Yan and Zhu Jue pulled Zhuo Si out of the coffin.
The expressions on their faces were indescribable, and Zhuo Si looked at them as if they were long-lost family.
Tears and snot streaming down his face, he shakily reached out a hand. "Thank you both."
By now, Zhuo Si had recalled meeting them—though they had only crossed paths twice before, he still didn’t know the names of these two saviors.
Last week, they had been with Master Tu, but he had no idea about the background of this young couple in front of him.
Yan studied Zhuo Si—his current state could only be described as utterly disheveled.
Even after being dragged out of the coffin, his legs were still weak, his whole body limp.
At the moment, Zhu Jue was helping him remove the wedding dress he was wearing, but Yan had been struggling with the knots for a while without success.
She couldn’t help but sigh in frustration. "Jia Jia, who’s around? How was this dress even put on?"
Zhuo Si suddenly jerked his head up. Who was she calling? And who was she talking to?
He felt as if an invisible hand was helping him out of the garment.
Zhu Jue pulled a tissue from his pocket and handed it over. "Here, wipe yourself off."
"Thank you." Zhuo Si repeatedly expressed his gratitude, cleaning his disheveled appearance while still shaken.
As he wiped his face, he tilted his head slightly and saw an ancient tree looming over the "coffin."
It was the same tree he had noticed when he first entered this courtyard!
Yan eyed the custom-made coffin-bed of this haunted house and clicked her tongue. Then she glanced at the carefully prepared burial spot beneath the tree. Even though they hadn’t experienced it themselves, they could imagine the horror.
Well, what else could you expect from something ghosts came up with?
"Where should we put the wedding dress? Does it need washing?" Yan examined the blood-red wedding dress Zhuo Si had just taken off. It looked identical to the one Li had been wearing earlier—oversized, likely meant for the immersive participants of this haunted house experience.
Zhuo Si tensed up. Who? Who on earth was she talking to?
Then, right before his eyes, the wedding dress in her hands seemed to be snatched away by a ghost. Since he couldn’t see anything else, the blood-red dress appeared to float away on its own.
Zhuo Si’s face twisted in horror. "Y-you… you’re talking to ghosts?"
Yan noticed the black donkey hoof and white glutinous rice peeking out from his pocket and twitched her lips.
"If you’re so scared of ghosts, why did you come here? And why bring all this gear? There aren’t even any zombies!"
She rubbed her temples and called out, "Jia Jia, what’s the protocol for handling him?"
Hearing this, Zhuo Si shuddered. Were they about to "handle" him?
"Liability depends on whether he trespassed or just wandered in by accident. Hypnotic memory erasure and psychological counseling."
This time, Zhuo Si finally saw a black umbrella drifting eerily toward them, accompanied by a crisp voice.
"I’m fine! I don’t need hypnosis! I won’t say a word about any of this!" Zhuo Si blurted out in rapid succession.
His mission—he couldn’t afford to lose his memories! Though he had some anti-hypnosis techniques, they might not hold up against truly supernatural forces. And under hypnosis, he couldn’t risk exposing his secrets…
"What exactly do you know?" Yan asked.
Zhuo Si hesitated. Truthfully, he didn’t know much at all.
He stammered, "The rumors about Xue Family Alley being haunted are true. There’s a courtyard with a child ghost, and this one… probably has the spirit of a woman who was forced into marriage and buried alive a century ago."
That was all he had experienced and all he knew.
"So, how was the plot of this segment? How was the immersion?" The invisible ghost girl spoke again.
Zhuo Si froze. "Wait, what do you mean? What plot? What immersion?"
He rubbed his eyes with the tissue and looked again—the black umbrella was still hovering in midair.
His mind was already in a daze when the girl beside him spoke. "This is the Haunted House Project Incubation Hub."
Haunted house. Project. Incubation. Hub.
Zhuo Si repeated the words in his head, each one sounding more absurd than the last.
"So… is there a green screen here? Or am I blind? Was what I just went through real or fake?"
He was utterly bewildered, his gaze vacant.
"To put it simply, the ghosts you saw are real. What you experienced… was a test run of the haunted house’s immersive program," Yan explained plainly.
"You could say you accidentally wandered into a haunted house that’s still in testing—not open to the public, but with actual ghosts inside."
Zhuo Si understood, but it still felt unbelievable.
He had come here on a mission. So, the supernatural rumors were actually the work of this haunted house?
"I get it," he said slowly.
"Great! Since you understand, could you give us some feedback? Even though you trespassed, we’ll let it slide since you’re the first test participant," the little ghost girl, He Jiajia, chimed in.
Zhuo Si: "…"
"The plot was… classic. The horror level might be a bit too intense, though," he forced out.
"Being dressed in a wedding gown and buried alive in a coffin… someone with weaker nerves might just drop dead."
