294: Let them improvise, and things will start to get scary.

"Then let's get ready to start." Wang Yu's original body snapped his fingers, a mischievous smile playing on his face. "As for how to scare them... Hehe, use your own discretion. Just be careful not to overdo it."

"Don't worry, Original Body! Leave it to us!" several Clones immediately responded in excited whispers. Their figures, like flowing water merging into the darkness, silently dispersed and slipped toward the routes the three terrified college students were likely to explore.

Wei Ziqing said to Wang Yu's original body, "Leave the scaring to them. We'll continue searching for the entrance. Let's check the attic first."

"Alright, let's go."

The two of them no longer paid attention to the "show" about to unfold in the front hall. They quickly and quietly ascended the creaking stairs, heading straight for the top floor where an attic entrance might exist.

Downstairs, the dim light of a flashlight flickered. The Boy in the baseball cap walked ahead, forcing himself to stay calm, while his two companions pressed close to him, almost glued together, every step taken in fear and trepidation. They had just groped their way into a room that looked like a study, the smell of dust hitting them full-on.

"See, I told you it was nothing, just scaring oursel—" Before the Boy in the baseball cap could finish his sentence.

Suddenly!

From the ceiling directly in front of them, a pair of feet dangled down without warning!

Then came the legs, the body... a figure with its back to them, its neck seemingly caught in a coarse rope, swung down like a pendulum with a "swish," nearly brushing the tips of their noses!

The figure's head was tilted to one side at a highly unnatural angle. Amidst the swaying, its face slowly turned toward them—it was the same Youth who had melted and disappeared in the courtyard earlier! At this moment, that eerie, exaggeratedly curved smile was still plastered on his face!

"Aaaaaahhh—!!!"

The shrill, voice-cracking screams almost blew the roof off! The three of them felt their Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering as survival instincts instantly overwhelmed everything else! They didn't even have time to think; they spun around violently, scrambling and crawling out of the room, running for their lives down the dim corridor!

"Holy shit! It's that guy from before! He's hanged! He's hanged!!" the Boy in the baseball cap shrieked incoherently as he ran.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!!" The other boy's tears were practically flying out.

Just as they rounded a corner and caught a momentary breath, a cold hand lightly rested on the shoulder of the Boy in the checkered shirt, who was running at the back.

A familiar and hair-raising voice sounded right against his ear, tinged with a hint of curiosity: "Are you... talking about me?"

The blood in the checkered-shirt boy's body seemed to freeze instantly. Stiffly, he turned his head inch by inch—

And met that familiar face with its eerie smile, just inches away.

"Ugh, aaaaaahhhh—!!!!!"

A scream even more tragic than before, a mix of extreme terror and despair, exploded! The three of them completely broke down, their minds went blank, leaving only instinct to drive their bodies into a frantic dash!

Bang! Thud! Crash—!

They charged through the corridors and storage rooms like headless flies, knocking over rotten shelves and kicking away scattered wooden boards. In a state of extreme panic, one of them slammed violently into a wooden wall that looked no different from the others!

Crack... Boom!

Unexpectedly, the wall wasn't as solid as imagined. Instead, it let out a dull thud of rotting wood breaking, caving inward and rotating! A pitch-black hole extending downward instantly appeared before them!

"Waaaaah—!!"

The Boy in the baseball cap, who was leading the charge, couldn't stop his momentum. He stepped into empty air and, with a lingering, shrill cry, fell directly into the sudden black hole!

Seeing one of the college students knock open a secret door and fall through, the Clones executing the "prank" emerged from the shadows where they had been hiding and gathered near the hole to investigate.

"Oops, one really did fall down." A Clone leaned over the edge of the hole to look down.

At that moment, the Boy in the checkered shirt, whose Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering after being tapped on the shoulder, and his other companion happened to recover slightly from the brief blankness of extreme panic. They tremblingly tried to get up. They looked up—

And saw no fewer than four or five "Youths" who looked identical, dressed the same, and wore that same half-smiling expression, surrounding the sudden black hole and turning their heads in unison to look at them!

"H-how... so many... that person just now...?" The checkered-shirt boy's eyes widened until they nearly split, his lips trembling, unable to comprehend this scene that transcended common sense. Extreme fear, like ice water, instantly submerged his last shred of sanity.

"Ugh... gah..." A strange rattling sound came from his throat, his eyes rolled back, and his body fell straight backward, fainting on the spot. Seeing this, the companion beside him couldn't even let out a cry; his brain stalled, and he followed suit, slumping to the ground unconscious.

"...Tsk, fainted already?" A Clone squatted down to check. "Their mental fortitude needs improvement."

"Stop joking around." Another Clone waved his hand and peered into the hole. "This should be the entrance leading down, right? It was hidden quite well."

"Looks like it. Let's go tell the original body and Brother Wei," said a third Clone. "What about these two who fainted?"

"I'll take them out and leave them by the roadside outside the courtyard. They'll leave on their own when they wake up," the Clone who first suggested the scare took the initiative. "The rest of you go notify the original body, and get a few more... uh, a few more of 'us' to come down with me to check on the guy who fell and scout the way."

"Okay!" "Understood!"

The Clones immediately split up and acted efficiently. Two Clones carried the unconscious college students and quickly moved them out of the house. Two other Clones rushed upstairs to report.

In the attic, Wei Ziqing and Wang Yu had just finished checking a potentially loose ceiling board and were about to turn to the other side.

"Original Body! Brother Wei!" Two Clones appeared at the attic entrance, out of breath (though they were made of energy, the imitation was very realistic). "Found it! We found the entrance! It's downstairs!"

Wang Yu was taken aback. "Huh? Downstairs? We just came up from downstairs... How did you find it?"

"Uh... the process was a bit of an accident," the Clone explained rapidly. "Anyway, those three college students... helped 'smash' it open. It's a hidden trapdoor disguised as a wall panel. One of them already fell in. The other Clones are ready to go down and check."

Wei Ziqing and Wang Yu exchanged a look, both seeing surprise and a hint of realization in each other's eyes—as expected, it was the most simple and direct "physical concealment."

"Let's go!" The two didn't delay any longer and immediately followed the Clones downstairs.

Arriving at the broken "wall," they saw a pitch-black opening about one meter square gaping diagonally downward. The edges were made of broken rotting wood and thin wooden boards disguised as wallpaper. A section of equally old, nearly vertical wooden ladder was fixed to the inside of the opening, extending down into the bottomless darkness. The air was thick with the smell of dust and years of mold.

"This cover should have been bolted from the inside, or had a clever balance mechanism, making it look like a normal wall from the outside." Wei Ziqing used his flashlight to examine the marks at the break. "That impact just now had the right force and angle, directly snapping the rotten bolt or hinge."

"What 'great' luck." Wang Yu leaned over to look down; it was bottomless. "Let's go, get down there. Everyone be careful, this ladder doesn't look much sturdier than that wall panel."

He and Wei Ziqing, one after the other, carefully stepped onto the creaking wooden ladder, stabilized themselves, and descended step by step into the darkness and unknown below.