The Roulette

Having spent years studying human anatomy, Gao Ruxue had spent more time with corpses than with her roommates. She wasn't good at socializing with people. She understood the dead better than the living.

"The makeup our haunted house actors wear is very distinctive. Combined with the complex environment inside the haunted house and your own psychological suggestion, it's easy to have illusions." Corpse Makeup and Gloomy Sunday were things that couldn't see the light of day. Chen Ge would never reveal them to outsiders.

He glossed over the subject without going into detail. "If there's nothing else, I'll get back to work."

After saying goodbye to the Forensic Medical College students, he asked Xu Wan to clean up the props in the Ghost Marriage scene, then hurried alone to the control room.

Only Chen Ge knew the truth about why He Shan had fainted. The Monster hiding in the mirror hadn't left; it was still lurking inside the haunted house.

"Keeping it around is a potential problem." This was his first time taking on a nightmare-level mission, and he'd never imagined it would lead to consequences like this.

He turned off the haunted house's background music and brought up the surveillance footage. He watched the video of He Shan entering the West Wing Room over and over, playing it frame by frame. He soon noticed something.

At 9:24:11, He Shan entered the West Wing Room. He was terrified and rushed about wildly.

At 9:24:14, he reached the inner room and saw the Bronze Mirror for the first time. Then something extremely bizarre happened in the footage.

He Shan had been frantic, but the moment he saw the Bronze Mirror, he calmed down. It was as though time had stopped. He stood motionless in front of the mirror.

The numbers marking the time on the Surveillance Video kept changing. At 9:24:17, He Shan suddenly raised his left hand and walked toward the mirror of his own accord.

It looked as if someone were holding his hand and trying to drag him into the mirror by force!

At 9:24:20, Xu Wan, dressed in the Wedding Dress, came running up behind him. By then, half of He Shan's body was pressed against the mirror. Something could clearly be seen flashing past inside it, and then He Shan collapsed.

"Did Xiao Wan's arrival ruin the Monster's plan?" Chen Ge watched the video over and over. So much had happened in just ten seconds. He rubbed his temples, but for now, he couldn't think of a good way to deal with it.

"Looks like I can only cover every mirror in the haunted house for now. Once I figure out how to deal with this Monster, I'll come back and finish it off for good."

He went into the Prop Room, found a few pieces of black cloth, and headed to the Ghost Marriage scene.

"Boss, what are you doing here? I can handle this." Xu Wan saw Chen Ge from a distance through the doorway. She was picking up the scattered Paper Figures and Spirit Money and putting them back into the Coffin.

"I came to tell you something. All props related to mirrors in the haunted house are off-limits for now. And when you're playing a ghost, be careful not to go near any mirrors." Holding the black cloth, Chen Ge helped Xu Wan fit the scattered Coffin props back together.

Xu Wan didn't understand why Chen Ge was doing this, but she didn't ask.

After resetting the scene in the main room, Chen Ge went into the West Wing Room alone.

White Paper Lanterns hung high above, and the room was dim. He stood where He Shan had fainted and stared silently at the Bronze Mirror.

"Someone living inside a mirror? Could there be another world hidden in there?" Chen Ge touched the cold surface and looked at his reflection. The longer he stared, the stranger it seemed. "When I handed He Shan a bottle of mineral water earlier, he instinctively reached for it with his right hand. So he isn't left-handed. But in the surveillance footage, he raised his left hand first. Why would he do something that went against his usual habits? Had the thing in the mirror already taken control of him? Was he no longer in control of himself?"

Chen Ge pressed his left hand against the mirror, lining it up with his reflection. "After all, only what's in a mirror is the opposite of reality."

After covering the mirror with black cloth, Chen Ge sat inside the haunted house and took out the Black Phone. "To untie a knot, you have to find the one who tied it. The Monster appeared because of the Black Phone, so I'll probably need its help to kill it."

He swiped the screen and tapped the haunted house icon. The app interface had changed slightly: today's visitor count and the monthly visitor count had both gone up by two.

Another trial mission had appeared in the section for unlockable horror scenarios. When he tapped it, a message said that completing the trial mission would unlock the corresponding horror scenario.

"This game is very fair. Completing missions earns rewards, and the better the reward, the harder the mission. If I want to grow the haunted house quickly and deal with the thing in the mirror, I need to complete as many missions as possible."

He could only complete one daily mission per day, so he naturally turned his attention to the trial mission.

"Midnight Escape Trial Mission: A dangerous mental patient has moved into a run-down Apartment Building. Armed with a pair of scissors and a hammer, he is pacing outside your door."

"Mission location: Ping An Apartment in the West Suburb."

"Mission requirements: Arrive at the mission location before 11:00 p.m. today, find the Killer, and survive until dawn."

"Mission hint: He hides among the crowd. Beneath the kindhearted exterior lies a heart ravaged by pain."

"Accept the mission? Note: The trial mission will only be available for twenty-four hours. If you don't accept it within that time, it will be considered abandoned, and this scenario will never be unlocked."

Chen Ge had been a little hesitant, but after seeing the last line, he accepted without a second thought.

"Whether it's Fortune or misfortune, you can't escape what's meant to be. The haunted house is finally starting to take off, and I need to seize every opportunity to make it better."

After accepting the mission, he kept scrolling. At some point, the Horror Roulette at the bottom had activated.

Curious, Chen Ge opened the roulette interface. A line of text appeared on the screen:

"Life and death are fated; wealth and rank are decreed by Heaven. Here, you might find a fruit that extends your life—or a Vengeful Spirit filled with resentment."

"First visitor scream collected! Roulette activated. One free spin awarded. (Only screams exceeding seventy decibels can be collected. Collect one hundred screams to earn one spin.)"

"One hundred screams just to earn a single spin?" Chen Ge stared at his phone with a strange expression. "This roulette is such a rip-off. The requirements are already hard to meet, and the result is still random. If I actually spin up a Vengeful Spirit, that'd be a real disaster."

He looked at the number of spins remaining, itching to use one. It felt just like when someone with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder saw a new-message notification on their phone. It didn't matter if it was spam; they still had to tap it.

"It should be fine to give it a try." Chen Ge reassured himself, then lightly touched the screen. The roulette began spinning at once.

"Anything but a Vengeful Spirit!"