"This is the least scary haunted house I've ever seen."
"The props are ridiculously fake. After walking around, I'm not just unscared—I'm almost laughing."
"Materialists fear nothing!"
"I told you it was boring. It's better to game in the dorm. My Kun is already level eighty."
At the entrance of the haunted house in the western suburbs of Jiujiang City, a few students rode away on shared bikes, leaving without a second thought. Watching them go, Chen Ge, clutching flyers for the haunted house, felt frustrated. Scaring people is a skill, but modern audiences, soaked in horror films, have nerves of steel; walking through a haunted house feels like strolling through their backyard.
"Boss!" A bright female voice called out from behind. Chen Ge turned to see a petite girl in a nurse costume, her striking figure and furious expression making her look like a "zombie" bursting out of the haunted house.
"What's wrong, Xiaowan?" The girl was Xu Wan, one of the temporary actors in the haunted house.
"Those punks just tried to take advantage of me!" She clenched her fists, her frustration palpable.
So, she was here to complain…
"That's outrageous! They even dared to mess with a zombie." As the boss, Chen Ge naturally defended Xu Wan: "I'll speak to the park manager about this and check the surveillance."
"There's no need to go through all that trouble. When I sensed their intentions, I took the initiative and gave him a good beating." Xu Wan flicked the bloodstains on her nurse costume. "This isn't just makeup, you know."
"Uh, can't argue with that. Girls should learn to protect themselves." Chen Ge wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and glanced at the setting sun. "Let's call it a day; there probably won't be any more visitors. Inform the others to wrap up early."
But the girl with the zombie makeup didn't move.
"Is there something else?"
"Boss…" Xu Wan hesitated, slowly pulling an envelope from her pocket. "This is Tao Ming and Xiao Wei's resignation letter. They feel bad about telling you in person since you've treated them well, so they asked me to pass it on."
"They're leaving?" Chen Ge was taken aback as he accepted the envelope. "Everyone has their own path. You should head home early too."
"Okay, I'll go take off my makeup."
As he watched the cute little "zombie" walk away, Chen Ge silently lit a cigarette. Six months ago, his parents mysteriously vanished, leaving him with this haunted house. Holding onto that memory, he quit his job and dedicated himself to running the haunted house, hoping to improve it. Unfortunately, times have changed quickly; the haunted house industry is cutthroat and already a niche market with numerous limitations. The same scary scenes lose their punch after one viewing, and constantly refreshing them requires substantial funds. For the past few weeks, the haunted house has been operating at a loss; ticket sales barely covered the utility bills.
"I don't know how much longer I can hold on."
As Chen Ge stubbed out his cigarette and was about to head back into the haunted house, a middle-aged man in a New Century Park uniform approached him. Seeing him was like a mouse spotting a cat, and Chen Ge hurriedly quickened his pace.
"Pretending you don't see me?" The middle-aged man grabbed Chen Ge by the shoulder.
"We need to clear things up today. You've been behind on your utility bills and venue rent for two months. The higher-ups are constantly pushing me, and it's putting a lot of pressure on me!"
"Uncle Xu, it's not that I don't want to pay; I'm just facing some financial difficulties. Just give me one more month."
"You said the same thing last month."
"I promise, this will definitely be the last month!" Chen Ge patted his chest, looking genuinely earnest.
"This industry is in a downturn right now; it's hard to attract visitors. If you ask me, maybe it's time to let go." Uncle Xu glanced at the envelope in Chen Ge's hand, his grip loosening slightly. "You're still young; there are plenty of other things you could do. Why live like this?"
"Uncle Xu, I know you're looking out for me, but this haunted house means something different to me. It's a memory left by my parents." Chen Ge spoke in a low voice, as if not wanting others to overhear. The middle-aged man, fully aware of Chen Ge's parents' situation as the park manager, didn't respond. After a few seconds, he sighed and softened his tone. "I can somewhat understand where you're coming from. Alright, I'll try to give you a few more weeks."
"Thanks, Uncle Xu!"
"Don't mention it. Just make sure to put some effort into selling more tickets for the haunted house."
After seeing off the park manager, Chen Ge returned to the haunted house, diving into his daily routine of checking equipment wear and tear, maintaining props, and cleaning.
"The fake blood in the repair room is almost gone; I need to order another batch. This passage should be tilted a bit; it might better trap visitors in their blind spots. The puppet got torn; I need to patch it up. Damn it! Where's the decorative light I set up? Who stole it?"
To outsiders, he was the owner of a haunted house and a promising young entrepreneur. But the struggles behind the scenes were known only to him.
Here's the translation of your new excerpt, tailored for your target audience:
A haunted house is a form of "horror" entertainment; in a frightening environment, people's muscles and minds become highly tense, and once that tension is released, it feels as satisfying as a massage. This method can provide a sense of fulfillment in a short amount of time. At the same time, haunted houses are a form of one-time consumption, and many operate in various cities, continually attracting new visitors. For a fixed-location haunted house like Chen Ge's, unless it has significant fame to draw people in, it usually can't last long. The fact that he has managed to keep it running for this long is quite an achievement.
