My House of Horrors

The scenarios joined together to form a big maze. Some of the scenarios were huge; others were just a single room. Chen Ge wandered aimlessly around the haunted house with the keys. He realized that most of the scenarios were interconnected, and they had different ways of clearing the scenarios.

“Didn’t the visitors say the haunted house has been filled with many old objects? How come I haven’t encountered any? Or are most of the old objects not possessed and Jiang Jiu moved them in here to cover up for the altar and the old mansion? No wait, I missed one thing. There was that windchime in the cursed house. There was something in it.”

Chen Ge did not want to have any regrets, so he took a shortcut back. He first returned to the dormitory to grab his wrist band, clothes, and backpack and then removed the wooden boards to get back into the cursed house. Once he entered it, Chen Ge noticed that something was not right. The lights in the corridors were flickering, and many people were gathered and heading his way.

“The other workers finally gathered their courage to come in here.”

The tour was not forced to stop, and the central computer did not shut down. Under those conditions, the manager of the Reincarnation Haunted House had to gather fifteen people before they dared to get into the haunted house to initiate the ‘rescue’.

“Be careful! All employees have lost contact! Be careful of anything!”

“Boss, from the surveillance, I notice that some of our workers are in serious trouble. Are we sure we’re not calling the police?”

“This the second day our theme park has been open for business! If the police arrive, do you know what that means? Many people are already suspicious about our theme park’s technology, thinking that this kind of immersive experience will harm the brain and senses. If we call the police, won’t we be admitting that they’re right?”

“But…”

“If the problem becomes serious enough, I will call the police. I don’t need you to tell me that! Now, just follow my orders! Right! Some of you go and chase away the reporters that have gathered at the entrance!”

“Brother Jiang, we have investigated the actor who played the saw murderer. His name is Lee Xiaoyi. He’s one of our old workers.”

“Why would an old worker suddenly go on a rampage? Has he gone to the mansion in the middle of the haunted house?”

“No clue…”

Hearing these people’s conversation, Chen Ge knew that he would not have a chance to find the windchime, so he slid away quietly.

Could the Brother Jiang the employees refer to be Jiang Jiu?

There was no reason for Chen Ge to stay, so he prepared to leave.

…

Opening the rusted door, the wandering projections dispersed. The crying and laughter inside the haunted house slowly dwindled away, and a spotlight shone on Chen Ge. He saw a staircase that led upstairs. Moving up the steps, Chen Ge returned to the surface.

“Someone’s coming! Someone’s coming out!”

“After everything that’s happened, someone’s finally managed to come out safely!”

“This haunted house at futuristic theme park is too scary!”

The commotion was about to go through the roof. After his eyes got used to the light, Chen Ge looked around. He was standing at the exit of the haunted house, and he could see the entrance from where he was standing.

At that moment, many workers were moving ‘visitors’ that had fainted from inside the haunted house. This was pretty common at New Century Park. The haunted house was surrounded by bustling visitors and several reporters. Everyone took videos and pictures on their phones, saying how scary the haunted house was. Fainted visitors were continuously being ferried out from the entrance, and Chen Ge, who stood alone at the exit, caught the attention even if he did not wish to. The crowd rushed toward him and surrounded him in the middle.

“The visitors that went in with you have all fainted! You’re the only one who is still conscious. Can you tell us how you feel now?” a reporter asked Chen Ge. There were a few other visitors who were taking pictures of Chen Ge.

“The visitors that went in with me?” Chen Ge looked at the people who were being carried out from the haunted house. He shook his head and took out his phone. “There were six people who entered the haunted house with me, but they are not normal visitors. They are theme park’s employees! This is nothing but a self-directed play.”

Pushing the play button, Chen Ge played the recording before all the visitors and reporters.

“We’re allies! We’re all workers here! I am Lee Li, and she is Zhang Ling. You haven’t received the notice, right? Both of us followed a visitor to enter this place!”

“We… we are your colleagues. Other than that Chen Ge, we are all colleagues here. I’m telling you the truth!”

Chen Ge had many similar recordings, but he chose two of the most critical ones.

“Seven people went in on the tour, but six of them were actually workers at theme park. I am the only real visitor. I really don’t know how to describe what they have done.” Chen Ge stood at the exit and looked quite angry. “The thing that confuses me the most is, they knew that they cannot stop me, so they did something to cause their own employees to go unconscious to create this impression of how scary their haunted house is.”

“Move it, move it!” After hearing the commotion on this side, the designer Qing Ming squeezed through the crowd. When he saw Chen Ge standing at the exit, it was like he had seen a ghost. His face was filled with disbelief. The combination of forty hellish scenario had jammed the computer, so how did he survive?

“Chen Ge?”

“Your timing is perfect. Come and explain yourself. Why, of the seven supposed visitors, did you include six employees from the theme park? To scare me, you surely have put in a lot of effort.” Chen Ge took out his phone and played the recording again.

“Put in a lot of effort?” Qing Ming grumbled bitterly. “All we did was learn the dirty trick from you.”

When he saw his own people scared unconscious, he had come up with the solution. If all the visitors had fallen unconscious, it would prove how scary the haunted house was. Since everyone had fainted, he could say anything he wanted, just like how Chen Ge did at his haunted house. But he did not expect all the workers to have fainted but the only real worker to have walked out from the exit. Just as he thought things could not get worse, Chen Ge took out the evidence of the worker IDs that he had snatched from the other ‘visitors’ to show everyone.

1

“There must be a misunderstanding here. Please stop taking pictures.” Qing Ming wanted to drag Chen Ge away from this gauntlet of media and to help himself calm down, but this man who was of average build was far more powerful than he thought. He failed to drag him away but instead was dragged back into the spotlight by the man.

“Qing Ming, you haven’t given us an explanation.” Chen Ge grabbed Qing Ming. “Why did you order six other theme park workers to join me on this tour?”

The camera flashes and the voices from the visitors blurred Qing Ming’s mind. His forehead was covered in sweat, and he was starting to envy the workers that had fainted.