Noticing Song Yi's complex expression, Murong Huan patted her shoulder and asked, "What are you looking at?"
To preserve Jiang Yiheng's "impressive" image in Murong Huan's mind, Song Yi chose to remain silent and shook her head with deep regret.
Hang Feng said, "Alright, let's continue moving forward."
The five of them walked ahead together.
Along the way, they encountered many staff members dressed as ghosts, but thanks to Song Yi's presence, the horrifying atmosphere was significantly diminished.
As they were about to exit the woods, they came across a fork in the road.
A female ghost in a white dress smiled at them and said, "Congratulations, you're just one step away from completing the challenge. Now only the final task remains."
Just as the female ghost finished speaking, footsteps were heard from behind.
Song Yi looked back and saw that Jiang Yiheng's group had arrived as well.
Unlike their previous arrogance, the members of his group now showed unmistakable fear when facing Song Yi.
The female ghost said, "What a coincidence, another group has arrived. There are two paths, left and right, each with different tasks. You can choose together."
Shen Yujing frowned and asked, "Are there any hints?"
The female ghost shook her head.
Song Yi looked at Jiang Yiheng and asked, "Which path will you take?"
Jiang Yiheng replied, "Ladies first."
Song Yi turned to Hang Feng, "You choose."
Hang Feng casually pointed, "Left."
Song Yi nodded, "Fine, then we'll take the right."
Hang Feng: "?"
Song Yi's reasoning was that in her memory, Hang Feng, being the antagonist, had always had bad luck, so she decided to do the opposite of his choice.
Since Song Yi's group chose the right path, Jiang Yiheng's group naturally took the left one.
As both teams were about to enter their chosen paths, Murong Huan suddenly looked at Jiang Yiheng's retreating figure and, after much hesitation, called out, "Jiang Yiheng!"
Jiang Yiheng paused but didn't turn around, then continued walking forward.
Murong Huan stood still and whispered, "Jiang Yiheng, happy birthday."
After saying this, she took Song Yi's hand and walked down the right path.
Song Yi asked with surprise, "It's Jiang Yiheng's birthday today? How come there wasn't any commotion about it?"
Given Jiang Yiheng's popularity, if it were his birthday, there should have been reactions both on the forum and among the girls around them.
Murong Huan explained, "The birthday on his ID card is different from his actual birthday by several months."
Song Yi nodded thoughtfully. Murong Huan knew so much about him, truly befitting her role as his fiancée.
Song Yi didn't dwell too much on this matter and continued walking alongside Murong Huan, holding up her flashlight.
But soon, they encountered someone.
Yes, a person.
A completely normal person without any ghost or demon special effects makeup, unlike everyone else they had met along the way.
The person waved at them, "Over here!"
When they got closer, the person revealed their identity, "Hello, I'm a staff member here. Congratulations, you're the first group today that's about to complete the challenge."
Shen Yujing: "Get to the point, or we'll end up being second."
Shen Yujing was quite anxious, worried that Jiang Yiheng might overtake them.
The staff member smiled and said, "Don't worry, let me congratulate you again because you've chosen the correct path."
Song Yi detected something in his words and asked, "So what do these two paths mean?"
The staff member continued explaining, "Between the left and right paths, those who chose the left continue towards completion, while those who chose the right must dress up as ghosts to scare the people who took the left path. If the people on the left path persist and complete the challenge successfully, they win. If the people from the right path succeed in scaring them away, they win."
"I get it," Shen Yujing suddenly became excited, "We have to scare Jiang Yiheng and his group!"
Song Yi nodded, confirming, "That's right."
The staff member pointed to a temporary small house not far away, "There are many props in there that you can freely choose from. They will arrive here in twenty minutes."
Everyone thought this task was much more interesting than just walking through the forest encountering ghosts, except for Hang Feng.
He was truly exhausted.
What should have been a simple task had dragged on until now, constantly changing in nature.
But... he also wanted to win first place.
*
Inside the house.
Props were densely packed on both the tables and walls.
There were toy tongues, various blood-stained clothes, different wigs, fake blood bags.
There were also various fake weapons and props, and even food items.
Shen Yujing wasn't impressed with these items, "I expected something better, these don't look professional at all."
