There wasn't much time to think in the car. Pan Zhi, the warm-up comedian, was talking, so he couldn't just keep thinking about life without responding at all. After responding twice, he would forget where his thoughts left off.

Never mind, he'd deal with it later. Jiang Cheng looked at the back of Gu Fei's head. It was rare for them to go out and have fun together, so being preoccupied would ruin the mood and affect Gu Fei, who was very sensitive to feelings.  

When they reached the park entrance, Jiang Cheng took out his wallet to pay. Pan Zhi pressed his hand and took out his wallet too: "My mom gave me a lot of money when I went out. You don't have to play the gracious host."

"I'm your grandpa after all..." Jiang Cheng struggled to pull his hand out.

"I know. Grandpa, just let me fulfill my filial duty." Pan Zhi still held his hand down.

In the dozen or so seconds they struggled, Gu Fei took out money and paid the driver before getting out of the car.

"Damn!" Pan Zhi yelled and hurriedly pushed Li Yuqing out of the car, "How could we let Gu Fei pay!"

"Give the driver a break. He still has to pick up another customer." Gu Fei said.

Pan Zhi forcibly stuffed the money into Gu Fei's pocket and turned around to run over to the car behind them: "Here, get off get off get off."

"Why did you pay?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"You two were about to hug. If I didn't start to throw money then I'd be about to see you kiss." Gu Fei glanced at him, "Indecent exposure..."

"Piss off." Jiang Cheng laughed. He looked towards the ticket booth and said, "Let me see how much the tickets are and if there are discounts."

"I have a resident pass." Gu Fei took a card out of his pocket. "I'll bring you all in later."

"How? We don't have ID cards." Jiang Cheng said.

"I know people here." Gu Fei smiled. "It's not that strict for small places. Just have them come in with you without talking and holding up their IDs."

After everyone got out of the car, Gu Fei led them towards a side entrance. If Gu Fei wasn't leading, ordinary tourists wouldn't even notice the path here, let alone know there was a door down this way.

"We're here. You're there right?" Gu Fei called someone as they walked.

"Is his leg better?" Li Song asked from behind. "He couldn't even stand yesterday."

"It's almost healed." Pan Zhi said. "Like when I had a cast on my arm last semester, whether I could move depended on my mood that day."

"...You're so amazing." Li Song said.

They laughed. Jiang Cheng sighed, "Laughing is fine later, but don't talk."

"Okay." Hu Feng answered immediately.

They tried to keep quiet but burst out laughing again.

Gu Fei looked back at them and glanced at Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng walked up to him and said, "Bunch of idiots hopped up on crazy pills."

"But you often take the wrong pills too?" Gu Fei said.

"Bullshit." Jiang Cheng said. Then he remembered the times he laughed like an idiot with Gu Fei these past months and felt ridiculous. He sighed again, "I probably only take the wrong pills when I'm with you. You're no better."

"We're young after all." Gu Fei said.

The side entrance was small and inconspicuous with just two staff, a man and woman.  

Gu Fei went to the man and handed over their tickets. The guy glanced back counting them, punched holes in the tickets, checked their IDs, then let them through.

“He looks kind of familiar,” Jiang Cheng thought after entering.

“Liu Fan's older brother,” Gu Fei smiled.

“Huh?” Jiang Cheng was surprised. “Looks way more proper than Liu Fan.”

“Liu Fan will be proper in a few years too,” Gu Fei said. “They're all like this, mess around a few years then get back on the so-called right path. Muddle through with relationship, marriage, kids, and just like that passing their days.”

“Is that so?” Jiang Cheng glanced at him. Gu Fei spoke calmly but he suddenly felt empty hearing it.

“Just seems that way on the surface,” Gu Fei said with a smile. “Who knows what they're thinking inside. Everyone has ideas, even Wang Xu thinks of opening a stuffed bun shop in the next big city over.”

What about you?  

Jiang Cheng badly wanted to ask, what about you?

Will you also drift along this "right path" like those around you, spending your whole life like that?

But he didn't ask.

That question of Gu Fei's occurred to him again.

The haunted house was deep inside the park. The area wasn't originally part of the park, it was expanded in the past two years to include it. The haunted house used to be a sizeable old factory.

"This place was an abandoned mass grave," Pan Zhi read the description. "Filled with unclaimed corpses..."

"Oh how scary," Li Yuqing said.

"After the factory was built, strange things kept happening..." Pan Zhi continued reading. "Night shift workers always heard singing from empty rooms..."

"Damn, you're saying it like it's real," Jiang Cheng muttered.

"What if it is?" Gu Fei said. "We've got lots of wastelands around here, lots of mass graves. Many schools are even built over graves."

