"Master, why aren't you moving? You're not scared, are you?"
Stella tugged on Derek Su's hand.
"Hahaha. Of course not!" Derek Su laughed loudly to cover his embarrassment.
Scratching his head, he said, "I'm a top-tier driver. Fear isn't even in my dictionary."
With that, he grabbed Stella's hand and hurried forward with his head down, his steps quick and his eyes almost shut.
Fortunately, this haunted house had some decency. Green indicator lights marked the route, so as long as you followed the signs, you wouldn't get lost.
But if you got so scared that you ran around blindly, that was another story. At that point, you would end up stumbling into the haunted house's hidden rooms and their "little surprises."
Derek Su shuffled forward, trembling, keeping his head down and only daring to look at the signs. Stella, on the other hand, was completely different. She looked around with wide eyes and even deliberately lifted those suspicious-looking white curtains.
The section right after entering the haunted house was relatively safe. Staff were usually not placed here, giving visitors time to prepare themselves mentally. If you couldn't even handle a stretch without staff, it was better to leave early through the emergency exit.
"Master, why are you just staring at the ground? Are there flowers down there?"
After walking for a while, Stella's cheerful voice rang out beside him.
In the empty corridor, her voice sounded especially clear, echoing faintly.
Normally, hearing Stella's voice made Derek Su feel warm and at ease. Right now, it only made his skin crawl.
"Well, I just think the floor pattern in this hospital looks pretty nice. Our club could use something similar. It's easy on the eyes." Derek Su dodged the question. The place seemed to have air conditioning. It was getting colder, and the smell of disinfectant mixed with blood was growing stronger.
The floor was the only thing that felt safe to him.
Until a female corpse in a hospital gown, lying face-down on the ground, entered his view.
He didn't react in time and stepped on it.
It was soft. It felt like stepping on real flesh.
Derek Su: "!!!"
He froze. Stella fell silent beside him, and everything went quiet.
The corridor lights flickered rapidly, their eerie green glow flashing across the corpse.
A cold wind swept through, slowly blowing the woman's hair aside.
Derek Su saw a wide-open eye, bulging slightly from its socket, staring straight at him through the strands of hair.
This corpse wasn't lying face-down.
Or rather, her head had been twisted 180 degrees before she "died."
That eye filled his vision, like a sudden close-up shot.
Thanks to his training, he could see it clearly. He could even count the eyelashes.
"Haa. Haa."
Derek Su took two deep breaths in a row, silently trying to calm himself down.
Still, Stella made no sound.
At that moment, he actually missed the chatterbox Stella from earlier.
But something like this, a "corpse" lying around on the ground, was usually just a prop. It just looked very realistic. There was nothing to be afraid of.
"Not that scary, right? That's it?" Derek Su forced a laugh and turned stiffly to look at Stella.
Stella's face was calm and expressionless.
But her gaze suddenly turned strange.
At the same time, Derek Su felt a cold draft brush against his neck. Out of the corner of his eye, something dark seemed to flash past.
He instinctively turned his head.
The "corpse" had somehow stood up.
She was slightly shorter than Stella and stood less than a fist's distance from him.
Her head tilted back as she stared at him with pale, unblinking eyes.
Her mouth hung wide open, toothless and pitch black, like a bottomless pit.
A chill shot up from his heels straight to his scalp.
Derek Su's scalp exploded with fear. "Holy shit! Die, you monster!"
His distorted scream echoed through the corridor, filled with nothing but pure terror.
People react differently to extreme fear.
Some faint. Some freeze. Others, like Derek Su, charge straight at it.
But his opponent was a Mecha Girl.
The punch was easily dodged.
"Hehe~" The Mecha Girl playing the corpse gave him a creepy smile. Without any visible movement under her hospital gown, she quickly drifted backward and melted into the darkness. Only that pale face lingered in his vision for a long moment before disappearing completely.
When he was face-to-face with the corpse, Derek Su didn't lose control.
But when it retreated, he nearly lost it completely.
He no longer cared about his image or dignity as a pilot.
With a scream, Derek Su clung tightly to Stella.
"I can't take this. I want to go back to the Stella Club!"
"It's okay, don't be scared. Stella will protect you." Stella gently patted his head.
It was the first time Derek Su had hugged her this tightly on his own.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, though it was hard to see in the darkness.
A sly smile curled at her lips as she comforted him softly, "Alright, don't be scared. If you're afraid, just close your eyes. I'll guide you out."
…
Stella dragged Derek Su forward.
If it were a normal girl pulling a grown man like him, she would have been exhausted.
But Stella was different. If she weren't concerned about his pride, she could have carried him outright.
Now that Derek Su had completely lost the ability to think or resist, it was her time to shine.
When they ran into a group of ghost nurses.
"Master, there are so many ghost nurses. Hide quickly."
Hearing the terrifying shrieks of the NPCs, Derek Su buried his face deep in Stella's chest.
This way, he couldn't see anything scary and didn't have to smell the disinfectant and blood either.
When they encountered a chainsaw-wielding doctor chasing visitors.
"Master, hold on tighter. If you fall, you're done. The ghost doctor will tear you apart."
Derek Su clung to Stella like an octopus, their bodies pressed tightly together.
Stella grinned widely and dashed forward, carrying him as she ran.
As they neared the end.
They were supposed to hide in lockers in the changing room.
After the ghost director and a swarm of ghosts finished searching, they could come out and escape.
Originally, each person was supposed to take one locker.
Stella ignored that and stuffed both of them into a single locker, pressed tightly together.
Through the narrow gap, under the flickering light.
Derek Su could see countless ghosts searching the room. They checked each locker one by one, even pressing close to peer inside.
As a ghost nurse approached their locker, Derek Su's breathing grew faster and faster.
"Master, don't make a sound. We'll be discovered."
Stella whispered softly while holding his sweaty hand tightly.
"Don't breathe too loudly either. It's too obvious."
The ghost nurse was getting closer.
Derek Su couldn't calm his breathing at all.
He could only look at Stella helplessly.
"You're really hopeless."
Stella sighed and looked at him without blinking.
In the dim locker, the heat on her face and the flush on her cheeks were barely visible.
It also hid the emotions in her eyes.
At the moment the ghost nurse leaned in to check.
Stella suddenly stood on tiptoe, hooked her arm around Derek Su's neck, and closed her eyes.
Her lips pressed against his trembling ones.
Their breaths tangled together.
Now there was no sound at all.
Derek Su's mind went blank, his eyes widening.
In that instant, all fear vanished. Every nerve focused on the sudden kiss.
Time seemed to stop.
Or stretch endlessly.
…
Outside the locker.
The Mecha Girl playing the ghost nurse twitched her lips and backed away, looking thoroughly annoyed.
Aminos.
Out of sight, out of mind.
...
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