The dorm leader, Zhao Dapeng, was a Fengdu local. He had grown up in the city and knew the area well.
He remembered clearly that No. 18 Huangquan Road was a graveyard. How had it become a haunted house?
“Must have been developed,” Wang Jian dismissed it.
“Probably,” Zhao Dapeng was an honest guy. Hearing Wang Jian say that, he nodded and didn’t think much of it.
“Let’s go there then,” the second eldest decided. “It’s not far, the price is reasonable, and I checked the duration—it’s about an hour and a half.
“We’ll leave at nine, start playing around nine-thirty, and finish by eleven. Just in time to come back to University City for lunch.”
It was an excellent plan.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Zhao Dapeng took out his phone to call his girlfriend and ask for the girls’ opinion.
A while later, he got feedback: the girls’ dorm agreed.
Li Miao had just finished printing flyers when she noticed the order.
Eight tickets in one go! That was an instant revenue of 704 yuan. Even after the app’s commission, she would still have a decent amount left.
She would hand out flyers later. First, she had to go back and run through the process with the Painted Skin demon and Ruhua.
They were short-staffed—only three people, including herself. That was barely enough. She had to streamline the process.
Since it was an immersive experience, Li Miao bought ten sets of ancient costumes.
Because of the black birthmark on her face and the scar left by Li Yang, she was afraid of scaring people, so she bought a mask to wear.
It was a mask with a creepy smiling face that covered her entire visage. It was pale white with an exaggeratedly wide, grinning mouth. It looked extremely eerie, fitting the haunted house atmosphere perfectly.
After buying everything, just as she was about to head back, the app suddenly flashed.
New mission?
Li Miao opened the app and checked [My Missions]. She found that the main mission had progressed to the “Grand Opening” stage.
Reward: One copy of [Complete Collection of Talismans].
Li Miao clicked to claim the reward, and the book was automatically added to her collection.
She couldn’t get a physical copy; she could only view it on her phone.
A Complete Collection of Talismans!
Li Miao was a bit excited and wanted to see what talismans were included. But upon opening it, she discovered that only one talisman was unlocked: the Exorcism Talisman.
The others were locked and required visitor popularity points to unlock.
Every 100 popularity points would unlock one talisman.
Since she couldn’t see the others, Li Miao studied the Exorcism Talisman.
It had two main functions: first, to remove evil energy from the body; second, to prevent evil spirits from approaching when worn.
This talisman is pretty good.
Her haunted house was full of real ghosts, so visitors would inevitably be tainted by yin energy after contact.
Previously, Li Miao had planned to have visitors stay in the sun for two hours after leaving.
Now, with the Exorcism Talisman, it would be much more convenient. She could just give them to the visitors. Wearing it for a while would remove the yin energy.
Li Miao turned back to buy a talisman brush, cinnabar, and talisman paper, intending to practice.
The talisman looked simple enough. She thought that with a little practice, she should be able to draw it quickly.
However, when she actually tried to draw it, Li Miao realized she had been too optimistic. She spent the entire day busy, but couldn’t get it right no matter how she tried.
Ruhua told her that successful talismans had an inner spiritual glow. The ones Li Miao drew were useless; Ruhua wasn’t afraid of them at all.
Li Miao had a tenacious personality and wouldn’t give up easily. If she didn’t succeed today, she would continue tomorrow. As long as she persisted, she would succeed one day.
Ever since her brain became “stupid,” learning things had been incredibly difficult.
Other classmates understood the teacher’s lecture immediately, while Li Miao couldn’t understand at all.
She had to memorize the textbook and think it over repeatedly to grasp the concepts.
What others learned in a day, Li Miao took ten days or even longer.
Despite being “slow,” Li Miao had relied on this refusal to admit defeat and got into a university through sheer grit.
Zhao Dapeng, Wang Jian, and the others got up early, dressed neatly, and even spruced themselves up a bit.
After breakfast, they met the girls at the school gate.
Zhao Dapeng’s girlfriend was Qin Dan, the leader of the girls’ dorm. She was a clever, candid girl who loved Zhao Dapeng for his honesty and sincerity.
After the two groups met up, they walked together to the subway station.
The fourth girl in the dorm, the youngest, had started school early and was two years younger than her roommates. She was small, thin, and timid.
This was her first time going to a haunted house, so she was nervous. clinging to the arm of the third girl, she muttered, “Will it be very scary?”
“The pictures look pretty scary,” the third girl admitted, also a bit afraid.
“You guys are too timid. You’re scared of this level of horror?” Wang Jian was shocked. “The Painted Skin theme is ancient. Movies and TV shows have done it to death. It’s obsolete.”
“Have you played it?” the third girl asked curiously.
Wang Jian scoffed. “I don’t bother playing such simple themes.”
“You guys don’t know, Wang Jian is super brave. He’s played every haunted house and escape room in Fengdu,” Zhao Dapeng introduced him. “He even went to a graveyard to sing once.”
“Wow!”
“That’s amazing.”
Hearing Zhao Dapeng’s introduction, the girls looked at Wang Jian in shock, thinking, This guy has guts.
Wang Jian enjoyed the attention. He ran a hand through his hair and bragged, “I’m mainly here to accompany you guys. With me here, you don’t need to be afraid. I can knock out an NPC with one punch.”
He flexed his arm, showing off his biceps.
“Let me tell you, don’t be scared by the pictures. They’re all photoshopped. The actual site is definitely very crude. Ancient sets are expensive to build, so most places just fake it. The walls and windows are just painted on. You’ll see when we get there; it’s fake at a glance.
“The Painted Skin story is cliché too. In my eyes, this is barely a 1-star level.”
“Only 1 star?” Qin Dan was surprised. “Then what’s a 5-star level like?”
Wang Jian tilted his head up. “Play this one first and see if you like it. If you do, I’ll take you to scarier ones later. This Painted Skin is just entry-level.”
Hearing Wang Jian’s words, everyone relaxed a lot. It seemed this trip to the haunted house wouldn’t be too scary.
They took the subway, got off, and walked four or five hundred meters to the location.
“The transport here is pretty convenient, but it’s a bit desolate. There are no buildings around,” someone commented.
Zhao Dapeng looked around in circles, finding it stranger the more he looked. “When did so many buildings pop up here? This is a huge plot of land, must be hundreds of thousands of square meters. It’s almost as big as an industrial park.”
“Yeah,” Qin Dan also noticed something was off. “It would be great for a factory. Opening a haunted house here is a waste.”
“Don’t worry about it. Who knows how this area is zoned?” Wang Jian led the way. “Hurry up, let’s go in.”
Following Wang Jian, they entered the main gate and saw a large building directly in front of them.
There were a few scattered buildings around, but they looked dilapidated, like abandoned structures. Only the building in front had lights on.
“Let’s go there,” Wang Jian pointed to the building ahead.
Qin Dan walked at the very back, finding it increasingly strange. “Ideally, a place this big should have a guard, right? Why isn’t there one?”
“Probably to create an atmosphere. It is a haunted house, after all,” Zhao Dapeng pulled his girlfriend along, jogging forward.