.
The timer ceased. That meant the three minutes were up.
According to the instructions, Ruan Guangjian had completed the challenge. All he had to do now was open his eyes.
However, Ruan Guangjian did not dare to because he had not heard the footsteps leaving. The person was still standing next to the bathtub, holding his ax up silently and observing him.
After a full minute, Ruan Guangjian sneakily peeked through the gaps in his fingers, and carefully looked outside.
Under the fluorescent light, everything looked like it did before. The murderer with the ax that he had conjured up in his head was not there.
Ruan Guangjian heaved a huge sigh of relief. He climbed out of the bathtub, his legs weak. All he could do was walk towards the door, one step at a time.
The door was still bolted. No one had opened it.
Ruan Guangjian quickly unbolted the door and pulled it inward, ready to exit the container.
However, on the outside of the door were a fresh, bloody handprint and an ax dripping with blood!
"Ah!"
…
Everyone outside was guilt-ridden. Chen Kangtuo had been worried that Ruan Guangjian would be scared out of his wits the entire time.
After all, this big boss was one of Boss Pei's good friends. He had been drawing concept art for Tengda ever since they started working on Ghost General. One could say that this man had witnessed Tengda rise to where it stood today.
One could also say that, on a certain level, Ruan Guangjian's art had given Tengda's games their souls!
If they scared such an important person out of his wits, and he ended up causing trouble for them, none of them would be able to take responsibility!
Even Pei Qian was beginning to think that he had gone too far.
"Ai, when would the cycles of vengeance end? Seeing that I've already scared him this much, I'll forgive him. In any case, I've taken my revenge. I can push him down the list in my notebook for now."
Everyone quickly rushed to receive Ruan Guangjian after seeing that the final scare had gotten him.
"Are you alright?"
"You didn't get scared to death, did you?"
"Quick, quick, quick. Big Boss, please take a seat."
Everyone walked Ruan Guangjian to a nearby chair as if they were stars holding up the moon.
Concerned, Pei Qian asked, "How was it? Was it alright?"
Ruan Guangjian's face was flushed, and he looked invigorated as he said, "Boss Pei, the haunted house is… brilliant!"
He held up his thumb and said, "Are there other projects? I want to go again!"
Pei Qian looked confused. His mind was filled with question marks.
?
Ruan Guangjian's lit gaze made him look like a completely different person. He had not even looked this excited when he was painting!
Pei Qian felt like he had fallen for a scam.
Didn't you say that haunted houses scare you the most? Why are you still saying that you want to go again?!
Normal people would not want to go a second time after experiencing it once.
What's more, most people would look pale and jittery, and their legs would be shaking. You, on the other hand, are flushed and full of life. You even look like you're in tip-top mental shape, and you're ready to go on another adventure!
The current scene stunned everyone in the room.
Boss Pei recovered the fastest, as he always did. Through gritted teeth, Pei Qian said, "Didn't you hear him? Let him try the other two projects!"
…
…
"Boss Pei, I'm going to board the plane.
"Thank you for hosting me so well during this period. Be it the roller coasters at the start or the haunted house at the end, everything left a deep impression in my heart. I'll never forget my time here!
"The haunted house has given me another reason to move to Jingzhou. Once I get back, I'll immediately arrange to move. I hope Boss Pei will speed up the building of the haunted house, too. I can't wait to experience its third major project for myself!
"See you after the Chinese New Year!"
After reading Ruan Guangjian's message, Pei Qian leaned back in his chair and allowed both of his arms to fall limp by his sides.
"I'm so pissed off!"
Pei Qian's heart was filled with pent-up frustration. He had tried to show Ruan Guangjian who was boss when the latter first landed, but he had ended up giving him the time of his life.
Then, he had tried to show Ruan Guangjian who was boss again before the latter left, but he had ended up entertaining him once more!
Boss Pei had not even failed this miserably when Teacher Qiao had visited Jingzhou…
The most infuriating thing was that Ruan Guangjian had clearly been scared out of his wits by the first mini-project. He had been screaming and trembling. Yet, when he stepped out, it looked like nothing had even happened. He had even insisted on trying the other minor projects as well!
Thus, Pei Qian had immediately allowed him to try the other two mini-projects.
Ruan Guangjian had reacted in the same way. He had panicked throughout the entire experience, making everyone think that he would collapse at any moment. However, whenever he emerged, he had looked lively and invigorated and had asked to go again!
Pei Qian had waited one entire month for the three mini-projects to be completed. Yet, in just one hour, Ruan Guangjian had emerged victorious from them all.
Pei Qian had no choice but to let Ruan Guangjian go with his head held high. There was nothing else that he could do.
It was like Pei Qian had prepared for a long, arduous journey filled with thousands of threats along the way. However, he had ended up completing the journey in three days and saying, "That's it?"
It was unbearable!
"Just wait. Wait for the Thriller Hostel to be completed. You'll be so scared that you'll have to lean against the wall for strength to walk out!"
Pei Qian hatefully swore in his heart.
