Chapter 0709 – You’re No Longer Alone
Even if Mr. Bai’s composure was good, his face turned green after hearing Chen Ge’s words.
Chen Ge never spoke according to a formula, straight to the point.
You think there’s something wrong with my haunted house, then come in and experience it for yourself, with first hand experience, only then are you qualified to comment.
Mr. Bai naturally would not agree to Chen Ge, jokingly, professional haunted house actors have been stunned after going in, running in by yourself is not “sending death”?
”I still have things to take care of later, I’ll definitely go in and experience it when I have the chance.” Mr. Bai smiled awkwardly, after rejecting Chen Ge, his aura was not as good as earlier.
”That’s a real shame, remember to give me an advance greeting when you want to come in the future, I’ll arrange a VIP service for you.” Chen Ge Haunted House’s VIP service was a single-visit program, where one visitor, accompanied by nine haunted house actors pretending to be tourists, went on a three-and-a-half-star scenario – the exploration of Liwan Town.
”Let’s not talk about this.” Mr. Bai felt that the situation would become more and more unfavorable to him if he continued to talk about it, he took out his own cell phone and dialed a number: “Xiao Shuang, you guys bring Chang Yin up here, don’t be afraid, Director Luo and Chen Ge are not the kind of people who are unreasonable, they won’t do anything to you.”
A few minutes later, footsteps sounded outside the door, and a pair of twin brothers assisted Li Changyin into Luo Dong’s office.
These few people Chen Ge had seen before, they were all employees of Nightmare Academy.
”This brother looks a bit familiar, as if he has visited my haunted house.” Chen Ge recognized Li Changyin at a glance.
Li Changyin didn’t dare to look at Chen Ge and sat down in the corner of the house accompanied by the twins.
”Changyin, tell Chen Ge what you saw in the haunted house.” It was as if Mr. Bai had regained the initiative.
Everyone in the room looked at Li Changyin, who had a panicked expression, and his body would still involuntarily tremble when he remembered what happened that day.
Raising his head, Li Changyin sneaked a glance at Chen Ge, and the fear in the depths of his pupils could not be concealed at all.
”That’s him!”
After uttering three words without a head, Li Changyin’s lips turned purple and he sucked in a big breath, “Ghost! There are ghosts in the haunted house!”
”Are you here to touch the porcelain? Isn’t it a normal thing to have ghosts in a haunted house?” Chen Ge leaned against the sofa with a helpless face.
”It’s true that there are ghosts! His haunted house is haunted! Those ghosts and monsters are real! A living person simply can’t act out that feeling!” Li Changyin’s thoughts slowly cleared and his speech became sharper.
”Just because you Nightmare Academy can’t act out that feeling doesn’t mean others can’t.” Chen Ge was a bit impatient, speaking in a tone that didn’t show any disrespect, but the way he looked at Li Changyin was as if he was looking at garbage, “If you don’t reflect on yourself, and you think about screwing over others every day, even if my haunted house goes out of business, your haunted house won’t be able to attract tourists.”
”No! I can be sure that those things are not human! It’s definitely not an effect that can be played by a human!” Li Changyin’s eyes flushed red.
”I understand you, as a professional haunted house actor, wanting to run to another haunted house to make trouble, but instead you ended up being stunned yourself and losing face and face, so that’s why you developed this idea of wanting to escape reality.” Chen Ge analyzed the situation.
”I have been a haunted house actor for five years, I know more about haunted houses than you do, and I understand the ceiling of this industry …….”
Li Changyin wanted to say something else, but was nonchalantly interrupted by Chen Ge, “Is five years a long time? My parents started making mobile haunted houses ten years ago, I grew up hugging haunted models, I was already assembling dolls when you were learning pinyin with your bare butt.”
Chen Ge stood up, “Words aren’t enough, the ceiling you’re talking about is just what you think it is, and it’s just your own ceiling.”
”Don’t be in a hurry to leave, Chen Ge, give me face.” Mr. Bai also directly stood up, he felt that he was giving Chen Ge enough face, “Chang Yin is still young and stubborn, just find out those actors who scared him in the beginning, and let him completely die of this heart well.”
