Daily Quests

The app on the phone, featuring the entrance of the House of Horrors as its icon, looked very much like the popular simulation management mobile games on the market. The only difference was that instead of managing a restaurant, aquarium, or pet park, it was a haunted house.

Chen Ge stared at the screen, unable to fathom why such a strange little game would be on the phone left behind by his parents.

He carefully browsed the application interface. All the information inside matched his haunted house perfectly, including the daily visitor count and the scenes and facilities within the venue. This game gave Chen Ge a strange feeling, as if the haunted house he needed to manage in the game was the very same one he owned in reality.

The same dire situation, the same brink of bankruptcy—there were far too many similarities between the two.

Could it be that this game was modeled after my haunted house? If I make changes to the haunted house in the game, could I benefit from them in reality?

Chen Ge continued to scroll down. The existing facility, Zombie Resurrection Night, was disparaged as worthless, and even the Horror Project that had once made headlines and caused a sensation was only given a half-star rating in the game's review.

"Even the Horror Project only got half a star; I can't imagine how terrifying the unlockable horror scenes further down must be." He tried clicking to unlock more scenes. Upon touching the option, a line of text appeared on the screen, prompting him that he needed to complete a certain number of daily tasks to be eligible for unlocking.

"It seems daily tasks are the foundation of everything. Only by constantly completing them can I unlock horror scenes. More horror scenes will attract a large number of visitors, and as the visitor count rises, I can expand the haunted house and increase the venue size, creating a virtuous cycle."

Chen Ge had played many mobile games in his spare time, and he quickly grasped the rules: the completion rate of daily tasks would affect the development of the entire haunted house.

Opening the daily tasks, three options appeared on the screen:

Simple Difficulty: The three key elements of haunted house design are story, scene, and emotion. A haunted house without a story has no soul. Please perfect the backstories for the two horror scenes, Zombie Resurrection Night and Horror Project.

Normal Difficulty: Before midnight, repair all the mannequin props inside the haunted house.

Nightmare Difficulty: I believe you are still curious about whether ghosts truly exist in this world. Let's play a little game; the truth will be revealed the moment you open your eyes.

Daily tasks refresh at midnight every day, and only one task can be claimed per day. Different difficulties offer different rewards.

(Warning! Some tasks are extremely dangerous; please choose carefully!)

After reading the daily tasks, Chen Ge was somewhat surprised: "The tasks in the game actually need to be completed in reality? Does this indirectly imply that this game can influence reality?"

To verify his suspicion, he decided to claim a task and give it a try.

Daily tasks were graded by difficulty, and only one could be chosen each day. If he wanted to maximize his benefits, he would certainly choose the highest difficulty, but the warning that a few tasks were extremely dangerous made Chen Ge feel a bit apprehensive.

"It's a tough choice. The description for the Nightmare difficulty task is very vague; it looks like a huge trap. Maybe I should start with the Normal difficulty? Repairing all the mannequin props before twelve midnight is a bit tight, but it's not impossible."

Chen Ge was a very decisive person. Once he made a decision, he would act on it immediately. Wasting no time, he grabbed his toolbox and a bucket of unopened artificial blood, then began inspecting the mannequin props throughout the haunted house.

The night was deep. Chen Ge moved alone through the vast House of Horrors. To save electricity, he didn't even turn on the hallway lights. With a flashlight tucked under his arm, he dragged the mannequins that needed maintenance back and forth.

If an outsider were to see this scene without knowing the reason, they would likely be scared enough to call the police immediately.

"I'm exhausted. I didn't expect so many mannequins to have issues. It seems the maintenance in the past was really lacking!"

At 11:45 PM, Chen Ge received a notification on his phone that the task was complete: "You have completed the Normal difficulty daily task. Only by focusing on details can you create a perfect horror atmosphere. Congratulations on obtaining the task reward—background track Gloomy Sunday."

"Gloomy Sunday isn't that the banned song from abroad? Rumor has it that listening to it too much makes people suicidal, and the original version has long since disappeared." Chen Ge found a CD icon in the game's item inventory: "Who gives this kind of thing as a task reward? It couldn't be a prank, could it?"

He casually tapped the CD icon, and a melody he had never heard before rang in his ears.

This sound seemed to be born from darkness, loneliness, and grief. Chen Ge felt as if everything was slipping away from him; he felt as though he were sinking into the depths of the ocean, or walking through an endless tunnel.

When the song ended, Chen Ge's back was soaked in sweat. He was very glad he hadn't chosen to loop it; otherwise, he really didn't know if he could have walked away from that piece of music.

"It's for real! It must be the original version!"

Completing tasks in the game could yield rewards in reality, which allowed Chen Ge to see a shortcut that could change the current state of his haunted house.

He turned off the music and saved the file carefully. After handling everything, Chen Ge crawled into the staff lounge.

Lying on the bed, his body was exhausted, but he didn't have a shred of sleepiness.

The things he had experienced today would require time for any normal person to process.

Without realizing it, it was past midnight. Chen Ge still stared blankly at the ceiling.

"I can't sleep at all!" Bored, he took out the black phone again: "It's past midnight, the daily tasks should have refreshed, right?"

Opening the app, the daily task column had indeed changed.

Simple Difficulty: If you want to provide visitors with a truly terrifying experience, you must first pay attention to the rhythm of the tour. If actors or mechanisms appear too early or too late, it will cause visitors to lose interest. Therefore, I suggest you install sound detectors and surveillance in the haunted house to keep track of the visitors' progress at all times.

Normal Difficulty: A single tree cannot support a forest. A good haunted house needs an excellent team to operate. Recruit more talent; they will help you overcome your difficulties.

Nightmare Difficulty: I believe you are still curious about whether ghosts truly exist in this world. Let's play a little game; the truth will be revealed the moment you open your eyes.

Daily tasks refresh at midnight every day, and only one task can be claimed per day. Different difficulties offer different rewards.

(Warning! Some tasks are extremely dangerous; please choose carefully!)

The three new daily tasks left Chen Ge feeling conflicted.

The Simple task was to install sound detectors and surveillance in the haunted house. This task could be completed as long as he had money, but the painful part was that Chen Ge had a limited budget and couldn't afford such an expense.

The Normal difficulty task was also unfriendly to Chen Ge. The veteran employee who had weathered the storms with him had just resigned yesterday, and now he was being asked to recruit new people. Not to mention whether he could even find anyone, even if someone were willing to come, training them from scratch would take a lot of time. By the time a new hire could stand on their own, the House of Horrors would likely be finished.

Having ruled out the Simple and Normal tasks, Chen Ge set his sights on the final daily task.

"The higher the difficulty, the richer the reward. Should I try the Nightmare-level task?"