INSIDER Chapter 137

Wang Heng was stunned, utterly bewildered. When he finally regained his senses, he immediately ran to the place where they had entered and began to frantically feel the wall.

The wall he was feeling was completely solid.

There were no gaps, let alone a door.

Seeing Wang Heng’s actions, the five men and two women who had been trapped there before did not try to stop him. They had done the same when they were first trapped: panicked and searched the walls for an exit, but ultimately found nothing and had to accept their fate.

After a while, Wang Heng finally realized the situation and looked at Wang Yiming, asking in a daze, “What’s… what’s going on?”

Wang Yiming sighed deeply without speaking, and another boy beside him said, “It’s exactly what you see. Our worldviews need to be refreshed. As a good young man who believes in science in the 21st century, my core socialist values have been completely overturned.”

Wang Heng shivered and said, “Yiming, don’t scare me…”

Wang Yiming and the boy next to him spoke simultaneously, “Who are you calling?”

Wang Heng rushed toward them, “Both of you! Give daddy some comfort!”

Initially, Lu Chu was somewhat confused by the conversation between Wang Heng and Wang Yiming. Suddenly, he remembered that the person next to Wang Yiming was the one who had asked Sun Haoran where the nearest toilet was. He also recalled that when he asked Sun Haoran why they had pointed to the mansion, Sun Haoran had mentioned the name “Li Yiming.”

It seemed there were two people named “Yiming” here: one was Li Yiming and the other Wang Yiming.

Li Yiming and Wang Yiming had similar names and seemed to be close, always staying together.

Li Yiming pushed away Wang Heng, who had rushed over, “Stop fooling around. With more people coming in, we should quickly discuss how to leave here. Look at Lu Chu and the others; they’re calm and not freaking out like you. Even the kids are more composed than you.”

The child, Luo Qi, silently moved his wrists and ankles upon hearing this.

Song Gui, seeing that Wang Heng had finally quieted down after his fright, turned and asked Yuan Kejie and the others a question that had been on his mind for a long time, “So, did you guys manage to use the toilet?”

They nodded calmly, “Yes, we did.”

Lu Chu: “…”

Wang Heng was dumbfounded, “In a house like this, you still dared to go to the toilet?!”

Yuan Kejie shrugged, “We had no choice. When nature calls, nothing is more important than answering it.”

Lu Chu smiled and nodded in agreement, “Makes sense.”

Wang Heng looked distressed, “How can you stay so calm and relaxed? Think about the legends of this mansion. Aren’t we doomed this time…”

Wang Yiming quickly covered his mouth, stopping him from saying more, “Shut up! We’ll definitely find a way out!”

Wang Heng looked at him innocently, “How?”

Song Gui replied, “We’ll split up and search.”

“Split up?!” Wang Heng was startled, “Isn’t that even scarier…”

Song Gui said to Wang Heng, “We can’t all search in one direction. Too many people make it hard to enter rooms, and it’s too slow to find clues. I propose we split into three groups. If you’re still scared, you can stay in the living room and wait for us.”

Song Gui’s plan wasn’t to have groups of one or two, which would be too dangerous. He suggested that they split into three groups of four or five people each to search the mansion. If Wang Heng was still scared, he could stay in the well-lit living room.

Wang Yiming smacked Wang Heng’s head, “Why are you such a coward? I agree with Song Gui. Four or five people searching is the best way. If you’re that scared, just stay here. It’s brightly lit; nothing can scare you.”

“Click—”

Just as Wang Yiming finished speaking, a crisp, eerie sound echoed, and the living room plunged into complete darkness.

Wang Yiming: “…”

Wang Heng, choking up, said, “Guys, I’ll come with you.”

They turned on their phone flashlights, illuminating their corner, and divided into groups. Due to their concern about Sun Haoran, Song Gui and Qian Zhen made sure to be in the same group as him; Luo Qi naturally stayed with her supposed cousin Yuan Kejie.

The final groups were: Lu Chu, 7, Yuan Kejie, Luo Qi, and Wang Heng in one group; Qian Zhen, Song Gui, Sun Haoran, Wang Yiming, and Li Yiming in another; and the remaining four in the last group.

