Chapter 2

As if to add to the chaos, the mysterious voice once again sounded so everyone could hear it.

[The time limit for questions has been reached.]

In between everything that's been going on, no one paid attention to the numbers displayed in their vision that was counting down steadily. After the voice spoke, the red numbers showing a series of zeros flashed and disappeared.

[Proceed to enter the Haunted House to officially start 'Haunted House Beginner Level' copy]

[Additionally, any player that refuses to follow the rules stated will be punished accordingly]

And with that, a number once again appeared in front of the players. This time, it was a countdown from fifteen minutes. Cassian looked at the two or three-story high mansion in the middle of the clearing. It was quite far away, he'd better hurry.

The other remaining players had similar thoughts, so it resulted in every player running without caring about those around them. It seems cruel at first glance seeing as the two elderly people also tried running, but either fell over or had to stop to catch their breath.

Yan Luofei was also still kneeling over Hao Ritan's ashes with a broken expression as if giving up all hope. Humans were quite funny beings, Cassian concluded. They haven't known each other for more than an hour, but one human gave up his life to die for a boy he would probably never have met, had they not all been chosen for this game. On the other hand, the other humans who's society always advertises to help the elderly and injured, abandoned the old man and woman who they had been caring for a few minutes earlier for the idea of personal safety.

But back to Cassian's relevant situation instead of philosophizing about the human's behavior. Cassian, the man in the suit, and the young girl were the first to reach the large wooden door of the mansion.

The girl grabbed the door handle and tugged at it, but it didn't move an inch. The suited man became impatient and shoved her aside, "Stand aside little girl. I don't have time for this."

He discarded his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves to reveal surprisingly muscular forearms that flexed as he used his entire body to pull at the door. Yet no matter how hard he pulled, he could still not open the solid wooden door.

Cassian suddenly felt a bit jealous, he looked down at his current body that didn't have any defined muscles. His original body was on the thinner side as well, a head shorter than he would like, and white enough to be mistaken for a girl!

Cassian walked up to help him pull on the door handle while making a mental note to work out when he gets the chance.

The door made a shrieking sound as they dragged it over the floor forcefully and revealed the interior of the mansion. They couldn't see far in the few moments before stepping in as it was too dark, but a few general shapes could be vaguely seen.

The first to run in was the girl, she had already disappeared into the darkness and turned an unknown corner before the door was completely opened. Cassian and the suited man couldn't fit through the door gap yet as their physique was a bit larger than the girl and had to continue to pull open the door.

It seemed that the further they tried to open it, the heavier the door became. It finally arrived at the point where just the two of them couldn't open the door any further. By this time, the man and woman white-collar workers also arrived at the door.

"Well! Don't just stand there! Help us or we will all die if we can't enter!" Sweat was starting to ooze from the man's forehead and his temper was rising sharply. The newly arrived people clumsily helped open the door.

They all worked together and finally opened the door to a point that it would close slow enough for all of them to enter. The man was the first to let go and run in and Cassian was right behind him. The door was closing at a steady pace and the last person quickly slipped in before a heavy thud sounded and the door was firmly closed once again.

Once inside, everyone was met with almost pitch black. The only light sources were dimly and weak burning candles sparsely spaced out. Cassian gave the interior of the house a sweeping look and decisively ran down a hallway on the right of two large stairways. Everyone scattered in different directions and no one heard the knocking on the door.

The knocking sound was loud and urgent, but there was no one to feel the panic that went into the fists banging from the outside of the door. The timer turned red when it reached the last five seconds. Every player had the number that floated on the upper left corner of their vision. As Cassian concluded earlier by jumping around and spinning, it follows only where they look, kind of like the screen of a video game.

When the number reached zero, the knocking on the door stopped and everything was quiet. Cassian had run down the dark hallway and abandoned the idea of following the humans. They would only limit his use of soul power. He slowed down his pace to a walk and casually looked behind him. It seemed that no human had followed him...but why did he have the feeling something was following him? He looked down the dark hallway behind him, he loosened some of his soul power to sweep the hallway.

