Logan Wright and Luke Carter were locked in an argument, while Team Leader Howard squatted by the roadside listening for a while, his head starting to ache.

Team Leader Howard put his outstanding leadership skills to use. He pulled a candy out of his pocket, unwrapping it as he said, "Alright, enough arguing. Rock-paper-scissors, best two out of three."

Pretty perfunctory.

Wanda took advantage of their quarrel to carefully study the map, and in the end, he actually managed to find two small characters in a hidden corner: haunted house.

Wanda's eyes lit up. He looked up and asked, "There's a haunted house, want to go?"

""

Ethan Young saw Henry Howard's hand, the one holding the candy, visibly tremble.

"This one's good, exciting," Logan Wright immediately forgot about the theater, moved closer to check out the haunted house description, and read aloud, "A parade of fierce ghosts, all kinds of deaths, absolutely terrifying, guaranteed to make you scream."

Henry Howard didn't even have time to object.

Luke Carter nodded, mainly impressed by the copywriting: "Sounds pretty interesting, let's do this one."

"What do you think, Yu-ge," after discussing, Luke Carter turned to ask Ethan Young, "How about we go to the haunted house?"

Ethan Young was squatting on the side, originally planning to wait for them to argue for half an hour before saying anything, but didn't expect the dispute to be resolved so quickly. He glanced at Henry Howard across from him, who was biting his candy and pretending to be calm, and found it amusing: "Sure."

Team Leader Howard, who had completely lost his say: ""

The group happily walked forward with the map, Henry Howard trailing behind, walking slower and slower: "Is this how you sell out your boyfriend?"

"Is this how cowardly you are?" Ethan Young slowed his pace and added, "Don't start with the superstitions."

Henry Howard was at a loss for words: "Heartless."

Fallen leaves covered the ground along the way, the crowd had dispersed, and the road felt emptier, not as crowded as before. On both sides were

Henry Howard was still lamenting that his boyfriend was such a traitor, and after a while, Ethan Young suddenly stopped.

Then he heard the traitor say to him, "Don't be scared, I've got your back this time."

The words sounded very familiar. Henry Howard remembered that dorm incident, the whole thing was like a farce. Mad Dog had said he wanted to teach them a lesson, but after the monthly exam, there was no news—probably too busy and forgot.

Henry Howard couldn't help but laugh, bit down on the candy in his mouth, tasting the overwhelming sweetness, then said, "Alright, big bro."

They called it a park, but it was actually quite large. Surrounding the lake, a huge area had been set aside for tourism, covering a lot of ground—it would take half a day just to walk around it once.

"Where is it? If we keep walking, we'll be out of here," Luke Carter said, holding the map and searching for the way as they walked. He might not be the leader, but he still took on the responsibility. "This is way too mysterious."

The group wandered around nearby, finally spotting an inconspicuous little entrance, with six or seven people scattered in line at the entrance.

There was also a sign hanging nearby.

On it, several red handprints had been pressed with red paint, the paint dripping down from the five fingers, and next to it were two characters: help.

"Interesting."

"This is it, definitely, leader, hurry up and buy the tickets!"

When Henry Howard went to buy tickets, he almost said five.

"Six tickets," Henry Howard bent down to look inside the ticket window. When six tickets were handed out, he took them and said, "Thank you."

As Henry Howard was about to leave after getting the tickets, the ticket seller casually asked, "Which school are you from?"

"No. 2 High."

"Which No. 2 High? Is it local?"

"No, from city A. Liyang West High, beautiful campus, strong faculty, over sixty years of history—"

Henry Howard looked like he could stay and talk to the ticket seller about Liyang West High's history for half an hour.

"Dude," Ethan Young leaned against the wall watching him, "with that pitch, you could get a job in admissions."

""

Wanda and the others were getting impatient, seeing the line almost at the front. As soon as the people ahead finished checking tickets, it would be their turn, but their tickets still weren't back: "Leader, are you done chatting? At this rate, it's almost time to check tickets."

