Ahead was another corridor, though compared to the previous one, it was more weathered and dilapidated, giving off a stronger sense of horror. It also had more turns and twists.
Each turn represented another shock for Qiao Liang.
The corridor was quiet, with no monsters suddenly appearing, but the cramped environment still put tremendous mental pressure on Qiao Liang.
Only now did Qiao Liang finally realize what had happened.
He had been tricked!
The receptionist at the beginning had a zombie appearance—scary-looking but not actually frightening. They used this relatively mild approach to raise Qiao Liang’s psychological pressure and put him in a state of alertness.
But immediately afterward, at the psychologist’s office, a series of setups made Qiao Liang believe that the “Ultimate Terror” journey hadn’t officially begun yet, thinking he was just undergoing routine physical and psychological testing.
This up-and-down pattern caused Qiao Liang to lower his guard.
Of course, the ECG machine was probably real, and so was the psychological test. The results could indeed determine the visitor’s health status. If someone wasn’t suitable for the upcoming experience, they would likely be advised to quit on the spot.
But once they confirmed the visitor’s test results were fine, the horror game would begin the instant the psychologist announced it!
Now, Qiao Liang was 100% certain that there must be some hidden mechanism under that desk controlling everything. However, he had been too frightened to have the courage to investigate further.
Qiao Liang could only grip the golden lantern tightly and proceed vigilantly.
He had to admit, the initial setup was quite extreme, especially how the doctor with the kind face suddenly turned frightening, severely challenging Qiao Liang’s psychological defenses.
But after fleeing in terror, the next stretch of the journey seemed safe, allowing Qiao Liang’s mental state to quickly recover. Though still frightened, he wasn’t so terrified that he would immediately give up.
Of course, Qiao Liang wanted to quit now, but the horror was maintained at just the right level: shouting for staff to give up the challenge seemed like an overreaction, and he felt he could hold on a bit longer. But continuing forward, that sense of horror constantly surrounded him, consuming him bit by bit.
He looked around, certain that there must be microphones, cameras, and hidden doors everywhere. If at any point he called for help wanting to quit, staff members would surely come to his rescue.
But precisely because of this reassurance, he felt he could persevere a little longer.
“I’ve heard there are safe houses inside. At least I should reach the first checkpoint, right?”
If he had known there was still half an hour of suffering ahead, Qiao Liang might have sincerely surrendered with a “GG.” But looking at the golden lantern in his hand and thinking about the safe house setup, he overcame his fear and decided to continue moving forward.
……
Some time later, in the safe house.
The “Ultimate Terror” main attraction had a circular structure, with the safe house at the center. It had many doors leading to various areas of the “Ultimate Terror” project.
Behind each door was a staff member who recorded the current visitor’s progress, whether entering or leaving the safe house.
The number of times one entered the safe house, along with the items carried, would affect the final ticket refund amount.
Simply put, if someone completed the challenge wearing the little demon headpiece without entering the safe house once, they would receive a full ticket refund plus a certificate.
This place also served as a checkpoint. For people like Ruan Guangjian, who took two attempts to complete the challenge, they could directly take a special passage to the safe house on their second try and restart from specific areas.
Lin Wan, Ruan Guangjian, Chen Kangtuo, and others had already arrived at the safe house, waiting for Teacher Qiao’s arrival.
The safe house’s decorative style was much more normal than the horror scenes, though it still had a sense of age. This was to prevent visitors from becoming too comfortable in the safe house, which would affect their subsequent tour.
In other words, entering the safe house would allow them to relax, but the scene setup would constantly remind visitors that they were still in the “Ultimate Terror” attraction. This was just a temporary rest stop, not the end of the adventure.
Ruan Guangjian checked his watch; more than ten minutes had passed.
In the “Ultimate Terror” attraction, each person’s touring time varied because some sections required exploration.
People like Ruan Guangjian, who were brave and moved quickly, would complete it in less time. But for those who were cautious and hesitant, the overall time would be much longer.
Meanwhile, staff members monitored in real-time, paying close attention.
On one hand, they ensured the flow of visitors wasn’t congested, as some sections could only accommodate one person at a time. Another person could only enter after the previous one had finished. On the other hand, they ensured that if any visitor gave up, staff could rescue them immediately.
“He didn’t give up halfway, did he?” Ruan Guangjian was a bit worried.
Everyone had come to the safe house to welcome the physically and mentally exhausted Teacher Qiao, to cheer him on so he could complete the challenge as soon as possible.
But if Teacher Qiao hadn’t even made it to the safe house… that would be awkward.
Chen Kangtuo thought for a moment: “That shouldn’t happen. The ‘Ultimate Terror’ experience has been repeatedly adjusted by me, and I’ve placed restrictions on the staff’s actions inside. The early parts aren’t that scary, and Teacher Qiao has the golden lantern. There’s no reason he couldn’t make it to the first checkpoint.”
“But it’s taking so long…”
As they were discussing, the door to the second checkpoint of the safe house opened.
Qiao Liang’s face was deathly pale. He gripped the golden lantern tightly in his hand. Seeing the scene inside the safe house, he let out a long sigh of relief.
Saved at last!
Everyone was surprised. They hadn’t expected Qiao Liang to skip the first checkpoint and persist to the second one!
