Fu Zhi did not know what she should say as she looked at Lu Yumo.
âThatâs good, then,â Ye Jiu smiled as he waved at Fu Zhi, âSo you protect Zhizhi, and Zhizhi will protect me.â
Lu Yumo was stunned by Ye Jiuâs shamelessness, and he began to wonder if it was a wrong decision to act tough and badmouth his sister.
Lu Yumo nearly cried.
âHeâs too shameless! Ye Jiu is too shameless! He is not fit to be a brother!â Lu Yumo hammered the ground with his fist in exasperation when he remembered those holes and traps that Ye Jiu had laid for him ever since he showed up in his family.
Then, he suddenly remembered something. He jerked up from the ground, charged straight up to Fu Zhi, and explained, âI was just saying that you have a lot of guts, and a haunted house is nothing for you! How about we donât go there?â
âBut I remember you said Fu Zhi is afraid of everything!â Song Fang interrupted. âYou also said that she can cry for 3 days if someone punches her...â
Lu Yumo turned around and delivered a kick to him. âYou shut your d*mn mouth!â
Song Fang did not know why Lu Yumo wanted to kick him. All he ever did was just stating the truth. He felt angry, sad, and betrayed as he shouted back, âHow dare you kick me!â
âGet lost, plebeian!â
Ye Jiu clicked his tongue as he watched Song Fang grappling and wrestling with Lu Yumo. After he had finished his milk tea, he took Fu Zhiâs milk tea over and took a sip from it. Then, he pouted his mouth and reminded Fu Zhi, âYou have to protect me later. I have nyctophobia.â
Lu Yubai, who was standing beside them, felt contempt for Ye Jiuâs action. âIf youâre so afraid of the dark, how come you are still alive? You shouldâve scared yourself to death the moment you close your eyes.
Ye Jiu became speechless.
âDid your jealousy have gotten the best of you and youâre now setting up a plot to assassinate me, the dream lover of the bossy president?â
âIâve bought tickets for all of us. Letâs hail a cab and go there. We should be able to enter right away after weâve arrived,â Wang Yu yelled as he pulled his phone out.
It seemed to them that he had already gotten over his ex-girlfriend.
All of them then packed everything up and went to the haunted house.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Fu Zhi shook the roselle red bean milk tea that was given to her by Ye Jiu. âI thought I said I want a strawberry ice cream milkshake?â
Ye Jiu replied, âItâs not good for girls to drink cold drinks. You can get kidney stones, and in some severe cases, it can lead to premature death. Besides, due to the high sugar content in a strawberry ice cream milkshake, it can increase your blood sugar level, affect your appetite, and consume the water in your body...â
âSpeak humanâs language,â Fu Zhi interrupted expressionlessly.
âThat roselle red bean milk tea s*ck. I donât want it!â
Fu Zhi did not know what to say.
Ye Jiu was spoiled and phony. Not only that, but he also took Fu Zhiâs thing away as if it was his own thing. Lu Yumo had disliked him since the moment he crashed into his family, and he decided to pretend to be a ghost to scare him later in the haunted house.
After the staff had given each of them a name tag, he then led them to the entrance of the haunted house. It was about 9:00 pm right now, the winter wind was blowing hard, and coupled with the gloomy atmosphere of the haunted house, Lu Yumo just wanted to go home.
There were more boys in the basketball team, and the staff had split them into 3 teams.
Wang Yu was excited before he came to the haunted house, but after he went into it, he screamed as if it was the end of the world.
He was on the second team, and he had made the third team extremely nervous.
Lu Yumoâs legs gave way beneath him, and were it not for Lu Yubai, he would have slumped to the ground already. However, he psyched himself up, acted as if he was fine, and said, âJeez, itâs just a haunted house, does he really have to scream so loud? Anyway, thereâs nothing to be afraid about. We will walk together, and... You know what? Letâs forget it. You guys look like you donât have a lot of guts to me, so just have to follow behind me and I will lead all of you!â
Though he talked big and acted as if he was brave, his shaking voice belied his true feelings.
Sipping on Fu Zhiâs drink, Ye Jiu offered him a smile and said, âThank you for standing forward to keep us safe, brother.â
Lu Yumo did not know what to say.
âShut up, you phony little b*tch!â
With a smile on his face, the staff handed a torchlight the size of a thumb to Lu Yumo. Then, he reminded, âKids, let me run you guys through the rules before you go in. When youâre in there, do not hit our staff, do not verbally abuse our staff, and you are not allowed to open the flashlight. Hold on tight to your name tag, go to the 6 designated corners in the room, flash your card, and only the door to the next room will be opened up.â
Lu Yumoâs heart was pumping fast as he listened to those rules, though he kept a straight face and did not allow his true feelings to escape to his face.
After they were inside, Fu Zhi could obviously feel the room was stuffy and it was dark.
There were a number of small rooms inside the haunted house. The haunted house was equipped with many devices, and the room that Lu Yumo had gone into even had a roller coaster in it. There was still some distance between them and the roller coaster, and as they walked across the room, a pitter-patter of water droplets would waft into their ears from time to time.
âThis is it?â Lu Yumo heaved out a sigh of relief inwardly. He thought there were real ghosts in this haunted house. He turned his head around and said to Fu Zhi, âJust stay behind me, Zhizhi. I will protect you till...â
Before he could finish his sentence, a flash of white zipped across the air.
