He didn't know how much time had passed. The scene above kept changing, and rows of wooden racks flew by on both sides. John finally saw Jin Zhenghan in the corner of one of the mine shaft compartments, and what he saw left him utterly shaken.

Jin Zhenghan was tightly embracing a tall figure, seemingly a haunted house staff member, dressed as a butcher. The three-meter-tall burly Fishman looked like a small mountain from afar.

"I'm here to find you."

"Don't be afraid; I'll take you away. I am, after all, the leader of the Explorer Team."

"Say something... say something..."

Jin Zhenghan's voice was vague and sticky. John, through fragmented and indistinct sounds, vaguely discerned what the other party was saying, and a shiver ran down his spine.

Is this guy insane?

How could the girl from their team possibly appear here?

Luckily, they finally saw a living person here, and now they could escape this suffocating place.

He greeted the butcher-dressed staff member, but the other party slowly turned around, with eyes abnormally scarlet.

John's face froze into a horrified expression as he watched the Fishman butcher raise the chainsaw high and saw off Jin Zhenghan's entire arm.

The violent buzzing of the chainsaw echoed in the depths of the mineshaft, with flesh and blood flying off the rapidly spinning chain, and dark green pus splattered all over the stone wall.

Jin Zhenghan let out a painful wail, his face covered in snot and tears, crawling towards the Fishman butcher again, an eerie smile on his lips.

John couldn't care about much else and rushed forward, grabbing Jin Zhenghan, who still wanted to embrace the Fishman butcher, and pulled him out from under the chainsaw, then madly sprinted towards the outside of the mine shaft.

Something's wrong, something's wrong!

John's inner alarm bells were ringing loudly, hearing the heavy breathing and the wild spinning of the saw blade from behind, the Fishman butcher was chasing them!

That guy was acting really weird!

Wasn't he supposed to be a haunted house staff member?

What the hell, what the hell!

John cursed the entire production team in his mind. How did they hire a mentally unstable stand-in?

And of all times, he couldn't get in touch with anyone from the team. That madman wanted to kill them!

Suddenly, he heard a commotion in the right tunnel, pupils contracting violently. He abruptly dragged Jin Zhenghan to dodge right, and a scalpel was suddenly embedded in the wall where they had been a moment ago.

In the darkness, a Merfolk girl dressed as a nurse emerged, wearing revealing clothing, a nurse's blouse, and nylon stockings. The hem of the yellowish-dirty blouse was stained with red, and in her hand, she held a dripping severed head.

John was sure that the head was no prop because he had seen this guy before entering the haunted house. Suddenly, he recalled the screams he had heard in the mine shaft not long ago, which he had thought were sound effects deliberately played for a terrifying ambiance.

These people had all gone insane!

John's legs went weak, seeing the sharp scalpel about to stab into his eye socket. Then, a rough roar came from the side as the Fishman butcher rushed out, sawing the woman in half right in front of him.

Scarlet liquid splattered all over his face, and John was so frightened he was about to scream. Yes, he was actually very timid, and every time he was at the forefront of paranormal events, it was just a character role crafted by the production team.

Realizing that everything happening before him was no scripted show effect, his mental defense completely crumbled.

He gagged and tried to get up, but his legs and feet were unresponsive, until the Fishman butcher stood in front of him, swinging the buzzing chainsaw in his direction.

He had already closed his eyes, but the imagined death did not arrive. When he reopened his eyes, he was in a daze as he watched Jin Zhenghan rise from the ground, toppling the Fishman butcher and, while thrusting his severed arm into the Fishman's throat, turning his head.

Those cloudy eyes seemed to clear up for a moment, like the reliable team leader packaged in past programs, emitting a beastlike roar. Despite the complete regression of Jin Zhenghan's vocal cords, John still heard the guy yelling for him to run.

John recalled the past, how even knowing everything was scripted, the horror atmosphere fabricated by the production team, his timid nature led to multiple retakes of the show, and it was always this guy who encouraged him, even though he knew it might just be an act in the other person's character setup.

Though he knew the other person was hypocritical, just an incorrigible scoundrel.

But, it was this very guy who pulled him out of rock bottom!

John's mind went fuzzy, and he charged forward, picking up the chainsaw from the ground and plunging it straight into the Fishman butcher's chest. The spraying blood foam splattered all over his face. The intense crisis overpowered the fear of killing, and around the mine, more deranged Fishman staff appeared, all walking over with bizarre smiles.

John panted heavily, bursting with unprecedented power, pulling the fallen Jin Zhenghan and sprinting away into the distance, intermittently dodging mad people charging from both sides, and behind him, the sound of wind-breaking whistled; a small knife found its mark in John's shoulder.

"Leave me and run." Jin Zhenghan, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, still in unclear notes.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I might have turned into a monster, and many vicious thoughts are emerging in my mind. I hate this version of myself; perhaps I shouldn't have existed from the start."

"At a time like this, what nonsense are you spouting?" John didn't notice that the hand he was holding was turning cold, covered in dense white silk webs.

"I can't become ugly, no... I can't become ugly, absolutely not."

"I will be disliked by those girls, I will be disliked by my fans." Jin Zhenghan murmured.

John no longer paid attention to Jin Zhenghan's mad ramblings. As long as they could escape this haunted house and return to the cruise ship, he believed that Life Daylight's medical facilities could cure him.

"I heard it all... I heard the song, I heard countless voices singing, no, those were their wails."

"The seal, I know where the seal is; I saw it with my own eyes!"

John's gaze swept across the wall beside, noticing the mark he had made at the start. A spark of hope ignited within him; the exit was not far off, those lunatics hadn't caught up yet, and soon they could leave this damned place!

Thinking this, he felt a lot lighter, even the Jin Zhenghan he was holding seemed to be lighter.

He ran to the exit, a heavy metal door, it was the way they had come in.

The joy of surviving brought a huge relief, and John turned back, only to see a green severed arm; Jin Zhenghan's arm had been torn off at some point.

Not far away, Jin Zhenghan's body was enveloped in a thick white cocoon, with the skin and flesh below his neck almost entirely melted, forming a blood-red liquid enclosed in the white cocoon. John could see the organs within the skeletal frame and the pounding heart, thick muscle fibers linking his face to the blood and flesh in the cocoon.

"Ahhhh!" John let out the most fearful scream of his life.

"Run..."

Jin Zhenghan's facial skin began to melt, transforming into the shape of a Siren Cocoon, before entirely denying himself, his lips moved, speaking the last words:

"John, tell them..."

"Tell all of the Paranormal Explorer team..."

"The seal... the Siren King."

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