Chapter 11: Don't Your Conscience Hurt?
When Heshan mentioned that his fainting was related to the mirror, Chen Ge's heart skipped a beat. He recalled the game he had played last night—the thing in the mirror had been blocked by the doll and hadn't come out.
Now, according to Heshan, that monster likely hadn't left and was still hiding in the mirrors of the haunted house.
"Boss, is this a new project in the haunted house? How come I don't know about it?" Xu Wan leaned in, and many curious onlookers also turned their gazes to Chen Ge.
He was caught in a dilemma. He couldn't just tell everyone outright that there might actually be ghosts in the haunted house and that they should only enter if they weren't afraid of dying.
If he said that, the haunted house shutting down would be the least of his worries—he'd probably end up in a mental hospital himself.
"It's kind of a new project. The specifics are in the short video I posted last night, but I don't recommend anyone try this game without professional guidance." Chen Ge gently patted Heshan on the shoulder. "Jumping into it blindly ends up like this guy here. Alright, anyone else want to visit? Don't be scared—accidents happen in haunted houses; that's what makes it thrilling!"
"Thrilling my ass! The guy passed out. We just came to play in a haunted house; we don't need to risk our lives for it!"
"Right! I won't even ask you to pay for my phone screen. Just please, don't post any more short videos late at night."
"Can't handle this, can't handle this. Farewell!"
As soon as Chen Ge finished speaking, the crowd collectively took a step back. He gave a wry smile. "Come on, it's not that bad. My haunted house really isn't that scary."
"Dude, two forensic medicine students who deal with corpses every day—one you scared to tears, the other you scared unconscious—and now you're calmly saying your haunted house isn't scary at all? Are you lying to yourself? Don't your conscience hurt?!"
"Bro, be a decent person!"
The tourists murmured among themselves, leaving Chen Ge speechless. Before, when the haunted house wasn't scary, no one visited, saying it was boring. Now that it's become frightening, it seems he's overdone it and it's backfired. "You all came all this way just to stand at the entrance and gawk? Courage can be trained. Experiencing a bit of thrill and excitement now and then can also boost blood circulation."
"Even if you say that, I'm not going in. Boost blood circulation? Why don't you say your haunted house can cure cancer?" The guy with the cracked phone screen waved his hand and turned to leave.
But just then, a middle-aged uncle standing next to him suddenly spoke up, his voice loud, as if he had made a decision after careful thought. "Boss, give me a ticket!"
"Whoa, there really are people who aren't afraid of death."
"Uncle, don't be impulsive. Other haunted houses take your money; this one takes your life!"
"I salute your bravery! Go ahead without worry—I'll take care of your wife and daughter!"
The uncle looked to be in his forties, with a bit of a receding hairline. He stepped out of the crowd and handed Chen Ge ten yuan. "I want one ticket."
"You're going in alone?" Chen Ge was a bit impressed by this uncle. What was this? Knowing the tiger is on the mountain, he still heads straight for it!
Taking the money, Chen Ge handed the uncle his ticket and was about to explain some precautions for the haunted house when, to his surprise, the uncle took the ticket and walked in the opposite direction of the haunted house entrance.
"Uncle, the entrance is over here..."
"I know." The uncle didn't look back. He returned to his original spot, pulled out his phone, took two photos of the haunted house ticket, and started posting on his Moments: "April, with grass growing and orioles flying, it's the perfect time for an outing. Highly recommend the Western Suburb Horror House—it's amazing. After visiting today, I broke out in a cold sweat..."
The surrounding tourists couldn't stand it. You've been loitering at the entrance for twenty minutes, and now buying a ticket counts as visiting?
Before the tourists could say anything, the uncle's Moments already had likes and comments.
HR Xiao Li: "Bro Zhang, you're scared of mice, and you dare go to a haunted house? Impressive, my bro."
Mold Worker Wang Dayou: "The haunted house Old Zhang dares to go to must be a kiddie one (smirk)."
Wife: "Get home and cook dinner!!!!"
Precious Daughter Wang Jing: "Hahaha, Dad, we all know how brave you are. Stop pretending qaq"
The balding uncle didn't argue with them. He replied to each comment with a smile: "You guys should try it too. Since you're all braver than me, you definitely won't be scared."
His move left the nearby tourists dumbfounded.
"Uncle, you're so cunning! To avoid being called a coward later, you're even tricking your own wife and daughter..." The young man with the cracked phone screen stood next to the uncle, having witnessed the whole thing. Without a second thought, he walked toward Chen Ge. "Give me one too!"
Chen Ge had no idea how things had come to this. He took the money and handed the young man a ticket. Then he watched as the young man pulled out his cracked phone, took a photo, and posted it on Weibo with the caption: "Oh dear, what do I do? I feel like I've gotten even more timid. Just playing in a haunted house, and I broke out in a cold sweat."
The young man looked at the comments calling him a coward and a weakling, a "creepy" smile spreading across his face.
"Give me one too."
"I want one!"
"Half price, right? I'll take two!"
The haunted house was empty, with no one inside, but nearly half the tickets had been sold.
The crowd gradually dispersed, and Chen Ge looked at the money in his hands, happily counting it.
"Boss, we sold more tickets this morning than in the past two weeks combined." Xu Wan crouched beside Chen Ge, unable to hide the excitement in her eyes.
"Stay vigilant. Today was just a lucky break. To truly keep visitors coming back, we need solid content." Chen Ge tucked the counted ticket money close to his body and looked toward the haunted house's fence, where the "battered" Heshan and Gao Ruxue still hadn't left.
"Feeling better?" Chen Ge walked over to them with a bottle of water. The ticket sales today owed a lot to these two forensic medicine students.
"Yeah, sorry for the trouble."
Heshan sat awkwardly on the steps, while Gao Ruxue beside him still looked pale. Her gaze shifted between Chen Ge and Xu Wan. "I have two questions I'd like to ask, if that's okay?"
"Go ahead." Chen Ge didn't refuse.
"First, in the west wing room, I clearly saw that woman in the mirror. Why did she suddenly appear behind me?" Gao Ruxue seemed determined to get to the bottom of it, unable to accept the fact that she had been scared to tears.
"You thought it was an ordinary mirror, but it was actually three mirrors pieced together into a triangular column. The other two sides were hidden in the wall. With a push, you could rotate it, and the exit of the mirror game was behind it. As for the woman in the mirror, it was just a life-sized photo taken in advance. With the lighting and visual effects, it gave you the illusion of a real person. Xiaowan was hiding behind another mirror the whole time, and the footsteps you heard were sound effects."
Hearing Chen Ge's explanation, Gao Ruxue nodded slightly. "Second question."
She pointed at Xu Wan. "Why does this person, who is clearly alive, give me a strange feeling? Looking at her feels like staring at a corpse."