"Mission Requirement: Find the Pen Spirit's best friend from when she was alive, and fulfill the Pen Spirit's wish."
"Mission Reward: Pen Spirit's favorability will increase greatly. There is a certain chance of hiring the Pen Spirit and making her a Haunted House employee!"
Chen Ge's eyes locked onto the final sentence of the mission reward. Hiring a ghost as an employee — that was something he had always fantasized about. He never imagined the day would come so quickly!
When he had first obtained the black phone, he had paid particular attention to the section on haunted house ghost team members. But after completing so many missions, the number of ghost team members was still zero. Yin Xiaoxiao and Zhang Ya, for various reasons, could not be hired.
Chen Ge had long since given up on the idea. After all, there was a fundamental divide between the living and the dead. Yet just when he thought all hope was lost, a new path had opened up — the black phone had proactively issued this very mission.
The benefits of hiring the Pen Spirit were enormous. She could foresee all sorts of strange events, and without any makeup or props she could frighten visitors purely on her own. In Chen Ge's eyes, she was essentially a free pair of perfectly experienced hands.
"The Pen Spirit's wish — let me help her fulfill it."
Putting the black phone away, Chen Ge squeezed back into the crowd. The people from Qin Guang's studio had slunk away with their tails between their legs, packing up their computers and apparently preparing to leave.
"Who said you could go?" Chen Ge walked up to Fei Youliang and fished the school ID tag out of his pocket.
The smudged ID tag bore a woman's name — Chen Yalin.
"Why were you stealing props from the haunted house?" Chen Ge waved the ID tag in his hand. "Don't tell me this deliberately aged ID tag was Fei Youliang's own personal belonging."
The people from Qin Guang's studio exchanged glances. How were they supposed to know what had gotten into Fei Youliang, or why he would go out of his way to sneak into a classroom and steal this particular ID tag?
"Young Chen, let me handle this." Uncle Xu stepped in to block Chen Ge, afraid the confrontation would escalate.
"Setting everything else aside, first make them delete every video from their computers. Otherwise I'm not letting them leave. Every scene in the haunted house was painstakingly crafted over a long period of time. I refuse to let my hard work be ruined."
Uncle Xu understood just how damaging it would be for the haunted house's interior scenes to be leaked to the public. He watched personally as the people from Qin Guang's studio deleted every last video, then led them into the park management office. Their actions had already constituted an interference with the park's operations, and he would handle them according to the park's regulations.
Once all the videos were confirmed deleted, Chen Ge stopped paying the group any attention. To be honest, they had simply drawn the short straw — running headfirst into the Pen Spirit like that.
"Boss, are we still open for business?" Xu Wan had also come out of the haunted house.
"Of course." Chen Ge returned to the entrance to sell tickets. The crowd of visitors, who had been orderly just moments before, suddenly surged forward.
"Brother, why isn't that school scene listed on Dianping? It looked freaking intense!"
"Is the school tour also twenty yuan?"
"Can the four of us go in together? Haven't been this pumped in ages! Everyone hold on tight to me!"
Chen Ge hadn't expected the visitors to remain this enthusiastic after witnessing what happened to Fei Youliang and Zhu Jianing. He did a quick scan — the crowd was mostly students.
"I'm sorry, but due to an incident that just occurred, this scene is temporarily closed for maintenance. It will need about two days." Fei Youliang and Zhu Jianing had been the first to experience it, and judging by the results, the scene could reduce people to a trembling wreck without him lifting a finger. The horror experience was excellent, but there were too many unpredictable variables and a certain level of danger.
The Midnight Escape scene had originally had the same problem — the mischievous Xiaoxiao had followed right behind the monkey, scaring that poor guy half to death with his screaming. It wasn't until Chen Ge later completed the hidden mission for the Midnight Escape that the situation improved.
"To fully take control of the Muyang High School haunted scene and make the lingering spirits inside obey, the simplest and most effective method is to complete the hidden mission associated with this scene." Chen Ge slipped his hand into his pocket and felt the black phone resting there. His mind was made up.
The haunted house continued its operations. The commotion that had just occurred was nothing more than a small episode for the visitors.