Trainee Ch.107

Chapter 107: Group Variety Show (Extra 7)

The undercover segment was temporarily put aside. They had only walked less than two meters into the house, far too short a distance to gather any real clues.

Besides, whether there was an undercover or not, all seven of them were huddled together—whatever scares awaited, they’d experience them equally. Being a “traitor” wouldn’t magically make you deaf to the noises or blind to the NPCs.

Everyone followed the Taoist priest through the story-driven mission. The task was standard enough: the priest needed to possess an object that had once belonged to the original owner of the house in order to perform a ritual, and—coincidentally—each item happened to be scattered in a different room.

So they split up to search—flipping through diaries, hunting for keys, solving mechanisms, opening combination locks. They did it all.

Fortunately, this haunted house wasn’t a puzzle-solving type escape room. The riddles were as simple as elementary school math problems. Otherwise, judging from how terrified and scatterbrained they were, seven people together could barely muster three functioning brains.

However, the haunted house was never going to let them off that easily.

“The final step requires retrieving a piece of jade from the master bedroom. The yin energy there is the heaviest. If you make too much noise, you’ll alarm the vengeful spirit—so only one person can go.”

So said the Taoist priest.

“……”

The atmosphere instantly plummeted to freezing point.

[A solo mission, fashionably late but finally here]

[Only 1 and 2 would dare go LOL]

[If no one else is scared, Xiao Su probably won’t be interested]

[That’s not about interest!!]

[Can we send Xiao Qu instead 👉]

[Then they might still be stuck in the haunted house when the show wraps up]

Lai Yudong looked sincerely at the Taoist priest. “Can’t you go?”

“I must remain here to protect you all,” the priest replied solemnly.

Li Xu’s mouth twitched. “Why do I feel like you’re a street scammer?”

“Don’t slander my purity!” the priest protested.

Lai Yudong, inwardly admiring how quick the NPC’s improvisation was, politely asked his teammates, “Anyone want to give it a try? If no one’s up for it, we can decide with rock-paper-scissors?”

“Don’t—don’t! Bro! I’m begging you!” Qu Xincheng stopped him in a panic, even addressing him with sudden respect.

He had no intention of gambling on that one-in-seven chance. The more you feared something, the more likely it was to happen.

“Yudong, can you go solo? You don’t seem that scared,” Bai Xuanhe said uneasily. As long as they were in a group, he could barely keep breathing—but a solo mission? He’d probably collapse on the spot.

“I don’t mind,” Lai Yudong said, exuding calm fearlessness. “But are you sure none of you want to try? Solo missions are more immersive—staying here might get boring.”

Qu Xincheng and Bai Xuanhe shouted in unison, “No need!”

“Alright then, I’ll go.”

And just like that, Lai Yudong happily earned himself the solo route.

Under the heavy gazes of his teammates, he pushed open the door. The dim hallway loomed like a gaping abyss ready to swallow him whole, and the faint beam of his flashlight barely scratched at the darkness.

A few of the more timid ones swallowed hard, their Adam’s apples bobbing like uneasy heartbeats.

[Brave little Yuzu, never afraid of hardship!]

[Help—it’s so dark]

[Honestly, staying behind seems even more dangerous]

[The only tank just left, and the one staying behind is Su Junzhe—how could that not be dangerous, lol]

[Watch the NPC show up to scare them any second now]

Before he left, Zhao Yifeng checked anxiously, “You’re really not scared?”

“Not at all.” Lai Yudong was completely composed. “I used to go to haunted houses with friends all the time. Done plenty of solo missions—most of them follow the same pattern anyway.”

This was the truth.

Partly responsibility, partly genuine lack of fear.

He wasn’t Li Xu — who’d rather suffer than lose face — and he wouldn’t pretend nothing was wrong. Real people playing ghosts didn’t faze him; at most a jumpscare would startle him briefly, but if he’d braced himself ahead of time he was hard to frighten.

There was also the matter of the mission.

As his ID card indicated, he was the organizer of this expedition — the one who had posted about the old manor on the forum and lured people there in the first place.

He’d been manipulated by the vengeful spirit to lure living people to the house. Unexpectedly, this time a meddlesome Taoist priest had shown up, and his real task was to sabotage the formation so the expedition team and that priest would be taken in one sweep.

Asking him to retrieve the jade on a solo route was, without doubt, leading wolves into the house.

