Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 109 Mo Yixia is Lost

After lunch, Han Zhou and his companion went to the haunted house as originally planned.

Despite having already experienced the feeling of "heart racing," Mo Yixia still wanted to visit the haunted house. After all, it was a rare opportunity, and she wanted to try more unknown things.

And summer is almost over.

I wonder if the sun will still be so blinding back then.

She glanced at Han Zhou beside her. This guy was surprisingly smart; he even knew to help her get the doll.

"You're putting these two dolls so close together, face to face. Aren't you afraid of setting a bad example for children? You know they're not wearing any clothes."

"Just don't lead me astray. I didn't even know dolls had to wear clothes until you told me."

Han Zhou replied irritably, thinking to himself that there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names, and he was determined never to change this guy's contact name on Feixin.

Mo Yixia said disdainfully, "You can't even notice whether you're wearing clothes or not. Have you lost even the most basic sense of shame?"

"It seems like you've never had one of these before."

"..."

The two bickered all the way, completely unaware that two furtive figures were following them.

"Hide now!"

Not far behind, Xiao Yuyan pulled Lin Anyu behind a wall, her expression grave. "That girl next to Han Zhou shouldn't be Zhong Ling, right?"

Lin Anyu looked pained: "I don't think you're blind. It's obvious you're not."

While speaking, he kept looking around nervously, as if afraid that a fierce-looking bald man would suddenly appear.

Damn it, is there some kind of organization like the Bald Gang around here? Hmm... Could Bai Tongtong's father be the leader of this organization...?

Lin Anyu thought to himself that he was having a bad day, but he had already recognized that the girl next to Han Zhou was his student. The girl had very distinctive features; she seemed to like wearing a baseball cap and a mask, so he could recognize her at a glance.

As for this foolish stalking operation, it was of course suggested by his bored cousin.

He originally wanted to stop him immediately, but then he thought it was inappropriate. After all, this guy was an idiot. What if he suddenly ran up to Han Zhou's student after they met and said something explosive like, "I remember it wasn't this one yesterday. How come it's changed again?" Wouldn't that put Han Zhou in a very dangerous situation?
Although things might not turn out the way he expected, it wasn't impossible. For the sake of his good brother, he had no choice but to agree to follow them. It was better to keep Xiao Yuyan quiet than to let her meet Han Zhou directly.

Moreover, he was also a little curious about the relationship between Han Zhou and his student.

Speaking of which, Han Zhou doesn't usually wear baseball caps. Could this hat have been a gift from that girl?
Xiao Yuyan looked serious. Her thoughts were similar to Lin Anyu's; they both wanted to find out about Han Zhou and that girl.

As a staunch supporter of Zhong Ling, she personally prefers to see Han Zhou and Zhong Ling together, even though it's not up to her and can be said to have nothing to do with her. However, she still cares a lot about the relationship between Han Zhou and that masked girl.

I also wanted to satisfy my gossipy side.

It was precisely because Lin Anyu knew her thoughts early on that he thought this guy was just bored out of his mind. He thought, "You don't even know her, why are you worrying about her relationship status?"
And so, the four, each with their own thoughts, embarked on their journey to the haunted house.

The haunted house is right where we got off the taxi; it's not far from there.

This haunted house is a recent opening, called "Corpse Whisperer Village," a very common "village series." The promotion is quite aggressive, with words like "most terrifying" and "scared out of my wits" written on the posters as if they were free, along with terrifying pictures, making it look quite convincing.

Mo Yixia decided to come and take a look after receiving a flyer.

Presumably because of the ongoing opening promotions, there were quite a few people coming to the haunted house for the challenge. Seeing that they would have to wait for a while, Han Zhou and Mo Yixia found a place to sit down and watched with great interest the people screaming as they fled from the exit of the haunted house.

After observing for a moment, Mo Yixia asked, "Is the male-to-female ratio in haunted houses always so balanced?"

Han Zhou thought for a moment and replied, "I've only been to one, so I don't know much about it. But many people who come to haunted houses not only want to experience the thrill, but also want to turn the opposite sex they come with into their partner. If you think about it that way, it's not hard to understand the balance between men and women. Besides, there's a Qixi Festival event recently."

Even haunted houses are offering special deals for Qixi Festival.

Mo Yixia glanced at him and asked casually, "Who did you come with last time?"

"Lin Anyu, my friend."

"Oh."

Mo Yixia nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly became wary and said, "Speaking of which, did you suddenly ask me to play this game with the intention of turning me into your boyfriend?"

Han Zhou looked at her in shock, his lips twitching as he said, "Wake up! You're the one who suggested the haunted house!"

"is it?"

Mo Yixia remained calm and composed. "How come I remember you begging me to come? You even said you wanted to feel your heart racing?"

Han Zhou exclaimed in amazement, "You have such a thick skin."

Mo Yixia pretended not to hear and calmly changed the subject, "Have you heard of the suspension bridge effect?"

"I've heard of it, and I roughly know what it means."

"The suspension bridge effect refers to the phenomenon where a person's heart rate increases involuntarily when crossing a suspension bridge with trepidation. If they happen to meet another person at this time, they may mistakenly believe that this increased heart rate is a physiological reaction caused by the other person's attraction to them, thus developing feelings of love for that person."