Lu Chu instructed everyone, “With no lights, our only source of illumination is our phone flashlights. But phone batteries run out, so each group should use only one or two phones at a time to avoid running out of battery.”

Everyone nodded solemnly, taking his words to heart.

Then, Lu Chu turned to Sun Haoran and asked, “Do you know how many floors this mansion has?”

Sun Haoran nodded, “Three floors. Each of the second and third floors has more than ten rooms. Besides that, there’s an attic above the third floor and a basement below the first floor.”

Song Gui raised an eyebrow, “You seem well-informed.”

Sun Haoran nonchalantly replied, “Due to the rumors, people in our city pay a lot of attention to this mansion, so everyone knows a bit about it.”

No one else present was from the same city as Sun Haoran, so Lu Chu and the others had no way to verify his words.

But Lu Chu trusted Song Gui’s intelligence, so he stopped dwelling on Sun Haoran and left the task of monitoring him to Song Gui and Qian Zhen.

They decided to search the main three floors first, leaving the attic and basement for later.

The first floor had fewer rooms. Yuan Kejie and the others had found the toilet there, so it was assigned to the group with a girl, which was the least challenging.

Everyone had a hunch that the higher the floor, the more dangerous it would be.

With this in mind, Lu Chu intended for his group to take the third floor since they were all players, except Wang Heng. They were the best equipped in terms of combat and reaction abilities. However, the two Yimings insisted that their group, with two frail girls, one of whom was underage, should not go up, preferring to take the third floor themselves.

Lu Chu glanced at the “frail” Luo Qi and Yuan Kejie.

Even Yuan Kejie, the weakest in their team, could easily take down any of the trapped people here; the two Yimings together were no match for her.

Knowing this, Yuan Kejie was about to say she was trained in Jeet Kune Do from a young age when Song Gui said, “Then Lu Chu’s group will take the second floor, and we’ll take the third.”

He gave Lu Chu and the others a reassuring look.

Lu Chu understood.

Song Gui wouldn’t take unnecessary risks. He must have intended to use the third floor’s danger to test Sun Haoran, hoping to uncover any suspicious behavior.

With the “who goes to the third floor” issue settled, they quickly divided the tasks. Each group used a phone for lighting and headed in their respective directions.

The group assigned to the first floor quickly separated from the others, and the remaining ten cautiously ascended the wooden stairs.

Lu Chu soon noticed that as they climbed higher, the wooden steps under their feet became more worn and weathered. By the time they reached the second floor, one step had already collapsed. The air grew increasingly musty and filled with the stench of decay and dust.

Ascending each step felt like transitioning from the mortal world to hell.

On the second-floor landing, Lu Chu’s group headed deeper into the floor, while Song Gui’s group carefully continued up to the third floor.

The mansion was large and complex, with a layout unlike any ordinary house. It wasn’t designed in a way where one could easily see the room positions at a glance; it resembled a maze. Without a floor plan, it was hard to know where anything led. With no lights, they had to explore step by step in the pitch darkness.

Lu Chu’s group hadn’t walked far when they encountered a fork. Two rooms flanked the fork, and a painting of a beautiful red-haired, blue-eyed woman hung on the wall opposite them.

As they stopped to examine the painting for clues, a red-haired, black-clad spirit suddenly burst from it, darted past them, and vanished into the left room. The spirit’s rush knocked over a nearby vase, producing a loud, piercing sound.

Wang Heng trembled in fear, closing his eyes and screaming.

7 immediately shielded Lu Chu.

Yuan Kejie pointed excitedly at the spirit’s departure point, “Wow! Wow wow! Wow wow wow!”

Lu Chu, amused, asked, “Why such a big reaction?”

They were seasoned players who had seen all kinds of terrifying scenes; there was no reason to be scared by a fleeting ghost.

Yuan Kejie scratched her head, a bit embarrassed, “Well, it’s just… it’s my first time seeing a foreign ghost, so I’m a bit excited…”

She quickly gestured a tiny amount with her fingers and said, “Just a little, a little!”

Lu Chu: “…”

Luo Qi rolled her eyes, “Idiot.”