Lai Yudong stepped onto the wooden floor; his pace increased by at least tenfold. His calm expression made it look as if, in the middle of the night, he’d simply woken up hungry in the dorm and was strolling to the water cooler at the end of the hall to boil water for instant noodles.

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t a true solo mission.

There was a cameraman following him and countless viewers watching the livestream.

[Bro, I’m actually really scared]

[What do I do, I can’t watch—should I switch back first?]

[If you’re a Yuzu-fan, you’d go in with Yuzu!]

[dbq, mom unfollows for five minutes..]

[Please say something, it’s so quiet my scalp’s crawling QAQ]

[Bai Xuanhe POV:]

Lai Yudong halted; the guiding candlelight stopped in front of a room. “This must be the master bedroom, right?”

He didn’t give anyone a moment to brace themselves — he simply pushed the door open.

On the table sat two identical jade pieces, placed conspicuously as if afraid a timid person wouldn’t find them. Lai Yudong aimed his flashlight, compared them carefully, and picked one up.

He had picked up the prop meant exclusively for the undercover.

According to the story setup, the vengeful spirit had left behind a fake jade piece to disrupt the ritual array—and with that unreliable Taoist’s level of skill, he probably wouldn’t notice the difference.

[Wait, why are there two items?]

[Probably to tell apart the normal players and the undercover player]

[It’s so dark I can’t even see what’s different between them]

[Yuzu can’t possibly be the mole—he’s such a good boy, he’d never harm anyone]

[Is there a chance the identity cards were drawn randomly and don’t reflect their real selves?]

[If No. 2 is the undercover, we’re doomed]

Sorry for betraying your trust—but his luck wasn’t something he could control.

Just as Lai Yudong was about to leave, a chill crept around his ankle. He glanced down—a sharp-nailed hand had closed around his leg, halting his movement.

The hand reached out from beneath the bed, which was draped in a red sheet.

“Ah—!” A long-haired NPC screamed and crawled out, face twisted into a chilling, feral grin. “Give it back! Give it back!!”

Even the cameraman flinched, his hand jerking from the scare.

[Holy crap! That jump-scare got me!]

[My heart just stopped J]

[I almost threw my phone across the room…]

[Was that meant to scare Dong-baby or us?!]

[Yuzu, could you at least react a little, lmao]

Lai Yudong silently watched the hardworking NPC perform her part, mentally estimating that the timing should be about right.

He carefully pulled his foot free. “Sorry for disturbing you—if there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now.”

With that, he turned and bolted without hesitation.

Sure enough, the NPC lunged up with a shriek, chasing after him.

Just as he’d guessed, the NPC wouldn’t go easy on him just because he was the undercover. The chase scene was unavoidable—

Even if it didn’t quite fit the plot logic, they were committed to treating every player equally.

Lai Yudong retraced his steps and, amid the team’s startled cries, dashed back into the room where they had left the door open for him.

As soon as the cameraman got inside, Lai Yudong shut the door decisively and braced his body against it. Together with Zhao Yifeng and Li Xu, he held it closed, blocking out the NPC who was pounding and screaming on the other side.

The entire process was smooth and efficient—clean, crisp, no wasted motion.

A few seconds later, the noise outside faded. The NPC had retreated.

“D-Did it… leave?” Bai Xuanhe stood frozen, too afraid to move.

“Yeah, it’s gone.” Lai Yudong lifted the fake jade in his hand. “Got it. Can we start the ritual now?”

“Of course!” The Taoist patted his chest confidently and issued the next task. “Next, we’ll all head to the starting point of the formation. Move in pairs, each group carrying one item to the next corner of the wall. Recite the incantation, and once all four corners have been filled with objects, I’ll activate the formation.”

The more Li Xu listened, the more wrong it sounded. “Wait a minute—isn’t this basically the Four Corners Game?!”

“It’s not the same,” Lai Yudong analyzed calmly. “In the Four Corners Game, once you finish the circuit, there’s one extra person at the starting point. But for us, the last pair just needs to reach the final corner and stop. There are only three segments in total—no need to loop back.”

Mo Li’s face went deathly pale. “When you say ‘fill every corner,’ does that mean we have to leave two people behind at each one?”

The Taoist nodded meaningfully. “Exactly.”

Li Xu couldn’t help but complain, “You need this many people just to help you cast one spell? What kind of useless sect are you from?”

“If he were that capable, he wouldn’t need us to fetch the item,” Su Junzhe said with an easy smile.

