Chapter 289 Night Visit to the Haunted House

Chapter 289 Night Visit to the Haunted House

After finally making it to the stairwell entrance on the 6th floor, the moment they pushed open the door, the scene before them made them all freeze.

Just as Sophie had said, all the residents on the 6th floor were hanging their heads, arms stiffly raised in front of them, crowding densely around the elevator doors just like before.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized, like robots programmed to follow instructions. They weren't pressing the elevator button or making any sound—just standing there motionless, surrounded by a deathly atmosphere, like a bunch of soulless puppets.

Isabella slowly walked out from the stairwell and raised her hand to clap lightly. The crisp sound of clapping echoed through the silent hallway, particularly jarring.

The crowd that had been standing frozen by the elevator seemed to have a switch triggered. They slowly turned their heads, their hollow eyes lacking any focus, and stared expressionlessly toward the source of the sound.

The next second, they began taking heavy steps, swaying as they walked toward Isabella and the other two, their footsteps dragging and making scraping sounds, looking exactly like zombies from a horror movie.

Seeing this, Sophie immediately tensed up and instinctively stepped forward, positioning herself in front of Melinda.

Sophie lifted her leg and kicked at the air a couple of times quickly, her movements clean and powerful, looking pretty badass.

She lifted her chin, her tone carrying a hint of threat:

"Don't come any closer! Take one more step and I won't be nice about it! You two don't worry! If they actually come over, I'll kick them flying!"

As she spoke, she rolled her wrists, her eyes alert as she watched the approaching crowd.

Isabella, however, seemed completely calm. She waved her hand gently, signaling Sophie not to be nervous.

Then Isabella pulled out a deck of tarot cards from her shoulder bag, holding a few cards between her fingers and lightly rubbing their surfaces. In a flat tone, she said:

"It's fine. These are just ordinary vengeful spirits—they don't have physical bodies and can't hurt anyone."

Her voice was soft but carried a reassuring power. Melinda, who had been somewhat panicked, relaxed a bit after hearing this.

After speaking, Isabella didn't retreat. Instead, she walked straight toward those swaying people.

Sophie and Melinda exchanged glances. Though still a bit scared, they steeled themselves and followed.

Surprisingly, when those people got close to Isabella, they all stopped and didn't make any aggressive moves.

Then they slowly raised their fingers, all pointing in the same direction—the window at the end of the hallway.

Isabella looked in the direction they were pointing. Through the window, she could clearly see the haunted house at the end of the outdoor corridor. The pitch-black haunted house looked like a crouching monster in the twilight, radiating an indescribable eeriness.

Those people's eyes still had no focus, but they all tilted their heads toward the haunted house in unison, as if guiding them, or urging them, desperately wanting Isabella and the others to go to that place.

Melinda shrank back and moved closer to Isabella, saying in a small voice:

"They... they're telling us to go to the haunted house. But I remember when we arrived, that front desk worker named Zola specifically told us the haunted house isn't open at night and warned us not to go near it."

Melinda's voice carried some hesitation, and remembering Zola's serious expression made her uneasy again.

"Should we go?"

Sophie looked down at her livestream equipment. The comments were already flying by rapidly. She quickly scanned a few and turned to Isabella to ask: "The viewers are pretty curious—they're all posting things like [go check it out] [want to see Isabella fight demons]. The engagement is going crazy."

As Sophie spoke, she turned the livestream camera toward the creepy crowd, and the comments became even more dense.

Isabella didn't answer right away. Instead, she walked through the crowd straight to Charles and Dylan, who were trapped in the middle.

Charles and Dylan were still maintaining that posture of hanging their heads and holding their arms up. Their faces were pale, their eyes vacant.

Isabella reached out and lightly tapped each of them on the forehead, the motion quick and light.

They trembled all over as if hit by an electric current, and their eyes instantly cleared.

They blinked in confusion, looking at Isabella in front of them, then looked down at their own stiffly raised arms and the clean clothes they'd changed into after getting soaked. Then they looked around at the creepy crowd surrounding them.

Startled, Dylan said with lingering fear:

"Cousin! That scared me so bad! After we finished showering and came out, as soon as we got to the hallway, we suddenly felt our whole bodies go stiff. We couldn't control ourselves anymore and could only wander around here with these people. We couldn't even call out! Cousin, we didn't do anything weird just now, did we?"

As Dylan spoke, he patted his chest in relief.

Isabella turned to scan the gathered crowd. Seeing they were still maintaining their previous posture and hadn't made any moves because Charles and Dylan had regained consciousness, Isabella asked:

"Are you two staying here to watch them, or coming with us to the haunted house at the end of the hallway?"

Charles had really suffered today—not only had he fallen in the water twice and gotten water in his lungs, making them uncomfortable, but he'd also been possessed after coming back. Now his whole body felt weak and he had no energy left, much less any desire to go to some haunted house.

He waved his hand weakly and said:

"We'll stay upstairs and watch these people. If they recover and go downstairs to cause trouble, that would be bad. Plus, in our current state, we'd just slow you down if we went."

"Alright then."

Isabella nodded and instructed:

"You two stay here. Don't worry, they won't hurt you. The important thing is you need to watch them carefully—absolutely cannot let them go downstairs. They don't have their own consciousness right now. If something guides them to line up and walk to the lake, jumping in one by one to commit suicide, that would be a huge problem."

After hearing this, Dylan's expression changed. He quickly went to his nearby room and dragged out two heavy wooden tables. Together with Charles, they struggled to block the stairwell entrance, forming a makeshift barrier.

Dylan patted his chest and promised:

"Got it, got it, Cousin! Don't worry, Charles and I will guard this place and won't leave for a second. We guarantee we won't let them go down even one step!"

"Good."

Isabella responded and without further delay, turned to Sophie and Melinda:

"Let's go."

After speaking, Isabella took the lead walking toward the hallway opposite the elevator, heading in the direction of the haunted house.

Sophie followed closely with her livestream equipment, while Melinda jogged along at the back, occasionally looking back at Charles and Dylan guarding the stairwell, feeling slightly more at ease.