I'm Not Afraid!

"Fight poison with poison? I don't believe a word you say!"

"Big Brother, you owe me a new phone screen. Then we'll call it even."

"You think a half-price ticket can buy me off? No way!"

The arguing went on for several minutes, but still not a single visitor entered the House of Horrors. They all huddled outside the safety rail, too scared to take one step past it. Even Chen Ge, who was usually a coward himself, couldn't stand watching any longer. "Doesn't anyone want to come in and try it out? My Haunted House isn't scary at all. If you don't believe me, look it up on Dianping."

At his words, someone began searching online.

"It's true. All the reviews say it isn't scary at all."

"Yeah, the only person who gave it a like said it was because the girl playing a ghost was really pretty..."

"Should we go in and try it, then?"

After waiting for a while longer, someone finally stepped forward. "It's just a haunted house. How scary can it be? I've seen real corpses. Why would I be scared of this?"

The speaker was a young man with a crew cut, thick eyebrows, and bright eyes. He looked honest and down-to-earth.

"Come on, man, quit talking nonsense. There's a limit to how much you can show off."

"How old are you, anyway? How could you have seen a corpse?"

"We're all scaredy-cats here. Why pretend otherwise?"

Just as everyone was scoffing at him, a discordant voice rang out. "He isn't lying. We've been used to seeing corpses for a long time."

They turned toward the voice and saw a tall woman in a sun hat and a white miniskirt walking over from the entrance to Paradise Park.

Her face barely showed any expression. Wherever she went, the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.

"Senior!" The young man hurried over, hoping to carry her bag, but a single glance from her stopped him in his tracks. He stood there, flustered, wearing an awkward yet polite smile.

"You called her your senior? Are you students?" Chen Ge's attention had also been drawn to the two young people.

"We're from the Forensic Medical College at Jiujiang Medical University. I'm He Shan, and this is my senior, Gao Ruxue." The young man smiled at Chen Ge. "I shared your video on our school's forum last night. My senior decided to come visit after watching it."

"This ice queen is a forensic medical student?"

"I have to admit, her aura really suits her profession."

"Hey, beautiful, want to add me on WeChat?"

The tourists around them gathered closer to the woman. As her self-appointed protector, He Shan stood off to one side with a grin. "My senior isn't ordinary. She dissected frogs and white mice this morning, washed her hands, and went to the cafeteria to eat braised pork as if nothing had happened. She can walk past the Dissection Room in the middle of the night, see a Cadaver Teacher soaking in formalin, and still greet the corpse while yawning. So don't waste your time. She's probably dissected more men than the number of women you've held hands with."

That unique introduction did the trick. A two-meter-wide circle of empty space appeared around the woman.

He Shan's words gave Chen Ge a headache, too. He'd completed a nightmare-level mission and earned a reward, and was finally ready to turn things around. But the first visitors to show up after he opened the doors were students from the Forensic Medical College.

Anyone who studied forensic medicine had to be incredibly tough-minded!

"Can we go in now?" The woman walked impatiently up to Chen Ge. She was tall and wearing thick-soled shoes, so she was almost eye-level with him.

"The regular ticket price is twenty yuan, so half-price is ten. Before you go in, I have to tell you a bit about the story and the rules." Chen Ge remembered the three key elements of haunted-house design mentioned in the Black Phone. The backstory was crucial, as it helped visitors immerse themselves in the experience.

"First, a bit about my Haunted House. A lot of people on Dianping say it isn't scary, but out of a sense of responsibility, I have to tell you the truth. Fifty years ago, the land beneath our feet was the largest mass grave in Hanjiang City. Thirty years ago, the city planned to build Hanjiang People's Hospital here. You can search online to find out what happened next. After a series of events that science couldn't explain, the hospital was forced to move. My Haunted House was built on the old hospital site. It holds many secrets and files left behind when the hospital relocated."

When he finished, Chen Ge pointed to the warning sign beside the door. "Visitors with heart conditions or an irregular heartbeat aren't allowed in. Anyone over twelve and under sixteen must be accompanied by a parent. All right, if there are no questions, come in with me."

Chen Ge lifted the light-blocking black curtain, shut the rusty iron gate, and led He Shan and Gao Ruxue into the dark hallway.

"This experience is called Ghost Marriage. It's an open-ended scenario. You just need to find the right exit and escape within fifteen minutes. If you get too scared, stand near a surveillance camera and shout. I'll come get you." Chen Ge stopped at the entrance to the second floor and gestured for them to go ahead. "Enjoy yourselves."

"It sounds pretty interesting, but it'll take more than that to scare me." He Shan shamelessly hid behind his senior. He said he wasn't afraid, but his body told a different story: he didn't dare take a single step forward.

Gao Ruxue, on the other hand, showed no sign of nervousness. She kept her head down and walked straight in.

"Senior, wait for me!"

After the two visitors entered the second-floor hallway, Chen Ge locked the exit door from the outside and called Xu Wan. "Xiao Wan, the visitors are inside. Get ready. And remember to cover your ears."

Once he'd given her his instructions, he ran to the control room. The surveillance monitors, sound console, and remote-control equipment for the special effects were all crammed into the tiny room.

"I wasn't going to use this song, since it's so eerie. But they sent forensic medical students to challenge me on opening day. Enough is enough!" He turned on the sound console, added Gloomy Sunday to the background music library, and set it to repeat.

When he was done, he sat down in front of the surveillance monitors and kept a close eye on He Shan and Gao Ruxue. If either of them showed any sign of trouble, he'd rush into the Haunted House to rescue them.