Chapter 70: A Special Visitor
"The midnight ticket booth is still in a broken state, and I don't know how to fix it. This black phone always churns out weird stuff." Chen Ge crawled out from inside the ticket booth, the more he looked at it, the more he felt it wasn't meant for the living.
"Boss!"
At the entrance of the amusement park, Xu Wan jogged over in casual clothes, carrying steaming hot buns in her hand.
Seeing Xu Wan full of energy, Chen Ge's mood instantly brightened. This girl was a bit scatterbrained and occasionally made mistakes, but she had a natural charisma that made people feel the sunshine and beauty of life.
Taking the buns from Xu Wan, Chen Ge didn't stand on ceremony and started eating heartily. "Why are you here so early today?"
"Boss, look!" Xu Wan sat down on the steps beside Chen Ge, pulling out her phone and scrolling through it. It was filled with text reports and downloaded news videos about the Ping An Apartment massacre. "They're all about you! I feel like you're about to trend!"
"Let me see." Chen Ge looked at the reports. He hadn't expected that yesterday's brief interview would attract so much attention. "What a shame."
"What a shame? I think it's great." Xu Wan sat beside him, her cheeks flushed, probably from running.
"At the time, I was just worried about the reward money. I forgot this was also a great promotional opportunity!" He winced as he scrolled through the screen. "If I'd known so many people would see this, I would have interrupted Captain Yan's speech to advertise our haunted house! Look at these reports—they don't even reveal our specific location! Xiao Wan, I'm giving you a task today. Later, we'll go to the comment sections of all these reports, identify ourselves, and leave the haunted house address. Anyone who comes because of the reports gets a 20% discount."
"That doesn't seem right." Xu Wan looked a bit embarrassed but eventually followed Chen Ge's instructions and left comments.
At nine o'clock, the amusement park opened. They put away their phones and got ready to work.
Opening the guardrails, Xu Wan only then noticed the ticket booth standing in the middle.
"Did you make this last night?"
"Yeah, it's a bit ugly, but it's practical."
"Mm-hmm, I think we really needed a ticket booth too."
Seeing Xu Wan nod seriously, Chen Ge sighed inwardly. What a great employee—she never argued with him.
Entering the haunted house, Xu Wan went to the makeup room to touch up, while Chen Ge dragged a few wooden planks from the prop room to cover the underground passage entrance. The new trial scenario hadn't opened yet, so this area wasn't needed for now.
After they were ready, they started the day's business. It wasn't peak season yet, but a line had already formed at the haunted house entrance. It wasn't long, but compared to before, it was a qualitative leap.
Xu Wan played a ghost in the [Red] scenario, while Chen Ge carried a makeup box, selling tickets and collecting money while also playing the killer in the Midnight Escape scenario.
Running such a large haunted house with just two people was exhausting. Notably, in the Midnight Escape scenario, Little occasionally interacted with visitors in surprise encounters. This fierce-looking doll seemed to love following living people around, making Chen Ge worry that one day a visitor might take her away.
They worked until noon before getting a break. Chen Ge opened his black phone to check. Both the approval rating and visitor count were rising significantly, and the second expansion wasn't far off.
"Two scenarios with two people is already the limit. If I unlock another horror scenario, I'll have to hire new staff." Chen Ge looked at the black phone. The nightmare-level tasks it issued daily were unreliable, but the simple and normal difficulty tasks pinpointed the haunted house's flaws, and completing them improved the place.
"Even the phone has issued a task to hire new staff. It seems I really do need to recruit some people." Ever since the employees who had worked for his parents for years quit, Chen Ge had been resistant to hiring. "If Little and Zhang Ya could behave and not cause trouble, they'd be my best choices right now."
Of course, that was just a thought. Actually letting Little and Zhang Ya scare people in the haunted house—Little might be okay, but Zhang Ya would probably turn it into a crime scene.
"My ghost team member count is still zero. It's a long road ahead." Chen Ge sat on the steps at the haunted house entrance. He had to keep working in the afternoon, so he was resting while he could.
The sun was high overhead. When the number of visitors dwindled at noon, Chen Ge's black phone vibrated out of nowhere.
He opened the message on the screen, and its content surprised him.
"The midnight ticket booth special effect triggered! The first special visitor has appeared! Seize this opportunity! Depending on your choice, the outcome will be completely different!"
"The special effect triggered? A one-in-a-thousand chance, and I hit it. Based on my past experience, this visitor is definitely not good news!" Chen Ge tensed up, sitting up straight and scanning the area around the haunted house. "Bright sun, high noon—there's no way a vengeful spirit would show up now."
It was the hottest time of day, when the yang energy was strongest, and even the passing visitors had thinned out.
"Is it that arguing couple? The woman is so pretty, the man so ugly—that's suspicious. Who's that talking to Uncle Xu? A new employee? I've never seen them before."
As Chen Ge speculated, a thin, dark-skinned woman in her thirties walked over, her steps light.
"Is it her?"
Chen Ge discreetly observed her appearance. She had dark skin, was short, smiled quietly, and wore a faded jacket.
"Hello, how much is a ticket for the haunted house?" The woman's voice was a bit sharp but not unpleasant.
"We have two scenarios right now. Twenty yuan per ticket lets you choose one to experience." Chen Ge put on his professional smile.
"Alright, I'll take two." The woman handed Chen Ge the money.
"You want to experience both scenarios by yourself?"
"There are two of us." The woman smiled apologetically and waved toward the shade. A child who looked about eight or nine ran over.
The child had an androgynous appearance and seemed very shy.
He stopped beside the woman, didn't take her hand, and just stood there expressionless.
"I'm sorry, but our haunted house has an age limit. No one under fourteen is allowed." Chen Ge glanced at the little boy. He felt the child was different from ordinary kids, but couldn't pinpoint exactly how.
"Can you make an exception? This child loves visiting haunted houses. There aren't many people now, so no one will see us go in. It won't cause you any trouble."
"A child this young loves visiting haunted houses?" Chen Ge quietly slipped the black phone into his pocket and shook his head. "Sorry, it's the rule."