On New Year's Day, when the festive atmosphere was beginning to fade, the city's trains were still packed with people.
A girl in a long white velvet dress walked beside the boy, following him into a massive shopping mall. Though indoors, the place was strung with countless lights, making it as bright as daytime.
Every floor was crowded; the eight-story building had no clear divisions for the types of stores, so each level buzzed with noise.
Ji Yu walked slowly ahead, browsing this and that, coughing lightly from time to time. After comparing a few shops, she finally took out some change from the bag Qin Xiao had given her and bought two cheap, old-fashioned bracelets.
"Why'd you buy these? Planning to hang them on your phone?"
Mo Yachen chuckled, watching her pick through so much just to settle on two little trinkets.
"I didn't know what else to give you…"
"It's fine. Just being with you is enough—I don't need anything."
But Ji Yu ignored him, still happily wandering from stall to stall. Finally, when Mo Yachen couldn't stand it anymore, he tugged her away toward his real destination.
They took the escalator up to the eighth floor. The very top level was a cinema, though oddly, few people ever came here. Some of the equipment was already covered in a thin layer of dust.
The dim lighting and damp air made Ji Yu cough a few more times. Her thin, out-of-season outfit that morning had clearly left her with a slight chill.
Looking around, she couldn't make sense of this place. But when Mo Yachen led her into the main lobby of the top floor, she hurried to keep up.
Outside the windows wasn't a view of the city, but a fake projection of blue skies and clouds—proof that this floor was sealed off entirely.
"Yachen… what exactly is this place?"
"Heh? Don't worry. It's nothing shady like whatever you're imagining. This is a legit business—fully licensed."
"Licensed? With an atmosphere like this…?"
"Smart girl."
"…So you dragged me out here first thing in the morning to go through a haunted house?"
Ji Yu frowned. Most people wouldn't consider a haunted house an essential part of a date. Yet Mo Yachen had put it as his top priority.
Still, curiosity outweighed her irritation. She had never tried one before. The truth was, she was the type who loved fun but couldn't handle fear—even watching horror movies, she would hide behind a pillow.
"Come on, it's just for fun. And it's better in the morning—fewer people, so we can take our time. If we wait until afternoon, we'll be stuck in line forever."
"…And what if I don't want to?"
"You scared? If so, you can always hide in my arms."
"Ha! Me, scared? Please. I once watched The Ring alone at midnight and didn't even flinch."
Taking the worn movie tickets he handed her, Ji Yu followed him to the gloomy ticket inspector and passed through.
"For the safety of our staff and to keep the attraction's secrets, please deposit your phones and any dangerous items in the lockers."
Both of them complied, locking up their belongings before following the only staff member inside.
Bored by his long-winded explanation of the cinema's "history" and how many entrances there were, Ji Yu suddenly perked up when she heard the rules.
When the setup was done, she insisted that they split up—each taking a different path and meeting again at the end.
It became a wager: whoever failed to finish had to grant the other one unconditional request.
"Miss, if the atmosphere inside becomes too much and you can't continue, just press the red button on your wrist. I'll come and escort you out immediately… Please don't push yourself."
Ji Yu gave a wry smile at the special treatment reserved for girls. She nodded, then entered the third passage.
"Hey, Tang Li, people on the forum are saying Mo Yachen stole the freshman campus beauty. Is that true?"
"…Where are you reading this stuff?"
Back in the dorm, Tang Li had just hung up after a call with his parents when his roommate Chen Hao couldn't wait to ask.
"On the Yuyang University forum, of course. Who else would care about who's dating who?"
"Then why do you care so much about Mo Yachen? If you've got that much free time, why not grind some more rank points in your game?"
"I don't care about him—I care about you! I don't want my brother getting cheated on."
"…What do you mean?"
Tang Li already had a sinking suspicion. He knew very well which girl Mo Yachen had been close to lately.
"Because that freshman campus belle… it's Ji Yu! The same Ji Yu who once napped in your bed!"
The corridor stretched on, its peeling walls lined with locked doors. The handles were rusted clean off. The decay and gloom were far more unsettling than the bleak streets outside. Even the lights flickered, throwing uneven shadows across the cracked walls.
The sense of ritual was strong.
Though this was a haunted house, the tickets were styled as movie stubs. Ji Yu remembered what the staffer had said—each entrance corresponded to a different storyline. It was like stepping into a game, each visitor playing out a predetermined script.
She nodded in approval; the eerie decor pleased her in a strange way.
This hallway was cluttered with small stone statues, so many they nearly blocked the way. Oddly, instead of growing darker, the lighting grew brighter the farther she went.
Soon, the walls were no longer peeling; the doors had been freshly repainted, the smell of varnish still sharp in the air.
The brighter it got, though, the more disturbing it became. Abstract, grotesque paintings hung on the walls, their horrors amplified by carefully positioned backlighting.
Ji Yu hummed a little tune to steady her nerves, keeping her head lowered to avoid looking directly at them.
Until—
At the corner ahead, a painting appeared. The face on it had been slashed apart by a knife.
The spotlight cast its distorted shadow onto Ji Yu's body as she walked forward.
If another person had been there, they would have been shocked—or perhaps applauded the genius of the haunted house designers.
Because—
The light from that faceless painting aligned perfectly with Ji Yu's figure.