"You missed so many of the traps! And you only explored a tiny part of the area," He Jiajia lamented.
The entire haunted house hub’s ghostly staff had been thrilled to hear someone had wandered in—only to find out he was such a lightweight that they sent him straight to the core experience zone.
Zhuo Si’s face went blank. More traps… He didn’t even want to ask what else was in store.
At this point, talking to thin air didn’t even make him question his sanity anymore.
"Here, have some water to calm down," Zhu Jue said, noticing his state. He pulled out a bottled tea drink they had gotten as a freebie from a restaurant earlier.
Just then, Yan spotted He Xing and Ding Ling returning with takeout bags piled high.
"The food’s here. Jia Jia, where do you all want to eat?" Yan asked.
"Over here! Wow, that’s a lot! Ling, this is way too much," He Jiajia exclaimed, eyeing the massive bags in Ding Ling’s hands.
Ding Ling pointed at He Xing. "She’s the one who bought it all."
Zhuo Si took a sip of the tea, the faint herbal bitterness mixing with the tea flavor oddly refreshing.
He watched as these people moved around the haunted house with complete ease, even setting the takeout containers right in front of the coffin.
He still had a deep-seated fear of that coffin.
"Um… who exactly are you people?" Zhuo Si finally couldn’t hold back the question.
He couldn’t see the ghosts—only the floating black umbrella. As for the female ghost that had appeared in the mirror earlier, he had no clue what that was about.
But this girl named Yan? Not only could she see them, but she could also converse with them, knew their names, and was even familiar with the "Xue Family Alley Haunted House Incubation Hub"!
She was clearly an insider.
Hearing his question, Yan rubbed her chin and exchanged a glance with Zhu Jue.
"Us? Just ordinary people."
"It’s just that this place… isn’t very ordinary," she said matter-of-factly.
"Ordinary people wouldn’t come here, right?" Zhuo Si couldn’t help but mutter. What kind of ordinary person could see ghosts, casually chat with them, or even fish someone out of a coffin?
"Aren’t you one too?" Yan retorted.
Zhuo Si was momentarily speechless, unsure how to respond.
"I came today because I have friends here," Zhu Jue said.
This time, Zhuo Si kept his complaints to himself: What kind of sane person befriends ghosts?!
"So, about all those rumors online—the ones about Xue Family Alley scaring off developers—are they true or not? Or is it just… ghosts here running a business?" Zhuo Si couldn’t resist asking further.
"They used to be true, and they still are in a way. But now, it’s more about experimental arrangements," Yan explained, sharing what she’d recently learned.
Just then, Zhuo Si watched as takeout boxes were opened one by one. A female ghost holding a black umbrella seemed to step inside before swiftly bringing out a large incense burner.
The courtyard gate was wide open, and Zhuo Si suddenly felt an inexplicable crowding around him. The incense burner now rested in the hands of a pale-skinned girl.
The umbrella-holding ghost spoke to her: "Sister Ling, sorry to trouble you."
Ding Ling nodded at the young couple and pulled He Xing over.
While the living could eat directly, ghosts needed incense as a medium to consume human food.
For Ding Ling, this wasn’t necessary, but for ordinary ghosts, incense specifically dedicated to them was required to "eat."
He Xing eyed the incense burner. "Where’s the incense? Should I fetch some?"
"No need," Ding Ling said.
With a flick of her finger, she condensed yin energy, using her own aura as a guide and blending it with a trace of He Xing’s essence. Without any flame, a stick of incense materialized.
Zhuo Si stared in disbelief as the incense appeared out of thin air and began emitting delicate wisps of smoke.
"Physics has been overturned," he muttered, his eyes glazed over.
He Jiajia burst out laughing. "This is called a Ghost Banquet. Everyone can partake. Thank you, Sister Ling, and thank you, miss."
In typical temple or Taoist rituals where food is offered to wandering spirits, ghosts often fight over the incense because it lacks a specific recipient.
But this special incense was conjured from a ghost king’s yin energy, with a clear hierarchy among the spirits, allowing them all to share in the feast.
Yan watched the surreal scene unfold. Unlike humans, the ghosts "ate" by inhaling—each takeout box had tendrils of smoke, and with each breath, they savored the meal.
It was a spectacle that defied imagination.
Especially since… they were feasting right in front of the coffin. Though Zhuo Si couldn’t see the ghosts, his face grew increasingly pale as he imagined them "dining" where he’d just been trapped. The thought alone made him feel suffocated.
Because of Zhuo Si’s misadventure, Yan and her three companions skipped the haunted house experience.
Honestly, after seeing Zhuo Si locked inside the coffin, Yan wasn’t too keen on trying it either—it was genuinely unsettling.
"Our horror level might get us complaints once we open," she tactfully remarked to He Jiajia.
