Second Nightmare Mission

In the blink of an eye, several days passed, and the Haunted House ran smoothly.

Zhang Ze specifically told Old Zhou and Li Yang that ordinary visitors only needed a good scare. There was no need to go all out and frighten someone into serious trouble.

As for anyone with ulterior motives—such as secretly bringing in cameras or phones—once Zhang Ze noticed through the Crows everywhere, he would notify the two of them to teach the offenders a lesson.

On the first day, revenue was 1,700 yuan.

On the second day, revenue was 1,950 yuan.

On the third day, revenue was 2,000 yuan...

Zhang Ze's Haunted House had virtually no costs. All its earnings were pure profit. In just three days, he had made nearly 6,000 yuan, more than he had earned in a month tightening screws at a factory before transmigrating.

It made Zhang Ze sigh with emotion.

Sure enough, if you were willing to go all in, you could make money.

"Beep~"

Zhang Ze's phone suddenly rang.

When he opened it, he saw that it was the official account of Mystery Case Tracking Studio. They had even registered an official verification badge through the platform and sent Zhang Ze a private message.

"Hello, Boss Zhang. I am the host and investor of Mystery Case Tracking Studio. My surname is Yue—Yue Pan. I would like to talk to you about what happened to Lin Xiaomei and the others a few days ago."

Due to platform restrictions, after sending him a private message, the other party could not send a second one until Zhang Ze replied. Zhang Ze stared at the message for a while.

He thought about the four people with Lin Xiaomei.

Lin Xiaomei was a reporter. That chubby Zhao Haiyang was the lighting technician, while the other two were a cameraman and an assistant. This Yue Pan claimed to be the host and investor, so he was probably a higher-ranking member.

He might even have been the studio director.

After thinking it over, Zhang Ze sent a reply.

"Fine. If you need me to provide compensation, please make it clear that they fainted from fright while normally enjoying my Haunted House. Each of them signed a waiver, but I can subsidize some medical expenses on humanitarian grounds."

Zhang Ze had thought this message through carefully.

He was not worried whether rumors of people fainting in the Haunted House would have a negative impact. After all, if a Haunted House was not scary, then what the hell was the point?

He could pay the money. As long as the other party issued a statement, Zhang Ze could instead use them to promote his business.

However, Yue Pan's next reply made Zhang Ze pause slightly.

"According to our lighting technician Zhao Haiyang, there was an incident during the game in which your Haunted House staff attacked visitors. Is that true?"

Haunted House staff attacking visitors?

Zhang Ze nearly lost it.

"I can guarantee that there were no violations throughout the entire process. That little fat guy even used a prop chainsaw to attack someone. If not for my employee..."

He nearly sent the latter half—"wasn't human."

Zhang Ze hurriedly deleted it and replaced it with something more reasonable.

"If my employee hadn't switched out the prop chainsaw, someone really might have gotten hurt. I haven't even held him accountable for his violent behavior yet!"

Yue Pan replied quickly.

"I also hope this is a misunderstanding, but I hope we can review the surveillance footage. If everything is normal, I will apologize to you and make a dedicated promotional video for your Haunted House."

Surveillance footage.

Zhang Ze put down his phone and fell into deep thought.

Since transmigrating, it seemed he had never considered the standard procedures a normal Haunted House should have, unlike Chen Ge's Haunted House.

For example, indoor surveillance, an online app, living employees, and so on.

Chen Ge had inherited his parents' Haunted House. Surveillance equipment, Haunted House props, online apps, and the like had all been passed down and were ready to use.

At most, he only needed to spend some money on repairs.

He even had a gentle, adorable girl like Xu Wan as an employee...

In contrast, Zhang Ze had nothing but that creepy Murderous Painting.

The venue was completely empty.

If he threw in a bunch of bumper cars now, the place could immediately transform back into a bumper car amusement park.

"Should I spend money to set up a whole system?"

"No. Even if I set it up now, there's no way to recreate the surveillance footage from back then. Faking it would be too difficult, and while AI-generated footage might fool ordinary people, the other side clearly wouldn't be that easy to deal with."

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Ze realized the plan would not work.

Even if he installed surveillance cameras now, they could not be installed inside the Crow's Nest scene.

That was behind the door.

[Mission Complete]

[Obtained Roulette Draw Attempts ×1]

[② (Daily Quest): Increase the Haunted House's Scream Index and make it more appealing than Chen Ge's Haunted House. Reward: Roulette Draw Attempts ×1]

The system notified Zhang Ze that the mission had been completed.

Zhang Ze took a look.

After several days of public buzz, Zhang Ze's Haunted House had completely surpassed Chen Ge's Haunted House and received the system's recognition.

Roulette Draw Attempts ×1.

"Right. At a time like this, let's see if the system can offer some help."

"Use Roulette Draw Attempts!"

Zhang Ze used the Roulette Draw.

A huge virtual roulette wheel appeared before him, divided into prize sections.

Some prizes occupied large sections, while a small number occupied very tiny spaces. They also gave off an eerie crimson glow, as though densely packed blood vessels were tangled around them. They were obviously nothing good.

The pointer sped across the prize sections.

A kitchen knife stained with blood.

A damaged videotape.

A rusty coffin nail...

The pointer slowed more and more until it finally stopped on a medium-sized prize section.

[Damaged Videotape]

[No. 009]

"That's it?"

"Come on, last time you gave me two severed hands. At least you explained where they came from. This videotape only has a number—am I supposed to look it up online myself?"

Zhang Ze was speechless.

An old videotape appeared in his hand. He had no idea whether it still worked. As for the video inside, he was not curious in the slightest. He was certain this thing would not help him.

What should he do?

Zhang Ze looked back at the system mission interface.

The previous three missions had already been completed.

Three new missions had now appeared.

[④ (Daily Quest): Clean the Haunted House. Sweep away dust and garbage, and keep it clean. Reward: Roulette Draw Attempts ×1]

[⑤ (Daily Quest): Add a second scene to the Haunted House. Reward: Roulette Draw Attempts ×1]

[⑥ (Nightmare Mission): Have you ever heard of Lost Media? You once watched a video online or heard an audio clip that remained vivid in your memory. But many years later, when you wanted to watch it again, you discovered that no matter what you did, you could no longer find it, as though the video had never existed. You were certain this was not the Mandela Effect or some collective memory fabricated by your own mind. You tried to find that video again, only to discover that what was in it was different from what you remembered...]

Of the three refreshed missions, Zhang Ze's eyes immediately settled on the Nightmare Mission.

Daily Quests could only reward items.

Only Nightmare Missions could provide boosts to Zhang Ze's own abilities.

Zhang Ze's hands had already been replaced with Ghost Hands, allowing him to control some of the supernatural forces of the Door-After World. However, he was still far from being able to create objects through drawing like Lingling.

He desperately needed some new abilities.