Murderer Zhang Peng

"Boss, you're finally back!"

"I missed you so much!"

Early the next morning.

Shen Yue eagerly welcomed Zhang Ze back to the Haunted House and showed him the revenue records from the past few days. Zhang Ze glanced through them. As long as the income was stable, that was enough.

"I was only gone for one night. Did you miss me that much?"

"One day apart feels like three autumns!" Shen Yue said as if it were only natural. "Oh, right, Boss. Our Haunted House has really made a name for itself. Lots of people have come looking for you because they heard about it!"

"Heh, maybe someone helped us advertise." Zhang Ze smiled.

Mystery Case Tracking Studio had written several articles promoting Zhang Ze's Haunted House. Although it only had the Crow's Nest scene, its perfect approval rating had attracted plenty of tourists from outside Hanjiang City.

"There was a strange guy last night. He said something about you solving some cases and said he was coming to play today," Shen Yue continued.

Solved cases?

Zhang Ze thought about it. Strictly speaking, he had never helped the police solve any cases. At most, he had been involved in several famous paranormal incidents in Hanjiang City.

Such as the Genius Boy Case and the Peace Hotel Murder Case.

Out of caution, Zhang Ze accessed Crow's vision from the previous night and saw the man in the baseball cap who had tried to strike up a conversation with Shen Yue.

"Well, well."

"Isn't that Zhang Peng?"

Zhang Ze's gaze shifted slightly.

He had never met Zhang Peng, but he recognized him at a glance as one of the killers from the Fuan Apartments Massacre Case.

If nothing unexpected had happened, this guy should have gone looking for trouble with Chen Ge and then been torn apart by Zhang Ya.

Yet something unexpected had happened. Zhang Peng had come looking for him instead?

Zhang Ze glanced at Shen Yue and guessed that this girl had caused trouble again.

But then...

He happened to need a "new employee."

Zhang Peng, a killer from a massacre case, could not have been more suitable.

"Good. Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?"

"Give this distinguished guest a warm welcome. Once he arrives, tell him that the person wearing red inside the Haunted House is me. I'll be waiting for him in there, and I'll give him an experience he'll never forget for the rest of his life."

Zhang Ze instructed her.

Shen Yue nodded. She carried out every order from her boss with unwavering determination.

Time gradually reached noon.

New Century Amusement Park was bustling with noise and excitement.

Another busy day had begun.

Uncle Xu was still standing in the middle of the grounds with a brilliant smile, maintaining order. Chen Ge had disappeared somewhere, leaving Xu Wan alone to run her Haunted House, while Shen Yue stood alone in the ticket booth. The two of them vaguely formed some kind of... rivalry?

People kept stopping to take photos and check in.

Not only were the Haunted Houses opened directly across from one another in open competition—

Even the ticket booth attendants were two rather pretty girls!

None of the tourists present could have imagined that Zhang Peng, one of the killers from the Fuan Apartments Massacre Case, was mixed into the crowd. Dressed in an inconspicuous set of casual clothes, he stood silently at the entrance to the Haunted House.

Zhang Peng's gaze shifted from Xu Wan to Shen Yue.

"Feels like I might have come to the wrong place."

"Forget it. This Haunted House is obviously more popular and has more customers. That girl from last night probably wasn't lying."

Zhang Peng muttered to himself.

Three years ago.

He and several others had set fire to a family of four in Fuan Apartments, leaving only the male homeowner's elderly father imprisoned at their side.

They could have kept that secret buried forever, but Chen Ge had appeared out of nowhere and ruined everything he had painstakingly built.

Murder.

Revenge!

A sinister glint flashed through Zhang Peng's eyes.

"You're here! This way, please!"

"Group entry over here! We just need three more people to go in together. The Haunted House is huge, so be careful not to get lost~"

"Our boss is personally putting on a costume to play with you this time. He'll be playing the Red-Clothed Female Ghost, so don't wet yourselves when you see him!"

Shen Yue happily drew in tourists and found three unfamiliar visitors to join Zhang Peng as teammates. Zhang Peng glanced at them. They all looked foolish and dull-witted, definitely ordinary tourists rather than undercover police officers.

Very good.

It seemed Chen Ge had not noticed him at all.

"The Haunted House is huge. After I kill him, no one will discover it right away. I'll have plenty of time to escape through the fire exit. They won't catch me."

That was what Zhang Peng thought.

He received the gas mask assigned to him.

The three tourists were clearly a group. They put on their masks with practiced ease and started chatting with Zhang Peng.

"Is this your first time playing? We've already done it three times! This Haunted House is incredible. The place is huge, and the special effects are so realistic. It's like an open world."

"Don't be scared since it's your first time. There are only two employees inside, one named Old Zhou and one named Li Yang. As for the monster NPCs, Little Bear and Bald Strong won't actively scare people. Just don't let those two run into each other. If they do, they'll fight!"

"There's also the Red-Clothed Female Ghost. She's the main NPC. If she catches you, the game ends!"

"..."

Judging by the way the three spoke, they were clearly seasoned veterans who had played several times. Zhang Peng nodded with deep understanding after listening. "So that's how it is. I understand now!"

He secretly memorized this information.

There were two Haunted House employees.

There were two monsters created with special effects.

The Red-Clothed Female Ghost, the main NPC, was played by the Haunted House owner.

Zhang Peng's target was to kill the Haunted House owner.

The game officially began.

Zhang Peng followed the group of three into the Haunted House. They passed a creepy-looking oil painting and pushed open a door, revealing a completely different world inside.

First came a deep, dark corridor.

After walking for a while, the world before them was gradually replaced by red light. It was thick, stifling, oppressive, and suffocating. Even Zhang Peng felt a little surprised.

These special effects... were pretty realistic.

When the darkness faded, Zhang Peng found himself in a small wooden cabin. The group of three was nowhere around; they had been separated from him.

"A small wooden cabin?"

"According to what those three said, the starting point in the small wooden cabin is very safe. There should be rules for this game on the table."

Zhang Peng walked over to the table.

He was confident that no matter what rules he saw, he would not be afraid. He knew in advance that this was just a Haunted House and that everything was fake.

But he himself was a genuine desperado.

A peony was tattooed on his arm. When peonies bloomed, wealth and fortune came naturally. He had gotten it tattooed precisely because he had long since lost his humanity. He was not even afraid of killing people, so why would he fear props in a Haunted House?

Yet when he saw the words on the table—

Even though he had prepared himself mentally, his heart still skipped a beat. His entire body seemed to freeze solid as a chill crawled from the soles of his feet up his spine, making him shudder instinctively.

"Hot... hot... hot... hot..."

"I'm going to... kill... you..."

Zhang Peng's pupils contracted.

Where were the game rules they had mentioned?

This had nothing to do with rules at all. Instead, it looked more like...

He did not dare think any further.

"That's impossible. The Haunted House owner has no idea I came in. If he knew I was here to find him, he would either run away or call the police. Why would he specifically set this up to scare me?"

"Damn it, this isn't special effects at all. It's carved into the table. What the hell is going on??"

In an instant, countless thoughts flooded Zhang Peng's mind, nearly bursting his brain apart. His head buzzed, and he could not recover for a long time.

Before he could adjust—

A crisp knocking sound suddenly came from outside the cabin.

"Knock..."

"Knock knock..."