"But this is the core zone. Sister Li said only those who clear the outer areas—the real daredevils—get to progress further. We’ll have safety disclaimers, emergency medical teams on standby, and everyone will wear monitors," He Jiajia explained.
Listening nearby, Zhuo Si nearly cried. Just hearing about all these precautions made him wish he’d come later—today’s ordeal had been a brutal, unprepared plunge into the deepest horror right from the start.
At 3 p.m., Yan’s group left with Zhuo Si, who had signed an NDA, and dropped him off at a subway station.
With He Xing and Ding Ling around, Yan and Zhu Jue couldn’t speak privately until they returned to campus. Holding hands during their evening stroll, they finally had a chance to whisper.
"Zhu Jue, Zhuo Si said he came out of curiosity today, but he was so prepared—and he’s not a streamer. I think he’s here because of the ‘halo,’" Yan poked Zhu Jue as she spoke.
Zhu Jue nodded. "I agree. He even asked if the Xue Family Alley rumors were true."
"So, this ‘halo’ literally means he’s an intern investigating the supernatural? Doesn’t seem like a great perk—more like a hazard," Yan concluded.
If they hadn’t returned in time, she wondered if Zhuo Si would’ve been traumatized for life.
"He doesn’t strike me as particularly brave," Yan added.
"Interns can get promoted or fired. Not sure if ‘halo-level’ interns can quit, though," Zhu Jue mused.
Yan thought about Zhuo Si’s reckless dabbling in occult rituals. He seemed like the type to dance on the edge of danger.
"Someone who actively seeks thrills like him probably won’t resign," she said after a pause.
Meanwhile, back at his shop after scrubbing himself with pomelo-leaf water, Zhuo Si stepped out again.
His store was still closed, but he headed to another shop down the street.
To make a good impression on Master Tu, Zhuo Si had changed into traditional Chinese attire—so much so that when he entered, Master Tu nearly spat out his tea.
"You’re… Xiao Zhuo? What brings you here? Switching careers? Done with Western astrology and magic, going full Eastern mysticism now?" Master Tu asked.
"Master Tu," Zhuo Si greeted, presenting a box of internet-famous pastries he'd picked up on the way.
"I’m considering it," he answered vaguely.
"Good, good. We Chinese ought to learn our ancestors’ ways. After all, when we’re six feet under, it’s our own system that’ll handle us," Master Tu chuckled.
After some small talk, Zhuo Si brought up the young couple. Master Tu wasn’t surprised but hesitated when asked who they were.
"They’re my young friends, studying at Bin University. Why?" Master Tu replied cautiously.
Yan and Zhu Jue had been introduced to him by a fellow practitioner in the capital, and they’d since become acquaintances.
That they’d crossed paths with Zhuo Si didn’t shock him—last week, after shopping here, the couple mentioned exploring other quirky stores.
Zhuo Si scratched his head. "They helped me out big time. I’m thinking of how to thank them." Saying they’d saved his life sounded too dramatic, and today’s events were impossible to explain.
Master Tu simply said, "Oh," and didn’t pry. Instead, he joked, "Why not browse my shop?"
"Xiao Zhuo, I don’t know much about your usual stuff, but items for protection, health, or academic success make safe gifts."
Zhuo Si stayed at Master Tu's place for quite a while but still couldn’t pry out the true identities of the young couple, Yan and Zhu Jue. No matter how he asked, the answer remained the same—just ordinary college students.
Ordinary college students?
Who would believe that!
Was it because their identities were special and couldn’t be disclosed?
That night, as soon as Zhuo Si closed his eyes, his mind replayed his experiences in Xue Family Alley. It took him forever to finally drift into a hazy sleep. The next morning, he woke up to find another letter by his bedside.
[Occult Intern: Zhuo Si]
[You have completed your first trial: Xue Family Alley.]
[Though the truth behind this anomaly is startling, congratulations on surviving.]
[You may choose to become a full-fledged Occult Investigator within seven days by signing the formalization letter. Failure to sign within this period will be considered a forfeit.]
For the entire week, Zhuo Si stared at his formalization letter, wrestling with unprecedented hesitation.
Meanwhile, at Bin University, Yan was having lunch in the cafeteria with Lin Anran.
"So, Anran, you’re now an auditing student at Bin University?" Yan asked her "honorary goddaughter."
"Yes," Lin Anran confirmed, stopping herself from almost blurting out "Godmother."
The previous week, because that person had started commuting, she’d been secretly following him morning and night to prevent him from saving someone on the subway and getting entangled again. It was exhausting—like being a private detective—especially since that person had such sharp anti-surveillance skills. She suspected he’d already noticed her.
So now, she decided to drop the act and openly attend lectures as an auditing student under his name.
Lin Anran: Staring intensely.jpg
She was going to keep a close eye on him—watching for any shady moves or behavior that would betray her mother!