Lu Yumoâs eyes turned red instantly and a scream escaped his throat, âAhhh! What.... What... What the hell was that?!â
Looking at her brother, who was standing behind her like a chick seeking protection from its mother, Fu Zhi replied expressionlessly, âItâs just a towel.â
âNo way! Youâre lying to me!â Lu Yumo refuted. He changed his target to Lu Yubai, wrapping his arms and legs around his body as he said, âXiao Bai, thereâs a ghost!â
Lu Yubai was nearly strangled to death by Lu Yumo. He raised his hands to peel him off his body and growled, âGet off me! Youâre strangling me to death! There is no ghost! Itâs just a white towel!â
However, Lu Yumo did not release his hands but instead tightened his arms around Lu Yubaiâs neck. His voice turned sharper as he sobbed, âNo! Iâm not going down! Donât let go of me, donât abandon me. Iâm scared...â
Ye Jiu then retracted his arm from Fu Zhiâs shoulder, poked at Lu Yumoâs hand, and said, âBut brother, if you donât come down from him, whoâs going to protect us?â
âWho cares! Get away from me!â
Lowering his gaze, Ye Jiu sighed, âI didnât expect my brother to be so afraid of ghosts. Well, itâs my fault. I shouldnât have so much expectation of you.â
Lu Yumo looked at Ye Jiu speechlessly and he felt offended.
âWhat a phony little b*tch!â
âIâm not scared. Who told you that Iâm scared?â
He immediately jumped down from Lu Yubai. He paused for a moment to take a deep breath and to contain the tears. Then, he kept his head as low as possible and said, âS... Stand behind me. I... I will bring you guys to... the roller coaster.â
Perhaps the rooms in the haunted house did not have a good soundproof system, Lu Yumo could always hear Wang Yuâs heartbreaking cries.
Lu Yumo turned his head around and he saw Fu Zhi was holding Ye Jiuâs hand.
Just when he was thinking if it was a wrong decision to act tough, a low, haunting female voice came from the depth of the room.
He jerked his head back to the front and the first thing that rammed into his vision was a âfemale ghostâ that was hopping towards him. He was stunned for a moment and he could feel something inside of him snapped. He screamed aloud and climbed up to Lu Yubai again. Putting his head on Lu Yubaiâs shoulder, he muttered, âItâs okay, itâs okay. Thereâs nothing to be afraid of. Iâm right here... Iâm right here...â
Lu Yubai was speechless.
âCan someone get this idiot off me?ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The staff in the haunted house were well trained. The âfemale ghostâ continued to bounce towards Lu Yumo, but she did not make any physical contact with him. When she was in front of him, she let out a silvery laugh, âHe, he, he...â
Lu Yumo finally could not hold himself anymore and broke into tears.
Fu Zhi did not know what to say at all. Stifling a laugh, she asked, âWhy donât we go out now?â
Lu Yumo was so frightened that he could not hear anything right now. He sniffled and clung to Lu Yubai even tighter.
âNo! Iâm leaving! No matter what reason you use, no one can split us apart!â
Lu Yubai said, â... Get the hell off me!â
Even the female ghost felt sorry for Lu Yubai. She took off her mask and said, âHey dude, look at me.â
She pointed at her expressionless face and continued, âIâm not a ghost, so stop crying.â
Pouting his mouth, Lu Yumo shook his head, âYouâre a liar! I donât believe in you!â
Lu Yubaiâs face was getting darker and darker with each passing second.
âI will warn you one last time. Get the hell off me or I will turn you into a real ghost!â
Then, he peeled Lu Yumoâs hands off his neck and kicked him to the ground.
Lu Yumo could not believe what Lu Yubai had done. He sat on the ground, and his body was shivering uncontrollably, looking pitiful like a dog that had been abandoned by its master.
That said, he refused to admit that he was scared. He spun his head back to look at Lu Yubai and snarled, his voice sharp and laced thick with fear, âI hugged you because I know youâre scared! How can you be such an ingrate and kick me away?!â
Lu Yubai harrumphed coldly, but he did not say anything. At the same time, a gust of eerie wind and a series of flustered footfalls entered their ears.
Fu Zhi saw several men and women in red getting off from the roller coaster.
The staff in the haunted house would not target bold players.
As such, she said to Ye Jiu and Song Fang, âGo scan your name tag in the room, and then we will gather at the door.â
They nodded and went separate ways.
As Lu Yumo kept his head low and rushed and swerved around madly, he shouted at his sister and brothers behind him, âGuys, victory is right ahead of us. Take my hand, and letâs push through it!â
Lu Yubai, who was a few meters away from him, replied, âWe havenât finished scanning our name tag, so we canât leave yet.â
âHold on a second!â
Lu Yumo suddenly realized something
âLu Yubai is yelling at me? If Iâm not holding Lu Yubaiâs hand, then who the hell is behind me?â
The smile on his face froze as he felt a chillness crept down his spine.
After a long while, he swallowed his saliva hard, and he could feel the cold sensation that spread from the hand in his palm.
He refused to believe it and he shouted their code word. âZhizhi is?â
âPhew~â
As if to help him confirm, the staff dutifully blew into his ear and let out a spooky laugh.
Lu Yumo was stunned.
It was not Lu Yubai!
On the other hand, Lu Yubao took a big step back as he did not want the same thing to happen to him again.
Then, before everyone could do anything, a loud manâs voice rang out from the boundless darkness ahead.
âItâs a clear morning, with the sound of dove whistles accompanied by the wake-up call. But the world is not at peace, and there are stirring storm clouds in peaceful times!
âAre you ready, soldiers? When that day does come, rest assured motherland, rest assured loved ones, I will march bravely for victory!
âFor victory, I will march forward bravely!!!â