Of course, it was just a resemblance. It couldn’t possibly be real Yin-Shen wood.
Yin-Shen wood was a treasure, incredibly precious. A piece this large would belong in a museum; how could it just casually appear in a small haunted house?
Niu Gu shook his head, thinking he was overthinking things.
Pushing open the heavy doors, the group was stunned by a single glance.
It was enormous, almost overwhelming. It extended endlessly, as far as the eye could see.
Niu Gu was shocked. “Is all of this the haunted house?”
This isn’t a haunted house; this is a ghost city!
Wang Jian shook his head and pointed to the large building opposite them. “This is the main building. The other places are desolate and probably haven’t been developed yet.”
Niu Gu sighed in relief, patting his chest. “Scared me to death. I thought this whole huge area was the haunted house. But how did they enclose such a large space?”
There were high walls all around. Just the walls alone would cost a fortune, not to mention the building in front of them.
It was at least sixteen or seventeen stories high.
With so many floors, surely not all of them are part of the haunted house?
Niu Gu looked at Wang Jian.
Wang Jian quickly shook his head. “I don’t know. I only know the Painted Skin dungeon is on the second floor. I haven’t been to the other floors.”
“This place is… quite strange,” Niu Gu admitted, struggling for words. He had never seen a haunted house like this.
Before coming, Niu Gu didn’t have high expectations. But now, seeing the main gate, the door knocker, and the massive building, he felt a flicker of anticipation.
Even if the story was cliché, as long as the owner put in the effort, they could create something fresh.
“Let’s go in,” Wang Jian led the way.
Entering the lobby, Wang Jian called out to Li Miao, “Boss, I’m back again.”
Li Miao remembered Wang Jian—he was part of her first batch of customers. She smiled and waved. “Please, have a seat. What, haven’t had enough? Want to play a second time?”
Wang Jian pointed to Niu Gu beside him and introduced, “This is my friend Niu Gu, a big shot in the horror circle. He has over a million fans on Douyin and specializes in reviewing haunted houses.”
Li Miao’s eyes lit up, realizing this was an excellent promotional opportunity. She said enthusiastically, “Come sit in the lounge; let’s chat in detail.”
Niu Gu politely declined. “No need. We won’t charge you; we focus on authenticity. We just need the owner’s permission to take some photos. But rest assured, Boss, we won’t leak any trade secrets. We’ll only publish the photos with your consent.”
“Sure, take whatever photos you want,” Li Miao said. She didn’t have any trade secrets; her selling point was authenticity.
Besides, that Painted Skin guy was having a blast inside. The plot changed every time, shifting moment to moment.
Wang Jian looked around and found little change from his last visit—it was still just as crude, though there were more people. “Boss, is it still just the Painted Skin theme?”
Li Miao laughed awkwardly. “Funds are tight. Once I have more capital, I’ll build other dungeons.”
“Just one theme?” Niu Gu was shocked. He had just seen two groups of people enter the elevator, totaling about 30 people. Were they all going to play Painted Skin?
With so many people, how could they play?
“Do we have to wait for the next batch? How long will it be?” Niu Gu asked.
Standard horror escape rooms limited the number of participants to ensure a good experience, usually between 6 and 20 people.
Too few people weren’t worth the owner’s effort; too many ruined the experience, and the limited number of NPCs couldn’t handle it.
Seeing two groups already go up, Niu Gu assumed he would have to wait an hour before he could go in.
However, the owner wearing the creepy smiling mask laughed and said, “There are only four of you. Just go right in.”
Now that the Painted Skin scenario had been upgraded to an Intermediate Scenario, the ghostly fog was controlled by the Painted Skin demon, which had a strong, confusing effect on customers.
Plus, with Ruhua and Xiaoqian assisting, they weren’t afraid of having too many people.
“Go right in?” Niu Gu frowned. “Won’t that affect the experience?”
“Don’t worry, it won’t. But if you think there are too many people, you can wait for the next wave,” Li Miao said with a beaming smile.
“Forget it,” Niu Gu didn’t want to wait. “Let’s just go in.”
The group of four went to the changing room and put on ancient costumes.
Li Miao escorted them to the elevator. “You can go up yourselves. Second floor, right out the door.”
In the elevator, Niu Gu thought about how poor the experience would be with so many people playing together. Especially if the space was small, everyone would be crowded together with nowhere to stand.
He asked Wang Jian how big the Painted Skin dungeon was.
“Maybe 500 square meters? It’s pretty big,” Wang Jian estimated.
Niu Gu nodded. That was a decent size; they should have enough room.
The elevator reached the second floor.
The four stepped out and saw an antique-style door in front of them.
Niu Gu took a photo of the Painted Skin entrance, marveling once again at the owner’s attention to detail.
Does this boss specialize in making doors?
After Niu Gu finished taking photos, Wang Jian went to open the door.
As he pushed it open, the four of them were stunned by the sight inside.
Holy crap, 500 square meters?
This place must be thousands of square meters!
It’s so big you can’t see the end.
Who builds a floor this big? Are they crazy?
A vast expanse of ancient architecture stretched out before them, as if they had traveled back to ancient times.
The immersion was incredible!
What shocked them even more was that there were sun and clouds hanging in the sky.
They looked real.
Wang Jian looked up for a long time, even jumping up to try to touch them, but he couldn’t reach them at all.
This ceiling is way too high!
Niu Gu was also exceptionally shocked.
No wonder the owner didn’t have money for a second dungeon.
With this kind of grandeur, the renovation alone must have cost millions.
They really spared no expense.
However, haunted house escape rooms weren’t just about renovation; they were about story and atmosphere.
The owner wasted money. With so much space and funds, a zombie survival theme could have been fantastic. Giving it to Painted Skin was a pure waste.
What was fun about Painted Skin? Just an evil ghost wearing a beauty’s skin. At most, the makeup would be scary.
No potential.
Wang Jian was still looking up at the clouds, exclaiming, “Last time I came, I thought the place was big, but this time I realize how high the ceiling is. I can’t even reach it when I jump.”
Old Guan, who loved studying mechanisms, also looked up, staring at the clouds in the sky.
The more he looked, the more shocked he became.
Damn, these clouds are moving, and the sun is slowly moving west.
The entire sky projection is exactly like the real thing.
How much did this massive sky projection cost?
The boss is too generous.
Niu Gu extended his selfie stick to its maximum length and poked at the ceiling.
He couldn’t reach it.
Wang Jian was tall, 1.9 meters.
Niu Gu handed him the selfie stick to try.
Wang Jian took the stick and poked at the sky, trying to touch the clouds, but he couldn’t reach them.
He jumped and tried again. Still couldn’t reach.
Holy crap!
This time, everyone was shocked in unison.
This ceiling is too high. It must be six or seven meters.
“Look over there,” Old Li, the history buff, pointed to a building ahead.
Everyone followed his gaze and saw a three-story ancient building.
Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!
A three-story building! They actually fit a three-story building inside, and there was still a significant distance between the top of the building and the clouds/sun.
This… this ceiling is at least 10 meters high!