Chapter 987: Ghost House 1

Heimu just stepped into the ghost house corridor, and the door behind her closed.

The door hinge let out a long "squeak—".

She didn't look back, only feeling Pa Duo's Tail coil around her ankle again, the furry loop tighter than before.

"This door is really rude," Heimu murmured, twirling the Magic Staff half a turn in her hand.

The crystal at the staff's tip emitted a faint violet light, just enough to illuminate about three meters ahead.

Farther away, the light seemed swallowed by something, unable to penetrate at all.

"Miss, shouldn't the few of us tie a rope together?"

Pa Duo's voice floated up from beside her leg, as thin as a wisp, "This haunted place is rooms within rooms; if we get separated, the cat won't fight the ghosts."

Heimu was just about to comfort her with a couple of words when the left wall suddenly cracked with a "ka" sound.

Ying's blade almost unsheathed at the same moment, the red‑black long sword flashing a sliver of light that illuminated a crooked painting on the wall.

The painting depicted a little girl in an old‑style dress, her face painted black, only a pair of white‑painted eyes staring straight at them.

Pa Duo let out a "meow‑ao" cry, the whole cat leapt half a foot in place, its Tail exploding into a spiked club.

"Don't shout!" Ying whispered, the sword tip still pointed at the painting.

Her Fox Ears turned forward, as if listening for some movement.

A Bo Ni Ya stepped forward from behind Heimu, a silver piece suddenly appearing in her small hand.

She pressed the silver piece onto the corridor wall; it buzzed softly, a green pattern surfacing on its face.

She withdrew the silver piece and whispered to Heimu, "The passage is shifting; the walls swap positions periodically, this route isn't the one we came in on."

"So the house is moving on its own," Heimu understood, her brows lifting slightly.

Wei Er Wei's handwriting is indeed crystal clear, transplanting that whole maze into the ghost house and adding a bunch of flashy mechanisms.

She was just about to suggest everyone stay close when the floor beneath her suddenly gave way downward.

The sensation was fleeting, like missing a step; Heimu's whole body dropped half an inch.

Immediately, a massive plume of white smoke spewed from a floor crack.

Within the haze, a row of metal filaments extended, curling toward her wrists and ankles like tactile whiskers.

Heimu reacted instantly, slamming the Magic Staff downward; its tip burst a ring of violet light.

The metal strands shattered inch by inch, the broken ends spraying a few ghostly green sparks.

The white smoke was pushed back by the violet light, revealing a swath of honeycomb‑shaped black mechanisms beneath the floor.

Heimu stepped onto one, and the holes "puff‑puff" emitted even more white smoke.

She only thought the smell was truly foul.

"Forward." A Bo Ni Ya reminded.

Several hidden doors on both sides of the corridor opened simultaneously, each revealing the same faceless plaster statue, stark white, featureless, its two arms stretched outward, each palm set with a round mirror.

The mirrors reflected countless shards of light, slicing the corridor into alternating bright and dark fragments.

Heimu didn't hesitate, bolting toward the far end of the corridor.

Behind her, the plaster statues "clack‑clack" as they turned, as if awakened by her footsteps.

Ying held her sword horizontally in place, waiting until Heimu's group vanished into the smoke, then kicked the nearest plaster statue over.

The thing fell while its hands still clutched the mirrors tightly.

The mirror shattered with a "snap", and several black beetles crawled out, scurrying toward Ying's feet.

A red fox illusion flashed swiftly behind Ying, and the beetles were instantly flattened by a scarlet beam, crushed into a few small clumps of black ash.

But the space inside the ghost house had already changed.

When Heimu turned again, only she remained behind.

Pa Duo, A Bo Ni Ya, Ying, all vanished.

Heimu halted, the surroundings so quiet she could hear her own voice.

She stood in a passage, a row of dark‑red spotlights overhead casting slanted light that reddened half her face.

The walls on both sides were wrapped in dark velvet, embroidered with dense butterflies in silver thread.

All the butterflies' antennae pointed the same way, like a flock of nailed‑to‑the‑wall creatures subtly adjusting their wing angles.

Heimu inhaled deeply, silently making a note to Wei Er Wei in her heart.

"If we part, let it be; whatever this house hides, we'll have to dismantle it piece by piece," she thought.

She walked forward.

At the end of the passage stood a white door, looking like a hospital operating‑room door.

Heimu gave the Magic Staff a light tap; the door "creaked" open inward.

The room was brighter than outside, all four walls tiled in white porcelain, centered a very long wooden table covered with a faded red cloth.

On the red cloth were neatly arranged twelve glass jars, each containing a toy bear.

The bears were uniform in size but varied in fur color, swollen from being soaked in a pale‑yellow liquid, their round plastic eyes all staring toward the doorway.

Heimu's mouth twitched.

She stepped inside, and the wall at the far end of the table suddenly lit up with a screen.

Gray‑white snowflakes flickered a few times, reflecting Wei Er Wei's chibi face.

Her silver‑gray, pale‑purple ponytail perky, a Top Hat perched askew, her face bearing a confident, effortless grin.

"Welcome to the Happy Maze Ghost House Special Exhibition!"

On the screen, Wei Er Wei performed an exaggerated bow, "If you've made it this far, it means my little cuties still aren't great at blocking the way, but that's fine; I, the director, have prepared a private room for each guest. To find the others, please solve the puzzle of this toy storage room!"

Heimu stared at the screen, tapping her finger lightly on the Magic Staff.

The little figure on the screen kept smiling, eyebrows and eyes curved, but on close look the mouth's curve was slightly larger than before.

Heimu expressionlessly lifted her Magic Staff, pointing the tip at the screen; purple light gathered at the staff's head into a small dot.

"I'll solve the riddle of your head!"

The purple light shot out, and the screen exploded in response.

Glass shards and sparks flew everywhere; the smiling face of Wei Er Wei on the screen twisted for an instant before shattering into a nearly surprised expression.

Heimu stepped forward, treading on the glass debris, and began inspecting the long table.

The twelve toy bears in the glass jars, as she approached, all simultaneously turned their eyeballs, and those pairs of plastic eyes in the pale yellow liquid made a "gulu" sound.

Heimu ignored everything, and swung her staff to smash the first jar.

The glass shattered, the liquid surged out, and a sharp smell of formaldehyde hit her, making her tilt her head.

The soaked toy bear rolled onto the floor, something moving inside its belly.

Heimu nudged it with the tip of her boot; the bear's belly split open, and a tiny copper key fell out.

"That's much faster." She bent down to pick up the key, then glanced at the remaining eleven jars.

Those toy bears seemed to sense the threat, and they all patted the glass with their short little claws, emitting a muddled "zhī zhī" sound.

Heimu treated those sounds as background music, raised her hand and smashed the second jar as well.

This bear's belly contained no key, only a crumpled note written in red ink: "Don't trust the person wearing a raincoat."