My House of Horrors

“Intermediate difficulty? No problem,” Chen Ge promised readily. He was going to invite them to try out Mu Yang High School. If they survived that, then Chen Ge would invite them to try the Third Sick Hall.

“Then, I shall thank you in advanced.” After hanging up, the proprietor was impressed by Chen Ge’s kindness. He thought the man was quite friendly and nice.

Chen Ge was rather happy that the people from Tian Teng Medical School were coming to visit. Ever since the introduction of the Third Sick Hall, no visitors had managed to challenge it, and it pained Chen Ge that he did not get to share the treasure with others. Since the workers from Tian Teng Medical School were coming, they might be able to challenge the Third Sick Hall because they were people who spent most of their time inside a Haunted House, and that meant they should be more courageous than normal visitors.

“The filler for the mannequin should be dry by now. I’ll go get them to decorate the Third Sick Hall tonight.” Chen Ge planned to employ what he had learned from Tian Teng Medical School inside his own Haunted House and then use the workers from Tian Teng Medical School to try it out. During lunch, Chen Ge took his own design proposal to the office building. “Director Luo, I have a proposal that I want you to see.”

Director Luo was facing the laptop in his room, and his brows were creased deeply. When he saw Chen Ge, the expression on his face lightened slightly. “If you need anything, ask Ol’ Xu. I’ve already told him to cooperate with you fully.”

“He can’t make the call on this.” Chen Ge placed the document that he had spent the whole night writing on the desk. “I wish to build a multi-purpose hall next to the Haunted House. I have great plans for the future, so the building will be quite big.”

Director Luo looked at Chen Ge’s proposal twice before putting it down. “The park now is facing financial issues; it’s already difficult keeping the place running normally. We do not have the budget to invest in more attractions.”

“Director Luo, this multi-purpose building will serve us well; I have full faith in that. An eatery will be able to provide the visitors a better environment to recover. Limited mementos to commemorate the different scenarios they have cleared will entice visitors to go try out new scenarios.”

“I know you have confidence and I believe in your ability, but certain things need to be inspected from the bigger picture.” Director Luo turned the laptop to face Chen Ge. “This is a promo video for the futuristic theme park at Eastern Jiujiang. Take a look at this first before you comment.”

Director Luo clicked on the button, and a large whale jumped out from the surface of the sea, splashing water everywhere. As the whale submerged back underwater, the video took the viewers to an underwater world following the whale. Many fish and water creatures filled up the screen. There was even a ghost ship travelling underwater.

The angle changed, and it felt like the video was taken on the deck of the ghost ship. Under the deep sea, the ship neared an underwater trench, and the ship narrowly escaped the explosion of an underwater volcano.

“This is one of the attractions provided by the park; it’s called ‘20,000 Miles Underwater’.” Director Luo probably had his own channel to acquire this video. “Tell me, what do you think?”

Chen Ge understood why Director Luo was looking so glum earlier. The video had given him plenty of awe and shock, so he could only imagine how exciting it would be if he was on the cruise himself.

“The competition is strong, but that doesn’t mean we have no chance.” Chen Ge sat down on the sofa. He would not give up not until the last minute.

“Keep on watching.” Hearing his answer, Director Luo did not get mad. In fact, his expression softened even more. The remaining part of the video featured a futuristic city with skyscrapers, flying cars, and various robots keeping the whole city running. Visitors could be seen sitting inside a capsule-like vehicle as they explored the city.

“This is the other main feature of the park—Virtual City. The visitors will be given 3D glasses to experience life in the future inside this virtual city.” Director Luo closed the video and looked at Chen Ge. “Are you amazed? Actually, several years ago, I anticipated this day. A third-generation theme park that depends on actual rides will eventually be replaced by a larger, 4th generation theme park with a futuristic theme.”

“Director Luo, what we saw were promo videos. Current technology is not advanced enough to create the scenes we saw in the video,” Chen Ge countered. “Most video games show incredible effects in their promotional videos, but the finished product is often different from advertised.”

“They don’t need to replicate it a hundred percent. Even if the actual park is thirty percent as shown in the video, it will get enough visitors interested to visit it.” Director Luo walked to stand before the window. “New Century Park was built at the beginning of this century. Over ten years have passed since then. It has enjoyed its prime, but now it is reaching its end. Probably starting from next week, the whole of Jiujiang, perhaps even our own district, will be filled with advertisements for the futuristic park, and it’ll only get more difficult for us.”

“Director Luo, how long do we have until the park’s official opening?”

“Less than two months, to be precise only seven weeks.”

“It’s a bit rushed, but we still have a fighting chance. Perhaps there might be a miracle at the end.” Chen Ge stood up to leave. The promotional period for the futuristic park had given him plenty of pressure.

“Don’t hurry to leave. I have something to tell you, and I hope you’re ready.” Director Luo returned to the table and clicked open a report on the laptop.

Chen Ge stopped. “What is it?”

“I had Ol’ Xu came up with a report about the visitors who came to the park for the recent week. 35 percent were coming just for your Haunted House, and the number is still growing.” Director Luo did not hide anything from Chen Ge. “Now, your Haunted House is the feature of this park. This kinda reminds me of how it was when your parents first came to New Century Park.”

“It’s mainly because everyone is being too kind to me.”

“Don’t be too humble, this is the result of your hard work.” Director Luo looked at the data and analyzed, “Your Haunted House is the main reason the park even has visitors. Many people come to the park solely for your Haunted House, and I believe the number might be larger if not for the high admission price to come into the park. After all, they’re only here for the Haunted House and have no interest in the other attractions.”

Chen Ge listened quietly. He realized that Director Luo might want to tell him something very important.

“Compared to the futuristic park, we have zero competition power, so the only thing we can do is lower the admission price to attract more visitors. Initially, we planned to do this in two months’ time, but considering the rising popularity of your Haunted House, we decided to move it forward,” Director Luo announced. “The admission price to the park will be decreased, but the ticket price to your Haunted House has to be raised. How much the number will be moved, we’re discussing, and I’m just preparing you for this by telling you now.”