My House of Horrors

Chen Ge reached into the side compartment of the bag. There was a sealed bag wrapped up in oil paper. Good, it hasn’t been touched.

The bag contained the bloodied nail used by the rag doll the night before. Replacing the bag, Chen Ge was led by Ol’ Wei to write his statement before he left.

He rushed back to New Century Park and prepared for a new day of work. Opening the gate, Chen Ge helped Xu Wan and Xiao Gu with their make-up and had Uncle Xu sell the tickets. There were workers assigned by Director Luo to help maintain order. Chen Ge wandered around the Haunted House and realized that he had nothing else to do.

Xiao Gu was getting into the groove, and Xu Wan herself was an experienced employee. With Chen Ge’s guidance, the twenty-four mannequins became better at their job. They knew the rules of the Haunted House, and when they accidentally caused the visitors to faint, afraid that Chen Ge might get mad, they would try to resuscitate the visitors.

In any case, things were slowly moving upward, and now all Chen Ge needed to do was manage the general environment. Sitting where the visitors were required to sign the disclaimer, Chen Ge took out the black phone.

After Han Bao’er fainted, the black phone had vibrated like a new message had been accepted. Chen Ge had not been able to read through the message at the time, so he waited until now.

“The completion rate for Third Sick Hall is over ninety percent! Congratulations, Specter’s Favored, for acquiring the hidden item for this Trial Mission—Third Sick Hall’s Patient List!

“Third Sick Hall’s Patient List (100 Malice Point): I don’t understand why I became like this; all I ever did was try to be human.”

Looking at the message, Chen Ge was slightly disappointed. He had thought that the hidden item for the Third Sick Hall would be Men Nan’s main persona, but it seemed that he had overestimated everything. Pocketing the black phone, Chen Ge went to the prop room and found several yellowed patient records inside the wooden box.

The curious thing was that only five of them had a black and white photo. Wang Shenglong, Men Nan’s mother, Wu Fei, the Devil, and Xiong Qing did not come with the photo. Only those who are confirmed dead will have photo attached?

Wang Shenglong was still alive, Men Nan’s mother was guarding Men Nan’s second persona, Wu Fei had been taken away by the well ghost at Coffin Village, the Devil had been made into a doll by Zhang Ya, and Xiong Qing had turned into a Red Specter with the society’s help. Other than these five, the rest of the patients had their own black and white photos.

Chen Ge examined the photos and realized that each photo seemed to be trapping a twisted soul. Some of them were crying, others were laughing, some stared at Chen Ge silently, and others contained the desire to destroy the world.

The lingering spirit of the dead patients concentrated on their patient’s list?

The memory of their life made it so that their spirit would not have the release of eternal sleep. When they were alive, they were the best hosts for monsters behind the door, but after they died, they became special Specters with unlimited potential.

Chen Ge touched the patient list, and a chill radiated from the pictures. The hidden item for Third Sick Hall should be the souls of these ten patients.

Chen Ge did not know whether that was a good reward or not. These ten spirits had great potential; with their help, Chen Ge could even rebuild the ghost stories society. However, there were two sides to everything. All ten of these patients were completely mad, and every one of them was extremely dangerous, so making them submit would be very difficult.

The most dangerous presence at the Third Sick Hall is actually these ten patients. Now that all ten of their spirits have returned to me, in a bit, I should be able to complete a fully-operating three-star scenario!

There was a hidden mission attached to the Third Sick Hall—demolishing the ghost stories society. After completing that mission, Chen Ge would see the real terror of a three-star scenario for himself.

The complete Third Sick Hall should include the ten crazed patients, the mad doctors, or something even scarier.

Leaving the visitors in the hands of these ten patients, just thinking about it made Chen Ge scared.

When I did the Trial Mission, I only ran into a few of them. If I return all the patients, the visitors might really need mental treatment after this.

Putting the patients’ list away, Chen Ge had a new understanding of a three-star scenario.

Temporarily, three-star scenarios are enough to hold the interest of the visitors. Before Zhang Ya awakens, there’s no need to rush to unlock that four-star scenario.

After exiting the prop room, Chen Ge sent more batches of visitors into the Haunted House. Hearing their screams and the way they shook as they exited the Haunted House, Chen Ge felt satisfied. The visitors swore to not come again, but they also were curious enough to ask others what the other scenarios were like. Whenever this happened, Chen Ge would wander over to introduce the selling points of the other scenarios, telling them since they had already paid the park’s ticket price, why not try everything? Life should not have any regrets.

Some would buy what Chen Ge had to say and start to line up again. Of course, there were visitors who were so spooked that they started to run when they saw Chen Ge coming toward them.

The sound of ‘joy’ reverberated above the Haunted House, giving new life to New Century Park. Lunchtime came, but the number of visitors had not decreased. Xu Yan and Xiao Gu went for their lunch break while Chen Ge joined Uncle Xu to sell tickets.

“Uncle Xu, what happened to the few people who were sent to the hospital a few days ago?” Chen Ge worried about this because he was afraid it might affect the park.

“Director Luo has helped you cover it. Just stop creating trouble in the future. It’s a key time for theme park, and we cannot afford to tumble over these small mistakes.”

“Understood.” Chen Ge wanted to say something more when the black phone in his pocket vibrated. He walked to somewhere with the sun and switched on the screen.

“The effect of Midnight Ticket Counter has been triggered! The third special visitor has appeared! Please make use of this opportunity; the results will be different based on your choices!”

A special visitor at a time like this? Chen Ge looked down the long line, and he frowned. This is one of the bad things about having too many customers—how am I supposed to identify the special visitor?

He aimed his phone at the visitors lining up. This way even if he failed to find said visitor today, he could slowly examine the lines to see which visitor was acting strange.

“What are you doing taking pictures? Quickly lead the visitors into the Haunted House,” Uncle Xu urged. When Chen Ge was taking picture, a group of five young people bought tickets.

“Follow me.” Chen Ge led the way. The five seemed to know him because they kept whispering among themselves behind his back.