My House of Horrors

Chen Ge glanced at the picture. This woman looked just like a good little girl; she was wearing a cute dress in the picture and was a complete opposite to the tomboyish Ye Xiaoxin. He moved the picture, and when Chen Ge saw the second screenshot, he started to get unsettled.

The unassuming girl kept creating chaos online. One could find her on all the reviews Ye Xiaoxin had ever released. This was particularly obvious with Chen Ge’s Haunted House review. Initially, it was 9.7, but after a wave of negative reviews, it was pushed down to 8.9. Thankfully Chen Ge’s Haunted House had its own fans and many good reviews, or the point would have been lower.

The other screenshots showed the woman going around to bring down the reviews for other Haunted Houses and raise the ratings for the ones she reviewed. The main point was that many online users were tricked by her looks and supported her no matter what.

The comparison was quite obvious. The reviews on her main page were all maintained above 9, but the other reviews pointed out how unfair they were. However, she showed no sign of changing them. In Ye Xiaoxin’s review, the highest was Chen Ge’s Haunted House, and the second highest was only 6.

“It’s one thing if you make enemies with Ye Xiaoxin, but you’ve flooded my Haunted House with negative reviews. In that case, I’ll need to fight for myself or else it’ll be unfair to my loyal employee.” Chen Ge glanced at this woman’s ID and even remembered what she looked like. There were many other screenshots. Other than this woman, there were parties purposely talking about New Century Park on forums and websites. It felt like they were trying to attempt something bad.

“I should tell Director Luo about this. After all, the Haunted House is now the park’s main attraction, so the lowering in the Haunted House’s review will affect the park’s name.”

Sitting at the door, watching the visitors being led into the scenarios, and listening to the screams that escaped from within, Chen Ge felt quite accomplished.

Earlier, Chen Ge had been calling all day, saying that the three-star scenario was temporarily open to public, but most of the visitors were experienced. They would google the review before they entered the Haunted House. For most, a three-star scenario was like a taboo for living humans. Chen Ge sat at the door until noon. He almost fell asleep when he was shaken awake by Uncle Xu.

“What’s wrong? Uncle Xu?” Uncle Xu coughed twice and pointed behind him. “These few visitors want to challenge that new scenario that you mentioned.”

“The environment is passable, four points. The worker is so lazy that he fell asleep at work, two points.” Five visitors stood at the door, three males and two females. One of the females was typing on her phone. When he saw the woman’s face, Chen Ge stunned before he turned habitually to a smile. “Welcome, the new scenario hasn’t been tested before. You’re so lucky.”

“It’s too late to change your attitude now. I want to see the most authentic experience your Haunted House has to offer.” The woman raised her head. She had a baby face, but her voice was coarse, revealing her actual age.

“Aren’t you here to visit the Haunted House?” Chen Ge pretended like he did not know what she was talking about.

“You can call me Cassie. I’m a professional Haunted House reviewer, and I have several hundred thousand fans online. If I feel like your Haunted House is not bad and I place it on my recommendation page, your visitor number will increase by 33 percent.” The woman was prideful. “Of course, you have to make me believe your Haunted House is worth it, but so far, it is not living up to its name.”

Chen Ge was too lazy to listen the woman’s boasting. “Do you have a Chinese name? Like Tie Zhu or Gou Dan ¹ , something easier to remember.”

The woman’s face fell immediately, but she did not get into an argument with Chen Ge. This girl would maintain her persona around her friends. She did not speak, but the two men saw how hurt she was and walked forward to defend her.

One of them had a head of hair dyed yellow, with an earring and nose ring. He looked like a hippie. The other was more normal, but he was around 1.9 meters tall.

“Fine, since you’re here, you’re my visitors. Let’s not waste time, sign these disclaimers.” Chen Ge did not want to get into an altercation with them. He gave them the contract to sign, and the excitement in his voice made the hair on Uncle Xu’s body stand upright.

“Xiao Chen, they just want to give an objective review, don’t act recklessly.”

“Haunted House has been open for long already, don’t you know me? When have I been reckless before?” Chen Ge pushed Uncle Xu out the door. “Don’t worry.”

“You say that every time.” Uncle Xu did not voice his real opinion since there were outsiders around, but there was obvious worry in his eyes.

The five visitors noticed the look in his eyes, and for some reason, they felt creeped out. Is this uncle also employed at the Haunted House? He’s such a good actor! Just a look can express so many complicated feelings.

After sending Uncle Xu away, Chen Ge’s smile grew brighter. “Come, sign the disclaimer. Coffin Village is open for the first time for visitation, so you have to be careful of safety. If you come into any danger, do scream, and the worker will come save you.”

Chen Ge’s attitude was flawless, but the more he acted like this, the more worried the five visitors became.

“The new scenario is just a gimmick; there’s nothing to be afraid of. Actually, this is just a trial. A uniquely eastern haunted house experience I made using local folklore; it’s completely different from the western and Japanese horror houses,” Chen Ge explained theme of Coffin Village briefly.

When the visitors heard it was not the western and Japanese horror theme that were common on the market, they sighed in relief. Actually, there were few eastern-themed Haunted Houses in the country, but probably due to budget and inexperience, the effect was lacking.

“An eastern-themed scenario? Earlier you also mentioned it was a haunted village, right? That’s very rare.” The one who spoke was the other woman. She had pigtails and looked quite young. Chen Ge glanced at the woman’s name on the disclaimer. It was rather common—Zhang Lan.

“That’s why I’m interested to give it a try.” Chen Ge collected all the disclaimers carefully. It felt like he knew they would come into use eventually. “Come with me. The new scenario is underground.”

“Wait a minute.” The woman suddenly spoke. She was a cunning one. Before she arrived, she had looked over all the information on Chen Ge’s Haunted House. Furthermore, they were challenging a three-star scenario, so she had to be careful. “I hear for scenarios above two-stars, you accept teams of ten. There’s only five of us now; why don’t we wait for other visitors to join us?”

Chen Ge thought about it and agreed. “Then let me go see if there are any other visitors who wish to join.”

“Thank you.” The woman smiled sweetly.

“It’s nothing. Our Haunted House always put our visitor’s request first.” Chen Ge turned and walked out. After Chen Ge left, the few visitors started to talk among themselves.

“Sister Mao, what are you afraid of? The five of us have cleared how many Haunted Houses already? Other visitors will only drag us down,” the yellow hair grumbled with dissatisfaction.

“This guy is friends with Ye Xiaoxin. I’m afraid he might trap us inside the Haunted House. If there are other visitors, he won’t do something like that.” The woman took out her phone and added, “The worker has attitude, three points.”

Five minutes later, Chen Ge pushed open the door. He slid the comic into his pocket, and three people followed behind him.

Two guys and one girl.

The woman was very pretty, but her body was unsteady. One of the guys had his left hand stuck in his pocket, and the other was wearing a black shirt, grumbling about his recent bad luck.

“You’re so lucky. These three visitors also want to visit the new scenario, so the eight of you can experience it together.” A smile hung on Chen Ge’s face like serving the visitors was a very happy thing for him.