Packing up his things,
"That Captain Yan doesn't seem like an ordinary person." Chen Ge glanced back over his shoulder and decided to lie low for a while.
This whole incident had served as a wake-up call. The city precinct was nothing like the Xicheng Police Station. The reason he hadn't been grilled too hard during his previous few police appearances was that Captain Li had been putting in a good word for him the entire time.
"The three-star trial mission is complete. I don't really need to unlock any higher-level scenarios right now — I just need to develop the Third Ward properly." In truth, even if a four-star horror scenario were placed right in front of him, Chen Ge wouldn't select it. From the three-star trial missions onward, the danger multiplier climbed exponentially, accompanied by all manner of unknowns and surprises.
Hailing a taxi, Chen Ge set the white cat and the rooster down on the seat beside him and pulled out his black phone, tapping on the unread messages displayed on the screen.
"Player reached the mission location within the designated time and survived until dawn. Third Ward trial mission complete! Three-star horror scenario Third Ward has been unlocked. Player may freely operate all mechanisms within the scenario through the scenario interface!"
"Trial mission completion rate: sixty percent. Below the ninety-percent threshold — hidden mission item cannot be awarded."
"Completing hidden missions attached to a scenario can increase trial mission completion rate. When the completion rate reaches ninety percent, this scenario's hidden mission item will be awarded."
After reading the messages on the black phone, Chen Ge was a bit startled. "Only sixty percent completion rate? Where did I fall short? Was
Chen Ge had been looking forward to the hidden item rewarded upon completing a trial mission, and he had noticed a pattern. The higher the star rating of the trial mission, the better the hidden item. For instance, the one-star Peace Apartment had only rewarded him with a resentment-laden missing persons notice, while the two-star Muyang High School had granted him a rare ghost — the Pen Spirit.
"Could the hidden reward for the three-star trial be that little boy?" Chen Ge considered it and felt it was actually quite possible. After all, Men Nan's primary personality had said his will had merged with the Third Ward itself. "The relationship between Men Nan's primary personality and the Third Ward feels a lot like the one between
As for what exactly the hidden mission within the Third Ward scenario was, he would have to enter the scenario to have a chance of triggering it.
Under the driver's curious gaze, Chen Ge gathered his belongings and got out of the cab. The moment he stepped into New Century Paradise, he noticed that quite a few visitors were staring at him with odd expressions.
"It's not a holiday — how come there seem to be so many more tourists than usual?" The park, typically deserted on a regular day, seemed to have regained a spark of life. The stares made Chen Ge self-conscious. Hunching his shoulders under his backpack, he broke into a jog toward his haunted house like a refugee fleeing disaster.
He had only made it a few meters before he froze. Staring at the long, winding queues stretching from the entrance of his haunted house, he felt as though he were dreaming.
"So many people here to visit?"
"Boss!"
The tourists all turned their heads in unison at the sound, and Chen Ge bristled under the collective gaze.
He squeezed into the crowd and listened to Xu Wan explain for quite a while before he understood — the vast majority of these visitors had come specifically to see him.
The impact of last night's livestream had been even greater than Chen Ge imagined. Clips from his broadcast had been edited and shared across countless forums. Headlines like "Fake Livestream Runs Into a Real Killer" were already trending.
The most critical detail was that during the livestream, when Chen Ge noticed his viewer count skyrocketing, he had decisively plastered his haunted house's address on-screen in the largest font available. Anyone who wanted to censor the address in a reposted clip would have had to blur at least a quarter of the entire screen.
Rather than let it hurt the viewing experience, he might as well go with the flow — it would make him look generous, too.
The result was that numerous platforms and forums had ended up promoting his haunted house indirectly. Some of the visitors were from neighboring cities and had made the trip to Jiujiang specifically after watching the video.
His short-video profile's follower count had also been climbing steadily since last night's broadcast. Comments poured in by the tens of thousands, and despite having his livestream channel suspended, he had topped the newcomer livestream popularity rankings.
Chen Ge had reaped a massive wave of attention and traffic, but the same couldn't be said for Qin Guang. He had sunk an unfathomable fortune into platform-wide promotion, only to attract viewers and then suffer one livestream disaster after another before the screen went black entirely.
Word on the street was that Qin Guang had been scared into the hospital. To make matters worse, while God had shut one door on him, He had nailed the windows shut too. When Qin Guang finally came to, only to discover that his own paranormal livestream channel had been caught in the fallout and suspended as collateral damage, he'd probably cough up blood.
There were too many visitors for Chen Ge to take a break. He had managed a short nap in the interrogation room that morning, so he could still hold out.
After giving a brief explanation of the horror scenario rating system, Chen Ge brought in Uncle Xu to manage the crowd. He and Xu Wan touched up their makeup and ducked into their respective scenarios to play ghost.
The entire afternoon flew by in a blur. When dusk was falling, there were still tourists lined up at the haunted house entrance.
The park extended its closing time by half an hour. It wasn't until a little past six that Chen Ge and Xu Wan finally emerged from the haunted house.
Xu Wan's face was pale and she looked thoroughly exhausted. "I never thought there'd be a day when our haunted house would have to do overtime."
"There are plenty of things you haven't thought of yet. Stick with me, work hard — there's a bright future ahead." Chen Ge looked at Xu Wan with a smile. Ever since he had learned that ghosts could be hired as employees, his interest in recruiting new living staff had waned considerably. Xu Wan might very well end up being the only living employee in his haunted house.
"Oh, Boss — there's one more thing I need to tell you." Xu Wan pulled an advertisement flyer from her pocket. "A famous traveling haunted house from out of town is coming to Jiujiang. They've leased a venue on the commercial street in the city center and are officially opening for business tomorrow."
"A little competition is a good thing. Don't worry about it." Chen Ge took the flyer and looked it over. The haunted house was called the Taneda Hospital — a large-scale traveling attraction combining hospital and school themes in a pseudo-Japanese style.
"I didn't pay much attention during their early promotional push, but this morning, right after our haunted house went viral, they went and swapped out their official homepage banner. They're claiming their haunted house was designed by foreign professionals and is far scarier than any other haunted house in Jiujiang — that the two aren't even in the same league." Xu Wan pulled out her phone and opened the Taneda Hospital's official website.
Chen Ge took a look. The place was indeed engaging in malicious disparagement. They hadn't named anyone directly, but the only well-known haunted house in Jiujiang was his.
"Looks like they're coming to crash the party." Chen Ge tucked the flyer away. "No worries — I'll head over tomorrow when they open and give them my 'support.'"