Starting with a haunted house to create a thrilling game arena

Chapter 19: The First Batch of Tourists

"There's a haunted house there too, what's going on?"

"The most terrifying haunted house in Hanjiang City? That's too much of a boast. And it's located right across from this haunted house. Isn't that a bit too arrogant, blatantly stealing customers?"

Lin Xiaomei scratched her head.

For some reason, the images of the Krusty Krab and the Seafood from SpongeBob SquarePants popped into her mind. These two haunted houses were facing each other, and the competition between them was too intense.

Zhao Haiyan put down the lighting equipment, wiped her sweat, and was clearly tempted. "How about we go to that haunted house first? Otherwise, it's no fun just waiting around."

Uncle Xu remained silent for a few seconds.

He really wanted to persuade these people, since they were all high-quality customers. If they were left with Chen Ge, the publicity effect for New Century Amusement Park might be much better.

Uncle Xu has confidence in Chen Ge's haunted house.

But he was unsure about Zhang Ze, this young man.

After all, he couldn't openly stop tourists from entering, so he could only quickly hand over the task of maintaining order to Xu Wan and then run to the back door of Zhang Ze's haunted house.

"Um?"

"There's definitely no haunted house here!"

Uncle Xu entered the haunted house through the back door and found it completely empty, with dust still on the ground, resembling an abandoned bumper car stadium.

Zhang Ze dared to open for business without doing anything?

Isn't this a slap in the face to New Century Amusement Park?!

Uncle Xu's face immediately turned red. He wanted to confront Zhang Ze, but then he saw Zhang Ze appear behind him at some point.

"Uncle Xu, long time no see! Why are you suddenly visiting my haunted house? Are you here to help me sell tickets?"

"I appreciate your kindness."

Uncle Xu was stunned.

The next second, cold sweat soaked through my back.

He clearly remembered that there was no one behind him, only a few crows. How did Zhang Ze appear behind him without making a sound?

"I... I'm just reminding you that our amusement park is operating normally. If visitors see that you've opened, they might want to try your haunted house attraction."

"I see your venue doesn't seem to be set up properly. Should I apologize to the tourists and let them temporarily go to Chen Ge's haunted house?"

Zhang Ze shrugged. "No need for that. My haunted house is already set up."

"Is everything set up?"

"Of course, have you heard of the Virtual Future Park in the eastern suburbs of Hanjiang City? They use an advanced virtual reality technology that combines human optical materials, sound and light, and motion simulation to create an immersive gaming experience."

"My haunted house uses more advanced virtual reality technology. You know VR, right? Resident Evil has a VR version now. My haunted house is more advanced than VR. The scenes are interactive, the storyline is more complete, and the effects are more perfect."

Zhang Ze pointed to a painting inside the venue. Uncle Xu looked over and indeed saw that there was a new painting in the venue, which he had never seen before.

I was immediately confused.

"Is this...is this safe? Are there any safety risks...?"

"Don't worry, I'll take full responsibility. There won't be any safety incidents. Just trust me," Zhang Ze said. "You should be more worried about Chen Ge. As far as I know, what he just said wasn't an exaggeration."

"Where is the perpetrator of that family annihilation case who is still at large?"

Uncle Xu's hair stood on end instantly.

"Okay, okay, I understand."

After watching Uncle Xu leave, Zhang Ze withdrew his gaze and slowly walked to the ticket counter. He saw Lin Xiaomei and three others walking towards him, and a beam of light shone on Zhang Ze's face.

They saw Zhang Ze's face clearly.

Lin Xiaomei couldn't help but let out a soft "Eh."

"Aren't you the one who went live the other night and had your stream banned?"

"You run a haunted house too."

"Your marketing strategy is so similar to that of the haunted house owner across the street! Did you learn it from the same teacher?"

Lin Xiaomei was referring to the live stream that Zhang Ze started after completing the nightmare mission at the Peace Hotel, which happened to coincide with Chen Ge's live stream.

Unfortunately, when Chen Ge was doing a live stream from Ping An Apartment, Zhang Ze was still running for his life in the painting world. That godforsaken place didn't even have cell phone signal, let alone live streaming.

"You guys have watched my live stream, right?" Zhang Ze nodded slightly, but before he could say anything else, Lin Xiaomei interrupted him.

Lin Xiaomei put her hands on her hips and said with an air of dominance:

"That's right, all four of us watched that live stream. I want to strongly condemn your behavior of exploiting the dead. The staff member you were in charge of playing the vengeful ghost in that live stream acted too realistically. The image of the corpse with its internal organs removed was exactly the same as the victim in the real case."

"We were also there to cover the case of the unidentified female corpse at the Peace Hotel, and we even saw the body."

Zhang Ze smiled.

Turns out they're a group of high-level players.

Only for advanced players.

If the player's skill level is too low, how can his haunted house appear scarier than Chen Ge's?

"As a staff member of a haunted house, my fundamental pursuit is to achieve the ultimate level of terror."

"I guarantee my haunted house is scarier than Boss Chen's haunted house across the street!"

Zhang Ze's words not only reached the ears of Lin Xiaomei and others, but photographer Hu Xin quickly pointed the camera at Zhang Ze, and lighting technician Zhao Haiyang also quickly lit Zhang Ze's face.

The commotion here also attracted the attention of many tourists in the waiting hall of Chen Ge's Haunted House.

"What arrogance!"

"Good grief, it's the haunted house right across from the haunted house, a sniper duel at the middle door."

"Haha, this is the purest form of business warfare—no tricks, just head-on confrontation!"

Lin Xiaomei took out her phone. "The four of us want to play, but let's buy tickets now and go in for the experience."

"But let me make this clear beforehand: if you can't scare us, we're going to write a proper article to criticize your behavior."

"If you can scare us, we'll write articles and promote you when we get out, how about that?"

"It's a deal!"

Zhang Ze showed his payment QR code, which indicated that he had received 200 yuan.

This is his first income since he started running the haunted house.

The four people signed waivers, and Zhang Ze glanced at their names.

Reporter: Lin Xiaomei.

Lighting technician: Zhao Haiyang.

Photographer: Hu Xin.

Assistant, Dongxing.

Zhang Ze didn't actually recognize the name "Mystery Tracking Studio," since he hadn't been interested in such things since his transmigration.

I searched for the video account and WeChat official account of the Mystery Case Tracking Studio on site.

After a brief understanding, Zhang Ze had a better grasp of the situation.

"Okay, this way."

"You need to bring a special device. With this special device, you can experience the first new scene in the haunted house, the crow's nest."

Zhang Ze brought a box of gas masks to the four people.

This gas mask is actually not very useful; at best, it can purify and filter the air to help these people adapt to the environment behind the door.

"What the heck, it's VR too?"

"We've played VR horror games, but the technology is immature, cheap and crude. Apart from Jumpscare, there's nothing worth mentioning."

Lin Xiaomei was a little disappointed.

However, since the money had already been paid, I still put on the gas mask and, together with a few other people, made sure that the equipment was in place.

Guided by Zhang Ze, they walked into a red painting on the wall.