Chapter 58

Chapter 58: If caught by a ghost, does that mean you can...

What kind of “block her for a while” nonsense is that!

Zheng Tao, who considered herself brave, was now almost standing face-to-face with the ghost. Meanwhile, out of her sight, Ying Zhixuan had already dashed back to the courtyard from earlier.

She was scared! She couldn’t hold her off!

Zheng Tao had seen a lot of ghost movies, but it was precisely this experience that made her mind flood with all sorts of wild thoughts.

The most correct choice now was to turn and run. But she was afraid that if she ran away, the ghost would turn and chase Ying Zhixuan inside.

The ghost moved!

She watched the ghost step back lightly…

It must be going to find Ying Zhixuan!

Zheng Tao’s mind was a blur. She shouted inexplicably, “Come chase me then!” and immediately turned and ran.

Song Yuhan was a bit stunned.

In just a few minutes, she had encountered more than she had since arriving at the haunted house.

Just as the ghost was chasing someone properly, suddenly someone turned and charged at her. When she instinctively tried to dodge, the visitor opposite shouted at the ghost to chase her and ran off.

And the other one suddenly charged back toward the ghost banquet courtyard.

Better chase the one who suddenly shouted; the one running back was even scarier!

Ying Zhixuan took a quick glance back and saw the ghost slowly following Zheng Tao. She immediately relaxed.

The dark shadow crouching beside the table was supposed to be immobile according to the setup!

She entered the courtyard and carefully observed the shadow.

It seemed to be set as an old man, with a twisted and terrifying face, continuously gnawing on a prop that looked like a human hand.

The iron chains on him fixed him firmly to the chair, only able to make small movements.

Ying Zhixuan reached out and gestured a few times toward the shadow, seemingly measuring distance.

Seeing such a bold young girl, Old Xu was also taken aback.

When the two girls rushed in earlier, he had observed them. Obviously, both were quite scared.

However, while both were scared, one forcibly mustered courage to solve the puzzle and safely left.

They both left? Why come back? What were they doing here gesturing around?

He heard in his earpiece his granddaughter’s voice directing him.

“Why did she run back! Grandpa, hurry and scare her away. The other tourists are coming this way too; they might run into each other!”

This scene mainly relied on atmosphere to scare guests, and if there were too many people, it would seriously weaken the terrifying mood.

“All right, all right.”

Old Xu tried hard to make a terrifying expression while straining to make his voice hoarser.“You’re back... do you want to try her meat too...?”

I have to say, paired with the dim, flickering red lanterns all over the courtyard and the scars on Old Xu’s face, the scene was indeed very scary. You could say it was a very authentic Chinese-style horror scene.

But the young girl wasn’t scared away at all. He watched as she even slightly circled around the table…

This circling motion, plus the two gestures she just made toward him with her hand, gave Old Xu some rather unpleasant thoughts.

Oh no! Did he just scare this girl so much? Could she be coming back to hit him... no no no, to hit the ghost, right?

For the past ten or so years, Old Xu had kept himself locked at home until his granddaughter opened a haunted house. To support her dream, he reluctantly agreed to be an NPC.

However, as an NPC in the haunted house, no one really cared about the scars on his face.

After a few days, he even started deliberately emphasizing the fierce scars on his face to enjoy scaring the tourists and hearing their screams.

Just a few days of contact with people had improved his mood a lot—especially after Chen Ran arrived.

However, wanting to communicate with people didn’t mean he wanted to get beaten up!

Old Xu started to panic a bit. Wearing chains all over his body, he was indeed hard to move. If the girl really got scared stiff and charged at him to hit him, it would be hard for him to escape!

He could only try his best to scare the girl.

“Hehe... don’t want to eat? Then you can also stay…”

Before he could finish the last two words, he saw the girl charge straight at him!

After a second of struggling between covering his head and continuing to scare her, Old Xu chose to quickly unlock the chains and turn to run.

However, as he rattled the chains just now, he found that the girl who charged at him had already quickly returned to the other side of the table.

Oh, she wasn’t alone going back.

She brought a lion’s head meatball back!

The worry about getting beaten just now faded, and Old Xu even wanted to laugh.

What a foodie!

So that brave charge out with her best friend was just to use her as bait outside, while she stayed behind to eat the lion’s head, right?

Xu Ruyi’s voice in the earpiece grew even more anxious.

“How did she even get to eat!”

This whole banquet was designed to be eaten by the tourists. Otherwise, they could have just used prop dishes instead.

The entire story flow took nearly a whole day; tourists needed to replenish something to keep going. Especially during the ghost chase and scare scenes, water and energy consumption was even more intense.

But they couldn’t eat right at the start!

