That manga artist's pen name was Black Ridge Orochi, and he was extremely famous abroad.
As for his real name, very few people knew it. Chen Ge had searched for a long time but only found someone claiming to be Black Ridge's landlord leaking information.
He claimed to have seen Black Ridge's ID card. This internationally famous manga artist had an incredibly down-to-earth real name—Li Baofu.
"Black Ridge Orochi, Li Baofu… just hearing the names, it's hard to imagine they belong to the same person."
Chen Ge looked toward the haunted house entrance. Black Ridge was locked in a staring contest with the trench coat man—perhaps they had both sensed something unusual about each other.
Right now, inside the haunted house's security gate, there were seven people. Black Ridge and his female assistant stood on the left, the trench coat man stood alone on the right, and the remaining four were clearly together yet split into two pairs, pretending not to know each other.
"The Liwan Town scenario is massive. Seven people going in probably won't even make a ripple." If these had been visitors who'd passed a three-star scenario, Chen Ge might have just let them straight in, but these people were all newcomers.
The ones harboring ulterior motives toward the haunted house were one thing, but Black Ridge and his assistant were innocent bystanders.
Chen Ge was a magnanimous man. He wouldn't neglect his responsibilities toward visitors just because they looked down on the haunted house or thought the scenarios weren't scary enough.
After deliberating, Chen Ge walked up to the seven of them. "The new scenario covers a very large area—it's designed for ten. Let's wait for three more people, and then we can go in."
"Places like haunted houses are better with fewer people. Seven is already too many." The trench coat man had once been beaten by visitors. He wasn't afraid of ghosts—he was worried about too many people getting in the way of his plans.
"Exactly. Going in with ten people, you'd just be staring at each other. Crowded, noisy—what's the fun in that?" Black Ridge chimed in as well. He had a hot temper and never filtered his thoughts before speaking—whatever came to mind came out of his mouth.
"I'd suggest you wait a little longer. The boss is looking out for you," a young man in the crowd said. Chen Ge recognized that voice immediately. He looked in that direction and saw Yang Chen frowning at the bedboard propped up next to the haunted house.
"Aren't you supposed to be in class? Coming here every day?" Perhaps because of the underground morgue scenario, whenever Chen Ge ran into students from the Jiujiang Forensic Medicine Academy now, he felt an inexplicable fondness for them.
Yang Chen was a little scared of Chen Ge. The moment he heard Chen Ge's voice, he instinctively took a step back. "I haven't even cleared the underground morgue yet! I'm definitely not going to challenge the new scenario, so you can forget about it!"
"Come on, Little Yang, don't be like that. And here I gave you discount coupons out of the goodness of my heart." Chen Ge held up his phone, the screen displaying the introduction to the new scenario. "Won't even consider it? As far as I know, your school hasn't cleared the underground morgue yet. Once you beat that and then take down the new scenario, the two-hundred-thousand-yuan cash prize is yours. You know me—I keep my word. Clear it, and you get the money on the spot."
Every scenario that had been challenged by students from the Jiujiang Forensic Medicine Academy had subsequently become a huge hit. In Chen Ge's eyes, those medical students were practically his good-luck charms.
"I'll pass, but I brought a few people over for you today." Yang Chen glanced behind him and waved. A man and a woman stepped out of the crowd.
Walking ahead of the other two was Wang Yan, whom Chen Ge had met before. He had previously joined Yang Chen to challenge the Muyang Middle School and underground morgue scenarios.
The man and woman behind him were chatting animatedly. The woman wore a loose off-the-shoulder T-shirt on top and white hot pants below—both sexy and sweet, showcasing the particular beauty unique to her age group.
The man was taller than Wang Yan, with visible muscle definition. His outfit was casual but all designer labels—he looked far more handsome than the plainly dressed Wang Yan.
"That's Wang Yan, my best friend—you know him. The girl behind him is his girlfriend. That guy is a sports scholarship student from Jiujiang Normal University. He's also Wang Yan's girlfriend's high school classmate—apparently he was the school heartthrob back in high school," Yang Chen said in a low voice.
"That's Wang Yan's girlfriend? If you hadn't told me, I never would've guessed." Chen Ge suddenly realized something. "Wait—why are you telling me all this?"
Yang Chen was making faces and gesturing at Chen Ge, which left him caught between laughter and exasperation.
Before he could respond, Wang Yan and his two companions had already walked over.
"Three tickets for the new scenario, please."
You could tell Wang Yan wasn't in a good mood—his voice sounded tired.
"Are you sure? The new scenario is genuinely terrifying. Don't act on impulse."
"It's fine. I've challenged three-star scenarios so many times already. This new one shouldn't be a problem."
"Alright. With a seasoned visitor like you along, I'll rest easy." Chen Ge handed the three tickets to them and led them into the haunted house. "Pens are on the table. Sign the liability waivers first."
Ten visitors crammed into the hallway made for a tight squeeze. The pens on the table were limited in number, and with the extra waiting required, the trench coat man was growing impatient. "Is all this really necessary? I've been to plenty of haunted houses and never seen one run this formally."
"Right. Going through a haunted house like it's bungee jumping, only to find out it's all just hype and psychological suggestion at the end," the tall, dazzlingly handsome student head-to-toe in designer labels remarked casually. He was standing next to Wang Yan's girlfriend, regaling her with stories about his past bungee-jumping and ocean diving experiences.
Compared to being chased around a haunted house by ghosts, diving and bungee jumping were clearly more intriguing to the girl. Wang Yan's girlfriend listened attentively, chiming in with a few responses now and then.
"Don't talk nonsense. This is your first time at a haunted house. You'd better behave yourself." Wang Yan handed his pen to the other man.
"Thank you." The male student signed his name with a shrug and placed the agreement on the table.
"Zhang Huang?" Chen Ge read the name on the agreement and carefully put it away. "You wrote this name yourself. I didn't induce or pressure you in any way. You signed of your own free will, and you came of your own free will."
He'd just heard Wang Yan say this was Zhang Huang's first time visiting a haunted house. For someone's first visit to be a direct challenge to his three-and-a-half-star scenario—that went beyond courting death.
"Are you joking right now?"
"You can still back out if you want." Chen Ge made one more attempt to dissuade him.
"It's just a haunted house. Chill. Going overboard with the warnings like this is pointless." Zhang Huang dismissed Chen Ge's caution with contempt and turned back to chatting with Wang Yan's girlfriend.
Since the other party refused to leave, there was nothing Chen Ge could do. He collected the rest of the liability waivers, confirmed there were no issues, and began explaining the special rules for the Liwan Town scenario.
"You can call this new scenario Strange Tale Town. It's composed of countless urban legends and covers an enormous area with a high degree of freedom. Once you go in, I'll seal the town gates. The method for clearing the scenario is hidden somewhere within."
"You'll need to find the hidden clues while being pursued by serial killers and vengeful ghosts. There are a total of thirty-two clues in this scenario, each corresponding to a different ending." Chen Ge held up four fingers. "Since this is your first time experiencing this scenario, I can give you the locations of four clues."
"The first clue is hidden inside a water tank in one of the rooms. It's a phone that lets you hear the voices of ghosts."
"The second clue is hidden in one of the residential buildings. You'd never guess what strange things are hidden in the places where you live every day."
"The third clue is hidden inside one of the villas. It's a music box that cries on its own."