One minute after the video was posted,
"The black shadow that lay on the bathtub for fifty-six seconds—that's gotta be an effect, right?! It looks like it crawled out from under the tub!"
"Is that the host himself waving a cleaver in the water? Damn! That expression is way too realistic!"
"If that shadow had gritted its teeth and held on a few seconds longer, would we never have seen the host again?"
"Are you insane?! I was about to try holding my breath to see how long I could last, and halfway through you throw this thing at me!"
"New viewers, run! This video is full of ghosts! Don't look back! Run!"
"I actually stared at my phone screen for a whole minute without blinking, and now I can't sleep…"
"After watching your last video I didn't dare look in a mirror, and after this one I don't dare shower alone! You heartless streamer—take my flying waist-lock suplex!"
Having the comment section still buzzing like this past four in the morning, Chen Ge felt quite gratified. He felt he had cultivated a base of die-hard fans, and every bit of effort was worth it.
Just before closing the video page, Chen Ge couldn't resist plugging his haunted house in the comment section. His viewers were enthusiastic to the last, one after another leaving messages saying they planned to bring local specialties from their hometowns to the haunted house to visit him.
"Buying tickets to visit a haunted house and then giving me their hometown specialties—tourists these days are really something." Chen Ge exited the page in a much better mood. He stretched, grabbed five cloth dolls, and left the Midnight Chase scene.
Night passed and dawn broke. The sky outside the haunted house had already taken on a pale glow.
Chen Ge found planks in the tool room and sealed off the staff corridor connected to the Midnight Chase theme. Until he dealt with the mirror monster, he had no plans to open this scene for the time being.
"Tickets are twenty yuan. Midnight Chase can hold seven visitors at a time. At fifteen minutes per session, that's five hundred and sixty yuan per hour—over four thousand a day for eight hours." The thought stung a little, but Chen Ge didn't let money cloud his judgment. "Safety comes first. I'll be able to unlock more scenes down the road. You can never earn it all."
After sealing the Midnight Chase scene, Chen Ge returned to the staff break room. He set a few cloth dolls by the bed, changed into clean clothes, and went out for a run.
The Peaceful Apartment trial mission served as a constant reminder. If he hadn't run fast enough that night, he'd probably be buried in the ground by now.
At eight forty in the morning,
A new day had arrived. The protective barrier outside the haunted house slid open to either side, and the two of them took up their respective posts, ready to open for business.
At nine o'clock, visitors streamed into the amusement park in a trickle. The haunted house entrance was still desolate—this was the quietest time in the park.
"Boss, what did you do in the haunted house last night? Why is there water everywhere?"
"Cleaning up." Chen Ge brushed it off, then added, "When you're playing a ghost inside, be careful—don't get too close to the mirrors."
"Why not?"
Chen Ge was about to explain when he suddenly spotted Uncle Xu, the park manager, running over.