According to the original design, the banquet was supposed to be eaten later in the story, after empathizing with the ghost, bringing a feeling of guilt to the meal, while the plot also reached its climax.

“Grandpa! Try scaring her a little!”

To be honest, Old Xu was a bit scared.

When the girl first charged over just now, he really feared she was coming to beat him up!Without Old Xu’s murmuring, the courtyard instantly fell quiet.

Not completely quiet though, as it was occasionally interrupted by Ying Zhixuan’s almost tearful praise while eating.

“Why is it so delicious... why are the prop dishes in the haunted house so tasty!”

She was genuinely moved to tears by this lion’s head meatball!

Especially since this whole bowl of lion’s head was actually within reach of the ghostly old man’s outstretched arm. She appeared calm on the surface, but inside she was really scared!

Grabbing the lion’s head under such circumstances added an extra layer of deliciousness.

Scooping it up with a spoon, the entire lion’s head even trembled slightly on the spoon… just looking at it made one imagine how tender it must be in the mouth.

Taking a gentle bite, the first taste was a slight freshness of crab roe, then the flavor of the lion’s head itself.

The texture of this lion’s head could be described as extremely soft and tender. In fact, just pressing with the tongue could easily break the whole meatball apart.

Compared to braised lion’s head, this purely tender texture lost a bit of chewiness, so it might not have much advantage in texture.

But its advantage was in the extreme flavor.

Under such an exquisite tender texture, the rich fragrance of pork was mixed with a hint of shrimp’s freshness.

That little freshness was like a surprise gift, also like the little bit of fear from when she grabbed the lion’s head, greatly enhancing the presence of the pork aroma.

Yes, presence.

Such a tender lion’s head could almost be swallowed with a sip. Yet even after swallowing all the meat, the mouth still lingered with a strong fragrance.

Like drinking a very rich broth, after swallowing, a lingering aroma still hung in the mouth.

So fragrant! So exquisite!

Stimulated by this aroma, although the lion’s head was no longer physically in her mouth, her tongue root kept secreting saliva.

It was like drinking a cup of premium green tea, with that sweet aftertaste.

“So strange… such a richly flavored meatball gives a sensation of sweet aftertaste. And it’s not greasy at all…”

Ying Zhixuan swallowed hard, then couldn’t help but take a big bite again!

This big bite of lion’s head contained a large piece of delicious crab roe. Unlike the earlier taste which was just pork and shrimp, first came an extremely fresh umami, then multiple layers of different aromas danced together in the mouth.

Wait… this flavor also had chicken broth in it. The lion’s head’s sauce even used chicken broth!

Such a complex layering of flavors appearing in such a dim and scary haunted house…

However, Ying Zhixuan quickly adjusted her thoughts.

It was even better that it appeared in the haunted house! She could eat a whole bowl by herself!

The size of the clear-steamed lion’s head was generally not large, about the size of a baby’s fist, and after a few bites, Ying Zhixuan had already finished one.

The shadowy old man no longer said his lines but sat there with a serious expression.

Honestly, when he was silent and just sitting there, he looked even scarier.

But… this lion’s head really was delicious!Ying Zhixuan whispered softly, negotiating, “I’ll eat one more… and get some more soup!”

Old Xu painfully held back a sentence about eating.

His granddaughter was urging him through the headset!

He grinned fiercely, “If you eat my lion’s head, you have to stay here…”

The moment Ying Zhixuan heard this, a thought popped into her mind: To be able to stay here and eat this lion’s head every day—that would be so happy!

However, a noisy crowd interrupted their conversation.

The main group had caught up!

Just now, Ying Zhixuan and her friend had run too fast, and since the female ghost was clearly chasing them both, the others took a different path to another scene.

Only now had they finally caught up with the two and arrived at the ghost feast scene.

As the four entered, they saw Ying Zhixuan holding a small bowl, confronting a male ghost opposite her.

“What’s going on?”

“What’s wrong?”

Ying Zhixuan’s mind raced—there were eight lion’s heads in total, presumably made according to the haunted house’s maximum number of people.

If it was one per person! Then she wouldn’t get to eat a second lion’s head! Even if six people shared, each would get less than two!

Her expression immediately turned serious and fearless, trying hard to emulate a brave hero in a TV drama who heroically holds a bomb to block the way.

“Go quickly!”

“Hurry! I’ll hold off this old man! The door over there is already open!”

“Quick! My best friend is still being chased by that female ghost! Go save her!”

At this, she suddenly remembered, Zheng Tao was still outside leading a ghost around!

Ying Zhixuan felt a moment of guilt, but immediately reaffirmed her determination.

—Once she got these four to leave, she could enjoy the whole big bowl of lion’s head with her best friend alone!

Shaken by her brilliant performance, the other four quickly prepared to sneak away through the open door nearby.

