“Ah—”
Everyone’s hearts clenched in terror.
It was strange. This Painted Skin theme wasn’t particularly stimulating, nor was the set design overly bloody or violent. So why were they so afraid?
The fear rose from the depths of their hearts, nearly suffocating them.
For a moment, they genuinely felt like they were going to die.
The Painted Skin demon walked out of the room. She was in her beautiful woman form, not an evil ghost.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“Husband.” The Painted Skin demon walked toward Wang Jian.
Wang Jian trembled in fear. “Don’t come over!”
The Painted Skin demon lowered her head, looking sad. “What’s wrong, husband?”
Wang Jian brandished the spirit talisman at her. “Don’t come any closer, or else I… I…”
She continued to approach slowly, head bowed. “Or else what? Will you hurt me? We just got married, and you treat me like this? It breaks my heart.”
As she got closer, Wang Jian panicked and threw the talisman at her in desperation.
The talisman landed on the Painted Skin demon with absolutely no reaction.
She picked it up and asked curiously, “What is this?”
Everyone was shocked. Why isn’t this ghost afraid of the spirit talisman?
The Painted Skin demon shook the talisman in her hand, realizing something. “Did the Daoist priest at the ruined temple give this to you? Did he say I was an evil ghost? He lied to you. I am not the evil ghost; he is. This talisman confuses the mind and causes hallucinations.”
Everyone was confused by her words.
“Sigh, it seems you don’t believe me.” She sighed. “How about this? I’ll go with you to the ruined temple.”
Skeptical, the group kept a few meters distance and trailed behind her as they headed to the temple.
When they arrived, they saw the Daoist priest combing his hair.
“Mmph—”
The youngest girl covered her mouth and collapsed to the ground in fear.
Combing hair wasn’t scary. What was scary was that the Daoist priest had taken his head off and was holding it in his lap to comb it.
The Daoist priest is the ghost!
Sensing the commotion outside, the priest put his head back on and flew out.
“Painted Skin!” he shouted.
The Painted Skin demon crushed the talisman in her hand and sneered. “You’re the evil ghost.”
The priest glanced at the group and shouted, “Come here quickly! This Painted Skin demon wants to eat your hearts!”
She shouted back, “Don’t go over there! That priest is an evil ghost who will cut off your heads!”
Caught in the middle, the group was crying in panic, not knowing who to trust.
Damn it! This is too scary! Too terrifying! It’s killing us!
It’s just an old-school Liaozhai Painted Skin theme; why make it so horrifying? Can’t you make it simpler and cruder?
Wang Jian had lost all his initial bravado. He was curled up on the ground like a quail, wailing, “Help! Let me out! Let me out! I don’t want to play anymore!”
He was wrong. He was so wrong. He shouldn’t have been arrogant and looked down on the Painted Skin theme.
This theme was genuinely terrifying!
He now suspected he wasn’t in a haunted house at all, and the two NPCs in front of him weren’t humans, but real ghosts!
The group held hands tightly, huddled in a circle.
In front of them, the Painted Skin demon and the Daoist priest started fighting.
They fought until the sky went dark and the earth shook, flying back and forth in the air.
It was dazzling to watch.
It felt like they were on the set of a blockbuster movie.
After a while, both were heavily injured and lay on the ground, gasping for breath.
Moments later, they both turned into green smoke and vanished.
Everyone watched, dumbfounded.
These special effects are too good! Like legendary multi-million dollar effects!
Never saw this in a movie, but seeing it in a haunted house?
After they vanished, the fortune teller appeared.
“The fortune teller is here!” the second guy exclaimed happily.
Seeing the fortune teller, everyone breathed a long sigh of relief. It was finally over.
The fortune teller stepped forward and explained, “They were both evil ghosts. My magic wasn’t strong enough to beat them, so I tricked them into fighting each other until both were wounded. Now that they’re dead, you are safe.”
Great!
Everyone put their hands together in thanks.
However, the next second, the fortune teller suddenly laughed out loud. “Hahaha! Now no one can fight me for you!”
With that, “he” took off the mask, revealing a hideous, terrifying face.
“Ah—”
Everyone screamed.
Is there no end to this?!
Just when they thought it was over, another twist! They nearly wet themselves.
The youngest girl fainted directly, and Wang Jian went limp.
The others turned ashen.
“Don’t be scared, don’t be scared! It’s me, I’m the owner!” Li Miao didn’t want to actually traumatize them, so she spoke up quickly.
Hearing “owner,” everyone’s hearts steadied a bit. It felt like returning to the human world from hell.
Li Miao turned on the lights and signaled them to carry the unconscious girl out.
“Wait!” The third guy looked at Li Miao warily. “You’re not going to scare us again, are you?”
Li Miao: “…”
Crap, I gave them PTSD.
It was her fault. She only thought about enriching the plot and giving customers their money’s worth, but she made it too scary.
“Don’t worry, it’s over. Don’t be afraid.” Li Miao tried to make her voice gentle, leading the way a few meters ahead of them.
They came out from the second floor to the first-floor lounge.
Seeing the girl still unconscious, Li Miao worried, “Should we call an ambulance?”
Just as she spoke, the girl slowly woke up.
“She’s awake!” Qin Dan exclaimed happily.
Li Miao sighed in relief. Good, no need for an ambulance.
Back in a safe place, the group started discussing excitedly. “Boss, your Painted Skin theme is too scary! The horror atmosphere is maxed out.”
Li Miao smiled. “I studied psychology, so I know a bit about the psychology of fear.”
“No wonder.” Everyone nodded.
After drinking some hot water at Li Miao’s place, the group left.
They were hungry and wanted to go eat.
Li Miao saw them out, reminding them, “After you go back, remember to stay in the sun for two hours.”
The group waved. “Got it.”
They wouldn’t dare not to. Their backs were still cold; the aftereffects were intense.
On the way back, Zhao Dapeng asked Wang Jian what happened and why he wanted to marry the Painted Skin demon.
Wang Jian was surprised. “Didn’t you guys think she was pitiful and wanted to protect her?”
Everyone was speechless.
This guy’s sympathy is overflowing.
They continued asking, “What about eating maggots? Did you really eat them?”
“Eating maggots?” Wang Jian frowned. “I didn’t eat maggots. That was fish. The dishes were great—crab, lobster, all good stuff. Why didn’t you guys eat?”
Hearing this, everyone had complicated expressions.
They were also very confused.
Why was Wang Jian’s perception different from theirs? Where did it go wrong?
Also, the makeup was so realistic. Especially the scene where the Painted Skin demon ripped her skin off—how did they do that?
They couldn’t figure it out at all.
“If we can’t figure it out, let’s stop thinking about it.” Zhao Dapeng was simple-minded. “That’s their trade secret; they wouldn’t tell us. Anyway, it’s all fake. It’s not like there are real ghosts.”
Wang Jian nodded. “Definitely fake. But today was worth it. Really thrilling. When I get back, I’m giving a five-star review.”
“Yeah,” Qin Dan agreed. “The Fengdu Haunted House is quite interesting. When they launch a new theme, I’ll go again.”
“Dan-jie, you’re brave,” the youngest girl said. She had almost been scared to death.
“Let’s go eat.”
During the meal, Wang Jian wrote a glowing review and posted it on the group-buying app.
At the same time, Li Miao’s phone app flashed.
[Congratulations, Haunted House obtained its first positive review. Main Mission Progress: First Praise Received. Reward: Handy / Deft Hands.]