"Xue Fei, move aside!"
Seeing that blank mannequin-like face, every hair on my body stood on end. Without a second thought, I swung the camera at the doll.
Maybe the contrast between imagination and reality was too great, because Xue Fei turned pale, his legs going weak, unable to move.
"Run!" I shouted, the camera smashing into the doll's head. Drops of some substance, either paint or blood, splattered everywhere.
Turning to look, I saw the kids frozen in terror. I kicked the doll aside with another forceful blow. "Run! Head for the first floor, back the way we came!"
Grabbing Yingzi, I ignored the others and sprinted for the first floor, taking three steps at a time. "That kick felt like hitting flesh. How can these mannequin dolls move?"
When I reached the first floor and approached the art room, its half-closed door slowly creaked open. Another blank face peeked out.
"Damn it! I forgot there's another one in the art room!" I felt a cold shiver as I remembered carrying that mannequin earlier.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, I turned back, only to see the doll from the second floor also coming down. Though slow, their presence was suffocating.
Panicked, we hurriedly sought refuge, eventually cramming into a restroom at the far end of the first floor.
"Close the door! Don't make a sound!" I whispered, holding Yingzi and Shuimu in the last stall, while the larger Xue Fei hid in the second-to-last one.
"Stay quiet!"
In the cramped, dark space, fear seeped in. I tried to steady my heartbeat.
Taking a shallow breath, I pressed my ear against the door.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway, one set drawing closer to the restroom.
Tap... tap... tap.
"He's here."
My brows furrowed, lips tightly sealed, straining to catch every sound in the corridor. The footsteps passed the restroom without entering, merely walking by.
"That was close." My heart raced as the tension in my furrowed brows slowly eased.
Tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tap! Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, that maddening sound circled back!
Silently, it stopped at the restroom door.
"Don't come in, don't come in, don't come in…" Shuimu's lips quivered, and for the first time, he seemed genuinely afraid.
After what felt like forever, just as we thought the doll had left—
Creak. The door outside the restroom opened.
Bang! The first stall door was forced open.
Bang! The second stall followed.
My teeth clenched, sweat pouring down my forehead, like a prisoner awaiting the drop of the guillotine. These last moments dragged on unbearably.
There were only six stalls in the restroom. Soon enough, the third and fourth were opened.
Finally, it reached the fifth, where Xue Fei was hiding.
The door shook as someone's hand gripped the handle.
Bang!
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" Xue Fei screamed. At the same time, I shoved open the stall door, grabbing Yingzi and bolting. At this point, survival took precedence over everything.
As I ran past the mannequin, I caught a glimpse of Xue Fei's face, distorted and twisted in terror. But I couldn't save him.
I sprinted, desperate to escape!
"Keep up! Keep up!" Shuimu followed closely behind. We ran straight to the art classroom and leaped out the window.
When my feet finally hit the overgrown path outside the desolate school, I let out a long breath.
"You saw it, didn't you? This place is dangerous. I'll find a way to rescue Xue Fei and Shen Meng, but you two stay out of my way." I set Yingzi down and handed her to Shuimu. "Take her home and have the adults call the police, understand?"
But Shuimu, seemingly terrified, shook off my hand. "I'm not staying with her. You take care of her."
His refusal was resolute, and his words carried an underlying meaning.
I took mental note but didn't press further. "Just go home. This school is full of strange things…"
"Home?" Shuimu scoffed. "My parents only care about making money. If I died out here, they probably wouldn't even know. How can you call that a home?"
For a moment, I didn't know how to respond. Glancing at the pitch-black experimental building, I could still hear Xue Fei's desperate screams faintly echoing.
"Death is far scarier than you think." Shuimu refused to leave, and I couldn't force him. Checking my equipment, I found the camera still functional, and the livestream was flooded with comments. The viewership had exceeded 500.
"Not a single tip, though." Pocketing my phone, I was contemplating the next building to explore when Shuimu tugged at my sleeve. "Streamer, I need to use the restroom."
"I thought it was something serious. Fine, let's go. Yingzi, stay here and don't wander off!"
As I led Shuimu to a nearby bush, he suddenly spoke in a raspy voice, "Streamer, have you noticed something strange about Yingzi?"
My eyes narrowed slightly, thoughts racing, but I replied nonchalantly, "What's strange? Besides, she's your friend. Why ask me?"
"I'm not close with her. That girl was brought in by Shen Meng."
"Brought in?" His words piqued my interest.
Shuimu nodded. "Shen Meng, Xue Fei, and I live nearby. We've always heard stories about a haunted school no one should enter. As kids, we were curious but only came during the day, never at night."
"What does this have to do with Yingzi?"
"As we grew older, we nearly forgot about this place—until Yingzi appeared. She would sit on the road we took home every evening. It's already 7 PM after evening classes, and this little girl was wandering alone. Doesn't she have a family?"
His story had contradictions, but I didn't point them out. "Go on."
"Just a few days ago, Shen Meng started talking to Yingzi. Feeling sorry for her being homeless, Shen Meng decided we should help her get home."
"Don't tell me her home is in this school?"
"Not quite, but close. The address she gave is right behind the school."
While Shuimu and the others might not know what's behind the school, I did. It's a burn pit, used for incinerating trash—or bodies.
"So you ended up here?"
Shuimu's voice dropped. "Yes, and now I wonder—Yingzi and the ghost doll Hanako-san only differ by one character in their names. Could they be the same... person? Or the same ghost?"
His eerie tone sent chills down my spine. Thinking back to Yingzi's odd behavior, it was indeed abnormal. A girl her age should have cried or screamed in terror, yet she remained unsettlingly calm.
"Why are you only telling me this now?"
"If you hadn't seen the moving mannequins, would you have believed me? From the start, I've been telling you about the school's legends, but you never took them seriously."
"Well, now Shen Meng and Xue Fei are both gone, and I'm probably next. You're not getting out of this either." Shuimu hung his head as he walked, then suddenly stopped.
"What is it?"
"We can't just sit and wait. I've thought of a way to end this nightmare." His young face carried a twisted expression, his eyes shining like a black cat's in the dark.
His sudden intensity made me uneasy. "What is it?"
"We work together… and kill Yingzi!"
I couldn't believe such words came from a child. After the initial shock, I forced a weak smile.
"Whether Yingzi is human or ghost, it's all just speculation. Without concrete evidence, what you're suggesting is murder." I patted Shuimu's shoulder and walked away.
The eerie campus seemed even more unsettling. Yingzi sat alone by a flower bed, like an abandoned doll.
"Don't be afraid. I'll get you out of here." Gently lifting her, I resolved to escort her out, no matter how important the Hell Show mission was. I couldn't leave a little girl to die here.
I headed for the school gate. But before we got far, Yingzi, who had never spoken before, leaned close to my ear and whispered, "You should leave now. They're all ghosts."