Chen Ge installed the lock and, with Xiao Gu's help, dragged the Odd Talk Association members back to the first floor and locked them in the makeup room.
"Boss, is it safe to just lock them in like this?" Xiao Gu rattled the door lock. "I mean, shouldn't we tie them up with rope first?"
Chen Ge could clearly see that Gu Feiyu was making progress. He took off the Skull Crushing Doctor uniform and handed it to Xiao Gu. "Don't worry about it. Put on the uniform and head back to the third-floor set. The visitors are probably getting impatient."
"No problem, leave it to me."
This time, Xiao Gu put on the Skull Crushing Doctor uniform without much resistance, showing an eagerness that was the polar opposite of when he'd arrived that morning. It almost made Chen Ge suspect he'd been possessed by one of the Odd Talk Association's ghosts.
"That's odd — you used to walk into the haunted house sets like you were heading to the execution chamber. What changed?"
"Did I?" Xiao Gu scratched his head sheepishly. Wearing the Skull Crushing Doctor outfit while making that gesture gave Chen Ge a severe sense of cognitive dissonance. "Actually, when I first started, I thought the haunted house was just about scaring people half to death, and I felt like that was a pretty shady way to earn money. But after I saw you talk that couple into reconciling, I suddenly realized our haunted house can sometimes be kind of heartwarming."
"Sounds like you've been misunderstanding the haunted house all along. Fear strips away the thick masks people wear every day. All you have to do here is let go of your inhibitions and scream to your heart's content," Chen Ge said with a straight face. "The fast pace of life, the pressure you can't escape — in a city like this, there has to be a place where people can vent without restraint. You think we're making money by scaring people, but that's not it at all. We're just breathing life back into their numb souls."
He patted Gu Feiyu on the shoulder, and a warm smile spread across Chen Ge's face like the first rays of dawn. "Give it everything you've got to scare those visitors. That couple just now is a perfect example. Nobody cherishes things that come too easily, so it's only in the deepest despair that you can stumble upon the most beautiful surprise."
"Mm!" After hearing Chen Ge's words, Gu Feiyu nodded vigorously several times. He suddenly felt that his job was incredibly noble. "I'll play my role to the best of my ability!"
"Keep it up." Looking at Gu Feiyu's enthusiastic demeanor, Chen Ge felt quite gratified. "Young people have all that fire. Oh, by the way, set my number as a speed dial. If you run into anything you can't handle in the haunted house, report to me immediately."
"Got it."
The couple's argument was just a minor episode for Chen Ge. What he hadn't expected was that this little incident would make Gu Feiyu fully embrace the haunted house.
Of course, the version of the haunted house Xiao Gu had come to embrace was the one Boss Chen had "painted" for him.
Chen Ge pushed aside the thick curtain and stepped out of the haunted house. The rest area was packed with waiting visitors — the publicity效果 was astonishingly good.
Many impatient visitors had started checking out other attractions. The flow of people, while still not comparable to New Century Amusement Park's heyday, was already more than enough to satisfy the park staff.
Everyone was busy for the first time in ages. The amusement park, which had been built ten years ago, was alive with energy once more.
After losing two more members, the Odd Talk Association stopped probing Chen Ge. Perhaps they had realized the problem — if they kept sending people like this, the entire association would probably run out of members within days.
At six thirty in the evening, the crowd outside the haunted house was still sizeable, but for safety reasons, Chen Ge stopped accepting new visitors.
The park began clearing out, and it wasn't until seven o'clock that visitors trickled away one after another.
Today's visitor count had broken the record set by New Century Amusement Park in the past six months. During the afternoon, Uncle Xu had been called away by Director Luo — it seemed they had begun discussing the next phase of their marketing plan.
"Great work, you two!"
Chen Ge closed the barrier and tallied up the day's earnings. Online payments and cash combined came to just under fifteen thousand yuan.
The figure was a bit lower than he'd expected. The main reason was that Chen Ge had limited the number of people allowed per session to ensure a quality experience.
The Ghost Marriage set could only accommodate four people at a time, the Midnight Manhunt had a cap of seven, and after overwhelming demand, the Twilight High School set's batch size had been raised to twelve.
The first two sets ran twenty-minute sessions, while the Twilight High School, due to its enormous space and larger groups, averaged about forty minutes per visit.
The money-making efficiency was a bit lower, but positive ratings kept climbing. More and more people were proactively promoting Chen Ge's haunted house — posting on social media, sharing on Weibo, recommending it to friends and family.