Looking at the men and women entering and leaving the haunted house, Mo Yixia continued, "In other words, dangerous or exciting situations can promote feelings between two people, and haunted houses obviously have this property."

Han Zhou, somewhat curious, humbly asked, "Then is this kind of feeling real or fake?"

"I'm not a psychologist, how would I know?" Mo Yixia glanced at him. "But do you think there's a possibility..."

"no way."

Han Zhou interrupted her in time, then asked suspiciously, "You came to the haunted house just to study this suspension bridge effect?"

Mo Yixia gave him a strange look: "Didn't I say I wanted to experience the feeling of my heart racing?"

You've now remembered that you were the one who said those words...

Han Zhou's face darkened. He couldn't do anything about this guy, so he suggested, "You can try some vigorous exercise. Not only will you be able to experience the feeling of your heart racing quickly, but it's also free."

"Your jokes are still so lame. If that's the case, why do you need a boyfriend or girlfriend to do things yourself if you can do them yourself?"

Han Zhou did not respond.

Mo Yixia glanced at him and suddenly said, "If you get scared later, you can hold my hand."

Han Zhou was taken aback, and said in a somewhat uncertain tone, "Shouldn't I be the one saying that?"

"Then say it yourself," the girl said, her tone sounding somewhat disdainful.

Han Zhou pondered for a moment: "If you get scared later... then shout 'Tiga!' loudly."

Mo Yixia didn't ask what Tiga was, but just sighed, "I know why my mother was so comfortable entrusting me to you."

Han Zhou was about to speak when it was their turn to enter the haunted house. So the two of them exchanged a glance, took the mini flashlights from the staff, and entered the haunted house with the other players.

To immerse players and make them feel scared from the very beginning, most haunted houses have a rather terrifying opening, which is to introduce the story background. However, Han Zhou didn't listen to it much. After all, a haunted house is not a puzzle-solving house. You just need to run away. You don't need to know the background.

He had just told Mo Yixia that he had gone to a haunted house with Lin Anyu once before. Of course, it wasn't because he wanted to seek thrills, but because Lin Anyu had taken a few girls there that day. However, he wasn't brave enough, so he had no choice but to ask him to "protect him."

Embarrassingly, when they left the haunted house, most of the girls clung to Han Zhou's arm, while a few leaned against Lin Anyu because there were no other seats available. Afterwards, quite a few of them asked for Han Zhou's contact information, which annoyed Lin Anyu for quite some time.

After the NPC with terrifying makeup finished introducing the story background in a sinister tone, the room suddenly became dark, the dim yellow lights in the long corridor ahead flickered, and eerie music began to play.

As the lights flickered, the NPC with the eerie smile disappeared.

Seeing this, several timid girls immediately let out piercing screams. The boys who were with them seemed calm, but they were clearly a little nervous and hesitated to go first. Seeing this, Han Zhou had no choice but to step forward. He wasn't particularly afraid of ghosts or monsters, especially since he knew the ghosts in the haunted house were all fake. So he took a mini flashlight and led the way.

"Follow me."

These words were spoken to Mo Yixia, who nodded slightly and followed him at a leisurely pace. Seeing that someone dared to take the lead, the rest of the group quickly followed suit.

The line began to move slowly.

Based on his experience at the haunted house last time, Han Zhou reminded everyone as they walked, "To play this game, you just need to keep running forward. But be careful, there may be many paths in the middle, and you might get lost if you're not careful. Be careful not to get lost."

Mo Yixia hummed in agreement. She didn't seem very scared; on the contrary, she seemed quite curious and kept looking around.

The people behind them were surprised and somewhat relieved to see the two so calm. Having a brave person is very important when visiting a haunted house; otherwise, everyone might only dare to stay in place and not dare to move forward, and would have to leave as soon as they entered.

The journey was quite peaceful. Although there were scary props everywhere, thankfully no NPCs jumped out to frighten people.

However, there have been some changes.

The eerie music had disappeared at some point, and the road ahead grew increasingly dark. The only sound in the corridor was the heavy breathing of the crowd. Everyone had to feel their way along the walls to walk, and occasionally someone would touch a severed limb or other prop and immediately let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.

Despite the terrifying atmosphere, surprisingly, the group wasn't too afraid.

Because the passage was long and narrow, any sound, whether human voice or unusual movement, would be exceptionally clear. Therefore, everyone could clearly hear the conversation between the two people in front of them, and they looked at each other with strange expressions.

The girl wearing a mask suddenly stopped and looked at the skeleton in front of her, saying, "This skeleton looks too fake. There are obvious problems with its structure. The heart on the ground doesn't look human either. The person who made this prop probably didn't study hard in high school."

"Keep your voice down."

The boy in the hat sounded a little embarrassed and whispered a reminder, "Also, this isn't a biology class. Who cares if it looks like a human or not? Just put the heart back in someone else's hands."

"Oh."

Han Zhou was genuinely surprised by Mo Yixia's behavior in the haunted house, and felt a bit of a headache.

