A perimeter wall surrounded the haunted hospital—though badly dilapidated, riddled with cracks and gaps. Honestly, it barely served any real purpose. Purely decorative, really: just to mark the spot as the attraction’s entrance, and nothing more.
The gate hung broken open—intentional for atmosphere, maybe? Through the unobstructed entrance, a corner of the lobby was visible inside, its lights flickering erratically. Just watching it sent goosebumps crawling up Shu Yuxin’s spine.
Jiang Zixuan still had her hoisted over his shoulder, making her frantic struggles look almost comical. But Yuxin only had one thought: *Get me down!*
“Put me down!! I said I don’t want to do this!!”
“Stop shouting,” Zixuan muttered, feigning annoyance. “Acting like this in public? Everyone’s staring.”
Yuxin punched his back hard. “Then damn it, PUT ME DOWN!!”
“If I let you down, will you actually go in with us?” He caught her wrist with his free hand, dead serious.
Yuxin was near tears. “Why force me?! I told you—I’m scared of ghosts!!”
“Isn’t that *why* you should go? Build some courage.” Zixuan shrugged like it was obvious. “We’re already here. It won’t be fun without you.”
“You—!” She kicked wildly in the air. “LET ME DOWN!!”
“Whoa, stop moving! You’ll fall! Seriously, you’re slipping!”
…
Beside the broken gate stood a crumbling guard shack, with a weathered signpost listing the haunted hospital’s rules. While Yuxin and Zixuan wrestled, Yan Zhikai and Zhang Houlin studied the notice.
Lao Guan had finally put his phone away. He ambled over to Zhikai, watching the “playful” struggle with deep longing. “Sigh… I wish I had a childhood friend like that…”
Like Yuxin, Zixuan had been asked countless times about their relationship. His answer was always the same: *childhood friends*.
What each truly felt? Only they knew.
“Hmph.” Zhikai shot him a look of pure disdain. “So 2D characters aren’t cutting it for you anymore?”
“That’s different!” Lao Guan fired back. “2D girls are *wives*! I want a childhood friend… or a girlfriend.”
“You think I don’t?” Zhikai jerked a thumb toward the hotel. “Go sleep, kid. Dreamland’s got everything.”
Lao Guan sighed again, eyes lingering a moment longer before burying himself back in his phone. “Yeah… guess the 2D world still suits me best.”
Almost the moment he finished speaking, Zixuan finally set Yuxin down.
A tiny truce had been struck: she’d enter the haunted house with them, and he’d let her walk.
*Anything* was better than being carried through it.
(Yuxin had planned to bolt the second she was free—but Zixuan’s grip on her wrist was iron-tight.)
“Zixuan.”
“Hmm?”
Once sure no one was watching, Yuxin took a shaky breath and whispered, “Don’t you think this looks… kinda gay?”
Zixuan smiled faintly. “How?”
She lifted their joined wrists.
“Gay?” He pressed her hand down gently. “Feels fine to me. I’ll let go if you promise not to run.”
Yuxin nodded instantly. “I won’t run. Let go.”
“Deal. But if I catch you running later? I’ll carry you through *two* loops.” He made a show of loosening his grip.
Yuxin quietly tightened her fingers around his. “...Nah. You keep holding on.”
This perfectly calibrated prank on his best friend left her utterly unable to stay mad.
“Hey~! You two!” Peng Xiaoxiao jogged back after checking details with Zhikai. “Decided yet? We heading in?”
“Yeah. Yuxin agreed,” Zixuan said, pulling her forward.
Xiaoxiao’s eyes flicked to their clasped hands. “Ooooh… practicing for the haunted house already?”
“Might not be,” Zixuan glanced at Yuxin’s pale face and grinned. “Inside? *She’ll* be the one clinging to *me*.”
Xiaoxiao, interpreting their dynamic differently, just gave him a knowing smile. “Mhm, I see~” She fell into step beside them. “C’mon, grab our tags!”
The haunted hospital featured more than just ghosts—some scares were… unconventional. Hence the bright green tags: to help staff distinguish guests from coworkers, and guests tell real people from… well, *not*.
The tag station was inside the shack. Cramped even for their small group, the interior matched the exterior: junk-worthy broken wooden furniture, two tables collapsed in a dusty heap, fake spiderwebs draped artfully (Zhikai noticed—they were plastic).
The only new-ish item was a wooden chair. A guard in uniform sat facing away, reading a newspaper. He didn’t turn, even as they entered noisily.
“Excuse me,” Zhikai approached. “We’re here for the tags—”
The man spun around. His face was corpse-gray, rotting flesh clinging to the left cheek, tiny maggots wriggling visibly.
Everyone jumped.
Yuxin’s skin prickled; she nearly screamed. *Run. I need to run.*
Zhikai blinked. Last time, it was just a regular old guard. Now… a zombie? Did they need an exorcism ritual to get tags?!
Thankfully, the “zombie” solved it himself: “Here for tags? Take ’em.” He set down the paper, pulled a stack of green tags from the drawer, and handed them over.
Voice gravelly with age.
Zhikai took them cautiously. “Sir… is it still you?”
“Huh? You know me?”
“Yeah! Last time you weren’t in makeup. Looks super real now.”
The man started to touch his face, then scratched his thinning hair instead and grinned. “Heh. Rules changed. This stuff’s real latex—thick, sticky, wears all day. Uncomfortable as hell!”
Zhikai chuckled, passed out the tags, and waved. “We’ll head in then. Thanks, sir.”
“Go on, go on. Don’t cry inside, hehe.” The grin twisted his face into something deeply unsettling.
Outside, Zhikai clipped his tag on. “Everyone wear yours. *Before* we go in.”
Xiaoxiao fastened hers eagerly, whispering to Yuxin, “That guard was kinda fun, huh?”
Yuxin pressed her lips tight.
*He was terrifying.*
But… if everyone inside was like him? Maybe she could survive.
Zixuan clipped his own tag, then snatched Yuxin’s when she hesitated. “Here. Let me.”
She grabbed his wrist, voice trembling. “I really don’t want to go in…”
“You’re going,” he said, lacing his fingers with hers, smiling sweetly. “We’re already here. No running.”
Yuxin fell silent, then sighed in surrender. “Fine. But you *can’t* ditch me. Or try to scare me. Or I walk out immediately.”
“Deal.”
Inside, the lobby resembled a hospital reception—but decayed, shadow-drowned. Only the entrance let in faint light; stepping further felt like crossing into another world.
A broken counter stood center-stage, lit by a dim vintage lamp. Behind it sat a nurse in uniform, head bowed, utterly still. Her face was lost in darkness.
Yuxin froze. *Terrified.*
“Tch. Bet she’s another scare-actor,” Xiaoxiao whispered right into her ear, voice dripping with mock dread.
“DON’T SAY THAT!!” Yuxin nearly shrieked, trembling. She was running on fumes of courage. Without Zixuan’s threat, she’d have fled already.
“Wait… you’re *this* scared?”
“AAAAH STOP TALKING!!”
“…I didn’t even say anything scary.”
“JUST STOP! DON’T SPEAK!” Tears welled in Yuxin’s eyes.
