My House of Horrors

Holding the heavy Doctor Skull-cracker’s hammer, Gu Feiyu’s eyes naturally wandered to fall on the blood stain left on the hammer’s head. A strong smell of blood reached his nose.

“Are your Haunted House’s props all so realistic?”

“It’s our Haunted House. Now, quickly put it on.” The park was opening at 9 am, so Chen Ge did not have much time left. After putting on the outfit, Gu Feiyu turned to look at the mirror, and he could not believe that the monster that he saw was himself.

“Not bad, it feels right.” Chen Ge nodded with satisfaction. Gu Feiyu was as tall as he was, but he was not familiar with it, so he appeared rather sluggish. “The mask sticks onto your skin, so if you want to change the expression on the mask, you need to rely on your facial muscles.”

Gu Feiyu tried to make a smile. However, it did not look scary but rather annoyed.

“You’re playing the character of a crazed murderer, a madman, let me see that craziness in you!” Chen Ge gave him several examples. He had seen plenty of madmen in his life. In less than few seconds, he switched through multiple styles. “Find your own niche first—after all, there are many different types of madmen.

“The one with the lowest difficulty is the silent, cold-hearted type. It’s the easiest to mimic, I would say, so you just need to keep calm in all situations. Think of yourself as a killing machine that has no feeling.

“A level higher than that is the bestial type. You need to make the visitors feel like you’re constantly just one corner behind them. They’re your prey; they could struggle but never escape your grasp.

“Harder than that is the maddened type. This kind will be able to give the visitors the most fear but correspondingly requires a greater acting skill to embody the madness both in your eyes and your body language. You’re a wildfire; without sense and reason, you just want to consume everything.”

Chen Ge had seen many types of madmen, which lent the sense of authenticity to his Haunted House. Gu Feiyu was already confused, so he could only nod continuously.

“You’re new here, so I won’t ask too much of you.” Chen Ge found Xiaoxiao and led Gu Feiyu to the Murder by Midnight scenario. “You went through the whole scenario yesterday. Have you memorized the routes?”

Reminded of the nightmarish experience he had yesterday, tears were rolling in Gu Feiyu’s eyes. “Not yet, I was too scared to remember anything from yesterday.”

“A qualified Haunted House worker must be familiar with the layout the place. You have to create this impression that you’re not a living human but a stubborn lingering spirit, a crazed murderer who might appear at any time!” Chen Ge walked into the scenario openly while Gu Feiyu followed him cautiously, holding the hammer.

“I’ll bring you to go take a look at all the hidden passageways again. You’ll need to remember them this time,” Chen Ge said seriously. “Actually, there’s another reason to knowing these paths. If something happens to the visitors, you have to go and assist them at the first notice. Here, we’re both demons and angels.”

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it. Honestly, I was already feeling rather unsettled after walking in. I’m afraid, thinking about the need to stay in such a large place alone for a long time.” Gu Feiyu was wearing the scary skin mask, but there were tears in his voice. “I still think I’m not suitable for this job.”

“Snap out of it! How can you admit defeat without even trying?” Chen Ge looked into Gu Feiyu’s eyes. “There’s a process to everything. It’s normal for you to be afraid now, but after you get used to the fear inside your heart, it’ll be fine.”

Then Chen Ge passed Xiaoxiao inside his pocket to Gu Feiyu. “Don’t panic no matter what happens to you inside the scenario; this little fella will protect you.”

Gu Feiyu held Yin Xiaoxiao in one hand. No matter what Chen Ge said then, he would choose to believe. Chen Ge led Gu Feiyu to familiarize himself with all the hidden paths and traps inside Murder by Midnight and taught him some simple methods to scare people. Like the distance needed to be maintained to create pressure for visitors and how to make use of the visitors’ blind spots. At 8:40 am, Chen Ge left Gu Feiyu inside the scenario to wait and he left.

Gu Feiyu was left alone inside the scenario, hugging the hammer and Xiaoxiao. He leaned against the corner, and as he looked down the eerie corridor, his body slowly slid to the floor. “Several months ago, I was planting paddy in the fields. The big city is too complicated. Sigh, I miss Grandma’s cooking…”

After closing the door to Murder by Midnight, Chen Ge heard a commotion coming from outside the Haunted House. He walked over to realize that there were several people working on the banner.

“Chen Ge!” Uncle Xu was talking with a large middle-aged man under the resting tent. When he saw Chen Ge walk out the Haunted House, Uncle Xu waved at him.

“Uncle, you’re early today.”

“Today is the day our park will bounce back, so I have to be early.” Uncle Xu was full of smiles and seemed to be in great mood. “This is Foreman Yang. He’ll be responsible for building your resting hall. You can come to him if you have any questions or comments.”

“Just call me Ol’ Yang.” The middle-aged man looked like a friendly person.

Meeting Foreman Yang, Chen Ge was reminded of something. “Foreman Yang, actually, I do have a favor to ask.”

“Director Luo has given me the order, so what do you need?”

“I need you to help me seal up the two entrances to the park’s underground parking lot as soon as possible. Don’t need to completely close it, but make it so that it won’t be easy for people to walk in and walk out.”

Currently, the park only used large objects to block the way, so people could still squeeze through the gaps.

“Okay, no problem.” Director Luo had rented the underground parking lot to Chen Ge for free—Uncle Xu knew that, so he did not stop him.

“Then, thank you in advanced. I’ll need to go back into the Haunted House to inspect all the scenarios.” Chen Ge returned to the Haunted House and took out the black phone.

A night has passed; the expansion should be ready by now.

He clicked on the screen and there were indeed two unread messages on it.

“Second expansion successful! Obtained unique construct—The Ghost’s Changing Room.

“Another expansion, and the Haunted House will upgrade to Maze of Terror!

“The Ghost’s Changing Room: The police who wandered into a haunted tower, students abandoned at school, reporters that visited the hospital at night, patients who lost their memories, here, visitors can relive the experience of the characters themselves. The Ghost’s Changing Room provides costumes to the visitors, and changing into the costumes will greatly increase immersion!

“Warning: The Ghost’s Changing Room has a one percent chance of triggering the extreme experience! It can make the visitor enter a memory that doesn’t belong to them to experience terror that cannot be replicated!”