"Shut up," Jiang Cheng looked at him.

"Like the technical school next to No. 4..." Gu Fei stopped mid-sentence, also looking back. "Are you scared?"

Jiang Cheng didn't speak.  

Gu Fei was silent a moment before laughing. "Didn't realize you were scared of this stuff."

"I'm also scared of roaches," Jiang Cheng said. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Gu Fei wiped the smile away, clearing his throat. "No, actually I'm pretty scared of roaches too, and spiders..."

Jiang Cheng actually quite liked watching horror, thriller, disaster, sci-fi films... He liked horror films because they were scary.

Ghosts were the only thing he firmly believed didn't exist yet firmly feared.

When he was little and walked into the hallway going home, he would stare at the corner of the stairs, always feeling like if he turned the corner, there would be...

"I'll go!" Pan Zhi's yell suddenly came from behind.

Jiang Cheng was so immersed in his childhood memories that he was covered in goosebumps. Pan Zhi's shout nearly scared off his hair and skin. He couldn't help yelling too: "Damn!"

"What!" Pan Zhi was startled by his yell and only responded after a while, "I said earlier I'd treat everyone to the haunted house. It's what I wanted to play the most."

"Oh." Jiang Cheng stared at him for a bit before waving his hand. "Go on, go buy tickets."

"Looks like it'll be very dark inside." Gu Fei said softly, smiling.

"No shit, or else how could it be called a haunted house with 200 watt light bulbs on?" Jiang Cheng said.

"I mean," Gu Fei tsked and cleared his throat. "If you're scared, hold me. Probably no one will see."

"...Oh." Jiang Cheng glanced at him. "Maybe I won't need to hold you. Don't think too much."  

"If you don't hold me," Gu Fei looked behind him, "Others might..."

Jiang Cheng whipped his head around to see Xu Meng bouncing in place while scratching Li Yuqing's arm. He instantly snapped his head back to Gu Fei: "I'm telling you to watch yourself."

"Okay." Gu Fei nodded, smiling.

This holiday brought more crowds queuing than usual. Waiting to enter, they could already hear screaming inside.

“It’s that scary?” Pan Zhi turned and murmured to Jiang Cheng. “They’re shrieking like that.”

“No idea,” Jiang Cheng said. “Who knows how those two girls will scream when we get in.”  

“I wanted to go solo too,” Pan Zhi clicked his tongue. “Asked just now, not allowed.”

Jiang Cheng was about to speak when several shaken people ran out, guys and girls. Some girls had tear tracks, hair messed up.

“Never coming here again...” one girl sobbed out.

“Ah,” Xu Meng stamped her feet nervously. “They just went in when we bought tickets. Said it takes forty minutes but they're out already? It's that frightening?”

“They could have gotten lost too,” Jiang Cheng said.

“Let's not get separated,” Xu Meng worried. “Yuqing, hold onto me.”

“Okay,” Li Yuqing nodded solemnly, tragic determination on her face. “We'll take the middle, guys clear the way and watch the back.”

They all discussed the formation endlessly but still didn't decide on anything when their turn came.

“Whatever,” Pan Zhi waved them on. “Let's go!”

Those still hesitating hurried in when they saw him enter, afraid of being left behind.

“Crap,” Jiang Cheng muttered following them through the small door. “Why do I feel a little sca-”

The sunny sky vanished as soon as he crossed the threshold, leaving only a narrow dim hallway without even windows.

He froze, quickly feeling behind him. “Gu Fei?”

“Here,” Gu Fei patted his hand.

Jiang Cheng relaxed somewhat, looking back again to confirm the distance. “Stay close.”

“Mm,” Gu Fei's mouth quirked.

How charming that smile was. Jiang Cheng felt sad, even Gu Fei's smile couldn't spur any indecent thoughts in this situation.

Pan Zhi and the others were ahead, looking around as they walked forward. Although this wasn't the formal haunted house yet, there was already a terrifying vibe.

The mottled walls had many water damaged areas grown over with moss. Jiang Cheng thought the moss must be fake but didn't dare touch it.

No one dared lean towards the sides. They crowded together in the middle. As they neared the dark doorway into the haunted house proper, Jiang Cheng saw a few bloody handprints on the wall.

"Oh my gosh, look." Li Yuqing said softly.

"Don't let me look. I'm not looking at anything." Xu Meng's voice shook.

Jiang Cheng reached back again. Feeling Gu Fei's coat, he grabbed it. Gu Fei sighed and held his hand. In a very low voice he said, "Turns out you're not that gutsy. Aren't you afraid of grabbing something else when you reach back?"

