After throwing up, Zhao Hao couldn't believe what he was seeing. He always thought he was a bit of a bad boy, always watching stuff he wasn't supposed to and taking care of his own business. But now, he saw Fang Xiu, who he thought was a decent guy, doing something even more outrageous—touching a Specter's leg at a time like this!
But from what Fang Xiu said before, Zhao Hao started to get why he was doing it. Maybe it was the whole crazy thing they were going through, or maybe Fang Xiu acting all chill made him feel better, or it could be that deep down, everyone wants to do something really brave. Whatever it was, all these thoughts were swirling in Zhao Hao's head, and he decided to go for it, too.
Seeing him coming, Fang Xiu moved his hand away so Zhao Hao could have a turn. Zhao Hao looked at the long, white, pretty leg, then slowly extended his hand like he was about to touch a snake.
"Here goes nothing!" Zhao Hao muttered, taking the plunge.
"Whoa, it's freezing!" he gasped, but he kept his hand there.
They both touched the leg for a bit, but nothing seemed to happen. Then Zhao Hao mused, "I can't believe the first girl's thigh I'm touching is a Specter's. But man, this leg is so long, and probably…longer than my whole life."
Fang Xiu looked at Zhao Hao, surprised, not because of the joke, but because he thought Zhao Hao might actually have what it takes. Even though Zhao Hao was freaked out at first, he managed to keep his composure, even cracking jokes. Sure, he was probably just trying to lighten the mood, but not everyone could joke around when they were so scared.
"We've been here a minute. Let's touch for another thirty seconds, and then we'll leave. We need time to run," Fang Xiu said, sounding very sure.
Zhao Hao just nodded.
Time seemed to pass in a blur, and before they knew it, the thirty seconds were up.
"Let's make a run for it!"
Fang Xiu took off, and Zhao Hao followed closely behind. Fang Xiu felt confident because he had been in the Green Mountain Mental Hospital before. While he didn't know every nook and cranny, he remembered the general layout and some shortcuts. He was sure they could use this to their advantage and outrun the "doctor."
However, just as they reached the end of the hallway, ready to turn the corner, something weird happened. Fang Xiu noticed black hair falling in front of his face. He looked up and saw the "doctor's" Specterly eyes.
'How could this be?!'
Fang Xiu was scared out of his mind.
'Did I underestimate the "doctor's" movement? I thought we had at least two more minutes to run, so why did she catch up so fast?'
He quickly looked back at where Li Feifei's body had been, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
All that was left of Li Feifei was a pool of blood and some large pieces of silicone!
'Silicones! Fake stuff for making your chest and butt look bigger!!'
Fang Xiu was in shock. He never thought he'd mess up like this. Maybe because he didn't know much about girls and thought they all had natural curves. But now he saw there were plenty of fakes in the world.
WHOOSH!
In an instant, a flash of silver light sliced through the air, and Fang Xiu's head went flying before crashing down.
'I hope there's no silicone or plastic surgery in heaven.'
When he came to, he felt something cold and slimy in his hand. He looked down and saw he was touching the "doctor's" thigh, not back home with his "wife." Just then, Zhao Hao walked over and began to do the same thing.
Fang Xiu quickly pulled out his phone to check the time and realized he had traveled back to when they first started touching the thigh.
A thought crossed his mind. 'Could it be that time gets reset every time something big happens, like in a video game? First was the house, and then Green Mountain Mental Hospital. Because I made it past the first part, the reset point moved to the next one?'
He didn't have time to think more about it. He had died because of fake boobs and butt last time; he wouldn't make the same mistake this time.
"We need to get moving," Fang Xiu said.
Zhao Hao looked surprised. "Xiu, we just started touching her, and you're bailing already. This is the first time I've ever touched a girl's—"
Before Zhao Hao could finish, Fang Xiu turned and started running. Zhao Hao, not wanting to be left alone, quickly followed.
Then Fang Xiu said in a low voice, "Her breasts and hips are silicone, so there's not enough flesh to slow the doctor down."
Zhao Hao looked surprised at first, then yelled, "What the hell?! No wonder they're so big!"
The two boys ran until they got to the end of the hallway. With only one option before them—a right turn—they wasted no time and immediately turned right. Just a few steps ahead, a staircase appeared.
"Downstairs," Fang Xiu said. They both started running down the stairs.
The light in the staircase dimmed, and an unsettling darkness seemed to engulf the air. They ran as fast as they could; one floor, two floors, three floors. Then, they heard hurried footsteps up ahead, followed by a scream.
"Specter! The Specter is catching up!"
Fang Xiu recognized the voice—it belonged to one of his colleagues. He picked up the pace and leaped down from the staircase. When he got closer, he saw it was Wang Ziteng and his group.
Spotting Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao, they let out a sigh of relief. They had thought the specter was catching up.
"It's just Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao! You guys scared me. I thought the Specter was right behind us," one of them huffed.
Zhao Hao looked at everyone, puzzled, "Why are you guys running so slow?"
"Slow? We've run down at least twenty flights of stairs. How about you guys? How are you so fast?"
"Twenty flights?!" Zhao Hao looked surprised, "No way! Xiu and I only went down three flights before we found you."
"What?!"
"Zhao Hao, now is not the time for jokes."
Fang Xiu looked at the scared group, his mind racing. Then Wang Ziteng blurted out in terror, "The Specter's Labyrinth! It has to be that! My cousin once told me that the Specter's powers can make illusions. Maybe that's what's causing the Specter's Labyrinth. People stuck in it just keep going around in circles, never able to get out. That's why Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao caught up to us so fast; we've been going around in circles!"
Wang Ziteng's words only heightened everyone's fear.
"Does anyone have something they can drop as a marker?" Fang Xiu's calm voice broke through the chaos.
Wang Ziteng seemed to get what Fang Xiu was trying to do and quickly took a condom out of his pocket and dropped it on the floor. The others caught on and started dropping some spare change and various small items.
With the markers in place, the group started running down the stairs again. However, after they went down half a flight and turned a corner, they saw the items they had just dropped on the stairs.
"This, this is the lighter I just dropped."
"And my coins!"
"We're done for. It's definitely the Specter's Labyrinth. What do we do now?! If the Specter catches up, we're toast."