Chapter 29: The Raging Doctor Xiao Wan
The heavy doors of the Midnight Escape scene slowly closed, the grinding of the hinges tightening like a chain around the hearts of the medical students.
"Hey, Heshan, based on your last experience, what should we do now?"
"Find the exit, and fast!"
...
After locking the scene door, Chen Ge immediately called Xiao Wan, and the two of them headed to the prop room together.
"Boss, why the rush to find me? Haven't the visitors already gone in?" Xu Wan was in her makeup for the Corpse scene, wearing the costume from that setting, and running around like that, she actually looked a bit frightening.
"I've created a new horror scene on the third floor called Midnight Escape. Those forensic medicine students have guts, so I figured they'd be perfect to test it out." Chen Ge pushed open the prop room door and started rummaging through things based on the prompts from the black phone.
"Don't new scenes need to be inspected by the park before they can be used?" Xu Wan walked over, lifting the hem of her ancient-style dress. "Boss, what are you looking for?"
"A custom uniform I had made just for you."
"Uniform?"
Going deep into the room, Chen Ge spotted a familiar wooden crate in the corner. He hadn't expected that this crate, originally used to store the black phone and the cloth doll, would end up here.
Walking over to the crate, Chen Ge peered inside. At the bottom lay a strangely shaped hammer, a robe soaked in blood, and beside it, a yellowed missing person notice.
"Found it." Chen Ge picked up the robe. To his surprise, this seemingly ordinary doctor's coat was very heavy, lined with iron chains carved with human faces.
"Boss, this is the custom uniform you had made for me?" Xu Wan took a step back. Even from a few feet away, she could almost smell the blood wafting off it. "Do I have to wear it?"
"A haunted house actor is still an actor, Xiao Wan. Think about what your teachers at the drama school said—you need to hold yourself to a high standard." Chen Ge shook out the robe, and a fake human skin mask fell out.
Chen Ge hadn't known there was something hidden in the clothes. When he picked it up and looked at it, a chill ran down his spine.
The mask was stitched together from different male faces, the craftsmanship crude, exuding a sense of sheer hysteria.
"Boss, don't tell me I have to wear that too." Xu Wan had already retreated to the door.
"Just a trial run. I want to see the overall effect of the new scene. Next time, I'll play the ghost, okay?" Chen Ge's tone was like a devil from a fairy tale, tempting someone into corruption.
"Fine... I'll give it a try." Xu Wan's heart softened, and she agreed. Taking the mask and doctor's coat, she didn't bother to hide from Chen Ge, shedding the ancient costume and changing right there. "Boss, honestly, your definition of a uniform really opens my eyes."
Wrapping the chains from the coat around herself and donning the blood-soaked outer garment, the moment Xu Wan put on the mask, she seemed to undergo a transformation. A mad, vicious, and utterly brutal aura radiated from her.
"Not bad." Chen Ge didn't dare let Xu Wan look in a mirror; he was afraid she'd scare herself. "Here, take this too."
Chen Ge pulled the oddly shaped hammer from the crate. It was about forty centimeters long, its handle shaped like a human spine, connected at the end to the chains in the coat, with spikes on the hammerhead meant for drawing blood. "It's hollow, so not too heavy. If it's a hassle while moving fast, you can drag it along."
Xu Wan had given up resisting. She nodded and took the hammer.
"Keep your phone in the outer pocket. Check your earpiece and stay in touch. If everything's good, it's time for us to go on."
"Us? Boss, you're going into the scene too?" Xu Wan turned to look at Chen Ge, her clear, pleasant voice paired with that stitched-together male face giving him a stomach-churning feeling.
"Of course. Let's hurry; the visitors are probably getting impatient."
Chen Ge sent Xu Wan into the Midnight Escape scene and returned to the main control room.
It sounds like a long time, but only a few minutes had passed. On the monitors, he spotted the seven medical students. This group was far more timid than Gao Ruxue; the fear on their faces was obvious.
"They've been wandering around the first few rooms on the third floor for ages. I need to give them a sense of urgency." Chen Ge first switched the background music to "Gloomy Sunday," then called Xu Wan. "Xiao Wan, this new horror scene is huge. It covers not just the entire third floor of the haunted house but also parts of the second and first floors. There are staircases on the left and right. Don't wander off; follow my instructions."
"Got it."
After coordinating with Xu Wan, Chen Ge did a quick makeup job on himself and entered the Midnight Escape scene through the staff passage.
With the black phone, he could control dozens of mechanisms in the scene at any time. Just this alone made the Midnight Escape scene far more engaging than Corpse or Zombie Resurrection Night.
In a cold, dark hallway, the bathtub in one room slid open. Chen Ge climbed out and put everything back in place.
"Xiao Wan, they're probably near room 207 on the third floor. Head to the left staircase and wait for my next move." After saying that, Chen Ge let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the scene and then took the right staircase up to the third floor.
At that moment, the forensic medicine students from Hanjiang Medical University had no idea that "danger" was closing in. They were still earnestly rummaging through the clutter in the rooms, hoping to find something.
"This haunted house is just gloomy and a bit cold. It's not that scary, is it? Maybe we're overthinking it?" Monkey, the shortest of the group and the most talkative, spoke up. "Brother Feng, I think we should split into two teams. That way, we can search faster. All of us crammed together is a waste of time."
The tallest one, whom Monkey called Brother Feng, had been a bit panicked when he first entered the Midnight Escape scene, realizing all his preparations were useless. But as time passed, he started to think the scene wasn't so frightening. "Splitting up works. Monkey, Old Song, you two take the girls to search the rooms on the left. We three will take the right side."
"We should've done this from the start. I really don't see what's so scary about this place. It's nothing compared to our school's morgue." The speaker was a girl, the only one with dyed hair. She had a completely different vibe from Gao Ruxue—made up, looking mature and sexy, not much like a typical student.
"Sister Hui, Brother Feng, don't let your guard down. It's better if we stick together." Heshan, lurking in the group, wore a pained expression. "This haunted house owner never plays by the rules. You haven't seen his livestreams—he's a reckless madman!"