(This chapter stays exactly the same as the original )
"Xiao San, this is a goldmine for brushing up on traditional Chinese architecture," Gao Ru Xue said, her voice tinged with scholarly glee. "This courtyard's a near-perfect replica—three layers of entry: Dao Zuo Wu, the Main House, Ear Houses, Chao Shou Corridor, Chui Hua Men, East and West Wings, the Back House, Ru Yi Door—all meticulously done. The detail's so sharp, it's like stepping into the past." She drifted among the set pieces, pausing to trace a carved beam or study a faded panel.
"Senior, we're in a haunted house, not a history tour—can you focus?" He San's footsteps clattered through the hollow courtyard, scattering drifts of paper money that fluttered like lost spirits. He seemed to occupy a different plane from Gao Ru Xue, his head swiveling every few steps, eyes darting to the shadowed corners as if expecting a phantom to lunge. "We need to find the exit fast. This place is giving me the creeps."
"We're here, so we might as well savor it," she countered coolly. "We're customers—don't let this place play you like a fiddle."
"But didn't the boss say we've got fifteen minutes to escape? That guy's smirk screamed trouble—I bet he's got something nasty up his sleeve if we don't make it!" He San's voice edged with panic as he tried to hustle her along, but Gao Ru Xue remained unshaken.
"Haunted houses only have so many tricks," she said, strolling toward the Chao Shou Corridor. "Worst case, they send staff in ghost costumes to chase us. Xiao San, you handle corpses daily—don't tell me you're spooked by fake phantoms now?" She nudged open the Left Ear House door with a casual push.
The Minghun set unfolded like a vintage Beijing siheyuan. The Main House loomed as the elders' domain, the East and West Wings housed the heirs, and the Ear Houses—humble nooks for servants—exuded a quiet melancholy. As the door swung wide, chaos greeted them: tables and chairs toppled, pillows shredded, cotton fluff drifting like snow. A white cloth dangled in the room's center, swaying faintly despite the still air.
"Senior, I'll watch the door—be careful in there…" He San's warning cut off as Gao Ru Xue yanked him inside. His body locked up, face paling as the cloth rippled in the windless void.
"Curious," she mused, unfazed. "The cloth's 1.5 meters off the floor—too low for a hanging to strangle. Overturned furniture, scuff marks on the ground… they're staging a forced suicide. But this is an Ear House, meant for maids. The ghost's grudge spares no one—not even the uninvolved. She's out to torment this household to death." A spark of thrill danced behind her clinical breakdown. "This haunted house has layers—there's more buried here, waiting to be unearthed."
She prowled the room, ripping off the tattered bedcover. Beneath it lay a paper doll, stiff and uncanny.
"A paper doll in a living person's bed?" Gao Ru Xue flicked it aside and flipped the mattress. Nothing. "High hopes, big letdown. Guess I overestimated this place. Come on, the exit's not here." She shrugged and strode out, leaving He San alone in the dimness. His teeth chattered—had that doll on the floor just winked at him, or was it a trick of the light?
"Bronze chicks bleeding, paper dolls blinking—Senior, wait up!" he yelped, scrambling after her.
The Ear House door thudded shut, and the white cloth stilled.
"Pipe down, will you? Quit shrieking like a kid—grow a spine!" Gao Ru Xue shot him an exasperated glance as he caught up.
"I'm not scared, okay? But this place… it's wrong. The longer we're here, the worse it gets. Don't you feel it—like something's digging into our fears?"
He San's words struck true. Gao Ru Xue paused, a flicker of unease piercing her calm. Forensic work demanded unshakable composure, yet scolding him moments ago, she'd felt it slip—a crack she'd never known before.
"Am I… afraid?" she muttered. "No way. This is all fake—obvious props!" But doubt gnawed at her defenses. Neither could pinpoint the dread's source; suspicion and mind games were sowing terror's seeds.
"What if something does live here?" He San ventured. "The boss said it's built on a mass grave, remodeled from an old hospital…"
"Quiet! Our uni morgue's creepier than this—you're a forensic doc, not a coward!" Gao Ru Xue snapped, though her words tumbled faster than usual. She scanned the scene—aged house, mourning hall, withered trees, paper cash—all staged, harmless. "So why am I on edge?"
Lost in their unease, they missed the looping background track—Black Friday, a banned melody seeping into their minds, stoking primal fear.
"Xiao San, how long have we been in here?"
"No clue, but I'd bet we're past fifteen minutes!"
"Relax, let me think," Gao Ru Xue said, pacing the corridor. "This place isn't that scary. The boss primed us with gloom—mass graves, live burials, ghosts—classic psych bait to soften us up. The real trick? Setting a time limit without saying what happens if we fail. It's a blank slate our brains fill with nightmares."
"So what now? This isn't your average haunted house," He San said, earnest and trusting.
"You're not wrong. Typical ones use actors or gore to spook us. This one's prepped in advance—free rein, no script. Anything could happen."
"Exactly—the unknown's what gets you," He San nodded.
"Close enough," she replied, a faint crease on her brow. "Let's hit the next room."
The Ear House fed into the Main House. She shoved the wooden door, revealing a chamber draped in mourning garb, a painted coffin reigning at its heart. A red casket bore a white "喜" (joy) cutout—an ironic centerpiece—flanked by rows of paper mannequins, names scrawled on their backs. Thin makeup coated their faces, and as the door creaked wide, their eyes seemed to gleam, silently watching the intruders.