Cassian was a ghost, which is a being that exists in the soul only and is thus much less limited by the natural and physical laws than humans. He wasn't very powerful at the moment because he only recently escaped, but he could build up his power if he absorbed any smaller ghosts or a very frightened human soul. He found nothing unusual about the hallway, so he shrugged it off. Anyway, what was scary to him? He was a ghost. Unless a metaphysics expert suddenly jumped out of the shadows, he would be perfectly fine.

Cassian relaxed and shoved his hands into his pockets as he continued walking down the hallway. Every few feet was a dim light from a candle on the wall. He still had the feeling of someone following him but ignored it. His plan was this. If it was a ghost following him, he could wait until he revealed himself to eat the ghost as a snack! And as he was walking, he was almost humming a song because of his good mood. Um, maybe the little ghost would taste like orange? Or maybe an older flavor...fine wine, biscuits, cake… he suddenly stopped and walked back to a painting that was hanging on the wall, under a candle.

The wax was dripping on the painting, making it hard to see what it was supposed to be. Cassian leaned closer and squinted to make out what the mess of dark colours was supposed to be. It seemed to be a portrait of a woman and a man. The woman was sitting on a swing with a man standing behind her, holding her hand. The woman seemed to be smiling, but because of the wax and the burnt edges of the painting, Cassian couldn't make out the expression of the man.

Were they the owners of this house? Cassian reached out his hand and touched the burnt edges of the painting. It seemed to have been burned long ago because it crumbled with just a touch. Cassian turned his head to continue walking, feeling the presence from earlier closer, but still creeping behind him as he walked. There were more paintings as he walked, they seemed to be in order of when they were made.

The next few were the marriage of the man and woman, her holding a baby and pregnant with another. All the paintings were burned at the edges and the man's face was always blocked by the wax. The final painting was the woman sitting on the grass with a seven and five-year-old child. The woman no longer smiled and the children were no longer in the woman's arms or even close to her. This painting was burnt extremely badly and barely still visible.

While Cassian was taking his time, inspecting all the paintings in the hall, the presence was creeping closer and closer. Finally, Cassian stopped leisurely at the end of the hall to be met with two doors. One to the left and one to the right. He lifted his hand from his pocket and smiled slightly while talking to himself out loud, "Two doors, one me. Oh dear me! Whatever shall I do?" He put his hand dramatically on his forehead in a distressing way. He kept this pose in the silent and dark hallway that was eerie enough to make most people scared to tears.

He cleared his throat, "Ahem, I said… I don't know the way." He was once again answered with silence. Cassian's slight smile suddenly became wicked and he spun around and grabbed a neck hard. He lifted up the poor ghost that was crawling up through the burnt carpet of the hall. Cassian lifted up the ghost in the air with an evil smile that transformed his ordinary face into that of a crazy man. His voice was still calmly questioning the ghost, using the tone as if talking about the weather. "You know, it is common decency to give directions to a guest."

The poor ghost was so confused. He has never been treated this way! He was still doubting life! Cassian looked at the frozen expression of the ghost and his smile dropped, he tossed the ghost against the wall and casually kicked him around while sneering. "Wow, have you ever caught anyone with that awful technique? Probably not with how loud you were when crawling in that carpet. You should find a new profession." Cassian stopped abusing the poor little ghost that was crying on the floor in confusion and depression. Cassian looked down at him and squatted down to look him in the eye with a thoughtful look. "You know what?" Before the ghost could answer, he spoke again. "Even if you are a terrible scary ghost, you could be useful in other ways. For example…" Cassian looked up and down the ghost boy that was dressed in old servant clothes. "If you tell me what you know about this house and your death, I'll give you the prestigious position of my assistant. You seem to be good at it?"

The confusion finally faded from the eyes of the ghost boy, he had always been at the bottom of the food chain. If it was his position as a servant that only cleaned or his low power as a ghost. He didn't have a problem with serving others, but he just wanted to be recognized for his hard work. This weird boy in front of him might be the purpose he has been looking for. Someone strong to follow that would appreciate him for what he did. It might sound sad, but he can't remember the last time he was complimented.

He built his courage and looked the weird human boy in the eyes and looked firm. "Can I have a trial period first?" Cassian looked at the seemingly meek ghost in silence, until he was fiddling in anxiety. Then he smiled carefree and friendly. "Sure, you can be my assistant until I escape this house, then you can decide if you want to continue following me." The ghost boy nodded and took the hand Cassian extended to help him stand up.