"Boss Chen, just tell me the truth — what exactly happened to my brother? Will his condition come back?"
The more evasive Chen Ge sounded, the more anxious Wang Hailong became.
"It won't come back, because it wasn't an illness." Chen Ge gestured for Wang Hailong to calm down. "Don't overthink it. The priority right now is helping Wang Shenglong get back to living a normal life."
Wang Hailong wanted to say something else, but Chen Ge cut him off. "Your brother hasn't had contact with the outside world for a long time. He seems to have gotten used to shutting himself in, and that's very harmful to his reintegration. If possible, you should take him out more often."
Chen Ge felt genuine sympathy for Wang Shenglong's situation. A perfectly fine kid, reduced to this — terrified that his appearance would frighten others, hiding in the corner of the truck, too scared to come out.
"I talked it over with my dad yesterday, but the way Shenglong looks now — how can we take him out to meet people? If we bring him out and people point and stare, wouldn't that just cut his heart even deeper?" Wang Hailong was equally worried. The Slender Shadow was gone, yes, but the damage it had done to the boy would take time to heal.
"Didn't I recommend a psychologist to you last time? For these kinds of issues, you can ask him to help."
Chen Ge looked over at Wang Shenglong, silent in the corner, and felt a pang. "Communicating with the outside world is a process. If there's ever anything you need my help with, don't hesitate to ask."
He turned and left. As for how to help Wang Shenglong return to a normal life, Chen Ge had a rough idea forming in his mind. "The kid's appearance is terrifying, but inside he's very gentle. If he ever has nowhere to go, he could come work as an actor in my haunted house. Xu Wan is petite and doesn't quite have the presence for roles like the killer — Wang Shenglong's look is much closer to what tourists imagine when they think 'serial murderer.'"
Back at the haunted house, the rest area was about a third of the way assembled, and all the seats were set out. Many tourists, eager to get into the haunted house as early as possible, would rather sit outside in line than go visit the other attractions.
"Little Chen, your haunted house has truly blown up." Uncle Xu sighed with genuine admiration. "I even heard a few people with out-of-town accents. They saw some video online, took a train for several hours just to come here."
"The reputation is out there now. From here on, it's about running the operation solidly, delivering thrills to every tourist, and letting word of mouth do its thing. Every visitor from now on will be a walking advertisement for the haunted house."
Chen Ge had it all mapped out. Fear leaves the deepest impression of any emotion — after experiencing something terrifying, ninety percent of people will share it with others. Saying it out loud draws in more curious people to try it themselves. Sometimes a simple "That was terrifying" is the highest praise a haunted house can receive.
Chen Ge entered the Midnight Escape scenario to play the killer, while Xu Wan took on the bride role in the Ghost Marriage. After two or three hours, quite a few people had cleared both scenarios. Some were so scared they didn't dare continue, while others recovered their nerve and started challenging Dusk Sun Middle School.
Chen Ge worried about tourists getting hurt in Dusk Sun Middle School, so he always helpfully followed behind in his Bone-Crushing Doctor uniform, secretly protecting them.
One morning passed. The best record so far was a group of six going in together and finding fourteen school badges in twenty-five minutes.
Many people entered Dusk Sun Middle School, realized the atmosphere was completely different from the other scenarios, and ran right back out. The underground scenario didn't have iron gates — you could quit at any time. But if you wanted to go back in, you'd have to queue up and buy a new ticket.
"Was setting the clearance condition at twenty badges a bit too tough?" Chen Ge reflected. Everything he did was for the visitors' experience. "The mannequins have been devouring the tourists' screams and fear, and after just a few days they've already become noticeably more animated. At this rate, I don't know if anyone will be able to enter the Third Ward for a whole week."
After careful consideration, Chen Ge reduced the clearance threshold to sixteen. But by the time the lunch break rolled around, no tourist had cleared it yet.
"This batch of tourists has no guts. I'm starting to miss those medical students," Chen Ge said as he pulled up the barrier and helped Xu Wan remove her makeup.
"Missing them is one thing — they might not miss you," Uncle Xu said from outside the door, counting tickets. "Things have been good these past few days. Just keep it up and don't keep scaring tourists faint or making them throw up. It puts my nerves on edge too."
"Don't worry, I'll try to keep it under control from now on." No sooner had Chen Ge finished speaking than his phone rang. He glanced down and saw it was Heshan calling. "Of all times to call — is this some kind of omen?"
He sat down on the steps and casually picked up.
"Boss! The manager from that other haunted house last time wants your number. Can I give it to him?"
"He wants my number?"
"Yeah. After you smashed their show and left, things were chaotic outside Tanaka Hospital for a long time. The tourists split into two camps. One group thought Tanaka Hospital was all hype and demanded refunds, saying they wanted to go to your haunted house instead. The other group were die-hard Tanaka Hospital fans, saying stuff like 'Of course someone who lives in a haunted house isn't scared of other haunted houses'…"
"Wait — what does that have to do with the Tanaka Hospital manager wanting my number?"
"It has everything to do with it! To keep his fans from being disappointed, the manager gritted his teeth and agreed to come visit your haunted house, to prove that someone who's been living in a haunted house really isn't that scared when visiting someone else's." Heshan's voice crackled through the phone, and Chen Ge felt the kid had gotten a lot worse — he sounded downright excited.
"They're all set. They're coming to your haunted house tomorrow morning. Tanaka Hospital's own fans will be tagging along, planning to record the whole thing to shut up the people who demanded refunds."
Chen Ge was somewhat speechless at that. "Are those people anti-fans or what?"
"No idea. I'm just passing the message along."
"Fine, go ahead and give him my number. We're both in the haunted house business — a little exchange never hurts."
Not long after hanging up with Heshan, Chen Ge's phone rang again. This time it was an unfamiliar number.
"Hello?"
"Boss Chen, this is the manager of Tanaka Hospital. We've met once before."
"Mm. What can I do for you?"
"We'd like to visit your haunted house tomorrow. Some of our fans will be coming along, so we'd appreciate it if you could go easy on us."
"Of course. You know me — I'm not the petty type. You're welcome to pick any scenario you want."
"Boss Chen, that's the spirit!" The Tanaka Hospital manager quickly followed up. "Then we'll choose a scenario with moderate difficulty — nothing too terrifying, but nothing too easy either."