Jiang Cheng growled through clenched teeth: "Piss off."

Once inside, everyone fell silent. Their eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark yet. It was pitch black all around without a sound.

"Is everyone...here?" Hu Feng asked.

"Here." Pan Zhi said.  

"Let's count off?" Hu Feng said again.

"Crazy." Pan Zhi said. "One."

"Two." Hu Feng said.

"Three." Li Song also spoke up.

"Four." "Five." Li Yuqing and Xu Meng responded almost simultaneously.

"Six seven." Gu Fei said.

"...Oh, I'm next to seven." Jiang Cheng said.

They had just laughed a little when a woman's voice suddenly blended into their laughter out of nowhere: "Eight..."

The floaty voice instantly silenced everyone.

"Damn!" Pan Zhi, who had laughed the loudest, yelled, "Who's there!"

"Ah-" Led by Xu Meng and Li Yuqing, they immediately screamed together.

Although Jiang Cheng didn't make a sound, he was so frightened that he clenched Gu Fei's hand tightly.

Damn it!

There were actors in this haunted house!

In a rundown small city haunted house!

Having actors was one thing, but their f*cking professionalism!

With the ruckus they were causing, people outside probably thought ghosts got them.

"There's light!" Pan Zhi yelled. "I see a switch on the wall. I'll turn on the lights..."

The room lit up sharply with a pop, but the lights started flickering wildly right after.

Jiang Cheng felt doubly frightened. First, in the flickering lights he saw the walls were covered in blood and sentences like "Save me", "She's there", "Don't go in" that chilled his back. Second, he and Gu Fei were still holding hands tightly.

But no one would notice such details now. The girls had hugged each other while even Hu Feng was hugging Pan Zhi's arm.

Even if he hugged Gu Fei now, it wouldn't be weird... Right when he and Gu Fei were about to let go, the closed door across from them suddenly opened and someone hung down sharply from the doorway.

"Damn!" Gu Fei, who was directly facing the door, jumped up and hugged Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng was already frightened out of his wits and didn't even see clearly what happened across the way. He also yelled and hugged Gu Fei.

Everyone screamed again and hugged the person beside them.

After closing their eyes and screaming for at least 10 seconds, they slowly calmed down.

"Damn!" Pan Zhi leaned against the wall staring at the figure hanging from the door. "It's a dummy!"

"No shit they can't hang a real person." Jiang Cheng took a couple breaths. "I feel we should calm down. It's just this one room and we've been screaming for two minutes already. People who came in groups of three didn't even scream this badly. Too damn embarrassing."

The flickering lights in the room stopped after the mechanics finished their course and nothing else frightening happened.

Pan Zhi poked the hanging dummy but it didn't move again. He craned his neck to look over: "There's light that way. Let's go that way?"

Everyone slowly followed him towards the door.

"I thought you were really gutsy." Jiang Cheng rubbed his arm that Gu Fei had gripped into bruising. He glanced at Gu Fei and said softly, "If I were shorter, you could've climbed onto my head, huh?"

"Oh," Gu Fei looked again at the hanging dummy and laughed, "I didn't say I wasn't scared...Damn, that scared me shitless just now."

After the shock, everyone was slightly more used to the fear. When they entered the next room, they didn't scream at the faint sobbing sounds.  

"Sound activated." Pan Zhi pointed at the corner. "It definitely sensed us come in."

This room was quite big, looking like a small workshop with two mechanical devices with metal blades in the middle, also covered in blood stains. There were torn bloody clothes on the floor.

"Well done..." Pan Zhi walked over for a closer look. A hand suddenly emerged from the pile of torn clothes on the floor. "Ah!"

The others didn't get close so the visual impact wasn't as strong as what Pan Zhi experienced. They just took a couple steps back in fright. Pan Zhi was so scared he fell back on his butt, but still bravely finished his sentence: "Damn! It!"

Jiang Cheng couldn't help laughing.

"Which door?" Pan Zhi sighed.

"Just one door." Gu Fei looked at the two doors ahead. "The right one is the emergency exit. It goes straight out right?"

"Oh." Pan Zhi saw the small lit exit sign by the right door. "Then the left."

Li Yuqing immediately went to follow, grabbing his shirt hem.

"Don't pull me when you're nervous. You almost yanked my pants off just now." Pan Zhi glanced at her.

"Oh." Li Yuqing paused before laughing.

After leaving this room, there was a hallway with the wall on the right and rooms on the left. There was no more path ahead so they had to find the exit from these rooms.

Jiang Cheng felt that his nervous mood was slowly calming down a bit. Although he was walking at the end of the line with Gu Fei, which was usually the first to die position in horror movies, he looked at Gu Fei beside him.  