[Oh my god, doesn’t this mean fewer and fewer people as they go?]

[The last pair’s gonna suffer the most]

[And one person still has to pair up with the Taoist]

[Teaming up with an NPC is creepy enough already]

[Isn’t the scariest option actually pairing with Xiao Qu 😭]

[Might as well make the crown prince team up with the Taoist, lol]

Qu Xincheng raised his hand weakly. “Can’t four people go together?”

The Taoist mercilessly rejected the idea. “There is ghostly energy among you. If it mixes in, the formation will surely fail. Only in pairs can you properly monitor one another.”

“If the teammate is the ghost, monitoring won’t help,” Zhao Yifeng pointed out the flaw in the logic. “If they decide to act, we can’t stop them anyway. If all eight of us go, that guarantees the ghost is included—but with four, at least there’s a chance they’re not.”

The Taoist remained unmoved, standing firm by the game’s rules. “This setup ensures you can provide immediate support to your teammates.”

“Zhao Yifeng,” Li Xu said, giving him a suspicious once-over. “You’re not the undercover, are you?”

Zhao Yifeng gave him a lazy glance. “If I were the undercover, I’d rename myself Zhao Hongfeng.”

Li Xu: “……”

There was no recovering from that pun.

Lai Yudong quickly jumped in—not to attack, but to help Zhao Yifeng. “Now’s probably not the best time to step on someone like that. Feels a bit weird.”

Li Xu blinked in surprise. “Wait—you think I’m the undercover?”

Lai Yudong looked completely innocent. “No, but I’m worried others might think so. Usually it’s the wolf who starts accusing people first, right?”

“Tch, fair point.”

[Yuzu’s right—Hong, maybe cool it a little]

[First rule out Yuzu]

[No. 2’s definitely a good guy; my guess is between 4 and 7]

[Brother Zhao’s line sounded like genuine confusion to me]

[I don’t think Hong’s the ghost—he’s blunt, says whatever he thinks]

[Still rooting for Su]

At that moment, Lai Yudong felt he’d reached the peak of his acting career.

Every line he’d spoken was technically the truth. He hadn’t stirred up suspicion or accused anyone; instead, he’d smoothly taken himself out of the line of fire.

Having a clear role really did make all the difference.

With that settled, it was time to form the teams.

“I can pair with you, right?” Qu Xincheng clutched his roommate’s sleeve pitifully, as if holding on to his last lifeline.

Lai Yudong was just about to agree when Bai Xuanhe grabbed his other sleeve. “Let’s team up instead!”

Lai Yudong looked left and right, visibly torn. “How about… you two pair up?”

Qu Xincheng: “No! I’ll die!”

Bai Xuanhe: “Nooo—!”

The tug-of-war over the undercover was abruptly ended by Mo Li, who proposed a fairer method — pairings decided by black and white cards.

“Let me make this clear first,” Mo Li stressed. “No matter the outcome, you must accept it. No swapping or reassigning partners afterward.”

A few minutes later, certain people deeply regretted agreeing so quickly.

Because the results were —

Lai Yudong and Su Junzhe,

Bai Xuanhe and Qu Xincheng,

Mo Li and Li Xu,

Zhao Yifeng and the Taoist.

[I’m losing it 💀]

[The God of Variety Shows has descended]

[They grouped the brave and the timid together—efficient internal processing lmao]

[I was just about to say Brother Feng’s got guts, but he ended up paired with the NPC 😭]

[Drag Prophet Yuzu out and stab him (affectionately)]

“What—?” Bai Xuanhe stared blankly at the back of his hand, which matched Qu Xincheng’s. He couldn’t believe something this dramatic had happened to him.

Qu Xincheng muttered in despair, “It’s over…”

Su Junzhe couldn’t stop laughing behind his hand. “You agreed earlier—no switching now.”

[Su’s laughing way too happily—if he’s not the ghost, I don’t buy it]

[Su’s just a cheerful little boy 😊]

[StarEpoch, go forth in peace (no mercy)]

—————————————————————

Author’s Note:

Info Drop —

Hogwarts Houses:

Su Junzhe (Slytherin)

Lai Yudong (Ravenclaw)

Mo Li (Hufflepuff)

Zhao Yifeng (Slytherin)

Qu Xincheng (Hufflepuff)

Bai Xuanhe (Gryffindor)

Li Xu (Gryffindor)

<< _ >>