My House of Horrors

The taxi stopped at the park entrance and Chen Ge called Xu Wan to help him haul the boxes into the Haunted House.

“Boss, what’s inside these? They are so heavy.”

“Mannequin heads.” Chen Ge did not explain further. “Don’t open them if you’re easily scared.”

“Understood.”

After placing the boxes, Chen Ge had Xu Wan go to the dressing room to prepare herself while he stood at the entrance to sell tickets.

With the opening of Mu Yang High School scenario tomorrow, I’ll need to solve the issue of workers. If worst comes to worst, I can ask Director Luo to lend me a park worker to act as the ticket-seller.

A man who looked about thirty interrupted Chen Ge’s thoughts. “Mr. Chen? I’ve finally found you.”

Chen Ge was rarely addressed this way. He looked at the person. The man was wearing a casual suit and holding a black suitcase. He had a refreshing short hairstyle, a face full of smiles, and shining white teeth. “You were looking for me?”

“I haven’t missed a single one of your livestreams; they’re too good.” The man started with praise, but Chen Ge knew the quality of his livestreams. His content was unique, but due to a lack of good recording devices, the livestream experience could still be improved.

“You’re too kind.” Chen Ge still had no idea what the man was there for. “You’re a viewer?”

“I’m your loyal fan. Ever since your first video entered the midnight popular ranking, I have been following you. Later, when Qin Guang copied your content, it was me who posted your video on the forum, exposing his plagiarism.” The man said that he was Chen Ge’s loyal fan, but he was very calm, and the smile on his face was a professional smile. It felt more like he was in a negotiation than meeting his idol.

“Thank you.” Chen Ge did not believe him fully, but the man did not seem hostile; at least he knew right from wrong. “Since you’re a fan, I’ll give you a fifty percent discount for the ticket.”

“I don’t want to disturb your business; why not let the visitors behind me go in first?” He stepped aside to allow the people behind him to walk into the Haunted House. When Chen Ge had dealt with the visitors and took a breather, the man moved forward to continue. “I hear the people from Qin Guang’s studio came to cause you trouble, but you managed to teach them a lesson?”

“Those are just rumors. Qin Guang’s people have no moral bottom line; they purposely sent two mental patients, and after they acted up inside the Haunted House, they pretended to be the victims to slander my name. How shameless!” Chen Ge hissed through ‘gritted teeth’.

When the man heard him, his expression shifted. He added a smile but said, “I also think they were trying to frame you. It was just a visit to a Haunted House; why would they end up in the hospital? They should have come up with a better excuse.”

“They ended up in the hospital?”

“Yes, they also promised that they would take revenge by sealing up all your recommendation channels but were stopped by another studio.” The man looked at Chen Ge with a wide grin like a fox waving his tail. “After all, the platform belongs to everyone, not just Qin Guang.”

By then, Chen Ge had understood everything already. This man before him had come from this other studio. It looked like they had some bad history with Qin Guang’s studio, or else they would not have sided with Chen Ge when they realized Qin Guang was conducting plagiarism.

The viewership and recommendation channels for a platform were limited. If Qin Guang dominated all of them, it would cause a slow decline for the other creators.

“You’re here to seek collaboration with me, right? How shall I refer to you?” Chen Ge studied the suitcase in the man’s hand, imagining it to be filled with money.

“Actually, I’m also a host. You can call me Liu Dao.”

“Liu Dao?” Chen Ge nodded. “Then, what kind collaboration do you propose?”

“Lately, supernatural livestreaming has achieved surprising popularity, and naturally, we want a part of it as well, but our studio doesn’t have the right candidate to spearhead such a project. Even if we focus all our resources on a selected host, the popularity won’t be higher than Qin Guang’s. Even though there is much to be desired about Qin Guang’s work ethic, his livestreams are interesting and funny, and the man is charismatic.”

“So, you came to find me? I don’t think a normal guy like myself has more charisma than Qin Guang.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve seen your livestream. Perhaps you don’t notice this, but your livestreams are different from most.” Liu Dao dropped his smile and turned serious. “With just one glance, people will normally be able to tell the livestream is fake, and this includes Qin Guang’s livestream. It has the name of a supernatural livestream, but it was merely listening to the host make up stories.

“However, yours is different.

“The atmosphere and anxiety were pitched throughout the livestream like life-threatening danger was around every corner. The viewers would experience fear alongside you, and just with that point alone, I’m already mightily impressed.”

That’s because it’s all real! Chen Ge felt like even if he told the truth, Liu Dao would not have believed him. “Perhaps I am a good actor.”

“You’re too humble. That feeling of dancing between life and death, that is something I haven’t seen in professional actors.” Liu Dao seemed to admire Chen Ge greatly. “I feel like only your livestream has a chance of fighting Qin Guang. If you promise to cooperate with us, we will fight tooth and nail to help you gain more resources.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Contribution and reward were give and take; Chen Ge knew this well.

“We will find you locations that look scary and abandoned and set up the scene there. We will also design some scary features beforehand. You’ll only need to conduct your livestream there and push some advertisement in your livestream room for our studio.” Liu Dao was afraid that Chen Ge might reject him, and he pulled out a file from the black suitcase. “The set needs to be prepared and the script as well. We will conduct a supernatural livestream every ten days, and this aligns with Qin Guang’s studio’s schedule. Here, you can take a look at our selected set locations and the rundown for the script.”

These people are too conservative with their choices. Some of the sets are just next to a residential area; just a move of the camera, and it’ll be exposed.

“You think they’re not suitable? Don’t worry, I promise you that they’re completely safe. All the set locations will be inspected beforehand, and during your livestream, we will assign an auto camera to follow you.”

“You think these can beat Qin Guang?” Chen Ge sighed sadly. He returned the file to Liu Dao. “None of these sets are interesting, and the scripts are too predictable. How about I give you my recommendation.”

“What is it?”

“Have you heard of the Third Sick Hall?” Chen Ge turned on his phone and entered the name. Soon, many creepy, cruel, and insane headlines appeared on screen. “I plan to go here for my next livestream.”

Liu Dao saw the articles that appeared on screen. The unfiltered pictures caused the man’s Adam’s apple to wiggle. He wiped the sweat off his forehead before saying, “You sure? Isn’t this pushing it a bit too far?”