Mo Hua was still hesitant and when she entered the Haunted House, her limbs froze when she saw darkness everywhere. She didn't move so XiXi who was holding her arms also came to halt.
She observed Mo Hua's face and decided to pull her inside.
"MoMo don't worry we are here with you and it's all fake. Don't be scared. Okay??"
After a moment, Mo Hua gathered the courage and started walking further.
This time Xi Mian spoke in order to help Mo Hua Relax, "MoMo don't worry. We have to walk only for 50meters and there we will have some light in the hallway. So, keep walking."
Mo Hua was observing her surrounding and was feeling a lot better as nothing horror or freaky appeared in front of her.
She thought,' Ah! Maybe they have removed most of the horror stuff and it will just be darkness I will have to face today.'
She was pacifying her heart when suddenly a shrilled voice of a young girl was echoed in the house.
Mo Hua was not scared of loud noise but the darkness was troubling her.
In her shivering voice she said, "XiXi, let's go back please. I will come to swim lessons for two weeks and will give LiLi my turmeric tea for two weeks as well. Not only that. I will do laundry of Mian for entire week but please let's go back... "
LiLi giggled slowly and said," MoMo, don't be scared. This sound was just to cause an illusion. We can't go back as the exit is on the other side of the house."
Mo Hua was going to say something when a well-lit hall came into her eyesight. She sighed in relief when she saw the light piercing through darkness which gave her a hope to get out of this freaky place safely.
Just as she was rejoicing in happiness, the light went off again leaving only few candles to lead their way towards the hall way.
Few more chattering voices were heard from behind them which helped Mo Hua feel a bit relieved knowing they were not alone.
...
Rong Chi was the one to scream loudly in fear when he entered the Haunted House. He was scared to death when he saw a dim lit pathway with weird dolls hanging on the blood color painted walls and darkness engulfing the entire house.
Sheng Tao was much calm as he had been to this place with Xi Mian many times. He was not scared but to make Mian feel better, he had acted like he was freaking out which made Mian to give him a tight hug and a kiss later to pacify his scared heart. That's how they had their first kiss.
Looking at Yan Xuan, Sheng Tao thought, today, he might get his first kiss as well.
He smiled inwardly and started following Yan Xuan who was rushing inside like a mad man to find Mo Hua. He wanted to be by her side and make sure he is there for her if she was feeling scared.
When he spotted the person, he was searching for the whole day standing few steps away from him in the well-lit hall, his face brimmed in happiness.
Behind him Rong Chi was mumbling in low voice," Xuan, Tao. Let's go back. I am not ashamed to say that I am scared of this place."
Sheng Tao left a chuckled laugh and said," Now now... Young Master Rong Chi is saying he is scared of the Haunted House. Isn't it a breaking news to be flashed in Weibo post?"
Rong Chi was feeling angry as well as scared but decided not to argue with his friends for now. He can't take the risk of being left alone in such place.
….
The corridor was flickering with lights and spooky sounds were audible. Walls were covered in blood and spider webs were almost covering every part of the house.
Li Mei was explaining the history behind the mall and the haunted house, "This mall is owned by a Japanese Entrepreneur, so the theme of Haunted house is Japanese."
XiXi spoke out of curiosity, "So how is assigning some mission to visitors related with Japanese tradition?"
A story that was told to all the visitors before they received a mission that they must accomplish when they entered the haunted house. Along with that, they were explained the rules as well one of which was that they need to accomplish a mission to get out of the Haunted House.
Li Mei replied," In Japan, there is a tradition of making obakeyashiki (ghost houses) in the summertime. Fear is believed to ward off the heat by "giving you the chills. Missions were assigned to make it entertaining and challenging".
Xi Mian continued Li Mei's answer by saying," Also due to Japanese theme, we will see frightening creatures from Japanese folklore, ghosts, demons, sinister crucifixes and other things which are placed here as as decorations. And the sound effects and animatronics installed here are used to create the real atmosphere."
Listening to the discussion between her friends, Mo Hua who was silent for a while started panicking again.
"I hate you guys. I am not going to talk to you guys anymore. I will never come to Arcadia anymore."
"Let me get out from here, then you girls just wait..."
XiXi tried to control her laughter while pulling Mo Hua in a side hug and said, "Aww... no problem dear even if you kill us but at least look you are willing to fight your fear right now to get out from here."
Li Mie pitched in order to motivate her friend," Its improvement than last time when you just started crying like a baby and created a scene and everyone was laughing at us. The house guards then helped you out through the emergency doors."
Mo Hua shyly nodded her head and softly said, "That was long time ago. Let's go now."
Mo Hua and her friends reached the spot from where they were supposed to decide the room which they need to visit to complete the mission.
It was a dim lit hallway with multiple doors in front of them leading to different rooms. The hall way was decorated with various props of Oni and Yurei* giving it a scary look.
XiXi was the one to break the silence and said, "Let's go to Living Room. We might get the letter of BloodLady there. The hint says that she was killed on the couch when she was reading her lover Nether King's letter."
Xi Mian and Li Mein agreed to XiXi excitedly while Mo Hua nodded her head with sullen face.
As decided, they walked towards the door to the living room. Xi Mian twisted the door knob and the door opened making a screeching sound sending chills down the spine of all four of them.
They gathered courage and were about to enter the Living room of the house, their way was blocked by a giant skeleton which came out of nowhere in front of them.
"Ahhhhhh!!!" All four of them screamed and jumped backwards in horrified state.
Mo Hua almost fainted when she saw a huge skeleton hanging in front of her. She grabbed XiXi's hand and started to chant prayers in her mind.
Xi Mian mustered up the courage and was about to move the skeleton aside when a loud echo of evil laugh was heard.
Lights started to flicker and sounds of woman wailing in pain were heard. Next moment the weeping sounds were replaced by an extremely shallow voice coming from the skeleton giving a warning message,
"You are only four. Only six to eight heads can enter the dungeon rooms here. Find the rest else be ready to get swallowed by the Nether World king."
With that again the room went back to normal and the skeleton disappeared.
The messaged initially confused them, but after thinking more deeply, Mo Hua who was shivering with fear said," We need two or three more group members then only we can enter the living room."
XiXi annoyingly said," Now where will we find the rest of the heads. We didn't saw who entered the corridor after us."
All four of them where thinking about solution when they heard someone calling, "Mian Mian… Look here..."
Xi Mian was surprised to hear her nick name being called, so she turned towards the voice to see who was calling her. When she saw who it was, she froze on the spot.
"Sheng Tao..." She mumbled softly.
{* As per Japanese folklore, Oni are demons and Yurei are ghosts.}