My House of Horrors

“Congratulations, Specter’s Favored, for completing the 3.5-star Trial Mission! An all new scenario, Li Wan City, has been unlocked!

“Li Wan City (3.5-star Scenario): This scenario comprises of Li Wan Residential Area, Li Wan Private Hospital, the junction, Smiling Dog, The Elevator Going to the Second Floor Basement, Midnight Hotel, and so on. Since this scenario is immensely large, please choose carefully whether to unlock it to the public.

“Congratulations, Specter’s Favored! You’ve successfully rescued four innocent individuals and thus obtained the additional reward—Jack the Ripper Apparel.

“He is the world’s most famous serial killers. Nothing is known about him; he never leaves any evidence of his crime other than the dead bodies. Not even his race or gender have ever been determined.

“Jack the Ripper Apparel—Coat of Fog: This coat can shield your face, your body shape, and all the crimes that you have committed.

“Jack the Ripper Apparel—Black Envelope: Jack once stored his victims’ organs in an envelope and mailed it to the local paper’s office.

“Jack the Ripper Apparel—Lucky Scissors: These bloodied scissors have nothing to do with good fortune, but that is simply how they are named.

“Jack the Ripper Apparel Special Effect—Surgical Transplant: On the night of heavy fog, the apparel’s set effect will be activated. Perfect transplant requires deep experience in surgery, but if you’re successful, you’ll inherit the transplanted talent.”

Seeing that the black phone showed that he had saved four innocent victims, Chen Ge sighed in relief because that perfectly matched the four that he had saved. After ensuring that they were all innocent, Chen Ge could let them work at the Haunted House without worry.

Counting the apparel for Doctor Skull-Cracker and the Headless Nurse, this Jack of Ripper outfit is my third apparel set.

Studying the hammer in his backpack, Chen Ge knew very sure that these sets were not as simple as they seemed. The biggest difference between them and the costumes at the Haunted House was that they were probably the real deal.

Lucky Scissors… After I’m done inspecting them, I can lend them to Scissors first. He should appreciate this character.

Putting the black phone away, Chen Ge had a satisfied smile on his face. Other than the reward provided by the black phone, he had earned quite a lot from Li Wan City. Yan Danian’s comic was full, and the old employees were now going into overtime to train the newcomers.

With so many lingering spirits and baleful Specters, it should be enough to fill up an entire scenario.

Chen Ge started to mesh the crazed games that the hotel boss showed him with his own Haunted House. He was so lost in thought that he did not realize that they had arrived at the station.

Once Chen Ge got out of the taxi, he attracted the guard’s attention. When he saw Chen Ge carrying the fainted Lee Zheng out from the taxi, he ran over immediately.

“Inspector Lee‽”

“He’s fine, he’s only fainted.”

“He’s fainted, and you’re calling that fine‽ Why didn’t you send him directly to the hospital?” the guard demanded loudly, and that spooked the citizens who were in the station making their report. Hearing that, the officers on the duty inside the station rushed out as well.

The question from the guard stumped Chen Ge. He knew what had happened, so he understood that the treatment at the hospital would not be of much help. Therefore, he had brought the officer straight to the station. After all, he had been here a lot and out of habit told the driver to drop him at the police station.

“This was an order given to me by Inspector Lee before he fainted. Other than Captain Yan, he doesn’t trust anyone, and he requested me to personally deliver him to Captain Yan.” Chen Ge carried Lee Zheng and refused to let anyone else touch him.

“Okay, but you have to take him to the hospital first! In fact, I’ll go with you, and we’ll contact Captain Yan on the way.” With the arrangement from the station, Lee Zheng and Chen Ge were rushed to the People’s Hospital. This was another location that Chen Ge was familiar with.

Lee Zheng was sent into the emergency room for a body check while Chen Ge stayed in the corridor to wait. About half an hour later, Captain Yan arrived. This kind and approachable officer looked quite worse for wear.

“Captain Yan, Inspector Lee is in there. He’s still unconscious.” Chen Ge and Fan Chong stood up together.

“What happened last night? Where did you find Lee Zheng?” Captain Yan seemed to have been up for the whole night, and he did not look so good.

“We found Inspector Lee in Li Wan City. He was pursuing the escaped convict Jia Ming alone.” Chen Ge knew the theory of accidents coming from the mouth, so he only gave Captain Yan a brief summary of the events.

“This is strange, why would Lee Zheng operate on his own? In fact, we even lost contact with him at some point. I cannot believe that an inspector with decades of experience would do something as rash as that.” From Captain Yan’s expression, it was clear that compared to capturing Jia Ming, he was more worried about Lee Zheng.

“It’s probably because of the suspect—he doesn’t appear like a normal person.” Chen Ge stared at the stainless steel glass next to him. The expression on Captain Yan’s face shifted slightly; he knew more than he was telling, and Chen Ge saw that clearly through the reflection on the glass.

“In any case, leave this me. You two should go and give your statements.”

“Okay.”

In Li Wan City, Chen Ge had heard from Lee Zheng that Captain Yan came from some background, and the brief exchange that they had earlier confirmed that even further. However, Captain Yan had always been on Chen Ge’s side and seemed to admire the young man quite a bit. He had helped Chen Ge multiple times, so the latter did not think too much of it.

During the written interview, Fan Chong heard about his elder brother from the police officer. The previous night, when it was still raining, Fan Dade had gotten into a car accident on his way home. He had suffered light wounds, but the one who ran into him died on the spot. The whole thing felt like it had been orchestrated by a third party.

Knowing that his brother was safe, Fan Chong sighed in relief. After the interview, he went to visit his brother. The police officer confirmed that everything was okay with Chen Ge, so he also departed for New Century Park. Thankfully, he managed to reach theme park before it opened for business.

“Boss, where were you last night?” Xiao Gu and Xu Wan had been waiting at the door. “How come you always show up last when you’re the one who lives here?”

“I woke up early in the morning and went for a stroll at the human resource department and interviewed a few new employees. They should be arriving in the afternoon.” Chen Ge pushed open the gate. “Now is not the time to dawdle. Get into the dressing room and prepare for work!”

This period before the futuristic theme park opened was the last rush for Chen Ge’s Haunted House. It was the calm before the storm.

Theme park opened at 9 am, and the visitors rushed in. Instantly, a long queue materialized in front of the Haunted House, and a large crowd bustled at the resting hall. They obviously treated Chen Ge’s place of business as their ‘base’.

Most of the employees in his backpack were injured, and they were recovering, so Chen Ge had to do many things alone. However, he was a single man—he could not split himself apart. With that issue, the difficulty for part of the scenarios had lowered.

As the number of people clearing the scenario increased, the visitors were whipped into a hype, and they gloated that they were close to ‘owning’ the Haunted House, to use the online gaming vernacular.

Witnessing the liveliness form the visitors, Chen Ge felt joy on their behalf.

The more visitors that clear the three-star scenario, the greater the number of people who can challenge the 3.5-star scenario. Looks like I’ll have to finish building Li Wan City as soon as possible.