Lonelytree

  Millman97

  “Chen Ge, are you sure you want to go to Xin Hai?” Uncle Xu was still worried.

  “Director Luo once told me that we need to look at the big picture. This trip to Xin Hai has two purposes—give Nightmare Academy a warning and get a better understanding of the market,” Chen Ge said seriously. “It’ll be fine, don’t worry.”


  Opening the gate, Chen Ge and Zhang Jingjiu entered the Haunted House.

  “Wait for me here. I need to go to the underground scenario to grab something.” Chen Ge placed most of the employees back into their places and only held onto a few that he still could not control fully like the red high heels, the headless woman, and Qiumei. He was not doing that to take revenge on Nightmare Academy—he was merely worried that these Red Specters might cause trouble at his Haunted House once he left.

  For the sake of balance, Chen Ge brought along Yan Danian’s group and Xu Yin.

  “The hammer is definitely not going through the security check, so I’ll leave it here.” After removing the hammer, the backpack felt so light that Chen Ge needed some time to get used to it. Returning to the surface, Chen Ge and Zhang Jingjiu waited for the other workers to arrive, and Chen Ge helped them with their make-up before leaving.

  At 11 am, Chen Ge and Zhang Jingjiu took the train heading to Xin Hai City. The two cities were adjacent to each other, but the temperature had a drastic change. Xin Hai’s average temperature was higher than that of Jiujiang for reasons that eluded Chen Ge.

  “Jingjiu, you have to go visit your father.” Chen Ge shoved a red packet to Zhang Jingjiu. “Use this to buy some things for him. I won’t accompany you any further. Call me if you need anything.”


  Before Zhang Jingjiu could reject him, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and ran out of the train station. Chen Ge hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address for Nightmare Academy that he had found online.

  Unlike Chen Ge’s Haunted House, Nightmare Academy was situated on Xin Hai’s busiest merchant street. As the oldest and most famous Haunted House in Xin Hai, they rented an entire building.

  Coincidentally enough, when the contractor was designing the merchant street, there was a small oversight. One of the smaller buildings was surrounded by other skyscrapers, creating this situation where it would never receive any sunlight no matter the time of day. Many people refused to rent this building, which always ‘faced away from the sun’. In the end, it had been selected by the founder of Nightmare Academy. He had used a very low price to rent the side of the building that could not receive any sunlight and transformed it into the biggest Haunted House in Xin Hai.

  The side of the building that occasionally received some sunlight had many restaurants and shops, whereas the other side had windows that were always closed. One Yin and one Yang, this eventually became a landmark for Xin Hai City and had great popularity online.

  But that was several years ago. The popularity of physical Haunted Houses was dropping, and fewer and fewer people came to visit Nightmare Academy. They tried to come up with new updates, but it did nothing to stop the popularity from slipping.

  After paying the fare, Chen Ge stood at the entrance of the merchant street. There were many vehicles, and the buildings rose into the sky. Even though it was a working day, the place was packed.

  “Do these people not need to work?” Carrying his tattered backpack, Chen Ge, who could not have looked more normal, stood out conspicuously on the largest merchant street in the big city. However, Chen Ge did not mind that. Compared to appearance, he paid more attention to a being’s soul.

  Following the map on his phone, Chen Ge soon found Nightmare Academy. Situated at a secluded corner of the merchant street, the size of the crowd there diminished tremendously.

  Before he got near, Chen Ge saw a worker standing at the entrance, yelling loudly on the speaker.

  “A 4D Haunted House experience! Experience the greatest horror in your life! A world-standard Haunted House—Nightmare Academy—starting a new semester with screams!

  “The experience at Nightmare Academy combines the element of Haunted Houses, escape rooms, exploration, and real life interaction! It is a new indoor theme park! Only by sharpening your intelligence, courage, and physical ability will you be able to survive!

  “Be it in terms of design, props, scenarios, and make-up, we are much better than all other Haunted Houses on the market!”


  The worker yelled at the top of his lungs, but there were few visitors who were interested. Even if an occasional person stopped, it was due to curiosity, and they would leave seconds later.

  “Sir, would you like to come and challenge our Haunted House?” The worker had noticed Chen Ge a long time ago. He saw Chen Ge standing there for a long time, but seeing the old-fashioned way that Chen Ge was dressed, he did not rush forward to welcome him. He did not think that Chen Ge would be a potential customer.

  “Is your Haunted House really scary?” Chen Ge was curious. Even though their morality left much to be desired, Nightmare Academy had to have something going for them, or else they would not have ended up as the biggest Haunted House in Xin Hai City.

  “You won’t believe me even if I say it is scary—the best way is for you to find out yourself.” The worker tried his sales pitch, but probably afraid that Chen Ge might just leave, he quickly added, “I will only say that a world-standard Haunted House is not for jokes. Our Haunted House has maintained a thirty-three percent surrender rate and ten percent completion rate. There is a record of a visitor lining up for three hours but giving up in less than three minutes.”


  “Only ten percent completion rate?”


  “Indeed, I’m not lying to you. The horror inside our Nightmare Academy is not simple scares but an exploration of the unknown inside the human heart,” the worker said haughtily. “So, what do you think? Would you like to come and experience it? Since it’s a working day, there’s a promotion. Normally, the ticket costs two hundred RMB, but now it will only cost you one hundred and eighty.”


  “That expensive?” Chen Ge could not help but draw a comparison. For his Haunted House, the visitors had to buy the ticket to enter theme park first, but Nightmare Academy was only the visit to a Haunted House.

  Chen Ge was still thinking, but the worker was getting impatient. “The value is equivalent to the price. Our Haunted House will definitely provide you with the best experience.”


  “Alright then, give me one ticket.” Chen Ge entered the Haunted House. The interior design was atmospheric. The ticket selling lobby was decorated as a place for new students to register, and the elevator that led into the scenario was decorated as a school gate. There were various pictures and posters related to ghost stories pasted on the wall.

  Before entering the actual scenario, the atmosphere was already there—this Nightmare Academy was not simple.

  When Chen Ge entered the place, there were two other visitors inside the room, and they appeared to have been waiting for a long time.

  “I’m sorry, the minimum number for a single visit is five people. Would you please wait a little while longer?” The female employee inside the ticket booth waved at Chen Ge. “Why don’t you register your name first? When we have enough people, we will start the tour immediately.”


  “Okay.” Chen Ge took out his ID and walked to the ticket booth.

  The employee inside the booth had her head lowered, but when she saw Chen Ge’s ID, she suddenly looked up.

  “Chen Ge?”