Does Your Conscience Not Ache?

When He Shan mentioned that his fainting spell had something to do with a mirror, Chen Ge's heart skipped a beat. He recalled the game he had played the previous night, where the thing inside the mirror had been blocked by a doll and failed to emerge.

Now, according to He Shan's account, it was highly likely that the monster hadn't left and was still hiding within the mirrors of the Haunted House.

"Boss, is this a new attraction in the Haunted House? How come I didn't know about it?" Xu Wan leaned in, and many of the onlookers who were in the dark also turned their gazes toward Chen Ge.

He was currently in a bind; he couldn't exactly tell everyone that there might actually be a ghost in the Haunted House and invite them to enter if they weren't afraid of dying.

If he said that, the Haunted House closing down would be the least of his worries—he'd likely be carted off to a mental institution himself.

"It counts as a new project. The specific details are in the short video I posted last night, but I don't recommend anyone play this game without professional supervision." Chen Ge gently patted He Shan on the shoulder. "If you play it rashly, you'll end up just like this brother here. Alright, who else wants to visit? Don't be afraid; accidents are bound to happen when visiting a Haunted House. That's what makes it exciting!"

"Exciting your sister! Someone's already fainted from fright. We just came to visit a Haunted House, we don't need to risk our lives for it."

"Exactly! I won't even make you pay for my phone screen anymore, just please, stop posting those short videos in the middle of the night."

"Can't afford to mess with this, can't afford it at all. Goodbye!"

As soon as Chen Ge finished speaking, the crowd collectively took a step back. He offered a wry smile. "It's not that bad. My Haunted House really isn't that scary."

"Big brother, two forensic science students who deal with corpses every day—one was scared to tears by you, and the other was scared unconscious. And now you're standing there, calm as can be, saying your Haunted House isn't scary? Are you lying to yourself? Doesn't your conscience hurt?!"

"Bro, you've got to be a decent person!"

The surrounding tourists chattered incessantly, leaving Chen Ge speechless. When the Haunted House wasn't scary, nobody visited, and they said it was boring. Now that it had become scary, it seemed he had overdone it, leading to the opposite effect. "You all traveled such a long way just to stand at the entrance and watch? Courage can be trained; occasionally experiencing thrills and chills can even improve blood circulation."

"You could talk until you're blue in the face, and I still wouldn't go in. 'Improve blood circulation'? Why don't you say your Haunted House can cure cancer while you're at it?" The guy whose phone screen had been shattered waved his hand and turned to leave.

But just then, a middle-aged man standing beside him spoke up. His voice was loud, as if he had made the decision after careful deliberation: "Boss, give me a ticket!"

"Holy crap, there really is someone who isn't afraid of death."

"Uncle, don't be impulsive! Other people's Haunted Houses want your money, this guy's Haunted House wants your life!"

"I salute you as a real man! Go in peace; I'll take care of your wife and niece!"

The uncle looked to be in his forties and was slightly balding. He stepped out of the crowd and shoved ten yuan into Chen Ge's hand. "I want one ticket."

"You're going in alone?" Chen Ge was a bit impressed by this uncle. What was this called? Knowing there were tigers in the mountains, yet heading toward the tiger mountain anyway!

After taking the money, Chen Ge handed the ticket to the uncle and was just about to mention the safety precautions when the uncle took the ticket and walked in the opposite direction of the Haunted House entrance.

"Uncle, the entrance is this way..."

"I know." The uncle didn't even look back. He walked to his original spot, took out his phone, snapped two photos of the Haunted House ticket, and began posting to his social media feed: "In the beautiful spring days of April, it's time to go out and play. Highly recommend the West Suburb Horror House. It's very intense. After visiting today, I was scared out of a cold sweat..."

The surrounding tourists couldn't bear to watch. You spent twenty minutes lurking at the entrance, and then buying a ticket counts as a visit?

Before the tourists could say anything, the uncle's post already had likes and comments.

HR Department's Xiao Li: "Brother Zhang, you're even afraid of mice, yet you dared to go to a Haunted House? Impressive, my brother."

Mold Workshop Section's Wang Dayou: "The Haunted House Brother Zhang dared to go to must be a children's Haunted House (smirk)."

Wife: "Get home and cook dinner right now!!!!"

Beloved daughter Wang Jing: "Hahahaha, Dad, we all know how timid you are, stop making futile struggles QAQ"

The balding uncle didn't bicker with them; he smiled and replied to each one: "You all should come and try it. After all, you're all braver than me, so you definitely won't feel scared."

This maneuver left the nearby tourists stunned.

"Uncle, you're so cunning! To avoid being called a coward in the future, you're even dragging your wife and daughter into it..." The young man with the shattered phone screen, who had been standing next to the uncle and witnessed the whole process, didn't hesitate and walked toward Chen Ge. "Give me a ticket, too!"

Chen Ge didn't understand why things had developed to this point. He took the money and handed the young man a ticket. Then, he watched as the young man took his broken-screen phone, started taking pictures to post on social media, and added a caption: Oh, what do I do? I feel like my courage has shrunk again. Just playing a Haunted House, and I was scared out of a cold sweat.

The young man looked at the comments calling him a coward or a weakling, and a "sinister" smile appeared on his face.

"Give me one too."

"I want one!"

"It's half-price, right? I'll take two!"

The Haunted House was empty, not a single person inside, but nearly half the tickets had already been sold.

As the crowd slowly dispersed, Chen Ge looked at the cash in his hands and happily began to count it.

"Boss, we sold more tickets this morning than in the last half-month combined." Xu Wan crouched beside Chen Ge, unable to suppress the excitement in her eyes.

"We must remain vigilant in times of peace. Today was just a fluke; if we want to truly retain tourists, we need to have substance." Chen Ge tucked the counted money into his pocket and looked toward the perimeter of the Haunted House's safety railing, where the battered He Shan and Gao Ruxue had yet to leave.

"Are you two feeling better?" Chen Ge walked over to them with a bottle of mineral water. Selling so many tickets today had a lot to do with these two forensic science students.

"Yeah, sorry about that, we caused you trouble."

He Shan sat awkwardly on the steps. Beside him, Gao Ruxue's face was still a bit pale. Her gaze shifted between Chen Ge and Xu Wan. "I have two questions I'd like to ask, if that's alright?"

"Go ahead." Chen Ge didn't refuse her.

"First, in the West Wing, I clearly saw this woman in the mirror. Why did she suddenly appear behind me?" Gao Ruxue looked determined to get to the bottom of it; she simply couldn't accept the fact that she had been scared to tears.

"You thought it was an ordinary mirror, but it was actually three mirrors joined together to form a triangular pillar. The other two sides were hidden in the walls; with a firm push, they could rotate, and the exit to the Ghost Marriage game was right behind the mirror. As for the woman in the mirror, it was just a life-sized photo taken in advance. With the help of lighting and visual effects, it created the illusion that she was a real person. Xiao Wan was hiding behind the other mirror the whole time, and the footsteps you heard were sound effects."

Hearing Chen Ge's explanation, Gao Ruxue nodded slightly. "Second question."

She reached out and pointed at Xu Wan. "Why is it that even though this person is clearly alive, she gives me a strange feeling? Looking at her is like staring at a corpse."