Chapter 212: The Dolls
On the way, Chen Ge called the owner of the crafting workshop. The other party, assuming Chen Ge had finally changed his mind and was willing to join him in saving the lonely souls of the world, rushed out of his house without waiting for Chen Ge to explain further.
Sitting at the basement entrance eating breakfast, the workshop owner arrived in just twenty minutes.
"Boss Qian, I need to borrow your workshop again. Money's not an issue." Chen Ge left the second half of his sentence unsaid—even if he didn't have money now, he would later.
"Talking money with me? We hit it off from the start—money just hurts the bond." The slightly plump workshop owner sat down beside Chen Ge. "Just leave me one of your dolls, and that's enough."
"You sure? My dolls aren't made to imitate living people." Seeing the workshop owner's enthusiasm, Chen Ge couldn't bring himself to deceive him. "I've designed a few new types of dolls today. You can decide after you see them."
Entering the basement, the workshop owner opened the glass door, bowed three times from outside, and only then dared to go in.
"What's that for? Do you believe in ghosts and spirits?" Chen Ge recalled that the workshop owner hadn't had this habit before.
"I don't know why, but ever since you made your first batch of dolls here, every time I stand at the door and look inside, I feel like there's something in there." Boss Qian scratched his head. "As the saying goes, 'A smiling face never invites a punch.' I bow first—even if there really are ghosts inside, they probably wouldn't have the heart to mess with me."
"That reasoning actually sounds pretty solid." Chen Ge shook his head and stepped inside. He seemed more familiar with the workshop layout than Boss Qian, skillfully grabbing various tools and heading straight into the storage room. "These materials of yours are about to expire. Speaking of which, the storage room looked exactly like this when I left last time. Haven't you had a single order in all that time?"
"It's been okay." Boss Qian hurried into the storage room to help, seizing the moment to add, "I recently looked into the adult market. There's huge demand. If we go the boutique route, we can customize for premium clients."
"We'll talk about that later." Chen Ge prepared the materials for making molds. The face of the madwoman—altered by multiple surgeries—replayed in his mind. His hands flew, and in just a few minutes, he had roughed out a basic shape.
"Running a haunted house is really a waste of your talent." Boss Qian sighed sincerely.
Chen Ge focused entirely on the clay sculpture in his hands, quickly crafting the madwoman's face.
That woman was a psychopath, but undeniably beautiful.
"Something still feels off." Chen Ge held the clay head in his palm, then crushed it with force.
"Don't!" Boss Qian cried out beside him. "If you don't want it, you could leave it to me as a souvenir!"
"That face isn't what I'm going for." Chen Ge said casually, then quickly shaped another face. Compared to the first, this one was steeped in sickness and madness. "No—her sickness is mixed with pain."
He destroyed it again. Then he felt the face lacked a certain allure, becoming purely horrifying and too far from the original.
After several failed attempts, the workshop owner grew accustomed to it. He watched Chen Ge with a resentful look, humming a tune under his breath: "What you can't have always stirs desire; what's favored always acts without fear..."
"Where am I going wrong?" Chen Ge recalled the instructions for living dolls from the black phone, and a bold idea struck him.
"The madwoman's lingering thoughts were sealed into Xu Yin's tape. I could use Xu Yin's ability to release those thoughts and control the doll. The madwoman herself is still alive. One step in the complete process of making a living doll requires using a living person as the mold. If I follow the living doll requirements exactly and then place the madwoman's lingering thoughts inside—what would happen?"
Staring at the clay mold in his hands, Chen Ge could only speculate for now. The madwoman was suspected of murder. Even if she had a mental illness, she'd likely never be free again in this lifetime.
"I'll figure it out on my own." To recreate the madwoman's face, Chen Ge put in considerable effort.
"She had multiple surgeries. Each feature on her face is beautiful on its own, but pieced together, they give an unsettling sense of disharmony."
Chen Ge broke down the woman's face, crafting each feature separately, then assembled them.
When he attached the final piece of the face, a miracle occurred. The woman's face was perfectly recreated, even the expression identical.
Seeing this face assembled from individual parts, Chen Ge was finally satisfied.
"Each facial feature made separately, connected with wire inside—that way, the whole face won't fall apart easily."
Not easily falling apart didn't mean it couldn't. If a curious tourist got close to the doll and the face suddenly shattered, it would probably scare them into a breakdown.
By nine o'clock, Chen Ge had made five dolls: the madwoman, Xu Tong, Xiong Qing, the phantom limb patient, and the nurse who just wouldn't die.
If possible, Chen Ge planned to fully replicate the entire Third Ward, including all the patients and doctors.
"With the characters in place, matched with the right props, each doll becomes its own independent horror story."
The filler needed time to set. Chen Ge said goodbye to Boss Qian and left.
At nine in the morning, Chen Ge returned to the Horror House, opened the barriers, and began a new day of business.
New Century Park opened at nine. Many visitors, as soon as they entered the park, headed straight for Chen Ge's haunted house—a huge crowd.
Uncle Xu saw this too. To some extent, Chen Ge's Horror House had become the park's main attraction.
"Uncle, I actually need to talk to you about something."
"Selling tickets? Sure, I've got nothing better to do anyway." Uncle Xu stood by the haunted house entrance, looking at the crowd, a rare smile on his face.
Chen Ge waved his hand. "I want to build a rest stop next to the haunted house. It's not ideal for visitors to keep waiting outside."
"No problem. Director Luo specifically said that for the next two months, we're to fully support you."
"I think it's better if I talk to Director Luo directly." Chen Ge had big ambitions. He needed to pave the way for future growth.
"Director Luo usually comes around noon. You can find him then." Uncle Xu gave orders over the walkie-talkie to other park staff, and soon a park truck arrived. Several workers unloaded benches and a canopy, setting them up next to Chen Ge's haunted house.
"This was used for events before. Use it for now. As for the rest stop—how to build it, how big—that'll need Director Luo's approval."
"Got it."
Uncle Xu and the staff managed the crowd. Most people were queuing, except for one tall young man who seemed to have urgent business, pushing out of the line and running toward Chen Ge.
"Wang Hailong? What does he want with me?" Chen Ge stepped forward, suspecting something had happened to Wang Shenglong. "Did the kid not hold back and actually speak?"