Chapter Fifteen: Have You Seen My Head?

When they reached the cell block, Ru Shuang Yuan casually pushed open the door to one of the cells and found a prison codebook lying conspicuously on the floor. She glanced back at the students following her. “There’s a codebook on the cell floor. You guys split up and search the other cells. If there’s money to be made, why not take it?”

“Alright, let’s look right away,” Tian Yuan was the first to respond and headed toward the cell on the front left.

The Monk caught sight of several codebooks in the cell Tian Yuan had entered and quickly followed him in. Curly and Butterfly, not wanting to miss out on a chance to earn money, hurried to check the other cells for codebooks, fearing someone else might get there first.

They jogged ahead, checking each cell, and whenever they spotted a codebook, they rushed inside to grab it.

Butterfly, who was among the shorter girls, couldn’t quite reach the small window in the cell doors. She pushed open several cell doors in a row but found nothing, growing anxious and quickening her pace, searching relentlessly. At last, she spotted one in a cell near the front and dashed in, delighted.

Soon, all five students were inside separate cells.

At that moment, Shang Yi, who had been watching the surveillance monitors, finally showed a sly smile. “You think this haunted house is boring? Not scary at all? Tonight, I’ll give you something intense—let you see what a real three-star horror scene is like!”

He turned to another monitor and noticed the Duke had been staring at himself in the bathroom mirror for a long time without coming out. Concerned something might have happened, Shang Yi quickly used the intercom left in the prison to call for help. “This is Shang Yi calling Lizard. Go to the bathroom immediately and check on that visitor. Make sure he’s safe.”

“Lizard here, on my way,” came the reply.

As soon as all five police academy students entered the cells, four terrifying, grim-faced prison guards appeared in the cold, gloomy corridor, each walking up to a cell door. With a heavy clang, they slammed the doors shut.

Butterfly had just picked up the codebook when a thunderous crash rang out behind her, making her turn pale with fright. She spun around to see a wrinkled face staring in at her through the small window in the iron door.

Butterfly was usually among the braver girls, but being suddenly locked alone in a dank, dark cell startled her badly. Clutching the codebook, she instinctively took a few steps back.

“You’re standing on my foot.” A raspy, chilling voice sounded behind her. She spun around in panic—only to meet the gaze of a stranger’s face, pale as paper and covered in scars, mere inches from her own.

The codebook slipped from her fingers. After two seconds of stunned silence, Butterfly let out a scream so shrill it nearly pierced the eardrums. She turned and bolted for the door, shoved it open with all her might, and, stumbling from the force, crashed straight into the cell opposite.

Bang!

Again, the cell door slammed shut behind her. She clutched her waist, gasping for breath. Seeing nothing terrifying inside, she managed to calm herself a little.

But when she looked back, the same wrinkled face was peering in through the window.

She recoiled again, frightened.

“You’re standing on my foot again.” Shivering, she turned. The same scarred, ghastly pale face was only five centimeters from her nose.

Her mind went blank, the world spun, and as if all strength had left her, she collapsed instantly onto the cell floor.

…

Tian Yuan and the Monk entered the same cell, bent down to gather all the codebooks on the floor, and glanced around, finding nothing remarkable. Just as they were about to leave, a uniformed guard appeared and slammed the door shut.

Startled, they realized it was just an actor from the haunted house, so with two of them together, they weren’t too scared.

But as they approached the door to leave, a voice suddenly sounded behind them: “Have you seen my head?”

They turned and saw a headless corpse in prison clothes standing before them, blood pouring from the neck—and worse, the corpse was gesturing with its hands.

The Monk and Tian Yuan were so terrified they nearly lost control, dropping the codebooks as they screamed and bolted from the cell.

They raced down the corridor, glancing back to see the headless corpse still trailing them.

Both of them shook with fear, stumbling and scrambling up the stairs. When they saw an open door, they didn’t even check the sign and charged straight in, slamming the door behind them.

Tian Yuan eyed the Monk’s ashen face, panting. “That scared the hell out of me. Monk, aren’t you supposed to be brave? How come you’re just as scared?”

The Monk, though still shaken, bristled at this. “What do you mean ‘just as scared’? Tian Yuan, can’t you speak properly? I only ran with you to look after you, don’t you get it?”

Annoyed by Tian Yuan’s remark, the Monk found his fear lessened. He rubbed his bald head and began to look around the room. After just a glance, he drew a sharp breath. “Is this the execution ground of the underworld or something?”

Tian Yuan also sensed something was wrong and instinctively hid behind the Monk, his small eyes darting nervously around the room.

In the middle of the large room stood several tables, some resembling surgical beds, others like old torture benches.

Hanging from the walls were all manner of sinister-looking knives and bizarre torture instruments. Scattered across the floor were plastic bins, their lids open—some filled with severed limbs, others with bloody organs.

The floor was slick with dark, congealed blood, and the air reeked of a nauseating mix of blood and formaldehyde, making the scene all the more horrifying and real.

“This place is terrifying. We can’t stay here—let’s get out,” the Monk said, heading for the exit. But the tightly closed door suddenly burst open, and the headless prisoner stood on the threshold.

“Doctors Gao, Chen, and Sun, you’re all here. Could you swap me a head? These two are just right—take your pick,” came a loud, chilling voice from the headless corpse’s abdomen, echoing through the empty medical room.

The Monk took a deep breath and pinched his arm hard. As a police academy student, he knew that deep breaths and a little pain could quickly restore calm.

“Tian Yuan, don’t panic. He’s just an actor in the haunted house, really convincing, but there are no ghosts in this world.”