One girl felt a little reluctant, “Should I do it for you? What do we need to do here? Eat something?”

Ying Zhixuan shook her head quickly, “I’ll handle it alone. Hurry and help my best friend!”

The other four visitors were tricked away by her. Old Xu saw Ying Zhixuan immediately pounce on the lion’s head and fell silent.

He was a bit afraid of this little girl! Who would have known!

But watching her scheming and fighting over this bowl of lion’s head, Old Xu felt a subtle sense of pride.

However, this batch of lion’s head was still not perfect.

His hand was injured, so the skill of suspending the broth wasn’t quite perfect. When he teaches Chen Ran the technique for clear broth…

Hehe, just watch!Watching the little girl scoop two big ladles of soup besides the lion’s head, Old Xu forcibly swallowed back the words “gluttonous” again.

Ying Zhixuan couldn’t care about much else!

Before entering, the boss had emphasized: if caught by ghosts three times, you have to leave the game immediately.

At first, she didn’t care about this, but with such a table full of food, it was different!

She had already eaten two lion’s heads and still needed to let her best friend come over to eat some!

She wolfed down another lion’s head, feeling that rich aroma lingering in her whole mouth. She took a sip of soup, feeling that rich aroma awakened again by the clear broth before gradually fading away.

It was as if the world quieted down at that moment.

So delicious…

She was originally a lion’s head lover, having eaten many red-braised and clear-braised lion’s heads.

But the best was still this one!

Even better than the lion’s heads she had spent a fortune on at Tiankailou during the New Year!

If it weren’t for wanting Zheng Tao to eat two, she even wanted to take the whole pot away.

Wait… maybe it wasn’t impossible to take it away!

Ying Zhixuan silently glanced at the ghost old man opposite her, then cautiously reached out and hugged the clay pot holding the remaining six lion’s heads…

Old Xu couldn’t hold back any longer!

He was wrapped in many chains, pretending to be bound here. But the chains could actually be undone, and if necessary, Old Xu could still chase after people.

“Enough! You still want to take the whole pot! Go squat in the little black room!”

Being caught in the haunted house scene meant temporarily going to the little black room to wait for rescue—a necessary pressure.

Otherwise, if they really met visitors who weren’t afraid of ghosts at all, the haunted house atmosphere would be hard to maintain.

Finally unchained, Old Xu took the now obedient Ying Zhixuan to the little black room on the side, and along the way listened to the girl desperately messaging her best friend: “You have to come back to the ghost feast yard later to eat a bite of that lion’s head! It’s so delicious!”

Ying Zhixuan was the only friend on Zheng Tao’s list without “Do Not Disturb” on.

Usually, when she heard her phone ring, she knew it was her best friend messaging and always replied promptly.

But today was different! That female ghost was still lurking behind her!

And strangely, that female ghost didn’t seem to really want to catch her—just silently following behind… when Ying Zhixuan’s ghost was a bit faster, the female ghost slowed down; when hers was slower, the female ghost sped up a little.

Also, her distinctive small shuffling steps really looked like floating over the ground.

The whole haunted house was very well made in terms of scenery, a typical Chinese garden style, filled with dim red lanterns that made the entire scene oppressive and scary.

The phone kept ringing, and Zheng Tao couldn’t help but take it out to look.

A long string of voice messages!

She ran forward in a panic, playing the voice messages on speaker. Out of breath while running and listening, she barely caught three words:

Lion’s head.She instinctively glanced toward the ghost feast courtyard. She wasn’t sure if it was her illusion, but the female ghost chasing behind also glanced that way.

Taking advantage of the ghost not catching up yet, Zheng Tao messaged her best friend: “Did they catch you? How do I rescue you? Where are you locked up?”

Unlike her best friend who was coming to the haunted house for the first time, Zheng Tao was quite familiar with the whole process.

“Right in the ghost feast courtyard. Rescuing me isn’t important. You have to hurry and eat that lion’s head! Don’t let the other four people get it first!”

Upon receiving this message, Zheng Tao also saw the other four people!

Perhaps moved by Ying Zhixuan’s just now determined expression, the four ran over very quickly.

The little girl was risking her life to block the old ghost; they at least had to save her best friend!

Seeing Zheng Tao being chased by the ghost, the group hurriedly called to her, “Come quickly! Run this way, crawl through here, the ghost can’t catch you!”

While calling to Zheng Tao, they watched the female ghost turn around and hurriedly flee behind them.

But after just a few steps, they were shocked to see that the best friend being chased by the ghost had turned and ran toward the ghost feast courtyard!

“What a touching sisterly bond…”

“Is that girl caught? Should we go check?”

