Adventure

"Once, five people rented a yacht and headed out to sea to visit an island."

"After arriving at the destination, everyone was filming videos to document their lives, only to discover that there was one extra person in the footage."

"To everyone's horror, that person turned out to be a classmate who had died years ago!"

"Hold on!"

Tang Keke's voice suddenly cut off An Shiyu's words. "Who tells ghost stories in the middle of the night? Not listening to that!"

"Who stops a ghost story halfway through?" As An Shiyu spoke, she also noticed several of the girls huddled together, looking like they wanted to listen but were too scared to.

"Actually, one of us really is an extra person. Haven't you all noticed?" She suddenly said with a mischievous streak.

The moment An Shiyu's words landed, a strange cold breeze blew in, making everyone shiver involuntarily. And just then, Tang Keke suddenly noticed a pale white hand reaching out from behind her—

"Eek?!"

The moment Tang Keke screamed, the shock made Zhixia and the others jump.

"The ghost story hasn't even started yet." A voice came from behind. Tang Keke spun around and saw Anshi Yi.

"How could you do that?!" Keke immediately turned red with anger.

"Hey, I didn't really do anything."

Tang Keke launched a flurry of little punches, but Anshi Yi dodged them with ease.

"If you don't want to hear ghost stories, that's fine. Actually, we went and set up something fun this afternoon," Anshi Yi said. "How about a little activity to test your nerves?"

"What kind of fun thing?" Tang Keke had a bad feeling about this.

"See that patch of woods over there? We buried a prize at the deepest point. How about we split into groups and go explore it? Whoever gets the prize wins."

As she spoke, An Shiyu pulled out a bamboo tube for drawing lots. "Well, no time to waste. Let's get started."

"We never said we'd join!" Tang Keke immediately complained.

"It does sound kind of interesting, but is there any danger in there?" Zhixia asked at that point.

Late at night, if there were wild snakes or something, wouldn't that be risky?

"No need to worry about that. If you really run into trouble, just find a safe corner and lie down," Anshi Yi said.

"Lie down? Why?"

"So your body doesn't rot as fast."

"..."

"This isn't a no-man's-land. That patch of trees might look dark, but there's nothing wrong with it," Chen Hai also said. After all, how dangerous could it be with people living nearby?

"But in the middle of the night, do we really want to do this?" Ye Shuang glanced over.

"Let's do it. Didn't An Shiyu set up a prize in there?" Zhixia said too. "Seems like a waste of her effort if we don't play."

"True." Linlin agreed.

"It's fine. I've caught snakes before." Taozi said as well.

In the end, after a vote, it seemed that everyone agreed except Keke and Ducky.

"Since that's decided, let's split into groups like Little Yu said."

"Come on." An Shiyu shook the bamboo tube in her hand.

"Wait, there's no trick to the order, right?" Tang Keke asked, because An Shiyu cheating wasn't exactly a rare occurrence. Keke didn't believe the drawing tube had no rigged mechanism.

"No tricks. Draw whatever you want."

"I think you're lying to me. There's definitely something rigged inside," Tang Keke said.

"It's not a King's Game. What would be the benefit of rigging it?" An Shiyu raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm, that's kind of true." Tang Keke thought about it. Yeah, what would it change who was grouped with whom?

"Since that's the case, how about Little Yu and Xiaoyi be the judges? After all, you two know where the prize is." Ye Shuang said at this point.

An Shiyu and Anshi Yi hadn't expected Ye Shuang to suggest that, but they didn't seem to mind. They simply shrugged.

"Fine."

"Come draw your lots!"

Finally, Ye Shuang and the others started grouping up.

"No. 3." Ye Shuang checked hers, while Bai Yuyou beside her held the No. 1 lot.

The final grouping was settled: Bai Yuyou was with Zhixia, Linlin, and Duoduo; Taozi was with Chen Hai and Yezi; Ye Shuang was with Keke and Ducky. The two Fis went ahead to the finish line as judges.

Ye Shuang's group was basically the two scaredy-cats.

Watching Keke and Ducky sneak peeks into the forest from both sides, Ye Shuang asked, "You guys okay? It's not that scary, right? We haven't even gone in yet."

"We're not scared!"

"Yeah, no way!"

Ducky even held up a camera. "I can record video too!"

"Really now." Ye Shuang couldn't help but smile. Seeing the two bluffing cowards was quite entertaining.

"Enter from these three spots respectively. There are some little surprises inside, so don't get spooked," Anshi Yi said, then walked in with An Shiyu, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

"We'll head off now."

"Let's go!"

Everyone's voices sounded fairly cheerful, and then Ye Shuang led Keke and Ducky inside as well.

"S-should be fine, right?"

Just as they stepped into the woods, Ducky looked left and right, her tall figure cowering next to Ye Shuang, afraid of getting lost.

"It's fine. Just a bit dark." Tang Keke whispered too. The mere sound of stepping on a twig made her flinch.

"No worries. If you just treat it like an ordinary night walk, you'll be fine," Ye Shuang said, trying to comfort the two.

If you want to talk about terrifying, An's weirdo grandma from back home was way scarier than this.

The three continued deeper into the woods. They could still hear the voices of the other groups at first, but due to the different directions, the sounds gradually faded until they couldn't make them out anymore.

"How far is it? We've been walking for five or six minutes already." Tang Keke muttered, though her nerves were starting to settle.

"Probably another ten minutes or so." Ye Shuang smiled.

"Hmph, always pulling these stunts. I won't be scared," Tang Keke even started getting cocky, crossing her arms and looking around. "You know, the moon looks pretty nice tonight."

"It does." Ducky wasn't scared anymore either, holding up her camera to shoot the night scene. Apparently, there was less light pollution here, so quite a few stars could be seen.

At that moment, the quiet woods were filled only with the sound of cicadas and the rustling footsteps of Ye Shuang and the others.

"Didn't they say there would be surprises?" Tang Keke shone her phone flashlight around. "They're really just bluffers. What's so scary..."

The next second, Keke's flashlight caught a dark shadow under a tree. But when she looked again, the shadow had vanished.

"W-what was that?"