Chen Ge looked back at Luo Dong, and after exchanging a glance, he stopped in his tracks, “Changyin, you said that my haunted house is really haunted, so tell me specifically what ghosts you all met in my haunted house?”
He walked towards Li Changyin, his pupils narrowing, and with every step forward, Li Changyin’s body shrank back until it was pressed against the sofa.
”Are you so afraid of me? Is it because you think I’m a ghost too?” After experiencing so many trial missions with the black cell phone, a special temperament had long been honed in Chen Ge.
”I can’t be sure about the other actors because my memories are a bit fuzzy, but there was a middle-aged man in the hotel that I remember very clearly! He was definitely not human!” Li Changyin gritted his teeth, “Do you dare to bring him here to confront me face to face?”
”In the hotel? A middle-aged man?” Chen Ge frowned, from the other party’s description, the description seemed to be Zhang Jingjiu.
But the crux of the matter was, why was the other party certain that Zhang Jingjiu was a ghost? As a newcomer, Zhang Jingjiu even scared himself, so how did he manage to make Li Changyin mistake him for a ghost?
”Is this a conspiracy?” Chen Ge couldn’t figure it out.
”Don’t dare, right? There’s actually no such person in your haunted house right!” Li Changyin’s eyes were red, his own brain development was different from that of ordinary people, and his way of thinking was more extreme: “Don’t you dare try to find a random person to replace him, I have a picture of him here!”
Li Changyin tremblingly took out his cell phone from his own pocket and clicked on the photo album, which contained some photos of Zhang toasting.
All of these photos were secretly taken by Li Changyin before he dressed up as a pregnant woman and contacted Zhang Jingjiu.
”Why aren’t you saying anything? What’s the hesitation? The photos were taken very clearly, please bring this person here immediately!” Li Changyin felt that he was very well-prepared, and he was glad that he had taken the photos in advance; unfortunately, he had only taken the photos of Zhang Jingjiu, and he had fled behind in such a hurry that it was too late to take the photos.
”You’ve also worked in a haunted house for five years, you should know that entering a haunted house to take pictures is a very unorthodox thing to do, I’ll leave these pictures behind, and I’ll personally go to Nightmare Academy in the next few days to ask for a statement.” Seeing the photos, Chen Ge calmed down instead.
”Don’t deliberately stall for time!” Li Changyin’s voice was loud as he insisted on his opinion.
”Wait here.” Chen Ge twisted his head and walked out of Luo Dong’s office, returning to the haunted house to bring out Zhang Jingjiu, who was still learning about acting.
”Bring makeup remover, we’re going to meet an old friend.” Chen Ge explained something to Zhang Jingjiu on the way, and Zhang Jingjiu immediately understood what was going on.
Knocking on the door of the room, when Chen Ge led Zhang Jingjiu into Luo Dong’s office, the temperature in the room seemed to have gotten a little lower.
”This is the actor in the photo, called Zhang Jingjiu.”
Everyone looked at Zhang Jingjiu, his face was made up by Chen Ge, and even though he was standing in the brightly lit office, it still felt very intimidating to look at him.
”I’m sorry for scaring you the other day, I didn’t expect you to be that timid, I’m really sorry.” Zhang Jingjiu walked towards Li Changyin, but Li Changyin screamed and jumped straight up.
”Nope! He is a ghost! He really is a ghost!”
”Don’t bother with him.” Chen Ge handed Zhang Jingjiu the makeup remover, “Just take off your makeup here, I’ll do it for you later when we go back.”
”Okay.” Zhang Jingjiu removed her makeup in front of everyone, took off her jacket, and immediately looked like a different person.
There was no feeling of terror at all, just like the commuters often seen in the subway.
”Does your ghost still remove makeup?” Zhang Jingjiu placed the makeup remover in front of the three employees of Nightmare Academy.
Facts speak louder than words, the twins hurriedly got up and apologized, “I’m sorry, your haunted house’s make-up skills are really impressive, it’s us who were reckless, sorry.”
