Chapter 34: Good Intentions
Chen Ge sat alone in the pitch-black single room, muttering to himself in front of four dolls. The scene was somewhat eerie, but fortunately, no outsider witnessed it.
"I don't know why you ended up in my horror house, nor am I clear on how to address you, but one thing I can assure you—I mean no harm."
Only Chen Ge's own voice echoed in the room as he stared at the four plush dolls before him, a deeply conflicted thought stirring within him.
He half-hoped they would react, agreeing with what he said, yet he also feared the dolls might suddenly move on their own, doing something dangerous.
A few seconds passed, and Chen Ge decided he was overthinking things. He opted for a different approach: "The Midnight Escape scenario simulates the Peaceful Apartment from five years ago. You four should be the victims of that massacre..."
Perhaps it was touching a sore spot, but Chen Ge clearly felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees. The door lock clicked shut on its own at some point, and all the furniture around him began to tremble slightly.
"That case has been solved now! The madman who hurt you and destroyed your happy lives is facing the full force of the law!" A bit flustered, Chen Ge pulled out his phone and opened a news video online: "Look, the culprit has been caught, and the one who captured him is me!"
Chen Ge knew the four dolls' obsession was tied to Wang Qi, so he tried using the video to prove he was the one who caught the murderer, but the effect was minimal.
The atmosphere in the room grew increasingly tense, the air heavy. Chen Ge was anxious but helpless—the biggest problem was their inability to communicate.
The situation was off, but Chen Ge had no intention of backing down. This horror house was his everything. If he let the four dolls run amok inside, too many unknown factors could lead to a serious accident someday.
"Calm down! I'm here to help you!" The dolls couldn't hear a word Chen Ge said; no matter how much he spoke, it was useless.
"Looks like I'll have to try this thing." Chen Ge pulled out the missing person notice for Wang Qi from his pocket. This yellowed, thin paper was stained with a few traces of blood, but aside from that, it had no other special features.
Strangely enough, the moment Chen Ge produced the notice, the commotion in the room suddenly subsided. The atmosphere lightened, as if a hand gripping his throat had slowly loosened its hold.
"Is this what you want?" The notice worked even better than Chen Ge had imagined. He placed the paper slip in the middle of the four dolls. When their bodies touched the yellowed paper, it seemed to be caught in a gale, struggling violently.
The scene before him was bizarre. A piece of paper surrounded by four dolls, with no wind in the room, yet they all trembled.
Chen Ge watched closely. After a few minutes, the faint outline of a face began to emerge on the notice, bearing a resemblance to Wang Qi.
Before Chen Ge could get a good look, the face was torn apart, each fragment burrowing into one of the four dolls. Then, the room fell completely silent.
"That's it?"
The black phone in his pocket vibrated. Chen Ge pulled it out, and a new message appeared on the screen.
"Midnight Escape scenario exclusive hidden task complete! Ghostly goodwill +1. Gained the goodwill of the lingering thoughts of the Peaceful Apartment victims. They will clean all trash for you daily and maintain the original state of the Midnight Escape scenario."
Staring at the message on the screen, Chen Ge stood still for a long time without speaking. "That's it? The exclusive hidden task is done?"
His mind was a bit scrambled. "The hidden item is only rewarded when the trial task completion rate exceeds ninety percent, and that hidden item is key to completing the scenario's hidden task! So, if I want to fully control the newly unlocked horror scenarios in the haunted house, I have to finish the corresponding trial tasks with over ninety percent completion."
Thinking back to his experience at Peaceful Apartment, if he hadn't pursued the truth, he might have survived the night safely, but his task completion rate would have been abysmally low, making it impossible to get the hidden item.
"Sneaky. This setup is clearly encouraging players to court death." Chen Ge scrolled through the black phone, hoping to find more information. He first tapped on the ghost team section, but to his disappointment, the team member count still showed zero.
"The task says I gained the goodwill of the Peaceful Apartment victims' lingering thoughts, but the ghost team section shows nothing. Is it because they haven't fully submitted? Or do lingering thoughts not count as ghosts, so they don't qualify to be listed in the black phone?"
Chen Ge couldn't figure it out. He then opened the item inventory and found that Wang Qi's missing person notice was still there, but its resentment value had been cleared to zero.
"What exactly is resentment value? Why did the lingering thoughts tear it apart and devour it?"
The door to an unknown world was slowly creaking open. Chen Ge, not knowing if these things were useful, committed them firmly to memory.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood up from the floor. "The lingering thoughts can't communicate, but they can help me maintain the scenario's original state. Overall, it's more beneficial than harmful."
Maintaining the props in the haunted house scenarios was a tedious task. The appearance of the lingering thoughts saved Chen Ge a lot of time.
Looking at the four dolls on the floor, the last shred of fear in Chen Ge's heart slowly dissipated. "Hiring ghosts to work in my horror house—maybe it really can be done someday."
He walked to the door but couldn't help glancing back. The dolls representing the parents and the older sister lay still in their original spots, but the smallest doll was lying off to the side, sneaky, as if it was planning to slip out again.
Seeing this, Chen Ge smiled. Not all ghosts in the world were evil and cruel. Take this smallest doll, for example—it was like a curious cat, both mischievous and timid.
"Little one, don't run off. Be careful not to get stepped on." With that, Chen Ge walked out. After helping fulfill the wishes of the Peaceful Apartment victims, he gained a deeper understanding of the black phone. "The unlocked horror scenarios in the phone probably aren't just for scaring people. Each scenario has its own story, tangled with cause and effect, and it also provides a home for those who have nowhere else to go."
Turning off his flashlight, Chen Ge walked through the dark hallway. Once he was far enough away and sure no one could hear, the corners of his mouth involuntarily lifted into a fox-like grin. "No wages, no benefits, no complaints of fatigue, no mood swings, and natural-born experts at scaring people—these guys are the perfect employees!"
Good news lifted his spirits. Chen Ge felt he could scare people with even more gusto now.
"Dragged it out long enough. Time to end this. There are still three people left in the haunted house. Let me think—who should I start with?"
Thanks to the alliance leader, Doubi Xiaoxiannv!