My House of Horrors

Chen Ge directly challenged Liu Gang through his livestream, and Liu Gang uploaded a video in response to Chen Ge. The big names that belonged to two different platforms crossed swords on the internet, and that naturally attracted the attention of many internet users. Some of the rowdier bunch had already started a bet to see whether Liu Gang would be able to clear Chen Ge’s Haunted House successfully. The winds on the news headlines were blowing every each way. The people behind the futuristic theme park and Director Luo from New Century Park only pushed the waves higher because both parties believed that they already had victory in their hands, and they tried their best to promote this as much as they could.

The platforms that they were on also reacted swiftly. Liu Gang’s platform specially opened a topic for Liu Gang while the short video platform that Chen Ge was on pushed his livestream to the front page. While Liu Gang and Chen Ge were shooting daggers at each other, there were calm and collected internet users who had seen through the smoke and mirrors. This challenge regarding a Haunted House on the surface looked like a conflict between Chen Ge and Liu Gang, but actually, it was a competition between New Century Park and the futuristic theme park. Jiujiang was not a big state, and it was a quickly developing city. While it had a lot of potential, with its current population, it was hard for it to cultivate two large theme parks. Therefore, between New Century Park and the futuristic theme park, one would have to be the sacrifice.

Based on the current situation, the futuristic theme park had a bigger chance of winning. All of its presale tickets had been sold out, but in terms of pure popularity and word of mouth, New Century Park was more on people’s lips compared to the futuristic theme park. Other than that, Chen Ge, the operator of the haunted house, was an individual who would create topics of interest whenever he went, so it was very hard to say who would end up as the final victor.

There was chaos online as the fans of both parties went back and forth. Everyone had their own pride to maintain, and neither party was willing to back down. Therefore, everyone sat waiting to see the result the following day. Chen Ge maintained his livestream until the afternoon. When he started his livestream, there had been 400,000 fans, and when he logged off the stream, the number of fan had already jumped up to 650,000 people. This could almost be considered a miracle.

Turning off the camera on his phone, Chen Ge picked up the tea cup on the table next to him to quench his thirst. “I said too much. Now, my throat is parched. It is much easier to communicate with ghosts and Specters.”

Pulling open the curtains, Chen Ge stretched his limbs and body. “The new scenario still needs a bunch of mannequins. I wonder how Qu Changlin is doing. How many mannequins has he finished?”

Chen Ge ran out of the Haunted House. Once he saw himself, he heard the cheer from the visitors outside. Many people were staring at his face, which could not be called handsome.

“Boss Chen, we have seen your livestream! You’re awesome! Tomorrow, you have to scare that b*stard until he wets his pants!”

“That Liu Gang truly is seeking death. That is the only reason I can think of to explain why he is so desperate to see the world after death.”

“Brother Chen! We’re on your side!”

The visitors who lined up outside the Haunted House were mostly old customers of the place, and they included the strategy team from Jiujiang Medical University. Initially, coming to the Haunted House was just a hobby and a way to relax for them. Yet, in the end, the bunch of juniors had been tripped there again and again, and later, the seniors did not end up with a better result. Those passionate and inspired youngsters followed the order that came from above and came to challenge the Haunted House almost daily. This had become basically an obsession for them. The only thing left was to drag their professors and teachers along with them.

Strangely, the headmaster of the medical university still had nightmares every few days. He kept dreaming about his former teacher coming into his dreams to lecture him. However, the headmaster could not remember the details of the lecture after he woke up—all he could remember in his hazy memory was the term Haunted House at the New Century Park. The headmaster was not someone who believed in ghosts, but after having the same nightmare again and again, no matter who it was, their conviction would be shaken. Therefore, even the headmaster himself wished that they would clear the Haunted House as soon as possible. A bunch of medical students who would go into the field to face the real criminals of the world in the future. How could they fail to handle even a simple Haunted House?

“Tomorrow, the Haunted House will be opening a new scenario for visitation. Be sure to come again tomorrow to join in the fun.” Chen Ge smiled as he greeted these familiar faces and then waded through the crowd. Chen Ge arrived at the mannequin workshop at around 4 pm. Qu Changlin did not disappoint him. This actor who had been isolated at Xin Hai Haunted House possessed an incredible talent for mannequin production. Mannequins should be all the same, but the ones made by Qu Changlin were extremely scary. It was as if one could see the emotions through the seemingly alive eyes inside the mannequin’s heads.

“All I wanted to do was make a company that consoles the lonely hearts of the world, but it is just my luck that I ran into the both of you.” Qian Guigen looked at the eerie-looking mannequin heads and limbs that filled up his workshop and shook his head with a sigh.

“Don’t listen to the rambling of the boss. Changlin, you have done a splendid job.” There were a lot of things to do, so Chen Ge went to provide help. When he used his Dollmaker’s Talent to work with the mannequins, Qu Changlin, who stood at the side watching, was shocked. The skill was godlike, and he forgot to even catch his breath. He felt like Chen Ge was not making mannequins for a Haunted House but was creating a piece of art of the human body.

