In Virtual Reality 5 ☆ Screaming Haunted House (1/12)

Xu Jin Yi was lying in her bed. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.

After a long time, she reached out and massaged her forehead.

Although she couldn't remember what she had dreamed of the previous night, it must have been another one of those battle royale escapades. Her temples throbbed. She needed to slap cold water on her face to clear her head.

Sadly, she had nightmares regardless of whether she played horror games.

She eventually got up after stretching and warming up her body.

Xu Jin Yi had nothing significant to do with half of her summer break left. She slept till ten o'clock in the morning. She nibbled on a boiled egg and intended to eat more at lunchtime.

After washing up, she kicked on her slippers, stretched out their arms, and fluidly hooked on the elbow her VR glasses she'd left on the bed the night before. Continuing her stretches and kicks, she stomped to the living room.

"Whew~"

Sitting on the couch, Xu Jin Yi opened her phone and scrolled down the message bar, casually clearing away a wave of scattered news.

Looking at the green V and the penguin, as expected, no one contacted her. She happily decided to spend her day in a VR game.

"The Eternal Bus wasn't too difficult. Just follow its rules, and you will pass it." Xu Jin Yi put on her VR glasses and swiped through several games.

Finally, she found one that was more suitable for a sleepy morning.

"Okay, that's it."

**

Amusement Park - Scream Haunted House

Half plot and half interactions, it was a perfect brainless puzzle game that Xu Jin Yi liked.

Why brainless? You needed to go through the plot and solve puzzles to move forward. But if you ever got stuck or got impatient, all you needed to do was — scream.

Yes, just scream. Doing so will skip interactions and puzzles; therefore, you can have a brainless puzzle game.

When she first played Haunted House on her computer, Xu Jin Yi got annoyed with NPC's jump scares, so she manually typed "aaaaaaaaaa" to skip them.

At that time, she shared a dorm room with roommates, one of whom awoke late at night to pee, only to find her sitting in the dark in front of the computer. Greenlight shone down on her expressionless face as she tapped one key on the keyboard like a ghost. Her roommate almost wet her pants after seeing such a scene.

But now that there's a VR version of this game, did the developers expect players to scream for real?

Were they dreaming? She, the great daddy Xu Jin Yi, had experienced all possible scare jumps and was immune to them by now. Not to mention, she had run through the original Haunted House six times to collect all the achievements.

'I was worth it~!'

And now, replaying this game in the morning will refresh her mind!

She might get a chance to punch some annoying NPCs in the VR version.

**

A black bird hovered overhead in the dimly lit sky.

The bird flew a few circles around the hoodie's head, and the hoarse, shrill bird's song signalled that the game had loaded successfully.

The Amusement Park series included several games. Screaming Haunted House was just one of the mini-games that could be cleared if one either had enough play time or rushed through it recklessly.

Xu Jin Yi touched her pink hoodie and felt the original skin was flamboyant and over the top.

The hoodie avatar was the default skin of the VR device. Xu Jin Yi had no intention of changing the skin with kryptonite (money), so she went along with the developer's intention and reluctantly used it.

If you ask Xu Jin Yi herself, facts aside, the pink really worked.

Who can say no to a PINKPINK ~★?

Even fierce girls and boys bowed down to power or PINK!

So like that, a pink hoodie stepped into this eerily empty amusement park and headed straight for the haunted house.

The VR focuses mainly on visuals, but since Scream Haunted House requires screaming to skip the interaction, Xu Jin Yi installed a plug-in that increases sensitivity to sound.

As she walked forward, she looked around.

The sky was overcast, and the ground was wet. Xu Jin Yi could imagine the earthy smell in the air.

Due to the recent rain, the mud on the ground clung to the back of her shoe soles, causing Xu Jin Yi's character to walk significantly slower than in the previous game.

A roller coaster towered into the clouds nearby, as did an outrageous-looking derelict pirate ship. The lights on the merry-go-round had been switched off. The entire establishment appeared to have gone out of business. It was as still as a photograph.

Only the haunted house in the distance shone with a blinding light, as if it wanted Xu Jin Yi to sprint the last 100 meters in anticipation.

Xu Jin Yi: "......"

She smacked her lips.

This virtual reality was really different from the original pixelated RPG. It was like comparing a cabbage bun and a banquet full of juicy meat.

She quickly walked to her destination and looked up and down.

The little [shabby house] was worthy of its name. If it was just another pixel house in the original, then Xu Jin Yi could see broken boards, mould, and termite holes in the high-quality remake.

Thinking of something, she felt her pocket and finally found a visitor's ticket in her fart pocket that had been folded a few times.

It was the equivalent of an ID card and was required to play the Amusement Park series.

She tucked the ticket into the half-boned hand next to the entrance. The next moment, it was blown away by the wind.

Xu Jin Yi: "......"

She knelt without altering her expression, then forcefully snapped up one of the finger bones with a crack and wedged the ticket between the two skeletal fingers.

Skeleton Ticket Checker: "......"

"What? Next time, use sticky notes as tickets."

After dropping these words somewhat sheepishly, Xu Jin Yi reached out with her long arm, took the flashlight from the ticket inspector's other hand, and rushed into the entrance.

It was dark all around, and after entering the entrance, there was a small preparation room.

