Chapter 26 Never Seen Such a Straightforward Man
Was Matilda scared?
A little, but not really that much. She was boldly observing the setup inside.
Although the music and horror atmosphere were well done, the props were just too fake—on the operating table weren't surgical knives but two large scissors. The "corpse's" head and abdomen were covered in blood, but it was obviously ketchup, with no bloody smell at all.
So unprofessional!
Now that Wentworth was holding her hand, she looked up at him.
Oh well, to help him sleep well tonight, she might as well pretend to be scared.
"Wentworth, this is so scary!" She threw her arms around him.
Wentworth fell silent.
He wasn't stupid—he could tell right away she wasn't scared, okay?
But why was she hugging him?
Could it be that she liked him?
The young people in the room saw the "corpse" sitting up and didn't dare move forward. Only when Wentworth and Matilda stepped ahead did they muster the courage to follow.
That "corpse" was quite mischievous too. Taking advantage of its scary makeup, it suddenly chased after people to scare them, causing everyone to scatter and rush toward the next room.
Wentworth immediately shielded Matilda, and when someone bumped into her, she fell right into his arms.
Her whole body pressed tightly against his.
"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.
She blinked her big eyes and shook her head. "I'm fine."
His hand was still around her waist. It felt so slender, so soft he didn't want to let go.
Especially with her chest pressed against his—soft and warm.
In that moment, Matilda felt the intensity in his eyes. She couldn't help but pause.
Usually at home he could control himself, but in this eerie atmosphere, he seemed almost... moved.
They stared at each other, neither looking away first.
Until an NPC with blood all over their face ran up to them and looked at them curiously.
Matilda turned around and saw the "corpse" from before!
It wasn't scary from far away, but up close, it actually startled her.
She immediately pressed herself tightly against Wentworth again.
The "corpse" reminded them: "Your group has already gone ahead. If you don't hurry, you'll fall behind. Plus, I need to get ready for the next batch of players."
Wentworth understood and politely said, "Goodbye."
The "corpse" waved.
How strange—they'd seen plenty of couples hugging out of fear, but never ones making eyes at each other here.
Did they think this "corpse" was just background decoration?
The next scene was the morgue.
As the name suggests, there would be more "corpses" here, and these corpses would turn into "zombies" when players entered.
When they first went in, the zombies were all lying quietly on beds. But as soon as they stepped into the room, the zombies immediately "came to life," getting up to scare people. The young players were frightened into a huddle again. One guy even pushed his girlfriend toward a zombie when he got scared. The girl was scared to tears, and ironically, a male zombie reached out to comfort her.
In the first room, Matilda thought the game was fake, but by the second room, she started treating it like a mission game—after all, there were objectives, and completing them would give a sense of achievement.
The task for this room was: find exorcism talismans and press them on the zombies' foreheads to temporarily immobilize them. After completing this, you'd get a key to unlock the next level.
The exorcism talismans were scattered throughout the room and needed to be found separately. Timid players only dared to hide or search in groups, which was extremely inefficient.
Matilda figured today's "hugging mission" was already complete, so she said to Wentworth, "Why don't we split up? It'll be more efficient that way."
Wentworth wasn't too willing. "But what if you get scared?"
"It's just people jumping out while you're doing the task. There's nothing scary about it." Having lived alone since childhood, Matilda had developed strong mental fortitude.
Compared to cats meowing at midnight, occasionally encountering rats in hallways, or even suspicious strangers following her—what were these fake zombies?
They'd just scare you at most; they couldn't actually hurt you.
And if something happened to her here, the shop would definitely be held responsible.
Thinking about this, Matilda couldn't help shaking her head—it seemed that overly rational people really weren't suited for horror games.
Seeing she really wasn't scared, Wentworth agreed to split up.
Matilda searched through cabinets and drawers in the room.
Maybe because she was alone, the NPCs inside gave her special "attention"—when she opened a cabinet, she suddenly saw a zombie hiding inside. The zombie waved its claws at her menacingly.
She just paused for a moment, then shook her head and continued searching.
The zombie called out a few more times and even played with her hair, wanting to see if she'd be scared.
Matilda said flatly, "Stop it."
Seeing she really wasn't afraid, the zombie found it boring and pointed to the top of the cabinet. "There's an exorcism talisman up there. Take one down and stick it on my forehead, and I won't scare you anymore."
"Thanks." Matilda stood on her toes to get one down and stuck it on the zombie's forehead. Sure enough, the zombie quietly sat back in the cabinet.
But the zombie wasn't content. He suddenly pointed not far away. "Your boyfriend seems to be flirting with a girl."
Flirting?
Matilda looked toward the hallway—Wentworth was searching for something, with a girl following beside him. The girl kept tugging at his sleeve.
Suddenly, a "ghost" in white clothes rushed out from around the corner. The girl screamed and threw herself onto Wentworth.
Matilda fell silent.
That girl had come with two guys, but those guys had already been scared into hiding and couldn't look after her. When she saw Wentworth alone and noticed he was tall, handsome, and didn't seem scared at all, she just latched onto him.
Seeing this, Matilda felt annoyed and turned away.
For the sake of sleep, he really treated every woman the same!
Men really can't help but stray!
Wentworth hadn't seen her. Actually, he didn't immediately push the girl away because her hanging onto him had aggravated his old injury, so he paused.
Once he recovered, he immediately peeled the girl off.
"You can't cling to me."
The girl said pitifully, "Can I at least follow you? My two friends are gone, and I'm really scared."
Wentworth shook his head. "I came here with my wife. I'm afraid she'll misunderstand."
The girl fell silent—she'd never met such a straightforward man!
She tried again, "But I'm really scared."
Wentworth calmly analyzed: "Before I came in, I asked the staff outside. They said that although this game is scary, there's never been an actual case of someone being scared to death or injured, so you don't need to be afraid."
The girl fell silent.
Wentworth turned and walked away.
Honestly, if there was real danger, he wouldn't ignore her—after all, protecting others was his instinct—but this was just a game.
While doing her task, Matilda also encountered a girl.
The girl looked at her pitifully. "Miss, aren't you scared at all?"