Actually, Qiao Liang had indeed intended to enter the safe house at the first checkpoint for a rest.
However, the first two sections were a bit too easy, making him overconfident. He felt he could hold on a bit longer and enter the safe house at the next checkpoint.
So he decided to skip the first checkpoint.
This decision made him regret bitterly, almost hating himself during the next two sections.
After escaping from the psychologist’s room, Qiao Liang first arrived at a laboratory-like place.
Surrounding him were tall shelves filled with various scary things preserved in dark yellow liquid—eyeballs, tongues, dental arches, and other organs. Though he knew these were fake, they were still terrifying.
The shelves were arranged in a maze-like structure. After winding around, he found a workbench covered with various medicine bottles and reagents, as if a deranged scientist had just been experimenting there and had temporarily left.
Qiao Liang didn’t dare linger. He left in a highly vigilant state, not daring to make a sound, constantly observing his surroundings, fearing that the deranged scientist might suddenly jump out from somewhere.
Fortunately, no monsters appeared until the end, and he passed through safely.
The second mini-section consisted of two rows of shoe lockers. After cautiously probing, he found nothing unusual. But when he reached about 1/3 of the way into the room, a zombie dressed as a janitor suddenly appeared behind him, growling and following.
Qiao Liang instinctively ran quickly, but the shoe lockers beside him began opening one by one without warning. The metal cabinet doors slammed against each other with a “ping-pong” sound, and many things popped out of the cabinets.
These cabinets were clearly sensor-equipped. When someone passed by, they would automatically open, and mechanisms inside would eject frightening objects. After the visitor left, they would automatically reset.
The janitor zombie behind him actually walked very slowly, purely meant to scare people. The shoe lockers were the truly frightening part because they were all automatic sensors—the faster the visitor ran, the faster these objects would react.
When visitors ran by quickly, many shoe lockers would open simultaneously, making it even more terrifying.
The third mini-section was a classroom with several students taking an exam and a supervising teacher.
The teacher told Qiao Liang to sit in the back row and answer questions. While reading the questions, a student in the front left raised his hand saying his pen was broken. The teacher handed him something like an animal trap—an intricate mechanism with a pen inside.
The student began carefully trying to disassemble it. However, he failed midway, and both hands were instantly trapped, with wounds so deep you could see bone and blood flowing profusely. He started screaming in agony, but the more he struggled, the tighter the trap became. Eventually, his right hand was severed at the wrist, and he lost four fingers on his left hand before collapsing unconscious on the floor.
Throughout all of this, the other students and the teacher continued taking their exams as if nothing was happening, completely indifferent.
Although Qiao Liang knew this was all fake—props and acting—the actor’s performance was so realistic and the screams echoed so far that he was still badly frightened.
After waiting a while longer, Qiao Liang realized he could leave because the student’s collapse had cleared a path—but only if he stepped over the “body.”
The fourth mini-section was much larger than any previous section. It was an oversized kitchen with a complex structure and low visibility all around. From the front came the constant sound of a cleaver hitting a chopping board, and the brightest light allowed him to see a door in that direction.
However, upon approaching, he discovered that the figure was a burly pig-headed man wielding a butcher’s knife, continuously chopping dismembered limbs. The surrounding buckets were filled with various nauseating, bloody meat chunks.
Qiao Liang didn’t dare approach. He circled around the dark surroundings two or three times with his lantern, finally determining that although the place was large, there seemed to be only one exit. The dark areas around were all scary scenery, probably targeting people as timid as Qiao Liang.
Upon approaching the pig-headed butcher, he would ladle out a bowl of meat soup from a bubbling pot beside him and hand it to Qiao Liang.
Fortunately, it was just a bowl of ordinary chicken soup.
After leaving the butcher’s room, Qiao Liang finally saw the second checkpoint—the second entrance to the safe house—and immediately pushed through the door without hesitation.
Seeing the scene inside the safe house, Qiao Liang finally let out a sigh of relief. His hand, which had been tightly gripping the golden lantern, finally relaxed.
He had survived!
He had to admit, the arrangement of this process was truly insidious.
Corridors between each section allowed visitors’ spirits to briefly relax, preventing constant tension. But the later corridors had increasingly horrifying scenery and more twisted routes.
The horror level of these mini-sections also increased progressively.
The first section only displayed frightening scenery, creating the illusion that “monsters might appear at any moment,” causing visitors to feel anxious.
The second section arranged a slowly approaching zombie, forcing visitors to quickly pass through shoe lockers, with the truly frightening things hidden inside the lockers.
The third section featured live performances. Although visitors only watched, this realistic horror sensation elevated the experience another level.
The fourth section was even more extreme, making visitors drink something in such an environment.
None of the sections simply had monsters suddenly appearing to scare people. Instead, they created a subtle horrifying atmosphere, gradually pushing up visitors’ psychological thresholds.
When visitors were about to break, they could enter the safe house for a brief rest and adjustment.
Qiao Liang realized he might have been duped.
This haunted house, judging solely by its horror level, wasn’t particularly excessive.
But what made it ingenious was how it always perfectly controlled the horror at the threshold, allowing you to be frightened while somehow inexplicably continuing forward to experience even more frights!