Chapter 211: Rest Stop
About half an hour later, Captain Yan's team received the notification and arrived. They had been handling the case of the Third Ward all along.
"Are you Chen Ge?" The leader was a tall, sturdy young man.
"Yes." Chen Ge hadn't seen this person before; he probably wasn't a police officer from the city bureau.
"Come with us. Until the victim regains consciousness, your safety is our responsibility." He spoke politely, but his attitude was firm.
Chen Ge noticed Officer Li subtly gesture to him, which put him at ease, and he followed them to the hospital.
At 11:30 p.m., Gu Feiyu woke from his coma and recounted the events to the police.
When Chen Ge knocked down the madwoman, Gu Feiyu still had a sliver of awareness and vaguely caught sight of Chen Ge.
In a situation that was almost certain death, surviving against all odds—this rollercoaster of an experience was something Gu Feiyu would never forget for the rest of his life.
At his strong insistence, the police in the ward found Chen Ge and arranged for them to meet.
Seeing Chen Ge again, Gu Feiyu's demeanor and tone were completely different from the first time. The kid was loyal and sincere, grabbing Chen Ge's hand and pouring out heartfelt words.
Witnessing this, the police's suspicion of Chen Ge gradually faded. The young leader even praised him lavishly, making Chen Ge a bit embarrassed.
Around midnight, Chen Ge walked out of the hospital. He stood at the desolate intersection, gazing at the city shrouded in darkness.
"I'd better tell them." Pulling out his phone and the half-page advertisement, Chen Ge dialed Captain Yan's number.
"Xiao Chen?"
"Captain Yan, I have something to tell you."
"Is it about the patient in Room 2? Someone already reported to me. You saved a life—well done." Captain Yan's tone shifted: "But I don't support your private investigations. You're practically gambling with your own safety."
"Don't worry, finding the patient in Room 2 today was just an accident. It shouldn't happen again." Chen Ge's voice was a bit hoarse. "What I want to tell you is something else. While eavesdropping on the patient in Room 2, I heard her mention a special organization called the Strange Tales Association."
"The Strange Tales Association?"
"Yeah, the name sounds like a ghost story enthusiast club, but unlike made-up tales, they talk about real events."
"When you were eavesdropping, who was the patient in Room 2 talking to? Did her phone save the caller's info?" Captain Yan asked, puzzled.
"She wasn't on the phone. This madwoman has another personality inside her, an 'older sister.' You could say she was talking to herself." Chen Ge put away the half-page ad with the blood door printed on it. "I suspect this association was founded by patients from the Third Ward. The madwoman might be a member."
"A ghost story club founded by a bunch of lunatics?" Captain Yan thought for a moment, then said seriously, "I'll have my people keep an eye out. If you get any more info on this, tell me right away."
"Got it."
Hanging up, Chen Ge tightened his collar. "Every week, you have to tell a real strange tale. What happens if you can't? Do you have to create one yourself?"
Taking a taxi back to New Century Paradise, Chen Ge entered the haunted house. As he opened the door, the white cat jumped down from a nearby tree and followed him gracefully.
"Next time, I'm tying you up and taking you with me!"
After feeding the cat, Chen Ge, still hungry himself, pulled out his black phone and checked the new daily tasks.
After midnight, three tasks refreshed. Two of them Chen Ge had seen before: inspecting safety hazards and recruiting staff.
The third daily task was appearing for the first time, requiring Chen Ge to build a rest stop outside the haunted house.
The task had a one-day time limit and a difficulty level of "average."
"The tasks the black phone updates are things I need to improve at this stage. With more visitors coming, it's not good to keep them waiting outside." Chen Ge tapped the screen to accept the task, then grabbed paper and a pen to sketch out a simple rest lounge.
"Not enough funds. If I had more cash, I could build a multi-functional building next to the haunted house—one side offering calming drinks and pastries for visitors to rest, the other selling horror house souvenirs."
His mind opened up, and inspiration flowed. "I could even learn from Tian Teng Hospital and set up a big screen playing the backstories of each horror scene, along with clips of visitors' tours from the monsters' perspectives. Seeing that would definitely pique other tourists' curiosity."
Chen Ge sketched and scribbled on the paper, establishing a tiered horror rating system. He also planned to create leaderboards for completion times and visitor counts in each scene, which would motivate tourists to explore new areas.
He listed over a dozen ideas, filling about seven or eight pages.
Organizing them, Chen Ge planned to take these to Director Luo tomorrow, hoping to convince him.
Glancing at his watch, it was already 2 a.m. Chen Ge stretched and pulled out his visit records from Tian Teng Hospital.
"The only safety hazard in the haunted house right now is that door, but the 'door' only appears at night and doesn't affect visitors. The black phone keeps prompting me, probably trying to get me to take the 'door' seriously."
"As for the task to recruit staff, isn't Tian Teng Hospital full of ready candidates? Too bad it's not time to absorb them yet."
Tapping his pen on the desk, Chen Ge compared the strengths and weaknesses of the two haunted houses. He wasn't arrogant and clearly saw Tian Teng Hospital's advantages and his own haunted house's flaws. "Tian Teng Hospital has a small space, but its design is tightly interlinked. In comparison, my haunted house scenes take up more area and are more realistic, but their utilization rate is low."
That wasn't Chen Ge's fault. He'd only had the black phone for a little over a week, frantically unlocking new scenes and expanding the haunted house, so some flaws were inevitable.
"I should add more scares to my own haunted house. Looks like I'll need to order a new batch of mannequins and props tomorrow."
After several trial tasks, Chen Ge had mastered more frightening techniques. Ideas swirled in his mind, and at the exciting parts, he couldn't help but smile.
"More and more anticipation. I wonder which lucky person will be the first to clear the earlier scenes and then visit the Third Ward."
A cat hair floated past his eyes. The white cat seemed to find Chen Ge noisy. It ran across the table, jumped onto the bed, and burrowed under the blanket.
Chen Ge realized it was late. He set an alarm for 7 a.m., lay down beside the white cat, and fell asleep.
The sun rose. Chen Ge tidied up briefly, grabbed the organized documents from the table, and left the horror house, ready to add new scares to the haunted house.