”No need to apologize, I will also visit your haunted house to learn in some time.”
The Nightmare Academy employees could tell that Chen Ge was a bit angry.
After they apologized, they left in disgrace.
Mr. Bai stayed in Luo Dong’s office and was also a bit embarrassed, but managed to barely keep his composure.
”Little Chen, there’s nothing more for you to do, you go back first.” Luo Dong had a satisfied smile on his face, he seemed to have other things to “discuss” with General Manager Bai.
”Okay.” Chen Ge felt that Luo Dong might ruthlessly slaughter General Manager Bai once, and the two of them had a heart-to-heart.
On the way back, Chen Ge saw that Zhang Jingjiu kept his head hung low, seemingly hiding some words in his heart.
”Toast? If you have something in your heart, say it, we have experienced life and death together, what else can’t you say?” Chen Ge’s voice was warm, he could always bring strength without realizing it.
”Am I causing you trouble again? I always feel like I’m not very useful, I didn’t scare the tourists, lowered the average level of our haunted house, and caused trouble for our haunted house.” Zhang Jingjiu’s voice was a bit bitter, “Since I was young, I made my family careless, because of my mother’s matter, I poured all my dissatisfaction on my father, thinking that it’s all his fault, and I escaped all the responsibility, and now when I look back, I feel that I’m really a lousy guy.”
”These past few days I’ve seen that you’ve been studying acting in the haunted house, but I’ve always felt that you still can’t let go, you give me the feeling like you’ve locked yourself into a small cage.” Standing in the middle of the office building, Chen Ge looked out the window and overlooked the entire paradise, “Everyone is lost at times, and everyone has their own unique personality, what you need to do now is to open the shackles in your heart and release your true self. When you have time, go back to Xinhai to meet your father, there are some things to talk about.”
Chen Ge patted Zhang Jingjiu’s shoulder, “Hurry up and pull yourself together, you are the only employees I can really take care of right now, and in the future, I’m going to let you go to other cities to open branches and take the lead.”
”Thanks.”
”There’s no need to say thank you, I have very few employees, each and every one of them is treated like family by me.” Chen Ge brought Zhang Jingjiu back to the haunted house, he let Zhang Jingjiu continue to play the role of the restaurant owner, while he himself went into the staff lounge to look for information about the Left Eye crew, he was ready to move tonight.
”The Psychic Ghost School quest will close the day after tomorrow, regardless of whether Zhang Ya has awakened or not, I have to go over there to take a look at this quest, or else all of the previous pre-quests will all be for nothing.” Chen Ge gazed at his shadow for a while, then picked up the desk calendar on the table, “Today is June 11th, the amusement park season is coming, and the Virtual Future Paradise is about to open, so there really isn’t much time left for me.”
Zhang Ya was sleeping and Xu Yin was seriously injured, going to challenge the four-star scenario – Psychic Ghost School – in this situation was a very dangerous thing to do.
Chen Ge understood all of this, but right now he had no other choice, giving up on the Psychic Ghost School mission was the same as saying that all of his previous efforts had been wasted.
”Go and take a look, hopefully I’ll still be able to come back.”
Sweeping his eyes towards the group photo of his parents and himself in the corner of the table, Chen Ge gently shook his head.
On that family photo, the parents were standing in the center, the mother seemed to be holding something, the father was very happy as he pointed to the haunted house behind him, and Chen Ge was standing alone on the far left.
His pupils narrowed, and Chen Ge could see that what his mother was holding was Luo Dong’s daughter, the angelic guardian spirit.
”It always feels like I’m not my own.” Chen Ge put the photo back on his desk and inadvertently saw a line behind the photo – June 11th, happy birthday, brat.
”Parents who can play themselves off and still keep calling me a brat.” Chen Ge put the photo away and returned to his work.
During lunch, Chen Ge let the four employees go over first and stayed behind to replace them himself.
After waiting for more than half an hour, Xu Wan and the four of them came back, each of them exchanging words as if they were discussing something.