“Mannequins also have souls. Only by providing them with souls will the visitors be able to feel their authenticity.” The theme park closed for business at 6 pm, but none of the employees at the Haunted House left. Zhang Jingjiu and Scissors drove the van provided by the theme park and ferried the first batch of mannequins back to the Haunted House. Xu Wan and Gu Feiyu stayed behind to help wherever they could. Every part of the theme park was filled with busy figures. All the personnel were preparing for the battle to come.

At around 8 pm, after everything had generally settled down, the workers got off work one after another. At the same time, Chen Ge received a phone call from Director Luo. “Everything is ready. Tomorrow morning, the designer of the Reincarnation scenario for the futuristic theme park will come to visit your Haunted House, and then in the afternoon, you will go to their theme park to visit their scenario. The whole process will be livestreamed, but...” Director Luo paused for a moment. “The people from the futuristic theme park gave their promise a bit too easily. There must be something malicious about this. You have to be careful when you are there tomorrow.”

“Director Luo, you know that I am a very careful person.” After hanging up, Chen Ge focused back on his work. The employees from the Haunted House all came to help, and they worked until 11 pm.

“You guys should go home and have a good sleep. Leave the rest to me.” Chen Ge took out his phone and glanced at the time.

“Boss, are you sure you can handle it alone?”

“Boss, I normally sleep at two or three. For me, the night life has just begun. I am not in a hurry to leave.”

“Boss, why don’t you take some rest as well?”

Hearing all that and seeing that none of his employees were quick to abandon him, Chen Ge’s heart was warmed. “Listen to me—go home now. If you don’t listen to my order, I will dock your pay.”

After every employee left, Chen Ge sent each of them a bonus and then continued with his work. At 2 am, all the mannequins were done, and Chen Ge loaded them onto the van. At the Haunted House, with the aid of the ghost employees, the work was much more efficient. They only took half an hour to place all the mannequins at the locations that had previously been decided.

“The fake and the real, the real and the fake. The ghost that you see is only a mannequin, and the thing that you believe is just a mannequin is a real ghost that has been following behind you.” Chen Ge made a few more small props to fill up the new scenario. He only returned to the staff breakroom to rest at 4 am. “Every morning, the sun will rise just the same, but the people who see the sun rising will be different.”

Chen Ge hugged Xiaoxiao and the white cat in his embrace. He leaned against the bed post and slowly fell asleep. After who knew how long, Chen Ge, who was half asleep, was woken up by the ringtone coming from his phone. When he saw the time on his phone, he instantly jolted out of his sleepiness.

Putting the white cat down, Chen Ge rushed to the toilet to take a quick cold shower and changed into a new set of clothes. He looked at himself in the mirror and showed the most quintessential and kind smile, which was required in the service business.

“All those months of hard work have been for today.”

Wiping away the water vapor from the surface of the mirror, Chen Ge turned to head outside. Putting aside the thick curtain, the sun shone on his face. Chen Ge pulled open the gate of the Haunted House with a smile on his face. The few employees of his Haunted House had already arrived.

“Today, we will have more visitors than usual. We have to be more careful. Come, I will help you guys with your make-up.”

Before it was even 8 am, all the employees at the New Century Park had started to get busy. Chen Ge’s Haunted House’s entrance had two new working stations—one was to check the hand bands, and the other had a use that Director Luo had not informed Chen Ge of. However, there were six medical boxes that could be seen sitting neatly under the station.

At 8.15 am, all the workers assumed their position, and the theme park broadcasted the music all over the place. At 8.30 am, the cars from the media outlets started to arrive at the entrance of the park. At 8.40 am, a large number of visitors had filled up the eastern and western gates of the theme park. There were many who were not locals of Jiujiang. They had purposely come from outside to take part in this momentous day. Seeing this, all the workers inside the theme park had their hearts drop in relief. They had all worried that no one would choose New Century Park during this holiday season.

At 8.45 am, a few workers carried several video cameras into theme park, and it was then that Director Luo made a phone call to Chen Ge.

“Director Luo, do you need me?”

“Go and look at Liu Gang’s front page. Their platform has made a theme park counter app. It can be used to calculate and monitor the number of visitors taken in by a theme park in real time. This should be the idea of the futuristic theme park; they want to make a joke out of us.”

Director Luo’s voice was even. He was like a rock in the middle of the sea—no matter how strong the wind, how high the waves, he would not be affected. It was because of Director Luo’s steadfast support that New Century Park had been able to survive more than a decade.

“It is too early to tell who will be the laughingstock today.” Looking at the visitors who had gathered, Chen Ge had a confidence boost.

“It is not wise to underestimate the futuristic theme park.” Director Luo sent a few pictures to Chen Ge’s phone. The carpark for the futuristic theme park was filled with cars, and the four entrances that they had were also filled with visitors. “Based on the current situation, the futuristic theme park will be able to accept at least 19,000 visitors today. That number has only been achieved by our theme park once in our years of business, and that was during our first year. Other than that, I am worried about another thing.”

“What is it?”