This was a virtuous cycle. A typical haunted house with limited sets would see its visitor numbers gradually decline once the novelty wore off, but Chen Ge's haunted house had the horror-tier system. As long as he kept producing scarier sets, the visitors would only keep coming.
For him, a good reputation mattered far more than short-term profits.
After an entire day of operation, only one team had managed to find all eighteen school badges. That team included the medical students from Jiujiang Medical Academy who had come with Yang Chen, as well as some passersby who had tried before.
Chen Ge asked whether they wanted to continue to the next set. The battered and traumatized visitors declined without hesitation.
The day's operations concluded successfully. After Xu Wan and Xiao Gu left, Chen Ge transferred bonus payments to both of them via his phone.
With all the miscellaneous tasks taken care of, Chen Ge opened the makeup room door. Wei Wu and Kong Xiangming had already regained consciousness, but with their symbiotic ghosts gone, their minds had been severely damaged. They looked vacant and dazed, as if they couldn't remember anything.
Chen Ge brought both of them out of the haunted house and took them personally to the city precinct to find Captain Yan.
...
Xiao Gu strolled along the road, occasionally touching his face. After wearing the mask all day, even now that it was off, he still felt as though something was stuck to his skin.
"Where am I going to sleep tonight? I've fallen out with Manager Huang, so going back to the security dorm isn't an option. Brother Chen has already done so much for me — asking him to advance my wages is really not something I can bring myself to do."
He had both hands in his pockets and was pondering his predicament when his phone buzzed with a transfer notification.
"A bonus from Brother Chen? I've only been here one day." Xiao Gu stared at the eight-hundred-yuan transfer on his phone screen. That was enough to rent a decent place out in Jiujiang's western suburbs.
He thought about how he'd been treated when he first joined the security crew, and with that comparison in mind, he felt even more touched.
"Boss Chen really is a good person!"
He put away his phone and headed toward the Fanghua Garden security dormitory. He planned to pack up his things and move out tomorrow.
Xiao Gu didn't get back to the Fanghua Garden security dorm until eight in the evening. The moment he walked in, he saw Manager Huang standing inside with a sour expression on his face.
"Where the hell have you been?" Manager Huang was dressed in a suit with his leather shoes polished to a mirror shine. He had looked down on Gu Feiyu from the very beginning.
"I was actually coming to see you. I've already found a new job, and I'll be moving out starting tomorrow." Gu Feiyu had a stubborn temper to begin with, and he spoke with characteristic bluntness.
Old Wang was in the room too. He hurried over, grabbed Gu Feiyu, and whispered an apology to Manager Huang on his behalf. "Don't take it to heart — Xiao Gu doesn't know any better."
He shot Gu Feiyu a glare. "When are you ever going to learn to control that temper of yours?"
"Don't bother. This place is too small for a big shot like him." Manager Huang tossed a sheet of paper onto the table. "Even if you hadn't gone looking for another job, I wasn't going to keep you around. Fill out this form and get out of here by tomorrow."
He pushed Old Wang aside and walked toward the door, then paused. "One more thing I need to let you know, Old Wang — he was the one you vouched for. The money deducted for his unauthorized absences, plus the medical expenses from the emergency room visit, all of that is coming out of your wages."
"What does Uncle Wang have to do with this? Just dock my pay if you want to," Xiao Gu said, barely holding himself together.
"Dock your pay? The contract you signed when you came in states it plain — one full month before you're considered a permanent hire. You haven't even hit that threshold and you're quitting on your own. Do you really think that contract is just scrap paper? And while you're at it, why don't you add up how many disasters you've caused in less than a month?" Manager Huang walked out without looking back. "Still expecting wages? Keep dreaming."
Gu Feiyu turned around, wanting to land a solid punch on Manager Huang, but Old Wang held him back.
"Endure a moment, and the storm will pass. Take a step back, and the world opens up."
"Uncle, I don't care about the wages — what makes me angry is that he's making you pay those fines!"
"You're a grown man. You need to stop being so impulsive." Old Wang had Gu Feiyu sit down and went to close the door. "Money's hard to come by these days. Tell me — what kind of job did you find? If it pays well, maybe I'll come help out too."
Old Wang was worried about Gu Feiyu getting scammed, so he was subtly trying to fish for details about his new situation.
At the mention of the new job, Xiao Gu's anger gradually faded. "I'm working as an actor in a haunted house — playing a ghost and scaring people. The boss is really great. It's my first day, and he already gave me a red envelope bonus."
"Really?" Old Wang looked skeptical. "You're an honest kid. When you work for someone, it's best to keep your wits about you. Don't cause trouble for them, and watch out for con artists."
"I won't."