Dragging the torn puppet, Chen Ge entered the repair room. He had studied toy design and manufacturing in college, and many of the puppets and mechanisms in the haunted house were his own designs. The repair process is complex and tedious, requiring him to stitch the puppet's skin, repaint it, and age it to give it a worn look. "I almost ran out of fake blood; I remember there's still some stock in the attic."
The haunted house has three levels: the first two are set up for terrifying scenes, while the third floor serves as a storage room. Pushing open the dusty wooden door, he found the attic filled with various discarded equipment, most of which had been left behind by his parents when they ran the haunted house.
Looking at the familiar equipment, Chen Ge rarely came here, as it stirred memories of his childhood. "It's been over six months." Back when they ran a traveling haunted house, his parents took him from city to city. Sometimes, when they were both busy, they would leave Chen Ge alone in the back, surrounded by various creepy props, which helped him develop a strong constitution. After all, while his peers were playing with letter puzzles, he was already running around with a severed head model.
"It's all just memories." Without realizing it, Chen Ge found himself next to a wooden box that stored his parents' belongings. Inside was a rough cloth doll and a pitch-black mobile phone. The doll was the first toy Chen Ge had ever made, while he had no recollection of the phone at all. These two items were found by the police in an abandoned hospital on the outskirts of town, but no one knew why Chen Ge's parents had gone there in the dead of night.
"It's been so long. Where are you?" Chen Ge picked up the doll, pinched its face, and sighed softly. "I really need to find some fake blood; if I can't make it through this slow season, the haunted house might really have to shut down for good."
He was just talking to himself, but as he mentioned shutting down, the black phone that had been silent in the box suddenly flashed, emitting a faint cold light.
"What's going on? Advanced tech? A supernatural phenomenon?"
If it were someone else, their heart might race, their eyes darting around, palms sweating. In contrast, Chen Ge's reaction was straightforward. He picked up the phone, held it up to his face, and began to double-check. "I've tried to open this phone a hundred times before and couldn't get it to work. Why is it suddenly turning on now? It was found at the place where my parents disappeared. Could it be that they know I'm struggling and are trying to contact me?"
Suppressing his excitement, Chen Ge swiped the screen. The black phone's home screen displayed only one app, with an icon resembling something from the haunted house. "This isn't what I expected, but that icon looks familiar. It's like the front door of my haunted house!" Frowning, Chen Ge tapped on the app, and a line of blood-red text appeared on the screen: "Do you believe in ghosts?"
Whether ghosts exist or not is a surreal philosophical question, and for someone like Chen Ge, who is more of a science and tech guy, it's quite a challenge. "There probably are…" He made his choice, and a few seconds later, a new text appeared on the phone screen.
"What you think in your heart is the answer. From this moment on, you will officially take over as the new master of the haunted house. Of course, this isn't something to celebrate. At the end of the beginner's tutorial, I want to give you a piece of advice: suicide is the most cowardly act. Please try to live on!"
"That's a lot to take in! But this slightly dramatic tone... it sounds a bit like my old man." Chen Ge tapped the haunted house app again, and a brand new interface appeared:
Let's remove all formatting so you can copy it without any asterisks or formatting issues:
Jiujiang City Western Suburb Haunted House Status:
Condition: Near Closure
Rating: None
Visitors Today: 4
Visitors This Month: 10
My Monster Team Members: None
My Props Inventory: None
Achievements Unlocked: None
Current Facilities & Scenes:
Zombie Resurrection Night (Terrible props, subpar actors, no storyline or logic, scream factor: none)
Ghost Marriage (Not a couple in life, buried together in death, ghostly wife haunting, scream factor: half a star)
Unlockable Horror Scenes:
Midnight Escape (A dangerous mental patient has taken up residence in a rundown apartment building, wielding scissors and a hammer, lurking outside your door, scream factor: one star)
Third Ward (This abandoned hospital emits strange sounds every night. As a newspaper reporter, you will enter to investigate, scream factor: three stars)
Deadly Hearse (A hearse carrying the dead is on the road; if you can't escape within an hour, you will be trapped forever, scream factor: two stars)
Daily Tasks: Complete the haunted house's daily tasks to receive corresponding rewards and unlock more horror scenes.
Haunted House Expansion Conditions: Monthly visitors exceed 100, and the approval rating reaches over 60% (After three expansions, the haunted house will upgrade to a Trembling Maze).
Horror Roulette: Consume the scare points generated by visitors to spin the wheel: Life and death are predetermined; here, there are life-extending spirit fruits and vengeful spirits!
Other Functions: Not unlocked.