“Managing a theme park is a long and lengthy business. The reason so many people came to our theme park today is because I have made a little hook on our promotional video. Our theme park has been in business in Jiujiang for a decade already. Many people have precious memories here, and I suppose you could say that I have gone with the theme of nostalgia. Look, the visitors who have came to line up so early in the morning, most of them purely want to preserve this memory.” Director Luo’s voice had a subtle change to it. “I truly appreciate that they have come to support us at this moment, but after taking them out of the equation, we have actually lost half of the battle at the beginning. Our popularity on the internet is very high, but there are not many who would purposely come to Jiujiang to visit us.”

“It will be fine. Once our reputation has been made and stabilized, in the future, more and more people will come to visit us. In terms of overall services, we are indeed no competition for the futuristic theme park, but they are too ambitious. They have to be good at everything, so we will use that against them and destroy them little by little.”

Chen Ge knew that was going to be very difficult, but that was the only choice. He also went to download the theme park counter app. New Century Park and futuristic theme park were featured on the front page, and according to the number of the online presale tickets, the futuristic theme park had twice the number of New Century Park.

“The situation does not bode well for us at least on the surface, but I will things will change if we all work hard together.”

At 8.50 am, the workers started to welcome the visitors who had been waiting outside the gates. At 9 am, both New Century Park and the futuristic theme park opened for business at the same time!

On the counter app, the number of ticket sales started to rocket. The numbers shot up at about the same time, and there was no clear winner or loser.

“Return to your scenarios! Prepare for business!”

The first bunch that charged into the New Century Park were the media reporters who were after the newsworthiness, and following them were the old customers of Chen Ge’s Haunted House. Then, there were many new visitors who were there out of curiosity, and lastly, there were the normal visitors.

The theme park had been open for three minutes, and a long queue had already formed outside Chen Ge’s Haunted House. The resting hall was also filled with people. The new screens that were installed outside the Haunted House were cycling through the various promotional ads for the different scenarios. Uncle Xu and two other workers were responsible for scanning the tickets. Meanwhile, Chen Ge stood at the entrance of the Haunted House as if waiting for something.

At around 9.20 am, there was a small commotion at the entrance of the New Century Park. After a short and temporary argument, a group of people made a beeline toward Chen Ge’s Haunted House. Some of them were carrying cameras, and others were capturing videos on their phones directly—they pulled a lot of attention.

There were two of them who were leading. One of them was carrying a fan and had a big face. Without the filter of the camera lens, his skin appeared dark. The man appeared to see himself as some kind of cultured individual. Seeing the people that bustled about, a frown started to crease on his head. The other group leader had an ID from the futuristic theme park around his neck. He wore thin-rimmed glasses. He had light brow and very fair skin like he had not been exposed to the sun for a very long time.

With the aid of his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could see them from a far. The one with the fan and big face was Liu Gang, and the other had to be the designer employed by the futuristic theme park. His name was written on the ID badge, and he was called Bai Buhui.

“The people of futuristic theme park came with Liu Gang. Looks like my previous guess was correct after all.” Chen Ge was indeed waiting for them. The visitors were obediently queuing up, but a few of them did not follow the rules and cut to the front of the line immediately.

“Go back there and line up! Didn’t your parents teach you how to respect other people before?” It was about the turn for the students from Jiujiang Medical University. When they realized that someone had cut in line, they yelled to stop them immediately.

“We are not here to visit. Yesterday, the boss of this Haunted House made the taunt so carelessly online, thinking that I would not dare answer his challenge. I cannot wait to see the expression on his face now that I am here.” Liu Gang flapped open the fan. He had a polite tone to his words, but still, he did not go and line up.

“You really think the boss is afraid of you? You think he was just bluffing? Have you come to the right place?” The student from the university thought that he had misheard. He was about to ask for more when Chen Ge walked over.

“Guys, there is no need to argue with them.” Chen Ge had a face full of smiles as he pointed at Liu Gang. “They are here to challenge the four-star scenario.”

“Challenge the new scenario‽” The students from the medical university quickly retreated away from them. “Then, we haven’t said anything. Please go ahead!”

“Such a fake performance.” Liu Gang half lifted his head to look at Chen Ge. “You are much more presentable in person. I can’t believe you are the same person who was barking like a crazy on the internet yesterday.”

“Since you are here, you are one of my visitors. I am always kind to my customer.” Chen Ge could not wait any longer. “Please come with me, I will bring you to the new scenario.”

“Wait a moment.” Liu Gang ignored the halt that he had created by standing there. More than ten people squeezed through the door. He had the man who carried the camera aim it at him. “You can start now.”

He took out his phone to open the platform that he was on. After ensuring that there were no issues, he smiled at the camera.

“Good morning, my dear Gang fans. I am Liu Gang. I am currently at the entrance of that Haunted House, and this person next to me is the boss who sent me a challenge yesterday. Now, I will livestream the whole process of my visit as I challenge his latest Haunted House scenario!” Liu Gang was good at setting the atmosphere. He flapped the fan. “Without further ado, please prepare your popcorn and watch me show you the truth today!”

As he spoke, many fans showered him with donations and money. The whole chat was filled with praise for their Brother Gang, their manly Brother Gang, the manliest person there ever was.