He didn't seem to have the awareness that he would die soon.

"Do you think there will be something behind us?" Gu Fei said in a low voice.

"Damn, don't scare me," Pan Zhi at the front said.

"There are six of us behind you," Jiang Cheng said, "What's there to be scared of?"

"Who knows," Pan Zhi said, "You've also seen countless horror films. Often the people walking in front keep walking and walking, then when they turn around, there's just themselves left."

"This is a man-made haunted house," Hu Feng reminded him, "Even if there are actors, it's unlikely they can drag someone away."

"With Jiang Cheng's fighting ability, dragging him halfway would make them turn into a real ghost," Li Song said.  

In tense situations, people's humour also tend to get stuck on, like being pressed to death. With just this one sentence, the group of people started laughing uncontrollably for no reason, while looking around in horror.

"Idiots," Jiang Cheng sighed.

But at this moment, he felt especially clear that when this group of people laughed wildly, he didn't actually laugh with them. Thinking back, he also rarely joined the group's silly laughter, at most laughing along a few times when Pan Zhi laughed to show they were on the same side.

Only when he was with Gu Fei... He turned to look at Gu Fei.

Gu Fei was slightly behind him on the right. The room they had just entered had dim then darker blood red lights, although the atmosphere was creepy, when he saw Gu Fei bare his teeth at him, he still felt this guy was really handsome from all angles.

Too handsome!

More handsome than that bloody ghost drifting in from the back door...

Fuck!

"Ah---F*ck f*ck f*ck---" As Jiang Cheng shouted, he felt his reaction was even worse than laughing silly with them, shouting until his voice cracked a little.

Despite clearly knowing in his heart this was just a performer with his wig on crooked, he was still so scared that when shouting, he nearly handed his heart directly to Gu Fei through his throat.

With his shout, Gu Fei, who had mocked him before entering the haunted house, didn't even turn his head back once, just shouted along with him. As he turned around to run towards the crowd hand-in-hand with Gu Fei, he felt like all the face he had in his nearly 18 years of life so far was lost here.

Luckily the few in front lost even more face thoroughly. The two girls fell straight to the ground, Hu Feng and Li Song shouted while fleeing to the right side at twice the volume.

Pan Zhi at the very front looked back with eyes wide open, unable to even shout. He just staggered back, also not knowing if he was trying to dodge Jiang Cheng and Gu Fei, or dodge the ghost with the crooked wig behind them.

From the ghost flashing into the room to accidentally bumping into the door frame, covering his head and running away, it was only a few seconds, but the group of fine young men were already shouting in a mess.

After panting heavily, Jiang Cheng sighed, "Really...what a spectacle."

"Is there surveillance here?" Pan Zhi asked.

"There is," Gu Fei pointed at the top of the door frame, "If we fall like this twice more, security will probably come in and force us out."

"No," Pan Zhi pointed at the two of them, then laughed again, "How could you two...who looked the bravest, actually..."

Pan Zhi looked at their hands, hesitated, "Run over here with your livers scared to pieces."

Jiang Cheng just smiled without replying.

Pan Zhi's gaze made him suddenly feel relieved.

He could tell.

Pan Zhi's intelligence was still quite worthy of his name after all. Being such close friends, this look probably meant he had seen everything clearly already.

Jiang Cheng looked at Pan Zhi - he actually wasn't unwilling to let Pan Zhi know about this, just didn't know how to bring it up.

He glanced at Gu Fei again.

Gu Fei turned his head slightly, crooking his mouth indiscernibly, smiling at him.

Jiang Cheng immediately felt fuzzy warmth in his heart, just wanting to go over and hug him tightly.

"Let's go," Pan Zhi called out, "Stay close, hold onto clothes if you want, hug tight if you want..."

Then he looked back at Jiang Cheng, voice full of laughter, "Also hurry up and hold hands if you want."

"Fuck," Jiang Cheng laughed, mouthed "idiot" at him.

You two, Pan Zhi mouthed back.

Jiang Cheng reached out to grab Gu Fei's hand, squeezing. Gu Fei squeezed back, quite hard. Jiang Cheng immediately squeezed back harder. Gu Fei retaliated again...

Before even reaching the door, Jiang Cheng could hear his own knuckles cracking. He turned to glare at Gu Fei.

Gu Fei quickly clapped his hands together, knuckles lightly cracking too.

Holding in his laugh, Jiang Cheng put on a serious expression to catch up with the group, feeling that if Pan Zhi knew his grandpa and Gu Fei could be this silly together, he'd probably stop being friends.