My House of Horrors

Chapter 27: New Item

Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97

Chen Ge went in to familiarize himself with the new set. The structure and layout were similar to Ping An Apartments; the place was living and breathing anxiety and pain. There were more than ten traps, and many rooms were connected to each other through hidden doors. Other than that, there were a few nasty hidden gems.

This place feels authentic, and it’s perfect for an escape the room type of game; I’ll have the visitors try it out in a minute.

Standing there, the memories from last night reappeared in Chen Ge’s mind, and he shivered. He had the most authentic of experience. Due to the limitation of time, Chen Ge only took a cursory look-around before walking downstairs; after all, the customers were waiting.

Before he even reached the front door, Chen Ge could hear Xu Wan. “Please be patient, I’m sure Boss is coming. In the meantime, you can give the other attractions at the park a try.”

“Gal, is your boss really inside the Haunted House? We saw his livestream last night; he was being chased by more than ten people through the woods! Did he really manage to escape such a dreadful situation?”

“You’re kidding‽ I was also one of the viewers; the host was trapped inside the apartment by a bunch of crazies, and they were closing in on him. I really find it hard to believe that he would be able to escape a trap like that.”

“Are you sure we were watching the same livestream? Last night, other than sounds, there was only a black screen, how the hell did all of you manage to come up with so much information?”

“Regardless, we’re here to see him; if not his living self, his dead body will suffice!”

The sound of discussion had gotten so loud that it attracted the attention of Uncle Xu. Looking at the size of the crowd, he was feeling both glad and worried. Since a particular point in time, this Haunted House that felt like it was crumbling suddenly became New Century Park’s main attraction. Many people would start lining up early in the morning.

Normally, that was definitely good news, but whenever he listened to the words that came out of the visitors’ lips, his heart crunched with worry. This cannot be allowed to continue. When I see Xiao Chen next, I’ll need to have a talk with him. The young man is definitely hardworking, but I must not let him stray down the dark path!

The gate swung open, and Chen Ge walked out from the Haunted House. “Sorry for making all of you wait. The Haunted House is now open. Ticket price is 20 RMB; children are not allowed.”

The crowd became silent instantly. A few of his viewers rushed over to his side to bombard him with questions about last night. Chen Ge got his five minutes of fame. After that, order returned to the crowd, and they entered the Haunted House one after another.

After the lesson from the previous time, Chen Ge did not dare put Black Friday on loop. Instead, he shuffled it into a long list of sound effects, allowing it to play at random. Chen Ge helped Xiao Wan with her make-up and had her stalk the people in the Minghun scenario while he stayed at the entrance to sell tickets.

The number of visitors is slowly climbing, and the reputation has increased a lot. If this continues, I’ll reach the criteria to expand the Haunted House in a few days.

Chen Ge took out the black phone to see how far he was from the target number of visitors he needed to unlock the expansion as well as to take a look at the refreshed daily mission.

Easy Mission: If you want to provide the visitors a scary experience, then first you have to pay notice to the rhythm and tempo of their experience in the Haunted House. Setting off the scare too early might cause the visitors to lose their interest, so it is suggested that you install some sound detectors or surveillance cameras in the Haunted House to keep track of your visitors’ progress.

Normal Mission: The key to a good scare is the element of surprise. For example, put up the scary source opposite from the spot that normally captures the visitors’ eyes. Inspect the Haunted House to see whether all the props fit this criterion.

Nightmare Mission: There are weird sounds coming from the bathroom every midnight. If you want to know why, follow my directions.

Daily Missions will refresh every day at midnight. User can only apply for one mission each day, and the reward corresponds to the difficulty of the mission.

(Beware! The more difficult the mission, the more dangerous it’ll be, so please choose carefully!)

After taking a quick glance at the Daily Missions, Chen Ge first rejected the Nightmare Mission. After two sleepless nights, what he needed more than anything was rest. Furthermore, he already had one Mirror Monster to deal with; he really did not think he could deal with two monsters at the same time.

The rewards from Nightmare Missions are most applicable directly to myself, giving me some kind of skill, but the reward is proportional to the risk, so temporarily, that’s ruled out. The Easy Mission requires a certain amount of money; at least until the monetary reward from capturing Wang Qi arrives, completing that sounds impossible.

Chen Ge considered the options and came to the conclusion that the Normal Mission was the one best available. Setting up the scares opposite from the focal point, this is not such a bad idea. Applying it into my Haunted House will definitely bring more ‘surprises’ to the visitors.

After accepting the Normal Mission, Chen Ge leaned against the entrance as he kept up the channel of communication with Xu Wan.

Noon arrived soon after, and the crowd gradually dissipated. Chen Ge called for Xu Wan to come out and told her to go for her lunch break as he went back to the Minghun set alone. He had personally designed this scenario and had put much thought into each scare. Since he had accepted the Normal Mission, he spent the whole afternoon while Xu Wan was away on updating and improving the set.

Normally, when the visitors entered the Haunted House, they would be mentally prepared, so it would not be easy to scare them then. Therefore, he needed something to distract their attention to make them think that something was about to jump out at them from that direction. While their attention was fully occupied by the fake scare, the real scare would assault them from a completely unexpected direction.

This Normal Mission was far easier than Chen Ge expected. In just a few hours, he received the alert on the black phone that he had finished the mission.

“You’ve completed the Normal Mission. There is more than one way to scare a person; the element of surprise is the key to a good scare. Congratulations, you have gained the mission reward—Doctor Skull-Cracker’s Uniform!

“Doctor Skull-Cracker’s Uniform (Item- Attire): Clark has worked at the mental hospital for over twenty years. Constant exposure to mental patients slowly distorted his view on life. One day, he decided to end everything once and for all. He believed the source of madness had seeped into his patients’ brains, so the only solution was to crack their skulls open to remove the source directly! All in the name of saving his patients!”

After Black Friday, Chen Ge had received another item. He clicked on the app, and the black phone told him the item had been placed inside the props room.

The timing is just perfect. If I combine this with the Murder by Midnight scenario, it should create a wonderful arrangement.

Several ideas cropped up in Chen Ge’s mind. He grabbed a pen and paper to write them down when his phone rang.

“He San?” Chen Ge answered the call. “What’s up?”

“Boss, do you still remember what I told you last time?” He San kept his voice lowered, as if afraid that someone might hear him. “About how the seniors in our faculty have formed a warring party to take revenge for Senior Gao Ru Xue after you scared her to her tears last time‽ They’re already on their way! Boss, you’d better be prepared!”