My House of Horrors

The hall was filled to the brim with people; there were still people downstairs, and the elevator kept bringing new visitors. At 10 am, the proprietor for Tian Teng Medical School finally appeared. He was of average height, had a short haircut, and looked to be in his thirties.

There were two models in revealing nurse costumes trailing behind them. Even though their make-up was startling white, their eyes never stopped releasing electricity. The man tried the loudspeaker and stood at the steps before the entrance of the Haunted House and said, “Everyone, thank you for your kind support. Tian Teng Medical School has always maintained…”

Chen Ge’s eyes scanned the two models. He was not going to pay attention to the man’s introductory speech. He was thinking about designing a pretty and sexy costume for Xu Wan when his Haunted House had its next activity.

The man talked for two to three minutes before finally getting to the point.

“Our team optimizes the Haunted House every six months. With the aid of a professional foreign team, all the scares are updated, and as the proprietor, it is my responsibility to tell everyone that Tian Teng Medical School is scarier than all the other Haunted Houses available on the market!

“We strive for the most realistic terror, unlike certain unethical Haunted Houses who rely on online water armies to brush up on their popularity. They think that this was clever, and some did fall for the dirty tricks, but to be honest, I find this behavior laughable!”

Chen Ge was getting impatient from all the slander. He nudged forward through the crowd, but there were too many people. Finally, he reached the ticket seller. “One ticket please.”

“Did you book a ticket online?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry, today’s tickets have all been sold. How about you stay until afternoon? Perhaps there might be an opening then.”

“The tickets are all gone?”

The proprietor continued to speak on stage. “If the Haunted Houses on the market are first generation, my Tian Teng Medical School is a fourth generation Haunted House that combines many high-end technology!

“Today is the first day we’re opening our doors for the citizens of Jiujiang. To let everyone have a clearer understanding of the situation, I’ll randomly select four visitors to experience the Haunted House with an audio recorder and a portable electrocardiographic monitor! Through the speakers that are connected to the audio recorder and the cardiograph broadcasted on screen, you’ll be able to see for yourself how scary our Haunted House is!”

Before the proprietor finished talking, there was already cheer from the crowd. It was hard to tell whether this was a set-up or not.

“There’s a code behind every ticket, and we’ll select the lucky ones with a randomized code generator.” The man nodded to the sales counter, and the workers started to do their work.

Chen Ge saw everything with his eyes. The man stepped on his Haunted House to bring himself up, and he could not take that lying down.

“Wait!” Chen Ge raised his hand and walked onto the stage. “You said earlier that your Haunted House is scary but other Haunted Houses depend on online water army to brush up on their popularity. That, I don’t agree with.”

The man frowned. If not for the crowd, he would have called for security to haul Chen Ge out.

“I am the boss of Western Jiujiang’s House of Horrors, the owner of the Haunted House that you’re happily slandering online. The day before yesterday I just hosted a livestream that has more than 600,000 viewers.”

When Chen Ge walked to the stage, there was a familiar voice from the crowd that called out. “Boss‽”

Chen Ge followed the voice and saw He San and Gao Ru Xue standing in the crowd.

“Why are you here?” Chen Ge was baffled. He San was openly supporting his enemy. “If you want to experience a Haunted House, why didn’t you come to me?”

He San did not know how to explain himself. He could not openly admit before the proprietor of Tian Teng Medical School that Boss Chen’s Haunted House was too scary. His class was still having nightmares from their previous experience and thus decided to come to another Haunted House to seek some relaxation.

The man took this in as well. He had already recognized Chen Ge. “Looks like your Haunted House is not that popular; even your own friend won’t support you. Fine, if you insist on learning some tricks from us, we’re willing to provide you with this opportunity. Don’t say that we’re not generous people.”

The man was clever. Since they dared slander Chen Ge’s Haunted House online, they obviously knew of Chen Ge. By letting Chen Ge into the Haunted House, his intention was clear. If Chen Ge was scared inside Teng Tian Medical School, he could use this as a point of promotion and forcefully yank the customers from Western Jiujiang’s House of Horrors. Chen Ge had the same idea as he did; they both wanted to persuade the other’s visitors to come to their own.

Due to the recent livestream, Chen Ge’s Haunted House had become a hot item online, but he knew that the popularity would not last for long. At most, it would last for a week. Even though Tian Teng Medical School was not as popular as Chen Ge’s Haunted House within Jiujiang, they had a large national popularity and a number of loyal fans like Su Su.

“Come, help him put on the audio recorder and heart monitor.” The two models walked toward Chen Ge. “Now, we’ll pick the remaining three lucky visitors.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” Chen Ge shrugged. “Challenging a Haunted House alone is more fun. If you can manage to scare me, I will admit that my Haunted House is not as scary as yours on my website and promote your Haunted House for a whole month.”

The man was intrigued by what Chen Ge said, but he was cautious as well. He was sure Chen Ge was up to something. “How are we going to gauge that we’ve managed to scare you?”

“You’ve installed the heartrate monitor, right? The normal heartrate when a person is walking is between 60 to 100. When they’re scared, the oxygen in their blood will drastically decrease, and the heart will pump faster.” Chen Ge looked at the man and calmly said, “If my heartrate ever rises over 100, I’ll lose.”

“You have a deal.” The man did not give Chen Ge any chance to change his mind. Even a small jog would bring a man’s heartrate over 100, much less being scared. From how he saw it, Chen Ge was bound to lose.

“Don’t be so hasty. If I lose, I will admit your Haunted House is scarier than mine online, but what if you lose?”

“Don’t worry, if we lose, we’ll also admit that our Haunted House is not as scary as yours online.” The man pointed at the crowd. “Everyone here can be your witness.”

“Actually, I still have one small request.” Chen Ge smiled innocently. “I think that you still have some misunderstandings about my Haunted House. I hope that your team will be willing to come visit my Haunted House. I’ve added a new scenario, and it hasn’t been opened to the public yet.”

“Okay, no problem,” the man promised easily and earned affection from the crowd. Only He San and Gao Ru Xue had a curious expression on their faces. Looking at the man, they saw themselves in the past overlapping with him.