The NPCs in the haunted house are probably hiding somewhere, ready to scare people. It's fine if this guy isn't scared, but it's a bit inappropriate to talk badly about people in front of others. They might get overheard.

But it has to be said that Mo Yixia is even braver than he imagined. He has a feeling that this guy is not visiting a haunted house, but rather visiting a museum, looking at everything closely with great interest.

But as long as this guy is happy, that's fine. After all, there's no rule that says you can't examine props in a haunted house. He can just stay a little longer.

Considering that dawdling ahead might dampen the enthusiasm of the players behind, Han Zhou turned around and said to the group behind him, "Excuse me, why don't you go ahead first? We might be a little slow and it will delay your progress."

"No, no!"

The two girls huddled together behind him shook their heads, trembling, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "We're timid. If we dared to go ahead, we would have left already. Listening to you talk makes us less scared... Aren't you scared?"

"There is some fear, but relatively speaking, we..."

Han Zhou smiled and was about to explain, but before he could finish speaking, Mo Yixia turned his head back.

She pointed to a corpse hanging upside down in front of her and said indifferently, "You see, this corpse doesn't really look real. Logically speaking, a person hanging upside down shouldn't be in this state."

Han Zhou gasped: "I've been wanting to ask you this for a while, where did you learn so much random stuff?"

"A detective novel, I don't remember the name, but I do remember the plot. It's about a man who cheats on his wife and is then hung upside down and bled dry. It was quite good... Oh, right, the couple were teacher and student before they got married, the kind where the teacher tutors each other temporarily."

Mo Yixia was clearly implying something.

Han Zhou chuckled dryly twice: "You made this up on the spot, didn't you..."

"of course not."

Mo Yixia shone the flashlight in her face and said with a smile, "I still remember the methods of committing crimes in novels. Want to try them out?"

"..."

Seeing the two people in front chatting and laughing, most of the people behind them relaxed a lot. Although their topic was a bit scary, it was obviously a good thing that someone was talking in this kind of environment.

The two girls, who were hugging each other, looked at each other and saw the shock in each other's eyes.

One of the girls whispered, "Yueyue, did you see that just now? That boy is so handsome, and he's so brave. He doesn't seem scared at all."

The girl called Yueyue looked on with envy: "That girl is amazing too. She was wearing a school uniform, and she looked like a high school student. I wish I could have that kind of courage someday..."

The girl comforted her, "It's okay, it's okay. You can build up your courage. Isn't that why we came to the haunted house?"

"hope so……"

Yueyue looked a little melancholy, and hugged her best friend tighter as she spoke, saying with a worried expression, "I feel like I'm getting more and more timid."

"What she said is true."

Just then, a voice suddenly chimed in, "Of course haunted houses can test your courage. If you don't believe me, you can turn around and look at me."

Yueyue was taken aback, feeling that the voice was a bit strange, as if someone was speaking in a low voice.

And there should be a wall next to her, so why is there a sound?

She turned her head and saw a pale face suddenly emerge from a photo frame on the wall beside her, its eyes filled with blood.

"what!"

The two girls screamed in unison and scrambled forward, quickly huddling next to Han Zhou for protection. It was rather strange, though, that the two girls didn't forget to cling to each other even while running away, leaving Han Zhou completely bewildered.

The people behind them were also startled by the sudden scene. Coupled with the terrifying screams coming from the passage behind them, they dared not dawdle any longer and hurriedly ran forward. If they stepped on any severed limbs, they would run even faster.

As the NPCs appeared one after another, the scene immediately became chaotic.

"You're all dead if you get caught!"

Hearing the venomous roar behind him, Han Zhou recalled that the background story of this haunted house seemed to be related to hide-and-seek. He thought to himself that the NPCs' acting skills were really good. This voice was probably a warning that they were making too slow progress.

So he said to the girl next to him, "The people in the haunted house seem to think we're moving too slowly. You just said some bad things about the haunted house, so they might chase after you. Let's hurry up and stay close to me."

As he spoke, he quickened his pace.

Because the corridor was too dark, one had to feel along the walls to run. The people behind were obviously terrified, and their escape could only be described as tumbling and crawling. They squeezed Han Zhou so much that he couldn't move. He couldn't push them away, so he was practically being led along by them the whole way.

Among them were several creatures that were clearly not players, dressed in rather frightening attire, who, during the chase, even knocked off his baseball cap.

He quickly bent down to pick up the hat, then ran with the group, reminding them as he ran, "Watch your step, don't trip."

The crowd ran in a chaotic frenzy, and no one responded. However, someone was heard shouting angrily, "Who the hell touched my ass?"

Just then, a killer wielding a chainsaw suddenly sprang out from the darkness ahead. The loud noise of the chainsaw terrified everyone, causing them to scream and some even to run back, fearing that the thing was real.

Han Zhou was also startled, his scalp tingling and cold sweat pouring down his face. However, it wasn't because of the NPC's enthusiastic performance, but because he suddenly realized a very serious problem—

Mo Yixia is lost.

After posting, I made some revisions, increasing the word count to 9,500 words for the two chapters, which rounds up to 10,000.

:.ヽ(*`).:



(End of this chapter)