My House of Horrors

Chen Ge arrived at New Century Park at around 8:40 am. The park was still not yet open, but there were already many waiting visitors at the entrance. Seeing the visitors’ excited faces as they chatted among themselves, Chen Ge revealed a large smile. Knowing that his work was able to bring the visitors joy and help them chase away their unhappiness, it made him feel very accomplished.

Amid the crowd, Chen Ge spotted some familiar faces, and they often pulled the topic back to the Haunted House.

The return of many visitors proved that Chen Ge’s decision to delineate the scary scenarios into different categories was a correct one. Those who had challenged a less scary scenario would definitely be interested in the scarier ones. With the ‘encouragement’ from their friends, the chance for them to return would be high.

The small app designed by Director Luo for the Haunted House was a runaway success, too. Not only the visitors of the Haunted House, even many supernatural fans and alternative culture researchers on the internet also downloaded it. The app looked like it was on its way to become the biggest social community for Haunted House lovers in the nation.

The daily download number and active user number was still climbing, and Chen Ge heard Director Luo had been approached by many advertisers for cooperation, but he had rejected all of them. Director Luo had a clear vision. The Haunted House was the park’s main attraction, and the app was its support. Everything was to uphold and support the service of the Haunted House, so he would never bring in a negative user experience for the sake of advertising money.

“Boss, where did you go this time?” Xu Wan and Xiao Gu stood next to the gates, one on the left, the other on the right, like a pair of door guardians.

“It’s too complicated to explain. Just pay attention to the news and you’ll see.” Chen Ge’s answer was short and to the point.

“Is it the crime and legal channel?” Even though Xiao Gu had not worked at the Haunted House for long, he had gotten used to his boss’ ‘hobbies’. Now, he shared his room with some roommates, and his roommates were confused by his demeanor because most teenagers their age would spend time playing games or watching videos, but Gu Feiyu would plant himself in front of the television, watching the local crime news. His roommates could not understand Xiao Gu like how a normal person could not understand one’s feeling from having to find one’s own boss appear on the local crime news again and again.

After putting on the make-up for Xiao Gu and Xu Wan, the theme park officially opened for the day. Uncle Xu and the workers helped maintain the order while Chen Ge finally got the chance to rest. Seeing the visitors move in and out, Chen Ge had a sudden realization that he was living quite a comfortable life.

“The Haunted House depends on the unknown and novelty to attract the visitors. Only by continually unlocking new scenarios will I be able to maintain its livelihood.”

Chen Ge took out the phone and looked through the missions. The deadline for the Ghost of the Afterlife was coming to an end, and Chen Ge would not give up on this four-star scenario.

“I can’t drag this out any further. I need to go to White Dragon Cave Tunnel tonight to have a chat with the woman caught in the car accident. Since she has gotten into an altercation with the shadow before, it shouldn’t be too difficult to communicate with her.” Chen Ge put down the black phone and turned to glance at his own phone. “Today’s weather forecast is not bad, but there is supposed to be heavy rain tomorrow night. I should make use of that opportunity to take the last bus on the Route 104 out for a spin. Even if I don’t run into the woman in the raincoat, I have nothing to lose if I can find some passengers.”

He found a pen and paper to make some notes. “Tonight, I’ll go to White Dragon Cave Tunnel to finish the three-star mission, and tomorrow, I’ll go find the woman in the raincoat and purchase a batch of strong lights. Then the night after tomorrow, with all the preparation done, I’ll bring all of my employees to Li Wan City to challenge that 3.5-star mission.”

Xiao Bu had once warned Chen Ge that he would die if he stepped into Li Wan City again. He had no idea what he would face in Li Wan City, but there would be nothing wrong if he went fully prepared.

“Xiao Chen, what are you so busy with?” Uncle Xu’s voice came from the Haunted House door. Due to his cowardice, he had never once stepped into Chen Ge’s Haunted House before.

“Uncle Xu, how can I help you?”

“Director Luo is looking for you.”

After sending the visitors into the scenario, Chen Ge put away the paper and raced out of the Haunted House. Not far away, Director Luo was chatting with a group of visitors in a casual outfit. Their conversation was lively, interspersed by laughter. The few visitors probably did not expect this middle-aged man who looked so friendly and kind to be the leader of the entire theme park.

“Director Luo, were you looking for me?” Chen Ge waited for their conversation to come to a lull before barging in.

“I have something important to discuss with you.” Director Luo led Chen Ge to a more deserted spot, and the smile on his face slowly disappeared. “Do you still remember that I once accompanied a man to visit theme park and the man even asked about your Haunted House?”

“I think I do. I can’t remember his name, but he said that he wanted to invest in our theme park, to help us upgrade our amenities and expand the theme park’s grounds.” Chen Ge was reminded of the man, and he had also once seen the man’s face on the phone of an employee from the futuristic theme park.

“His real name is Bai Qin, a very powerful realtor. He only has one passion in life, and that is money. For money, he is willing to do anything, even things that err on the wrong side of the law.” Director Luo spoke slowly. “We were once schoolmates, so I know him well. The man will stop at nothing for nothing. When he was young, he married the daughter of a rich man and even changed his surname, so nowadays, few people know of his real name.”

“Are we going to cooperate with him?”

“New Century Park’s amenities are too behind, and without an upgrade, it’ll be very hard for us to grab the visitors away from the futuristic theme park.” Director Luo had his own concern. “There are currently few places in Jiujiang that can provide quality entertainment, and people are starved for choices, so they can only come here. After the futuristic theme park opens, it will definitely bring a huge impact to us.”

“They will mostly rely on high-tech attractions and the overlapping of virtual and physical entertainment. It is completely different from the direction of our theme park. As long as we can survive the first wave, I’m sure the visitors will eventually return.”

“You’ve underestimated their ambition.” Director Luo was the center of the theme park, so he rarely shared his concerns with others lest the morale was shaken. “I’ve done some investigation, and they’re not only planning to come up with the latest non-virtual attractions; they’re even planning to copy the idea behind your Haunted House. For that, they have introduced a new project recently. It’s called Ghost Realm.”

“Ghost Realm?”

“It’s a combination of both physical and virtual setting with the aid of actors. They’ve poured in plenty of money to build the biggest and most unique Haunted House in the nation.” Director Luo glanced at Chen Ge. “Bai Qin allowed me to look at some of the insider information. The futuristic theme park plans to turn their own Haunted House into a real-life horror game that the visitors can enter and interact with. They have come up with four main plots and more than ten subplots. Based on the choices that you’ve made, the final result will be different each time.”

“That sounds marvelous, even I am interested in visiting it.” Chen Ge purely wanted to exchange information and initiate friendly competition. Perhaps they would be able to learn from one another, just like his previous visit to Tian Teng Medical Hospital.