Fan Yu, Zhang Ya, and Twilight Sun Middle School

As Zhang Peng died more and more times,

Zhang Ze observed an interesting phenomenon.

After getting through his initial confusion and helplessness, Zhang Peng began summarizing his experiences after every resurrection, using the writing Zhang Ze had deliberately left behind to judge his situation.

He also tried his best to explore the rules of the Door-After World.

Zhang Ze had not told Zhang Peng the rules concerning Little Bear, the Deformed Human Shadow, and Lingling.

But after dozens of deaths, Zhang Ze discovered that Zhang Peng had gradually grasped some of those rules as well. Although he lost his memories with every death, he still did everything he could to write down the information he had learned.

The methods he used included, but were not limited to...

Carving words into the ground with stones he picked up, finding the bathtub in the cabin, or simply cutting open his arm and using his own blood to dye the bedsheets red before writing on them.

This discovery surprised Zhang Ze somewhat.

After all, most people would have been driven insane by what Zhang Peng had experienced. Zhang Ze had been trying to drive Zhang Peng insane from the very beginning.

Instead, it had awakened Zhang Peng's most primal and fundamental desire to survive.

"Heh heh, humans really do erupt with their strongest and toughest willpower only when backed into a corner."

"But... the tougher they are, the more completely they will collapse once they are utterly destroyed."

Zhang Ze was not afraid of a prolonged battle.

His current strength was fully at the level of a Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghost. With complete control over a door, an ordinary person like Zhang Peng, who was merely a little ruthless, could never escape his grasp.

He held an absolute advantage in this game.

Over the next two or three days, Zhang Ze accompanied Zhang Peng in their battle of wits through the forest, using crows to monitor Zhang Peng's every move.

At the same time, he continued running his Haunted House as usual.

While his Haunted House flourished, Zhang Ze also noticed changes at Chen Ge's Haunted House.

For example, one night, the ticket booth at Chen Ge's Haunted House suddenly changed, becoming gloomy and eerie, like a work of art specifically designed around horror elements.

Uncle Xu saw it during the day and clicked his tongue in amazement, wondering how Chen Ge had silently replaced it with a new ticket booth.

But Zhang Ze knew exactly what had happened.

Chen Ge had completed a Black Phone mission and received the Midnight Ticket Booth as a reward.

Its effect was an extremely low chance of spawning special customers.

"This system is far too lousy. It can't compare to Chen Ge's Black Phone at all."

"Ah, forget it. His was given to him by his real parents. Comparing people really does make people furious."

Zhang Ze could not help sighing.

As expected, real parents were much more generous to their sons.

Since the Midnight Ticket Booth had a chance to spawn special customers, Zhang Ze did not hold back. He specifically arranged for a crow to perch atop the ticket booth, claiming that it was there to enhance the horror atmosphere.

In reality, its true purpose was to act as an informant and monitor every move the special customers made.

Chen Ge saw it. Even though his Yin Eyes revealed that something was wrong with the crow, it was not convenient for him to say anything. In everyone else's eyes, it was merely an ordinary crow. Picking a fight with a bird would have seemed far too petty.

The next day,

Crow's Vision indeed discovered something.

"Xiao Yu, be good. Let's not go to that Haunted House across the street. This one is better. It has more scenes, and don't you like games with horror elements the most..."

A dark, skinny woman led a little boy into New Century Amusement Park and approached the ticket booth. Chen Ge, who had received a prompt from the Black Phone, had already been waiting for a long time.

"Tickets are twenty yuan per person."

"Did you come from the Haunted House across the street?" Chen Ge asked suspiciously.

The dark, skinny woman smiled awkwardly. "Yes. That Haunted House across the street gave me a very bad feeling. The owner looked at me as though he were looking at a bad person, so I brought Xiao Yu to your Haunted House instead."

Chen Ge sized the dark, skinny woman up again. "Underage children are not suitable for visiting a Haunted House. It would be hard to handle if he got scared into having problems. If you insist on visiting, I can accompany you."

"Thank you. Xiao Yu has been pestering me to visit a Haunted House. His parents disappeared when he was young..."

Although Zhang Ze was not there in person,

he listened to the dark, skinny woman's account through the crow.

As expected, Fan Yu had come looking for Chen Ge.

When Fan Yu first entered New Century Amusement Park, he had wanted to visit Zhang Ze's Haunted House. Zhang Ze had naturally welcomed him and had even been willing to give Fan Yu and his aunt half-price tickets.

But Fan Yu's aunt was quite perceptive.

Perhaps she had noticed that Zhang Ze's attitude toward her was somewhat off, or perhaps it was simply a woman's sixth sense. Either way, Fan Yu's aunt forcibly took Fan Yu away and brought him to Chen Ge's Haunted House.

After finishing the visit, Fan Yu's aunt left with Fan Yu.

But Chen Ge seemed preoccupied.

He saw the Black Phone refresh with a new mission.

Twilight Sun Middle School.

Scream Index: 2 stars.

What shocked Chen Ge even more was that a special reminder had been added to the end of the Black Phone's mission this time:

[Your competitor's current scenario: Crow's Nest. Scream Index: 2 stars]

[Lucky Fierce Ghost's chosen one, surpass your competitor and let him know who is the most terrifying urban legend in this city.]

Chen Ge:?

Chen Ge knew that Crow's Nest was definitely scarier than Ghost Marriage and Midnight Escape, or it would not have attracted so many visitors. But he had not expected Zhang Ze's very first scenario to be a two-star Scream Index.

How had he done it?

Chen Ge had also started with nothing, and he had fought desperately just to obtain Midnight Escape, a one-star scenario.

Even West City Private School, where Zhang Ya was, was only two stars. And Zhang Ya herself was a Red-Clothed Female Ghost who had inexplicably fallen in love with him.

"Could this Zhang Ze's parents have disappeared too? Did they leave him a Black Phone as well?" Chen Ge could not figure it out no matter how hard he thought.

If Zhang Ze had not been surnamed Zhang instead of Chen,

Chen Ge would have suspected that after his parents disappeared, they had secretly had a second child, and that Zhang Ze was his long-lost biological brother walking among the living.

Forget it.

No matter what,

the Black Phone had issued an order.

He had to surpass Zhang Ze's Haunted House.

Chen Ge did not hesitate and began checking his equipment.

"Skull-Crushing Hammer, streaming equipment, and..."

Glancing at Zhang Ya in his shadow, Chen Ge felt even more confident. Ever since Zhang Ya had returned to the Haunted House with him, she had remained hidden in his shadow.

When he had decided to deal with the Mirror Ghost last night,

Zhang Ya had directly strangled the Mirror Ghost at the critical moment. She had wrapped it in countless strands of hair and devoured it alive right in front of Chen Ge!

With that, the Haunted House's safety hazard had been completely eliminated.

If Zhang Peng, who was still missing, was not counted, Chen Ge had nothing left to worry about.

Night gradually fell.

Chen Ge set his phone navigation to Twilight Sun Middle School. As the sound of New Century Amusement Park closing echoed behind him, he slowly walked to the entrance, as if making some sort of decision.

"Zhang Ze, I know you can hear me."

"No matter how terrifying you are, I will surpass you."

"Midnight Escape, Twilight Sun Middle School, Spirit Medium Ghost School..."

"I will not allow anyone to stand over my head, especially not a fellow Haunted House owner."