The group ahead had just gone in, and soon after, terrified screams from girls came from inside.

The screams were intermittent, lasting more than ten minutes.

Just listening made your scalp tingle.

When the screams inside finally faded, the black curtain in front of them was pulled open a crack, and a hand in a black glove reached out from inside, a hoarse, aged voice saying, "Tickets."

They didn't know yet that this ticket checker was the first surprise.

Ethan Young handed over the tickets, and the group bent down to slip through the curtain. Looking up, they saw a "ghost" with a twisted, deformed face, a strange smile at the corner of the mouth, and holding their tickets.

This "ghost" was really into character, letting out a series of creepy laughs.

Ethan Young looked completely indifferent: ""

He glanced around. The haunted house's layout wasn't anything special—pitch black, with faint light revealing skulls and human skeletons hanging on the walls.

And a "female ghost" sitting on a chair in front of them.

Red dress, long hair hanging to her knees, the clash of black and red creating a strange atmosphere.

As they walked in, the previously motionless things suddenly began to move, very slowly.

The sound effects and lighting were well done, but the content was still lacking in originality.

After just a few steps, Wanda was already sighing, "So boring."

Logan Wright: "I feel nothing at all, I even kind of want to laugh."

Luke Carter: "Should we show some respect? Maybe scream a few times for form's sake? Otherwise, wouldn't they feel embarrassed?"

Even though this kind of act seemed really dumb, Ethan Young thought about it and figured a certain idiot might still get scared.

So he reached back, groped in the air a couple of times before grabbing Henry Howard's hand.

Henry Howard had never done this before, and was mostly spooked by the words "haunted house" and his own imagination. Now that he was actually inside, he wasn't really scared by people just wearing masks and calling themselves ghosts.

But the feeling of his boyfriend taking his hand was just too good.

"I'm really scared," Henry Howard emphasized again.

Ethan Young: "Want me to pull off their mask for you? Pick one and I'll do it."

""

Henry Howard had no doubt that Ethan Young would actually do something like that.

Afraid that Ethan Young would really go up and pull off someone's mask, Henry Howard said, "No need, I think I can hold on a bit longer."

By the time they left the haunted house, it was almost noon.

No one cared about the theater or the shooting range anymore—they just wanted to find a place to sit and eat.

Luke Carter glanced at the class group chat: "Qing-ge says the lounge area is packed, no seats at all, and asks if we want to join her for a picnic."

"Where is she?"

"Just ahead of us, not far."

When they got there, Quinn Shaw and her group were about to play truth or dare, having just opened the enhanced version they bought at the mall and skimming through the punishments.

"This is so evil, if you draw this you're doomed," seeing them arrive, Quinn Shaw looked up with a smile, "You guys are just in time, want to play together?"

Henry Howard asked them for two newspapers, handed one to Ethan Young: "Old Young, want to play?"

Ethan Young: "Whatever."

"If you play, you can't pick dare."

Ethan Young didn't get it: "Huh?"

Henry Howard added, "What if you have to get handsy with someone else?"

------------

65. Chapter Sixty-Five

The spot they found was fairly quiet, not far from the rest area.

Old Thompson and Mad Dog happened to be passing by with their bikes. The two of them had ridden a lap and were tired, especially Old Thompson, who had a towel exaggeratedly draped around his neck, as if riding a bike could make you sweat that much.

Their class's Old Thompson stood by the roadside, smiling as he watched them for a while. "Have you all eaten?"

The students from Class Three sat up straight and answered in unison, "We have, we have."

Old Thompson wanted to say more, but Mad Dog just dragged him away: "Alright, don't be fooled by their smiling faces—these brats can't wait for us to leave."

Ethan Young was lucky. After a few rounds, he was the only one who got away unscathed—not only did he avoid any punishments, he even drew the king card twice.

This reminded Quinn Shaw of that game of Dou Dizhu during evening self-study, and the fear of being dominated back then. It's understandable to have good luck in Dou Dizhu, but how can you play a card game like this and still get that kind of hand?!

The game experience was truly terrible!