New Item

Chen Ge familiarized himself with the new scenario. Its internal structure was similar to Ping An Apartment, permeated with unease and suffering. Dozens of traps had been installed, with many rooms interconnected by hidden doors, and several easter eggs filled with dark humor were tucked away inside.

It's very realistic. This place is perfect for escape-style games. I can use the tourists to test it out later.

The experiences of last night still made Chen Ge's heart palpitate when he recalled them; he possessed the most authentic experience of all.

Time was limited, so Chen Ge only took a brief tour before heading downstairs; after all, there were many tourists waiting outside the Haunted House.

"Everyone, please wait a moment. The boss will be here shortly. You can go visit the other attractions in the park first," Chen Ge heard Xu Wan's voice from a distance.

"Miss, is your boss really in the Haunted House? We watched his livestream last night—over a dozen people were chasing him through the woods! How could he possibly survive that?"

"Nonsense! I watched the stream too. The streamer was trapped in an apartment building by a bunch of perverts. You know, cat-and-mouse? I can't even imagine how that ended."

"Are you sure we watched the same stream? Aside from the audio, the rest of the time was just a black screen. How did you guys see so much stuff?"

"Stop talking nonsense! We want to see the living or see the corpse!"

The volume of the discussion grew, and Uncle Xu was drawn over as well. Looking at the gathering crowd, he felt both happy and worried. Since a certain point in time, this nearly bankrupt House of Horrors had suddenly become the focal point of New World Paradise, with many people making special trips here early in the morning. Normally, this would be a good thing, but every time he heard what these tourists were saying, he felt a sense of dread: This won't do. Next time I see young Chen, I need to have a serious talk with him. Young people shouldn't be so eager for quick success that they end up on some crooked path!

"Swish!"

The safety barrier was pulled open, and Chen Ge, having finished washing up, stepped out of the Haunted House: "Sorry to keep you all waiting. Haunted House tour, twenty per ticket, fair prices for all."

The crowd's chatter fell silent. A few fans who had come specifically because of his livestream ran over, surrounding him to ask about last night, giving Chen Ge a taste of what it was like to be an internet celebrity.

A few minutes later, the crowd regained order and began entering the Haunted House one by one.

Having learned the lesson from last time—that it was too terrifying—Chen Ge did not put Gloomy Sunday on repeat this time, but instead shuffled it into the playlist to play randomly.

Chen Ge applied makeup on Xu Wan, letting her enter the Ghost Marriage scenario to play the ghost, while he stayed at the entrance of the House of Horrors to collect fees.

"The number of tourists is growing steadily, and the positive reviews have increased quite a bit. At this rate, it won't be long before I meet the requirements for the Haunted House expansion." Chen Ge took out his Black Phone, partly to see how many more tourists he needed for his first expansion, and partly to check the daily tasks that had refreshed today.

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

Normal Difficulty: The secret to being truly terrifying is to make the visitors unaware of the impending scare. For example, design scare points in the opposite direction of eye-catching objects, and check if all props in the Haunted House meet the standards.

Nightmare Difficulty: The bathroom in the middle of the night always makes strange sounds. If you want to know the reason, do as I say.

Daily tasks refresh every day at midnight. You can only accept one task per day. Different difficulties yield different rewards. (Note! Some tasks are extremely dangerous; please choose carefully!)

Glancing over the three daily tasks, Chen Ge immediately ruled out the Nightmare-level task. After being tossed about for two consecutive nights, he desperately needed a good rest. Besides, he hadn't figured out the monster in the mirror yet; if he attracted something else, it would be hard for him to handle it alone.

The rewards for the Nightmare-level task can directly affect my body, granting me certain memories and abilities, but the rewards are proportional to the danger. I won't consider it for now. The Simple difficulty task requires a certain amount of capital, and I haven't received the bounty for capturing the fugitives yet, so it would be very difficult to complete. After thinking it over, Chen Ge felt that only the Normal difficulty task was suitable: "Designing scare points in the opposite direction of eye-catching objects—that's a good idea. Applying it to my Haunted House should bring the tourists more 'surprises'."

After accepting the Normal difficulty task, Chen Ge leaned against the entrance of the Haunted House to collect money, occasionally exchanging a few words with Xu Wan inside.

Soon it was noon, and the number of tourists gradually dwindled. Chen Ge called Xu Wan out to let her eat, while he went into the Ghost Marriage scenario alone.

He had designed this horror scenario from start to finish himself, and every scare point had been carefully considered. After accepting the Normal difficulty daily task, he used his lunch break to start making improvements.

Usually, tourists prepare themselves mentally before entering a Haunted House. When they are in a state of high psychological alert, it is difficult to scare them. Therefore, it is necessary to use something irrelevant to attract their attention, making them mistakenly believe that a certain spot might be dangerous. When they are fully focused on that spot, the attack is launched from a completely unexpected direction.

This Normal difficulty task was much simpler than Chen Ge had imagined. In just one lunch break, he received the notification from the Black Phone that the task was complete.

"You have completed the Normal difficulty daily task. There are many ways to scare people; knowing how to read the human heart and make different adjustments is the most critical. Congratulations on obtaining the task reward—Skull-Crushing Doctor's Uniform!"

"Skull-Crushing Doctor's Uniform (Clothing Prop): Clary worked in a psychiatric hospital for twenty years. Long-term contact with patients caused his spirit to be constantly tortured, and finally, one day, he decided to end it all. Pathological madness had seeped into his bone marrow; he held a hammer, wanting to cure his patients from the root!"

Following Gloomy Sunday, Chen Ge had obtained another prop. He tapped the icon, and the Black Phone notified him that the item had been placed in the prop room.

"This clothing prop came at just the right time. If I combine it with the Midnight Escape scenario, it should create a very wonderful chemical reaction." Several ideas appeared in Chen Ge's mind. He had just found paper and a pen to start designing when his phone suddenly vibrated.

"He Shan?"

Chen Ge answered the call: "What is it?"

"Boss, do you remember what I told you last time?" He Shan deliberately lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard: "After you scared Senior Gao Ruxue to tears, the seniors in our department decided to group up and take revenge for her. They've already set off! You'd better be prepared!"