How Long Does It Take to Drive a Murderer Mad?

Outside the Haunted House.

"Yo, isn't this Boss Chen? How come you're only just getting back?"

"Why do you look like you've been drained of your vitality?"

The smile on Zhang Ze's face was practically bursting at the seams. Right at that moment, Chen Ge returned to New Century Amusement Park looking travel-worn, running straight into Zhang Ze.

Chen Ge had acquired Yin Eyes as a reward from the Black Phone, allowing him to see things ordinary people could not.

Naturally, he sensed a trace of bizarre aura on Zhang Ze.

Yet looking at Zhang Ze's punchable expression and that "you know what I mean" look in his eyes...

Chen Ge felt inexplicably helpless once again.

He had rushed over to West City Private School last night, naturally to complete Zhang Ya's affection quest. The result he got was a fierce ghost in a red dress head-over-heels fixating on him.

If you wanted to call it a scam...

Well, the date was a success anyway.

Zhang Ya would grant him one wish that didn't violate his own will.

At critical moments, it could serve as a trump card, and he could even use it to deal with that Mirror Ghost that had escaped from his Haunted House.

Chen Ge still harvested a bountiful reward.

"So lively today?" Chen Ge glanced across the plaza in front of the Haunted House. It was still bustling with voices, with tourists still forming long lines, while Uncle Xu and Xu Wan wrangled visitors and maintained order. His mood grew even more complicated.

Zhang Ze smiled faintly. "Of course. Everyone's been looking forward to you opening up a new scenario. You've got to work hard."

Chen Ge grew suspicious.

Why did he always get the feeling Zhang Ze was holding back laughter?

Never mind, it was probably just his imagination.

Watching Chen Ge return to his Haunted House, Zhang Ze gradually reined in his smile, switching his mind over to the crow's field of view.

He had tampered just a tiny bit with the Haunted House's environment.

After Zhang Peng's first death, he remained trapped inside the Haunted House forever, falling into a cycle of ceaseless death and rebirth. But this was still far from enough.

Zhang Ze drew upon the experience of Lost Media No. 021.

Every death wiped clean one's accumulated experience. To the person himself, he couldn't feel any genuine sense of despair, failing to achieve the goal Zhang Ze wanted.

What he wanted to do was... completely shatter Zhang Peng's sanity!

"Boss! We cleared it again!"

"Phew~ That scared the hell out of me! Your Haunted House is still as hardcore as ever! It's just that you don't have BGM as terrifying as the Haunted House across the way. The special effects alone are already scary enough!"

The trio of tourists emerged from the Haunted House at that moment, their expressions still unsatisfied.

"Haha, there'll be bread, and there'll be milk too. Someday I'll put together some BGM as well, and I guarantee it'll provide you with the most spine-chilling gaming experience!" Zhang Ze laughed.

Chen Ge's Black Friday and Wedding Dress were actually both lost media. Right now, he was having people restore two videotapes; perhaps among them were similar pieces of lost media.

Once he whipped up some BGM of his own, the effect would definitely be even more explosive than Chen Ge's!

"Oh right, what about that brother who went in with us? How come he didn't come out?"

"Who knows? The spots where you entered the Haunted House were different. He might just be temporarily lost," Zhang Ze said. "It's fine. If a tourist can't find the exit for a long time, the Haunted House staff will lead them out."

The trio nodded deeply, chatting and laughing as they left.

As for Zhang Ze, he returned to the Haunted House.

Instantly switching to his combat face.

The Door-After World.

Zhang Peng resurrected by the lakeshore for the third time.

Zhang Ze drew a standalone deformed figure for him, chasing him around with a chainsaw for over ten minutes until Zhang Peng's stamina was completely spent, hacking Zhang Peng to death in cold blood.

The fourth resurrection.

Perished in an assault by the little bear.

The fifth assault.

Ambushed by slender figures and dismembered.

The sixth assault...

Due to the nature of the Door-After World, Zhang Ze couldn't forcibly make Zhang Peng retain memories of his previous death, but he could write out a few lines, forging Zhang Peng's own handwriting.

And so, every time Zhang Peng resurrected, he would see the handwriting left behind by "Zhang Peng" in the nearest spot.

"I am Zhang Peng. When you see these words, I am already dead. Last time, I died of..."

"I am Zhang Peng. When you see these words, I am already dead. Once again, I died from..."

"I am Zhang Peng..."

Every thirty minutes on average, Zhang Peng died once.

The methods of death also changed with every trick in the book.

To avoid affecting other players' gaming experiences, Zhang Ze had specially placed Zhang Peng deep within the forest, far away from the cellar. If tourists showed a tendency to approach Zhang Peng, Zhang Ze would directly teleport the cellar right in front of the tourists.

Zhang Ze completely controlled this portion of the Door-After World, so relocating the cellar wasn't particularly difficult for him.

Naturally, the Door-After World connected to a vast, boundless space. To avoid losing control, Zhang Ze wouldn't let Zhang Peng actually leave the forest, keeping him trapped in this place all along.

Zhang Peng died over and over again.

Resurrected over and over again.

Even Zhang Ze himself couldn't remember how many cycles had passed.

Just like the master of a colosseum watching slaughter with cold indifference, he casually manipulated Zhang Peng's life. Every resurrection and every death was precisely designed to absolute perfection.

Even Old Zhou and Li Yang clucked their tongues in marvel.

"Boss, who is this guy? He's so utterly miserable."

"Tsk tsk, the Ten Tortures of the Qing Dynasty are nothing compared to this. Only by repeatedly experiencing the agony of death can one truly grasp the true meaning of being alive!"

Zhang Ze said calmly, "This fellow deserves it. In a sense, I'm granting him eternal life, and he should even thank me."

"I plan on making this guy your colleague—a new employee for the Haunted House. But before that, we need to break him in properly."

Become colleagues?

Old Zhou and Li Yang looked at Zhang Peng's current state.

Both of them shivered involuntarily.

As if sensing the worry in the two men's hearts, Zhang Ze offered comfort. "As long as the two of you behave yourselves, I won't use methods like this on you."

"As long as you work diligently and honestly, not only will I refrain from making you die repeatedly like him, I'll even pay you a salary. I've always been strict with rewards and punishments and welcomed correction of my faults, so there's no need to worry too much."

Hearing this...

The two men shrank back even further.

For some reason, they faintly felt that Zhang Ze was seemingly rather different from what they had imagined.

He wasn't a kind-hearted and benevolent boss at all.

Instead, he was a little... inexplicably morbid in his psychology?

Could it be that by stealing the anomalous powers of a fierce ghost and controlling the Door-After World, he had also been affected by the malice of the Door-After World?

The two of them had no way of knowing.

The only thing they knew was that inside the Haunted House, Zhang Ze's cyclical deaths were still continuing.

"Inside Lost Media No. 021, it took thirty-nine times to drive Lin Xiaomei and Doctor Gao mad."

"How many deaths does it take to drive a murderer insane?"

Zhang Ze was extremely interested in this experiment.

He felt that he was studying a very meaningful subject.

The tenth death.

Zhang Peng saw the message left by "Zhang Peng" and was so terrified his legs turned to jelly, lacking even the strength to flee as he quietly waited for the crow to arrive and kill him.

The twentieth death.

Zhang Peng's eyes were already hollow. Though he couldn't clearly remember his previous memories, so many bone-deep deaths had already deeply permeated his marrow.

When facing the attacks of the slender figures once again, Zhang Peng even skipped crying and shouting. He died with crisp neatness, without a single ripple of emotion.

The thirtieth death.

The fortieth.

The fiftieth...