“How did you scare people into fainting again?”
Hearing from Ruhua that four people had fainted inside, Li Miao hurriedly went in to save them.
This Painted Skin demon really had no sense of propriety. Li Miao had emphasized repeatedly to take it easy and not scare people too much, but she had frightened four people into fainting all at once.
Li Miao asked Nie Xiaoqian to change into modern clothes and be responsible for receiving the other guests who hadn’t fainted, while she went into the dungeon to check on the four who had passed out.
The Painted Skin demon had already moved the four people to the entrance of the second floor, laying them side by side on the ground.
From a distance, they looked like four corpses.
Seeing this scene, the corner of Li Miao’s mouth twitched.
Honestly, if her mental power hadn’t increased and her will hadn’t become strong enough to resist ghostly illusions, she might have been scared by the scene before her.
Getting closer, she realized it was Niu Gu, Wang Jian, and their two friends.
“Why is it them?” Li Miao was surprised. She thought it would be the four timid ones, but unexpectedly, the four brave ones had fainted.
Wasn’t this Niu Gu a horror blogger? He should have been to many haunted houses; how could he be scared into fainting too?
It seemed the Painted Skin demon had really turned up the horror this time.
“Painted Skin, be more careful in the future. Don’t make it too scary. Some people are very timid. What if you scare them to death?”
The Painted Skin demon nodded. “Don’t worry, I know my limits.”
Li Miao: “…”
Knowing your limits still scared people into fainting?
I should have installed cameras to monitor in real-time.
If someone couldn’t handle the stimulation, I could have brought them out early.
While Li Miao had made some money, she had been paying off the credit card debt from building the Painted Skin scenario, so she had no surplus funds. Because money was tight, she hadn’t installed cameras.
Moreover, the Painted Skin scenario was huge, like a village or town.
Li Miao herself didn’t know how big it was.
If she installed cameras, she would need at least a hundred, which was too big an expense for her to afford.
That was why she had repeatedly instructed the Painted Skin demon and the other ghosts to take it easy and not scare people too badly.
Seeing Li Miao still had doubts, Ruhua explained gently, “Master, don’t worry. We really do know our limits. In fact, Painted Skin knows better than us because this is her home ground. She can control everything through the ghost fog.
“Master may not know, but people with bigger guts and stronger yang fire are less easily bewildered by the ghost fog.
“Players who are timid, have weak yang fire, or are in poor health will be bewildered by the ghost fog as soon as they enter the dungeon, falling into illusions. We don’t even need to actively scare them; they scare themselves silly.
“For such players, we basically just let them walk through the dungeon plot normally and won’t deliberately scare them.
“If they are truly too scared to handle it, Painted Skin will sense it through the ghost fog, send them to the entrance, and notify Master to come over.
“These four—”
Ruhua pointed to the four people lying side by side on the ground and said, “Their yang fire is very strong. They entered the dungeon for quite a while without being tainted by the ghost fog and still retained their reason.
“Especially this one called Niu Gu. Even though he was scared in his heart, his yang fire still burned brightly, and he didn’t believe there were ghosts in the world.
“Meeting such players, to ensure they have a good time, we naturally try harder to scare them.”
So that’s how it is!
Li Miao nodded. So, they customize the experience based on the customer’s courage. Less scary for the timid, more scary for the brave.
But…
Li Miao looked at the four people lying on the ground and said, “Did you perhaps use a bit too much force?”
The Painted Skin demon huffed. “Who asked them to look down on me?”
From the moment they came in, they kept saying it wasn’t scary, wasn’t terrifying. I had to show them what I’m made of.
Li Miao: “…”
This Painted Skin demon is quite petty!
After the customers downstairs left, Li Miao had Painted Skin and Ruhua escort the four men to the lounge. She then applied one Exorcism Talisman to each of their foreheads.
After a short while, the four woke up.
They were all a bit dazed.
“Who am I? Where am I? Who are you?”
Li Miao waved her fingers in front of them. “Don’t recognize me? This is the Fengdu Haunted House. You came here to play. Remember now?”
“Painted Skin!”
Niu Gu remembered. He bolted upright, looking around wildly, shouting, “Where’s Wang Jian? Is he still alive?”
His mind was filled with the image of Wang Jian’s head bouncing on the ground.
While it had scared him to death, he was more worried about Wang Jian’s safety.
“I’m here,” came Wang Jian’s weak voice.
He was completely limp and couldn’t get up at all.
Boohoo, I was scared to death.
I really lost my mind.
Last time I was scared into having nightmares for days; why did I come back?
I really forgot the pain once the wound healed!
Wang Jian cried, “Boss, why does your dungeon plot change?”
If it had been the same as last time, he wouldn’t have been so scared.
He had thought he would be manly this time. Knowing the plot, while others were scared witless and panicked, he would be calm and composed, leading everyone through the dungeon and becoming a hero in their hearts.
Instead, he was scared witless himself, losing all face and dignity.
Li Miao smiled and explained, “Every dungeon has several plot versions. Last time there were a few of you, and you all knew each other, so that plot was fun to play.
“Today, there were many people, so we switched to a different plot. There’s a third version too. You can experience it next time you come.”
Wang Jian shuddered in fear, shaking his head like a rattle drum. “Forget it. I’m not coming. It’s too life-threatening.”
Niu Gu stared blankly at Wang Jian beside him for a long time.
Until Wang Jian looked at him. “Brother Niu, why are you looking at me?”
Niu Gu finally reacted and shook his head hurriedly. “Nothing, nothing.”
He realized now that the head wasn’t Wang Jian’s real head, but a prop.
But that head prop was too realistic. It looked exactly like Wang Jian, even down to the mole on his nose.
Niu Gu couldn’t help looking at Li Miao. “Boss, I saw Wang Jian’s head inside. Was that a prop you made?”
Li Miao nodded. “It’s a prop.”
Niu Gu was puzzled. “How did you make it so realistic? And so fast? We just arrived.”
Speaking of which, Niu Gu looked at the clock on the wall. It was only 11:30.
They went in at 10:00, meaning it had only been an hour and a half since they entered.
In such a short time, the boss had made such a realistic head prop, complete with a mechanism to make it bounce in front of him. That was incredibly impressive.
“It’s easy,” Li Miao bluffed without skipping a beat. “The head is 3D printed. We print some heads in advance and then fine-tune the makeup based on the player’s appearance.”
“Did you make it yourself, Boss?”
Li Miao nodded. “I made them all.”
Niu Gu gave a thumbs up. “Amazing. You have such skillful hands, Boss!”
Li Miao smiled and looked at the others. “How do you feel? Rested enough?”
Old Guan and Old Li were still in a daze. Hearing this, they nodded dumbly without speaking.
Their souls had been scared away and hadn’t come back yet.
“Boss, your haunted house is this!” Niu Gu gave a thumbs up again. “Awesome. I’ve explored so many haunted houses, but this is the first time I’ve been scared into fainting. Just thinking about it now makes my heart race.”
With that, Niu Gu stood up and pulled the other three up. “Let’s go. This trip was truly worth it.”