The three women lined up and entered the haunted house. The light instantly dimmed.
Suddenly, several lanterns lit up, and with a flash, a dilapidated archway appeared before the three of them.
A Taoist priest lightly flicked his beard and walked up to them, cupping his hands. "Three travelers, the road ahead is perilous. I advise you not to proceed."
The three women remained silent, knowing it was part of the script. Customers were always meant to court danger and never heed the priest's warnings.
As expected, seeing their lack of response, the priest shook his head and sighed, "So be it. I cannot force you. I have three magical items here. Take one each, and they will ensure your safety once."
Saying this, the priest produced a peace charm, a small peach wood sword, and a compass as if by magic.
He thrust the items into their hands and then removed his beard. "Three customers, our story is about to begin. I will now explain how to use your props and their functions: simply input a small amount of spiritual energy into them to activate their effects. Most NPCs will react according to the props' effects. The peace charm can block NPC attacks three times. The peach wood sword can slay an NPC, but not all NPCs can be slain. The compass can guide you three times."
"I hope you will refrain from using supernatural abilities during the experience and immerse yourselves in our story from the perspective of ordinary people."
After the explanation, the priest put his beard back on and said, "Since you are determined to go, I shall say no more. May you have a safe journey." With that, the priest turned and left.
The women exchanged glances, divided the props, and proceeded inside.
...
Tang Jingjing spotted a fisherman casting his line by a stream and asked the other two, "Should we go over? It might trigger a plot point, or we might just get a scare for nothing."
Mo Fei glanced at the peach wood sword in her hand and said, "Let's go! We came to a haunted house for screams. If you're timid, you shouldn't have come!" With that, she strode towards the fisherman.
"Old man, we're lost. Which way should we go?"
Mo Fei asked, but the fisherman didn't answer for a long time. Instead, he muttered something under his breath.
"Old man, what did you say?" Mo Fei brought her ear closer to the fisherman, gradually discerning his low murmur: "Fishermen sing at dusk, blood stains the river, the sky rains crimson, an omen of ill fortune..."
"Old man, what are you saying?" Mo Fei found his cryptic pronouncements tedious and tried to walk around the fisherman to see what was going on.
The fisherman seemed to sense something and grabbed Mo Fei's sleeve, continuing to whisper, "Fishermen sing at dusk, blood stains the river, the sky rains crimson, an omen of ill fortune..."
"Ill fortune... ill fortune!"
The fisherman's voice suddenly rose in volume. He held Mo Fei's sleeve with one hand and pointed with the other in the direction behind them. His conical hat had slipped off, revealing two hollow "eyes."
"Please... old sir, this method of scaring us is so outdated... Don't you just want us to turn around so you can make a dramatic move?"
Before Mo Fei could finish speaking, Tang Jingjing tugged at her hem. "Mo Fei... look at that bird... it seems so strange..."
Mo Fei thought Tang Jingjing was scaring herself and simply patted her shoulder without looking at any bird. She turned her gaze back to the fisherman.
But the fisherman had vanished without a trace, leaving only his worn conical hat and straw cloak.
Mo Fei looked at the mess and scratched the back of her head. "Why are this haunted house's scares so old-fashioned? How can they claim to be the scariest..."
Mo Fei's words trailed off as she was captivated by the sight before her: a dark and dilapidated idol lay askew by the roadside. Several crows with bloodshot eyes perched on the idol, pecking at it intermittently. What was astonishing was that the crows' pecking had gouged out wounds on the idol, from which dark red blood flowed.
"Holy crap..." Mo Fei and Tang Jingjing even swore at the sight.
"Tsk." He Lanxin's mouth twitched. She said to the two of them, "I think I've been afflicted with a blindness curse because I was the first to see the idol. Be careful later, don't fall into the trap."
"Sister Lanxin, you can't see now?"
"Mm..." He Lanxin was about to reply when the flock of crows suddenly erupted, striking the three like a black gale.
Finally, the three of them got up from the ground, dusty and disheveled. Mo Fei said helplessly, "Let's go... let's head in the direction of the idol."
...
By the time the three emerged from the bamboo grove, they had each been inflicted with a debuff: Mo Fei was deaf, Tang Jingjing was mute, and He Lanxin was blind.
Therefore, their communication was essentially Tang Jingjing finding ways to tell Mo Fei what the NPCs said, and Mo Fei describing the scenes to He Lanxin.
Moreover, they had used their props twice already to escape the pursuit of the strange idol.
The three now looked at the "bean soup" in their bowls, hesitating whether to drink it.
If they drank it, although it wasn't actually soup made from human eyeballs, it was likely not good stuff. If they didn't drink it, it would probably trigger the haunted house's cheap tricks again, and they didn't know what disadvantage they would suffer.
"I'll try it first... This thing is probably related to the eye curse. Since I'm already blind, I'm not afraid even if there's a problem."
Before the other two could object, He Lanxin drained the murky liquid and even wiped her mouth. Miraculously, nothing happened.
"How is it?" "What did it taste like?"
"It tasted like barley tea mixed with water, just a bit cold... As for how it feels..." He Lanxin touched her eyes. "Although I still can't see clearly, I can feel that at the end of this village, there's a terrifying power calling me to go there."
"If nothing unexpected happens, that should be the boss," Mo Fei said quietly, glancing at the old NPC granny who had started to become invisible.
"Then we won't drink it?" Tang Jingjing asked, looking at the rough pottery bowl.
"Mm, count on me."
...
The boss happily browsed customer reviews on his phone, marveling at the correctness of his decisions.
In all his years, this was the first time he had seen something so "underworld" like Mo Chuan... no, a person, a person.
The first group of customers, halfway through their experience, were chased by the suddenly appearing Mo Chuan (a scarecrow character) (without damage). They ran out from the entrance with soaked pants. The subsequent groups could barely last until the village ancestral hall (mini-boss). There was one brave soul who managed to reach the old monk and successfully repelled him, only to be scared half to death by Mo Chuan, who was playing the role of the idol. That person was probably lying in the hospital now.
"Sigh... Such a good child, why did he awaken such an underworld ability? If he worked here for a year or half, wouldn't he drive all his domestic competitors out of business?" As the boss was lamenting, the Taoist priest's (A Wen's) voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Boss, the three female customers who just entered are about to reach Uncle Chou's location."
The boss raised an eyebrow at the news and switched his view.