Chapter 519: Terror Tome: Night of the Psychic!
Over ten minutes later, the group arrived at a club called Tongling Mansion.
"This club is famous in the industry for its horror scripts," Chu Tian explained. "Back when I was studying at Jiangling University, I used to come here to play every weekend."
Qiu Ning then remarked, "Oh, right. I remember Young Master Chu has some shares in this mansion, doesn’t he?"
Before Chu Tian could answer, Cai Heng chimed in, "Of course. Our Young Master Chu has written several scripts for this mansion, all of which were very well received. The management gave him some shares to keep him around."
A look of pride flashed across Chu Tian’s face before he said, "Those are trivial matters. I’m only here today as a player to enjoy the game."
However, the others listened with expressions of deep admiration.
The group found a private room and sat down. While they were settling in, Chu Tian went to discuss the script with the mansion’s staff.
Lin Mu observed his surroundings. Aside from himself and Xu Yao, there was a couple who were also new students at Jiangling University. It seemed they had played a few times before but weren’t very skilled.
Soon, Chu Tian returned with a petite girl in tow.
"Hello, everyone. I’m Mo Mo, the host from this mansion. I’ll be overseeing your game today." She held a stack of printed scripts, a strange, eerie smile on her face. "The script you’ve chosen is called *Night of Psychic Communion*, a horror scenario."
The moment Mo Mo finished speaking, Lin Mu saw Cai Heng’s expression subtly change. A flicker of shock appeared in his eyes as he involuntarily glanced at Chu Tian.
Chu Tian’s expression remained unchanged, but his gaze was fixed on Xu Yao. Lin Mu frowned slightly. For some reason, he felt the atmosphere in this place was strange, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint why.
"This is a hardcore scenario our mansion just launched, and you’re the very first players," Mo Mo said with a laugh. "Alright, this is a seven-person script, and there are exactly seven of you. I’ll hand out the character books now."
Mo Mo took a script, glanced at the cover, and handed it to Cai Heng, then another to Qiu Ning. Just as she was about to give one to Lin Mu, he suddenly spoke up. "Can we choose for ourselves?"
Mo Mo froze for a second, then smiled. "That’s not allowed. The rules of script murder games don’t permit players to choose for themselves."
"That’s not right, is it? As long as we don’t see the contents, we should be allowed to pick our own, right?" the male half of the couple suddenly interjected, looking up.
Mo Mo’s smile stiffened slightly, and she glanced at Chu Tian.
"Mo Mo, they’re new to this. Let them choose," Chu Tian said with a grin.
"Okay then."
Mo Mo spread the scripts out on the table and said to Lin Mu, "The ones on the left are female characters, and the ones on the right are male. You can only draw from the male roles, and you mustn’t look at the other script covers."
Lin Mu nodded, casually drew one, and placed it facedown on the table.
After Lin Mu drew, Xu Yao went, followed by the couple. Chu Tian took the last script.
"Alright, everyone has their roles. Please open your scripts and familiarize yourselves with your characters. Remember to only read the first act and don’t flip ahead. We’ll officially begin the game in a moment," Mo Mo said, before stepping out of the private room.
Everyone opened their scripts and began to read. Lin Mu, however, simply sat in his chair, not looking at his script but carefully observing the others. He noticed that apart from the couple, who seemed normal, Qiu Ning appeared somewhat surprised. Cai Heng’s face grew paler, as if he had seen something terrifying, and he kept glancing at Chu Tian. Lin Mu also noted that although Chu Tian was pretending to read his script, his gaze kept wandering toward the couple, as well as toward him and Xu Yao, lingering on her for a particularly long time.
A faint smile touched his lips as Lin Mu picked up his script and pretended to read it intently.
A few minutes later, Mo Mo returned. "Has everyone finished reading? Good. Please give a brief introduction of yourselves, and then we’ll move on to the second act."
After the introductions, Mo Mo explained, "*Night of Psychic Communion* is a horror scenario. You will have to follow your individual tasks and go to specific locations to complete them." Once everyone was ready, she glanced at Lin Mu. "Homeless Man, come with me for a moment."
Lin Mu stood up, taking his script with him.
Xu Yao suddenly let out a snort of laughter. In reality, Lin Mu was a tycoon with assets in the tens of billions, yet in the game, his role was a homeless man.
Lin Mu didn’t smile. As he passed Xu Yao, he patted her shoulder. "I’m stepping out. Take care of yourself."
"Don’t worry, bro. I’ll be fine."
...
Lin Mu walked out of the private room to find the hallway pitch-dark. It was filled with various props, and haunting music played, giving the entire mansion a ghastly, chilling atmosphere.
"Don’t be afraid. Just follow me." Mo Mo’s voice echoed, sounding rather unsettling in the silent mansion.
Lin Mu wasn’t the least bit afraid. He wouldn’t be scared by fake props, and he wouldn’t be scared even if they were real. Besides, the host probably didn’t know that he could see everything perfectly in the dark. He even spotted two people hiding in a corner, apparently waiting for the right moment to give him a jump scare.
"Wait for me a second, I need to grab something," Mo Mo said before abruptly vanishing into the shadows.
A cold smile touched Lin Mu’s lips. He walked toward one of the corners without making a sound.
"What are you looking for?" Lin Mu asked, looking down at the person fumbling on the ground.
It was a woman. "I’m looking for my head," she said, her voice low and hoarse. Paired with the terrifying background music, the effect was genuinely hair-raising.
"Is this it?" Lin Mu suddenly picked up an object and handed it to her.
"Yes, that’s... AHH!" The moment she took it, she shrieked in terror.
"What’s going on?" Mo Mo’s voice rang out as the mansion’s lights flicked on. She was standing right behind Lin Mu, dressed in a white traditional costume with horrifying makeup on her face.
In the corner, a figure was curled up. She was wearing a costume prop that made her look like a headless corpse, and a bloodied head lay on the floor beside her. The head looked real at first glance, but on closer inspection, it was clearly fake.
"A Mei, what’s wrong?" Mo Mo walked over, intending to help her up.
"Get away! Don’t touch me!" A Mei forcefully shoved Mo Mo away and scrambled out of the room, shouting as she ran, "A ghost! There’s really a ghost!"
Mo Mo was stunned for a moment, her face darkening as she turned on Lin Mu. "What on earth did you do to scare her like that?"
Lin Mu shrugged. "I didn’t do anything. Who knows, maybe she has issues."
"You..." Mo Mo’s expression was foul, but she couldn’t lash out. "Alright, just go back for now. The game is about to start."
Lin Mu flashed a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. "You didn’t call me out here just to try and scare me, did you?"
"Don’t talk nonsense!" Mo Mo said, flustered. "This is a legitimate establishment. We don’t intentionally scare our players."
Lin Mu nodded and turned to head back to the private room. "So there are just the two of you working in the mansion now?" he asked suddenly.
"Yes, it’s daytime and we don’t have many players, so we don’t need a large staff," Mo Mo explained.
"I see," Lin Mu said. "But besides you two, I thought I saw someone else just now. I must have been mistaken, though."
"Another person?" Mo Mo trembled. For some reason, she suddenly felt as if a pair of unseen eyes were watching her from the darkness.
"*Night of Psychic Communion*? Interesting," Lin Mu chuckled to himself as he returned to the private room.