Chapter 26: Boss, You're on TV
"An extra reward for completing over ninety percent of the task?"
Chen Ge felt a little thrill when he first realized he'd obtained a hidden item, but as soon as he clicked open the item description, all his expectations vanished into thin air. "Wang Qi's missing person flyer counts as a reward? Could the black phone have gotten it wrong? This looks more like a curse!"
Forcing himself to read through the creepy item introduction, a new question popped into Chen Ge's mind.
"What the hell is resentment value?" Based on the literal meaning, the flyer rewarded by the black phone should still carry the grudges and hatred in Wang Qi's heart.
"A normal person shouldn't need this thing at all. Could it be that it's not meant for the living?" Chen Ge glanced back at his own shadow, then shook his head to dispel the thought.
A little past seven, the police car drove back to New Century Amusement Park. Chen Ge picked up the spare key to the haunted house from the gate guard and returned to his own haunt.
Exhausted from the night's奔波, he collapsed in the staff break room, feeling like every bone in his body was about to fall apart.
He pulled out his phone and found the battery had long since died; he had no idea when the livestream had stopped.
Plugging it into the charger, he turned it back on.
The phone's built-in pedometer showed he'd run over forty thousand steps last night, ranking first among his friends, with a like from Xiao Wan below.
"Looks like I need to get in shape. I don't need to be strong enough to take anyone down, just fast enough to outrun them." Chen scrolled through his phone and found He Shan's number. Afraid of disturbing his sleep, he tentatively sent a text. But within two or three seconds, He Shan called him back.
"Holy crap! Boss, you're still alive!" He Shan's voice was so loud it made Chen Ge's head ache.
"You're that eager to see me kick the bucket? Keep it down, don't wake your roommates."
"Screw sleep! They all watched your livestream last night, and we stayed up together till now!"
He Shan's words actually moved Chen Ge a little. He was about to say, "Tell the guys thanks for me," when He Shan blurted out his second sentence.
"After the stream cut out, they all said you'd been killed and insisted on betting me a meal. Now I've got my meals covered for the next week."
"My life is only worth one meal? You really didn't have to share your joy with me, seriously..." Chen Ge had nothing left to say to this straightforward guy.
"Anyway, boss, I'm just glad you're okay. I'm really afraid that one day I'll see you in our lab. You know, when we have forensic practice, the teacher shows us photos of victims for study and analysis..."
"Alright, alright." Chen Ge rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. "I'm fine. Thanks a lot this time. I'll treat you to a meal when I get the chance."
He hung up quickly and opened his short video personal page, surprised to find his followers had surged by over three thousand.
"What the hell? Gaining followers even with a black screen?" He looked at his inbox, which was overflowing. The most common private message was—Streamer, are you still alive?
"These people, not one of them can say anything auspicious!"
Seeing that the ad for his haunted house was still on his homepage and his livestream and account hadn't been banned, Chen Ge breathed a sigh of relief. He tossed his phone aside, buried his head in the pillow, and stretched comfortably.
"Not thinking about anything. I'll just slack off today and get a good sleep."
He stripped off his clothes, closed his eyes, and quickly fell asleep.
The sun rose, and a new day arrived. Sunlight streamed into the room, gilding the bedsheet with a golden edge.
"Bang!"
The protective fence outside the haunted house slid open. Light, hurried footsteps echoed on the stairs. A key turned in the lock, the latch clicked, and the door to the staff break room was shoved open.
The bed frame jolted violently!
Startled, Chen Ge sat up with a jerk. Before he could say a word, he saw something graceful sway in front of him, and then he heard a crisp, excited voice.
"Boss! You're on TV!"
It took two or three seconds for Chen Ge to react. He looked at Xiao Wan sitting by his pillow, dressed in cool summer clothes, catching the faint scent of shampoo from her. He silently grabbed the sheet to cover his upper body. "Slow down. What happened to me?"
"This is the first time I've seen someone I know in real life on video. Even though your face was blurred out, I recognized you right away!"
"Blurred out?" Chen Ge felt there was something subtly off about Xu Wan's words.
"Look." Xu Wan handed her phone to Chen Ge. "I clipped this from online. Jiujiang Morning News, at the twenty-third minute, they cut in with a breaking story."
Chen Ge played the video. On screen was Ping An Apartments.
"Good triumphs over evil! A major breakthrough in the five-year-old Fu'an Apartment massacre case! With the help of a concerned citizen, the police have now apprehended the true culprit!"
There was a brief interview afterward, accompanied by a picture of Chen Ge leaving with the officers from West City Police Station. His face was heavily blurred, with subtitles below stating that since one suspect was still at large, the witness's identity would not be disclosed for their protection.
"Boss, that's you, right? Same height, same build, even the same clothes!"
"Let me put my clothes on first." Chen Ge shook his head, got dressed, and gave Xu Wan a rough rundown of last night's events. But he didn't tell her the real reason he'd gone to Ping An Apartments, only saying he was looking for inspiration to renovate the haunted house.
After hearing him out, Xu Wan's expression shifted significantly. "Boss, you've worked hard. Get some more sleep. I can handle the visitors outside."
She meant well, but the mention of visitors instantly perked Chen Ge up. "Are there a lot?"
"More than yesterday, anyway."
"Then what are we waiting for? Help me up!"
Chen Ge told Xu Wan to go attend to the guests first. He ran to the bathroom to wash his face, then pulled out the black phone and opened the Midnight Slaughter horror scenario.
"Midnight Slaughter (Scream Index: One Star): This horror scenario has been fully set up. Visit the third floor to view it."
"Note: The haunted house's internal space is insufficient. Expand before unlocking new horror scenarios!"
"When did it get set up?" Chen Ge had thought he'd need to prepare a lot of things, but he realized he'd seriously underestimated the black phone.
Putting on his shoes, he ran to the third floor and pushed open the attic door. The world behind it had completely transformed.
All the broken and discarded props were gone. In front of him were only eerie, chilling corridors.
The newly unlocked Midnight Slaughter scenario took up a huge area, covering the entire third floor and encroaching on parts of the second-floor ** and the third-floor Zombie Resurrection Night scenario.
"Three floors total. The first and second are transitions, and the scariest part is on the third. Isn't this a bit like Ping An Apartments?"