Ethan felt his mouth dry up. "How can this be explained?" he asked.

  At first, everyone thought the grimaces on the wall worked like 3D cards, changing depending on the viewing angle. But the recent experiment had disproved that possibility.

  "Mike, aren't you supposed to be smart? Come up with a reasonable explanation!" Liam's voice involuntarily rose in volume.

  Mike shook his head in distress. His brain was like a high-speed computer, constantly calculating possibilities, but none of them led to a correct answer. The high-intensity workload was starting to overwhelm him.

  Mike felt dizzy and heavy-eyed. He forced a bitter smile. "I can't think of a reasonable explanation. Maybe there really are things we can't understand in the Death Shack."

  Ian Smith said, "I've been to a lot of haunted houses. Some of them definitely have inexplicable oddities. The Death Shack must be one of those!"

  Right now, Ian's mind wasn't dismissive, and his emotions were like a stormy sea, churning with waves! The Death Shack was definitely in his top three haunted house experiences!

  Mike rubbed his eyes. "Let's put that aside for now. Do we continue the challenge?"

  "Continue, of course, continue!" Liam licked his lips. "That's a million dollars. Don't you guys want it?"

  Ethan looked around. "The Death Shack is definitely eerie, and it makes you panic for no reason, but it seems to be within our tolerance range. Besides, we only have to stay here for an hour!"

  Ian laughed. "We've been around the block a few times. It's not like we haven't seen haunted houses like this before. Just grit your teeth and get through it!"

  The atmosphere of the Death Shack was indeed unnerving and unsettling. But the four of them weren't ordinary people.

  Ian was a professional haunted house enthusiast! The other three were medical students, used to dealing with Cadavers, so they were already a bit desensitized!

  Mike nodded, a faint smile on his face. "I have to admit the Death Shack is an exceptionally good haunted house. We underestimated it before we came in, but it's not going to defeat us!"

  "Just 40 more minutes, and the challenge is over..."

  Before he finished speaking, Ethan's eyes suddenly widened, his face flushed, veins popping on his forehead, and his breathing became rapid.

  "Huff!"

  The heavy panting was unusually loud in the quiet Death Shack, quickly attracting the attention of the others.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Ian's heart sank, and his expression turned serious. "What's wrong with you?"

  This was too strange! One moment, Ethan was a strong, healthy guy; the next, he was flailing around like someone drowning!

  No warning signs whatsoever. It was like something had suddenly taken over his body!

  Liam was startled by this sudden change and hurriedly shouted, "Ethan, what are you doing? Don't scare us!"

  Mike didn't hesitate. He raised his hand and cleanly slapped Ethan across the face, trying to wake him up!

  But Ethan didn't seem to feel anything, and his symptoms were getting worse and worse!

  Ethan's pupils suddenly contracted, as if he saw something terrifying. He waved his hands in front of him, shouting and screaming.

  "Don't come any closer!"

  "I really know I was wrong!"

  "Death, death won't hurt anymore, I want to die!"

  Then, Ethan made a wrist-slitting gesture.

  This scene made all three of them feel chilled to the bone!

  Ethan must be experiencing something terrible, or he wouldn't be acting like this. And if Ethan had really had a knife in his hand just now, his wrist would have been cut open!

  Ian asked, "Does he have any history of epilepsy or mental illness?"

  Mike shook his head. "Ethan likes to work out and is as strong as an ox. He rarely even gets a cold or fever, let alone mental illnesses!"

  "Then what's wrong with him?" Liam's voice trembled. "It's like in the novels, like he's been possessed!"

  Before he finished speaking, Liam stared ahead, as if seeing something unbelievable. His face instantly drained of color, turning pale and terrified. He cried out in horror.

  "Zombies!"

  "There are zombies!"

  "Ah... don't bite me! I don't want to turn into a zombie!"

  Ian inhaled sharply. "Another one's gone crazy!"

  Mike gritted his teeth. "What's happening to them?"

  "Looks like they're hallucinating." Ian said, "Some famous haunted houses hire the world's top psychologists to design the sets. There are lots of inconspicuous things that constantly give the visitors suggestions to cause psychological problems."

  "But can psychological suggestions be that powerful?" Mike asked.

  "That's beyond my area of expertise." Ian said bitterly, "I am just a common guy who goes to haunted houses a lot, I don't know those things."

  Ian Smith lifted his leg and moved toward the exit

  "Where are you going?" Mike already had the answer, but he asked anyway.

  Ian looked at Liam and Ethan, who were flailing their arms, took a deep breath, and said, "I don't want to end up like them. I don't know what they are experiencing, but they want to die to escape, so it must be very scary!"

  Ian didn't want to say any more. He ran toward the door, trying to save time.

  "Heh heh..."

  A sinister laughter echoed in Ian's ear.

  Ian felt something cold and clammy touching his ear. The cold sensation spread through his skin to his entire body, his scalp tingling, and his hair standing on end.

  Ian smiled bitterly and sighed.

  The next second, like Liam and Ethan, he experienced a drastic change of expression and began to shout and scream.

  Mike’s breath paused.

  He hadn’t been watching the others when Liam and Ethan changed so he didn’t know what had happened.

  But this time he was watching Ian.

  He had a crystal clear view of the change that happened to Ian!

  Without any warning and in the space of a single breath, a clear headed man suddenly became a screaming, wailing lunatic!

  This was beyond the realm of science.

  Mike turned and looked at the death shack, grit his teeth, and hissed: “What is this?”

  “What is here?”

  “Does that mean there really are ghosts in this world?”

  Apart from the commotion the three men were causing, the death shack was deadly silent, and there was nothing or no one to answer Mike’s question.

  Then, Mike heard that familiar, sinister laugh.

  Mike felt like he was hallucinating, but no matter how hard he concentrated, he couldn’t focus.

  When his vision returned, he realized with horror that he was in a place that was familiar and yet unfamiliar!