He stood aside with his arms crossed, clearly having lost interest in the matter.
"How professional do you want it to be?" Song Yi used reverse psychology on him, "Could it be that you know you don't have the ability to scare them away, so you're using the inadequate props as an excuse to back out?"
Sure enough, Shen Yujing fell for it.
He sneered, "Don't look down on me. Jiang Yiheng? I could scare ten of him with ease!"
Murong Huan became displeased, "Watch how you talk! Jiang Yiheng is far more outstanding than you in every way."
Shen Yujing: "I don't want to argue with you, let's let the results speak for themselves."
Ten minutes passed.
Everyone had changed into different disguises, except for Murong Huan.
Quan Le complained, "Why aren't you getting ready? Don't tell me you're deliberately holding back because you're afraid of scaring Jiang Yiheng?"
Shen Yujing chimed in, "Exactly!"
To defend Jiang Yiheng's dignity, Murong Huan immediately grabbed a bloody dress in front of her.
She would put her heart into the disguise and become the most terrifying sight!
Only in such circumstances would Jiang Yiheng not be scared, proving his bravery!
Murong Huan was very serious and worked hard, so her final appearance was more frightening than the other four.
The floating strands of hair in the air, the pale lips, and the blood-stained baby doll model visible through the torn bloody dress.
Shen Yujing stepped back and couldn't help but exclaim, "Good grief!"
Quan Le closed his eyes and clasped his hands together, "Stay away from me, Amitabha."
Murong Huan snorted coldly, holding the baby doll model as she went to look in a mirror nearby, startling herself.
It seemed... really scary.
But that's fine! This was exactly the effect she wanted!
Only when it's frightening enough, when everyone else runs away in panic, will Jiang Yiheng stand alone calmly, looking at her with those cool eyes.
Thinking of this scene, Murong Huan couldn't help but feel her heart rate increase.
This was the biggest reason why she loved Jiang Yiheng.
His intelligence beyond his peers, his ability to remain unmoved even when facing great adversity, always mature and calm.
From childhood to now, no matter what happened, as long as she could be by his side, Murong Huan would feel completely safe.
Looking at Murong Huan's current appearance, and thinking about what she had seen earlier...
No, no, no, she must have misunderstood.
Shen Yujing was purely mentally disturbed, and Hang Feng had some psychological issues too. As one of the few normal people in this book, he must surely continue to maintain his composure!
Murong Huan's current disguise was undoubtedly the best in terms of "horror" for the entire evening, and Song Yi placed great hopes in her.
It didn't matter if they couldn't scare Jiang Yiheng; as long as they frightened one of his teammates into pressing the red button on their wrist, they would win.
With five minutes left and nothing else to do, Song Yi wandered around the house.
Soon she discovered a prop - a model birthday cake.
But on the cake, there was a red button and a green button.
Pressing the red button would light up all the candles on the cake and automatically play the birthday song.
This caught everyone's attention.
Especially Shen Yujing, who curiously approached and pressed the green button.
In that instant, the cake model's shell opened up, and a "human head" suddenly popped out.
The strong visual impact scared Shen Yujing, who had been squatting, so badly that he fell backward onto his bottom, a scream caught in his throat that he barely managed to suppress.
He patted his chest, startling me.
Song Yi: "Are you afraid of ghosts?"
Shen Yujing: "?"
This wasn't about whether he was afraid of ghosts or not - any normal person would be startled, right?
To prove this was a normal reaction and not fear of ghosts, Shen Yujing took the cake and tried the same thing on Hang Feng.
Hang Feng stared at the popping head for three seconds before silently averting his gaze.
Still not satisfied, Shen Yujing took it to find Quan Le.
When Quan Le let out a scream, Shen Yujing waved the cake at Song Yi and asked smugly, "See that?"
Song Yi couldn't be bothered to respond, and just then the staff outside called out: "Are you all ready? They're coming!"
A group of people hurried outside.
Song Yi snatched the cake back from Shen Yujing, restored it to its original state, and followed them.
According to their previously agreed order, they would appear based on horror level rankings.
When Hang Feng, Quan Le, and Shen Yujing took their turns to appear but Jiang Yiheng's group remained unmoved, Shen Yujing got angry.