Xu Jin Yi skillfully turned on the flashlight.

The light flickered a few times before finally shining steadily.

The faint light reflected the dust in the air, and Xu Jin Yi saw the "Precautions for Haunted Houses" posted on the side.

Yes, Screaming Haunted House had the same dos and don'ts as Eternal Bus.

Xu Jin Yi, who had memorized a multi-week strategy guide, still read the poster with interest.

【Precautions for Haunted Houses】.

【1. Visitors are not allowed to attack haunted house staff.】

【2. When leaving, a single person should leave alone, while multiple people should leave with the same number of companions. 】

【[3. This haunted house encourages visitors to scream.】

【We wish all visitors a pleasant journey.】

On the second point, in real life, Xu Jin Yi had heard about sweet couples entering to play in a haunted house but exiting alone, leaving the other party unsure whether their partner was inside or outside.

It's been in the news quite a few times, and the people in charge of the haunted houses have since added a rule.

You bring people in, you bring them out. There were no excuses to complain about the haunted house afterwards.

Xu Jin Yi rubbed her chin, not expecting the haunted house to be quite up to date.

But what did this have to do with her? She was a single dog.

Xu Jin Yi: "......"

She now wondered whether the game developer who included this restriction was making fun of her.

After brushing off the dust, Xu Jin Yi officially entered [Screaing Haunted House].

***

"Lieutenant Li!"

Wang Ju rushed into the office, clutching a stack of papers.

"There's a suspicion of a spooky incident at the Morphy (墨芬Mo-Fen) Amusement Park," she said quickly as she handed the information to the solemn-looking Lieutenant Li, "A couple never came out after entering the haunted house at the amusement park."

Lieutenant Li hurriedly spat out his tea and reached out to take the information and look through it. "When was the case reported? How many days ago? Has the surveillance been transferred? Could it be that they went out unnoticed?"

They were a young couple. The girl's name was Fang Wen Wen (方雯雯), and the boy's Tian Si De (田斯德). Both were freshmen.

A few days ago, Tian Si De went to Morphy's Amusement Park to celebrate his girlfriend's birthday. After a series of games, Tian Si De set his eyes on the haunted house.

The youngster most likely sought to impress his girlfriend by proving his fearlessness. Both were seen on surveillance entering the haunted house.

And then they have yet to come out.

"At noon the day before yesterday, the staff of the haunted house and the families of the missing persons reported the incident. From all the surveillance cameras available in the amusement park, only two people went in and did not come out. It's been nearly 48 hours. At first, the staff thought they had sneaked out using blind spots where the surveillance cameras couldn't see them. Still, the families of both missing people also came to the police, saying the two had not returned for two nights."

Only yesterday, the 'Eternal Bus' matter was cleaned up at the end, and today there was another 'haunted house'.

Li Tao (李涛) had a bit of a headache, but at the moment, it was not the time for him to whine. He pondered for a while.

"Hm, Little Wang, don't worry about this matter. You continue to work with He Du to wrap up the 'Eternal Bus' matter. Give the amusement park matter to Cao Weimin (曹卫民). Ask him to bring a person from his department to the amusement park to investigate .....Nah, forget it. Just call him over, and I'll talk to him personally."

**

After entering the preparation room, there was a narrow, short, dark corridor. After Xu Jin Yi went out of the passage, the first thing she saw was the water well ten paces away.

She raised an eyebrow.

Xu Jin Yi couldn't help grinning at the familiar well.

The PC port of [Screaming Haunted House] opens with a small village in the countryside. A classic Chinese horror scene.

This well had many jump scares.

As long as you get closer, you will be pulled by the water ghost. When it happens, you'll get a quick time event where you have to prove that you can press the correct keys better than a monkey.

After flexing your QTE keys, you either lose and fall in, where you'll choke on water, or you win and get a surprise achievement.

Xu Jin Yi had all the achievements, but she was here to experience the VR version of Scream Haunted House, so she ran to the water well on her heels.

Before she could reach it, she heard a small sound.

Xu Jin Yi grinned and slowly raised her evil flashlight, wondering how interactively free this VR version was? Could she jump-scare an NPC?

——— Translators Notes ———

Morphy

墨芬: Mo = ink stick / China ink / CL: 塊｜块 / corporal punishment consisting of tattooing characters on the victim's forehead; Fen = perfume / fragrance

Tian Si De

田斯德 : Tian = field / farm ; Si = (phonetic) / this / Slovakia / Slovak ; De = Germany / German / virtue / goodness / morality / ethics / kindness / favor / character / kind, This Virtue Field?

Fang Wen Wen

方雯雯 : Fang = square / power or involution (math.) / upright / honest / fair and square / direction / side / party (to a contract, dispute etc) / place / method / prescription (medicine) / just when / only or just / classifier for square things / abbr. for square or cubic meter; Wen = multicolored clouds, Powerfully Coloful Cloud?

Cao Wei Min

曹卫民 : Cao = class or grade / generation / plaintiff and defendant (old) / government department (old); Wei = to guard / to protect / to defend; Min = (bound form) the people / inhabitants of a country, People Guard for generations?

Li Tao

李涛 : Li = plum ; Tao = big wave, Big Waive of Plums?

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