After Scissors changed into the Ripper outfit, Chen Ge still didn't think much of it, but Zhang Jingjiu instinctively moved off to the side.
"That outfit suits you quite well."
The trench coat hid his face, and the blood-stained scissors flickered beneath the oversized sleeves. From a distance, he gave off a very strange impression.
He was clearly standing far away, yet it felt like he could close the distance at any moment, as though he might lunge at you before you even realized it.
"I'll find you a pair of shoes when we get back. The ones you're wearing kind of clash with the overall vibe." All things considered, Chen Ge was fairly satisfied with Scissors's getup.
Unlike Xiao Gu, Scissors had studied how to play the role of a psycho by comparing himself against movies and TV shows back home, and he'd even had a real combat trial in Liwan Town. Now, both his bearing and his expression were eerily similar to those of a genuine serial killer.
It was hard to put into words — it was the kind of look that triggered fear the moment you laid eyes on it.
A short while later, Xu Wan and Xiao Gu arrived as well.
In the dressing room, Chen Ge formally introduced them to each other. "From now on, you're all colleagues. Help each other out. Xu Wan is my most experienced employee — if there's anything you don't understand, ask her."
After applying makeup for Xu Wan and Xiao Gu, Chen Ge sent them ahead to get into position in their respective scenes, then retrieved walkie-talkies and headsets from the main control room and handed them to Zhang Jingjiu and Scissors.
"The control room has surveillance feeds. If anything comes up, I'll relay instructions to you through the walkie-talkies. Now follow me into the scene."
Chen Ge led the two of them into the Liwan Town set. Walking down the eerie streets, both Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu found it unbelievable, but out of trust in Chen Ge, they didn't ask too many questions.
"Jingjiu, just stay in the restaurant and play the owner. Your scare technique still needs work, so don't go looking for trouble with the visitors on your own." Chen Ge had a lot of confidence in his haunted house, and he knew the visitors who could clear three-star scenes weren't pushovers — they'd all long since become wily old veterans.
"Then what do I do here?" Zhang Jingjiu cracked his knuckles, a little buzz of excitement on his first official day of work.
"Just follow my lead. I'll assign you tasks." Chen Ge then turned to Scissors. "For now, stay near the residential area and improvise, but remember three things: first, don't make physical contact with any visitor; second, visitor safety is the top priority; third, protect yourself."
"Protect myself?" A vague sense of foreboding crept into Scissors's mind.
After getting both of them settled, Chen Ge exited the underground set. He'd changed into a fresh set of clothes, looking neat and clean, like the sunny boy-next-door.
"Uncle Xu, how come you're here so early today?" The moment Chen Ge stepped out of the haunted house, he spotted Uncle Xu standing outside and went up to greet him warmly.
"Director Luo said you might have some new ideas lately and asked me to cooperate with you as much as possible." Uncle Xu caught sight of Chen Ge's outfit, and for some reason felt a prickle of unease. "Right now we're in a critical phase of our competition with Virtual Future Paradise. Don't do anything too over the top!"
"Relax." Chen Ge replied with just two words, then dragged out the wooden bed board he'd left in the lounge earlier. When the Living Coffin Village scene had opened, he'd once written information about Living Coffin Village on the back of this board. For the new scene's launch, he planned to do it again.
"Naming the scene 'Liwan Town' outright might upset the locals. Better to just use the name as a gimmick." Chen Ge simply wrote the two characters for "small town" and leaned the board against the side of the ticket booth — simple, direct, and very much Chen Ge's style.
"You're opening a new scene?" Uncle Xu frowned when he saw the two characters on the board. Chen Ge's pace of opening new scenes was too fast; the support staff hadn't even finished preparing for the last one.
"Yep, but it's not that scary. Think of it as a transitional scene — only three and a half stars in difficulty. It's mainly laying the groundwork for the four-star scene to come." Chen Ge took out his phone, logged into the haunted house mini-program on the park's system with his admin account, and posted an announcement: New scene now open! When fear seeps into your very bones and nightmares become reality, you'll realize you can no longer find a way out of this small town.
Within just a few minutes of Chen Ge posting the announcement, it had racked up nearly three thousand views. Some busybody even shared the news of the haunted house's new scene across every major social platform, and the comments below kept piling up — each refresh brought an entirely new page of replies.
"Didn't they just open a new scene a few days ago? I swear I feel like I just got back from there — stop tempting me!"
"Production rate of a sow in heat! Say no more — Secretary Liu, book me a flight home immediately!"
"Wake up up there, it's time to get back to hauling bricks."
"This description is so vague! Kind of curious about the theme of the new scene?"
"Laughing at you guys up top, poking death in the eye like your lives mean nothing."
"Quick ad break — to all the horror-loving seniors and juniors out there, consider Jiujiang Forensic Medical College!"
The park officially opened at nine o'clock, and the moment the gates swung open, a crowd of young people came sprinting toward the haunted house.
"Whenever I see the visitors' enthusiasm, I feel so lucky to be in this line of work." Chen Ge helped Uncle Xu sell tickets at the haunted house entrance. Most of the people who rushed straight to the queue were there for the lower-starred scenes. Being first-timers, they were brimming with excitement.
Chen Ge's real targets, however, were the "veteran" visitors who had already cleared the three-star scenes. These guys had long been honed into crafty old foxes. Even if they showed up early, they wouldn't frantically rush to line up — they'd head to the lounge first and quietly observe for a while.
Even though Chen Ge hadn't been livestreaming or posting short videos recently, most people who had looked up information about the haunted house knew who he was.
After all, if you searched online for "who's the last person you want to run into in a haunted house," the number-one answer wasn't some vengeful ghost — it was Boss Chen. Though that was probably just the internet's idea of a joke.
When visitors saw Chen Ge out front selling tickets, many of them gathered around. They discovered the Chen Ge they'd imagined was nothing like the real one — how could such a pleasant-smelling, easy-smiling young man possibly be the last person you'd want to meet in a haunted house?
"Take it easy, everyone. There are plenty of scenes — we'll get to them all." Ever since the haunted house had blown up, Director Luo had put plenty of thought into supporting Chen Ge and had even set up a dedicated QR code for him. A quick scan would tell you whether a given visitor was cleared for a particular scene — incredibly convenient.
By a little before ten, the first batch of visitors had all finished their tours, and the "veteran" visitors who'd been hanging back finally made their move, unable to hold out any longer. They filed out of the lounge and started queuing.
"Quite a few familiar faces today. Is it because of the new scene?" Chen Ge took it all in, the smile never leaving his face. He was eager to see his work enjoyed by even more people.