”You guys are four whole minutes late, next time, I’ll dock your paychecks ah.” Chen Ge threatened menacingly.
Several employees heard this and hurriedly ran back to the middle of their respective scenes.
”If you don’t fight for a few days, you’ll be in the upper room, it seems like it’s better for me to be stern in general.” Chen Ge returned to the staff lounge and got all the information right, then organized the list of employees that could be taken out, the Left Eye crew was just a bull’s eye, what he really cared about was the Psychic Ghost School.
After thinking for a long time, Chen Ge was able to come up with a more reasonable plan, and when he came out of the lounge again, the sun had already set.
The park stopped operating at six o’clock in the evening, and Chen Ge closed the haunted house gate after sending the last batch of visitors out.
”It’s been a hard day’s work, gentlemen, get off work early.” Chen Ge still had things to do in the evening, so he urged Xu Wan and the others to hurry up and leave.
”Boss, are you still going out tonight?” Xiao Gu seemed to have read Chen Ge’s mind.
”Little kid, what do you know, everything is for work.” Chen Ge urged a few people to leave, Scissors and Zhang Jingjiu didn’t think much of it, only Xu Wan wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn’t open her mouth.
The amusement park was crowded during the day, and it slowly quieted down after it stopped operating.
The afterglow of the setting sun reflected on the Ferris wheel, the laughter was gone, and Chen Ge stood alone at the entrance of the haunted house.
He looked at it for a while before turning around and entering the haunted house, “Wait for the sky to completely darken before we make our move.”
Back in the staff lounge, Chen Ge lay on the bed, his eyes sweeping from time to time to the photos on the table, this was the first birthday he had spent since his parents disappeared.
”Should I buy a cake? Forget it, the money spent on a cake is enough to buy half a mannequin model.” Chen Ge slapped his face and shot up, reaching under his bed.
”Where’s my backpack? Did the white cat drag it away for me?”
Chen Ge looked under the bed and didn’t see the backpack, nor did he see the white cat or Tiny.
”This cat has grown capable! Knowing that I’m going to take it out, now it even got rid of the bag for me.” Apart from Chen Ge, only the white cat and Xiao Xiao would run in the staff lounge, so Chen Ge was directly suspicious of the white cat.
Taking a bag of cat food, Chen Ge opened the door to the lounge and he ran through the above ground scenes without seeing the white cat.
”The white cat ran to the underground scene? Is it so timid that it dares to go down by itself?”
Pulling open the iron door leading to the underground scene, Chen Ge entered the deep underground passageway, and he didn’t walk out a few steps before he felt that something wasn’t quite right.
Tonight’s underground was a little too quiet.
”Xiao Xiao? Old Zhou?” Calling out the names of a few employees, but there was no response, Chen Ge walked alone on the dark streets.
Eerie and depressing, this cramped corridor was like the path Chen Ge had been walking on.
No light could be seen, and he was the only one walking forward.
Passing by a broken window, seeing a different horror scene, behind him was darkness, in front of him was deeper darkness.
Walking past empty classrooms, Chen Ge finally stopped at the first intersection of the Twilight Sun Middle School scene.
He was alone, looking blankly at the fork in the road, and was about to choose a random path to go over when his cell phone suddenly vibrated.
Sliding the screen, on it was a message from Tong Tong – Boss, happy birthday!
Before Chen Ge could react, the dark fork in the road was suddenly lit up by ghost flames, only to hear a loud bang, the door of the bathroom next to the room was knocked open, and a few doll students ran out carrying a blackboard in a crowd!
The blackboard of the last classroom was removed, and on it was drawn with chalk a bunch of dancing villains with different demeanors, and in the middle of the bunch of villains stood a man dragging a hammer.
Maybe the drawing skills were limited, they couldn’t show the man’s temperament, and around the little man in the center, they wrote a lot of nouns with chalk, such as sunshine, integrity, gentleness, and kindness, and all of them would point to the man in the center with arrows after they were written.
After they saw Chen Ge see it, they turned around again at the same time, trying to reveal the other side of the blackboard.