“Let’s see if we can shake off that female ghost first! Honestly, the atmosphere of this haunted house is pretty scary—you see how she floats when she walks? I’m really a bit scared!”

While the four people were running frantically from the female ghost, Zheng Tao returned to the ghost feast house.

She knew how obsessed her best friend was with the lion’s head. For her to nod in approval, the lion’s head must be top-notch!

Without hesitation, and without even glancing at the old ghost, she scooped two lion’s heads into her bowl and turned to run!

Learning from her best friend’s experience, she decided to find a quiet place to finish eating, then go rescue Ying Zhixuan.

Old Xu was a bit dumbfounded, and Xu Ruyi on the headset was speechless.

It seemed this scene needed to be redesigned.

But before redesigning, they had to increase the intensity for the other four people.

Song Yuhan first chased those two, then went after the four, already somewhat out of breath. Xu Ruyi estimated and asked another female ghost actor to take over for her.

“Kong Yu, you take over from Xu Ruyi. Go from another scene to block those four people! I’ll cue the music and trigger some mechanisms to scare them with you.”

“Got it.”

“Yuhan, find a place to rest. I can hear you’re breathing heavily.”

“Okay, I’ll take a break.”

Song Yuhan indeed felt some soreness in her calves; the ghost steps she used consumed a lot of energy over time. Also, Zheng Tao’s sudden rush toward her just now had drained her mental energy a lot.

Watching the four people scatter in fright from the mannequins released by the mechanisms and the real person Kong Yu, she leaned against the wall and slowly walked back, reaching the ghost feast courtyard in just a few steps.

“What about the other two tourists?”

Old Xu saw it was Song Yuhan and explained, “One was too busy eating lion’s head, so he got locked in the little black room. Ruyi will remind them to go rescue later. The other ran off with a bowl; no idea where they went to eat…”

When Song Yuhan chased after Zheng Tao just now, she had indeed heard the voice messages Ying Zhixuan sent, with the lion’s head mentioned repeatedly at a high frequency, which caught her attention.At breakfast, she had already eaten the pancakes and side dishes that Chen Ran made. Without exaggeration, the pancakes were better than any she had ever had at any breakfast shop.

And this pot of lion’s heads was carried over by her.

When it was just brought over, that aroma… it was really hard not to salivate.

“Grandpa Xu… can I eat one?”

Normally, these prop dishes were for the visitors to eat. But judging from today’s scene, even if Song Yuhan didn’t eat, Zheng Tao might still come back for another round.

“Go ahead and try.”

Xu Ruyi was a boss with a somewhat artistic temperament. The haunted house was mostly for her grandfather and her own game project, and the staff were quite close.

Old Xu thought for a moment, then lifted the lid of the lion’s heads: “But only one. If it’s good, tell Ranran to make more tomorrow.”

After all, today was the first time teaching Chen Ran, so he wasn’t very confident in her skills and only made the minimum eight. Tomorrow she could make more, both to practice and for the staff to try.

On Song Yuhan’s face was actually a mask connected to a wig, not just makeup. After all, with modern hair volume, it was hard to portray a female ghost convincingly.

The mask had a fake long tongue attached, and a long wig. On her face was a layer of snowy white and bright red makeup.

She carefully took off the mask temporarily, grabbed a spoon, and tasted a lion’s head.

So delicious!

The layers of fresh fragrance, the rich and tender flavor filling the whole mouth.

She began to understand why that obviously scared girl suddenly turned around and ran to eat lion’s head.

“They started eating… those four are coming over again!”

Xu Ruyi, coordinating on the headset, started urging. Song Yuhan hurriedly held the mask in one hand and stuffed the lion’s head into her mouth with the other.

She really couldn’t bear to lose the taste of this lion’s head!

While the female ghost was desperately speeding up, the other four people rushed back into the courtyard.

“What the heck! How did she take off her head?”

“Ahhh, how come she has two heads?!”

The already scary female ghost, in the dim light, was holding a human head in one hand, and in the other was eating something, the crimson at her mouth seeming to drip…

Several people turned and ran wildly!

But after just a few steps, one of the girls in the group suddenly realized something.

Something was off…

When they first saw the first girl, she was eating. Then when they rescued her best friend, that best friend also ran into the courtyard.

And the female ghost just now seemed to be eating too…

The foodie radar went off!

Whether or not it was true, they had to try! Last time when Chen Ran went to a rural banquet, her classmate even invited her, but she didn’t take it seriously and completely missed the whole feast personally prepared by Chen Ran.

This time, even if it wasn’t a haunted house but real ghosts, she had to go taste it!“An Jishan! Why are you running back?”

An Jishan waved her hand without looking back: “Let’s split up and run! Don’t all get caught. I’m going to see if they need rescuing!”