He directly blocked their path, "Can you at least show some reaction?"
Jiang Yiheng spoke calmly, "Shen Yujing, move aside."
Shen Yujing was puzzled, "I covered my face, how did you know it was me?"
Jiang Yiheng's student council follower couldn't hold back anymore, "Shen Yujing, your singing is really distinctively terrible."
Murong Huan nodded in agreement beside Song Yi, and explained to her, "You don't know, but his singing is seriously off-key. Yet he confidently performs at every school event. The girls who like him and the boys who fear him blindly praise him, so he's never realized this problem."
Song Yi shook her head sympathetically, thinking how pitiful Shen Yujing was, living in a web of lies, unable to see his true self.
Just as Shen Yujing was about to argue back three hundred rounds, he saw Song Yi waving at him, gesturing him to come back.
After a moment's hesitation, Shen Yujing stepped aside to let Jiang Yiheng and his group pass.
A while later, it was Song Yi's turn.
At the next intersection, she sat with her back to everyone, holding her cake.
Jiang Yiheng and his group members stopped.
Someone gathered the courage to ask, "So what kind of ghost are you supposed to be?"
Song Yi stood up holding the cake, giggled "hehe" twice, and said, "I'm nothing like them, those fake imposters who dare to make fools of themselves here."
Someone caught the key point in Song Yi's words and said disdainfully, "Aren't you all just playing pretend? What makes you any different? Come on, what's your trick?"
Song Yi walked up to them, speaking in a low voice, "I'm a real ghost. I'll give you a chance - trade your life with me, and I can give you anything you want."
As Song Yi spoke, the weather cooperated perfectly with a gust of wind that made the leaves rustle in the woods, adding to the horror atmosphere.
Someone rubbed their arms and cursed, "Damn, staying in this creepy place for too long really gets scary at night."
Another person comforted him, "I can see the gate up ahead, it's almost over."
Seeing them start to chat casually, Song Yi suddenly raised her voice several pitches higher, making it sharp and piercing, "Who gave you permission to ignore me! Looks like I need to teach you a lesson!"
Someone seemed interested and asked, "You say you're a ghost, can you prove it?"
Song Yi looked at Jiang Yiheng, suddenly raised the cake in her hands, smiled eerily, and said in a creepy voice, "Happy birthday... hehe..."
Song Yi pressed the red button, and the birthday candles lit up, playing a light and cheerful birthday song.
"Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~"
The student council member said scornfully, "Our Brother Jiang's birthday isn't for another three months. You claim to be a ghost but don't even know that."
Another chimed in, "This is hilarious. You could find out Brother Jiang's birthday just by posting on our school forum."
But Jiang Yiheng slowly raised his head, his voice carrying an unusual gravity, "Today is my birthday."
However, no more than five people knew this fact.
Jiang Yiheng's words instantly froze the atmosphere.
Jiang Yiheng looked up at the female ghost before him. She wore a mask so he couldn't see her face, but he was certain it wasn't Murong Huan.
Besides her, only his parents and his deceased grandparents knew about this.
Jiang Yiheng asked, "Who are you really?"
Song Yi held up the cake, "Press this green button, and you'll know the answer."
Without hesitation, Jiang Yiheng raised his hand and pressed the green button.
The next second, the model cake opened again, the head popped out, and the music instantly changed from the birthday song to something terrifying.
The boys standing in front of Song Yi were clearly frightened, with screams ringing out one after another. Someone even jumped two meters away in fear.
"Holy shit, what is that? Scared the hell out of me!"
"This is seriously messed up, when will the school stop with this stuff?"
Some slightly calmer ones said, "Come on, you guys are such cowards. It's just a fake head model, why are you so scared? Look at our Brother Jiang, now that's what you call composure! So cool!"
Another person immediately started flattering Jiang Yiheng, "How can anyone compare to our Brother Jiang? Without this kind of composure and courage, how could he have led our student council to where it is today?"
As he spoke, he patted Jiang Yiheng's shoulder, saying, "Alright, Brother Jiang, let's not bother with this female ghost. Let's go..."
"Ah?! Brother Jiang! What's wrong, Brother Jiang!"
"Someone come quick! Jiang Yiheng has fainted!!!"