However, probably due to uncoordinated movements and other reasons, there were quite a few dolls whose arms and necks directly turned a hundred and eighty degrees, and they kept such a horrifyingly weird posture to reveal the other side of the blackboard – Happy Birthday!
Four large words thickened and weighted with chalk, along with the happy smiling faces of the students of Mureyang Middle School twisted one hundred and eighty degrees, they wanted to get closer to Chen Ge, but others felt that if they got closer, they wouldn’t be able to see it in its entirety, so they didn’t move.
The lack of unity of opinion caused a few of the figures to quickly make a mess, but it was evident that they were attentive.
A dry cough came from the left passage, and all the ghostly fires in the other several passages went out, leaving only the ghostly fire on the left.
A song by }man floated up from within the scene, interspersed with horrific laughter and rustling electric currents, as a body van was slowly rolled out by several doctors from the underground body vault.
”Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you ……”
The front end of the car was filled with birthday cards, which were made of different materials, some were case sheets, some were promotional pages, and some were torn from bed sheets and clothes.
But although the materials were different, the handwriting was mostly the same, and they should all have been penned on behalf of the pen fairy.
In the center of the body truck was a four-tiered, modeled, cake-like object.
The edges of the cake model also had highly distinctive hand-painting, and being able to draw the cake lines as if they were flowing with blood was something that only the extremely talented Yan Dainian could do.
”Chen Ge, happy birthday.” Several doctors parked the corpse carrier in front of Chen Ge, Yan Dainian and Lao Zhou they walked out from behind the corpse carrier, Bai Qiulin was holding a repeater in his hand, the blood-stained tape inside was still spinning and was playing a soothing music.
”You ……” Chen Ge looked at all the “people” in front of him.
”Don’t talk, light the candles, and make a wish.” Wei Jiuqing waved behind her, and a white cat much larger than a normal cat chewed on a backpack and came out of the classroom, it returned the backpack to Chen Ge.
Opening the backpack, Xiao Xiao sat inside holding a few candles rolled up in paper.
”So you’re here.” Chen Ge carried Xiao Xiao out and placed it on his shoulder, holding those handmade “rough candles”, “Who told you guys that it’s my birthday today?”
”The guy you asked me to meet during the day, he said another female employee of yours told him.”
”Understood.” Chen Ge nodded and looked at the “candle” in his hand, “Do I have to light it?”
”Life has to have a sense of ceremony, you need to light a few when you’re a few years old, or the wishes that aren’t allowed won’t work.” Master Wei was very strict, Chen Ge nodded his head in agreement, he took out the lighter from his backpack, lit a candle and inserted it on the model cake.
The warm firelight dispelled the chill, ghosts and monsters hated light the most, yet none of them stayed away.
”Boss, it’s time to make a wish.”
”Make a wish!”
”What would the boss wish for?”
”Don’t interrupt, it won’t work if you say it.”
Sweeping his eyes over the faces of each employee, Chen Ge rubbed his eyes and silently made his wish before blowing out all the candles.
The underground scene returned to darkness, but the silence was broken, and the employees all gathered together, singing and laughing, just like a real family.
”Thank you all.” Standing in the darkness, although Chen Ge was the only living person in the entire haunted house, he didn’t feel alone.
Beauty was never hidden by the appearance of horror.
He saw in these employees the abject sincerity of being abandoned, the self-respect of holding on to something that would not let go, and the kindness that was etched into the depths of his soul.
”It’s my good fortune to have met you all.”
The revelry went on until midnight before Chen Ge suddenly remembered that he still had things to do, he picked up his backpack and packed the white cat in with a swift motion, “Let’s go, the nightlife has just started, let’s go outside and get high in the second half!”
……
Walking out of the underground scene, Chen Ge carried his heavy backpack back to the staff lounge.
The moment he opened the door, he froze.
On his desk was a cake, a greeting card, and a key.
Picking up the greeting card, on it was Xu Wan’s beautiful handwriting, “Boss, I don’t think we need a spare key for our haunted house, and I believe you’ve always been there. The key is back to you, and finally, I wish you a happy birthday! Be happy every day!”