Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

  However, hearing that Ruan Guangjian was leaving, Pei Qian could not help but feel happy. After all, the bane of his existence was leaving. He could look forward to smoother days ahead, and he would not have to worry about being stabbed by a paintbrush anymore. Yet, something was wrong!

  Pei Qian quickly said, “Don’t rush! I have something else for you! How about this? I’ll pick you up from the hotel this afternoon. I want to give you a huge surprise!”

  Ruan Guangjian sounded astonished through the phone. “Oh? A surprise? What surprise?”

  Pei Qian sniggered. “It’s a surprise… it won’t be one anymore if I tell you what it is. Just meet me at the hotel lobby in the afternoon. I’ll come and fetch you.”

  Ruan Guangjian did not ask any more questions. Instead, he just said, “Alright.”

  After hanging up, Pei Qian could not help but grin. I almost let you slip away, brat! Before this, Pei Qian had already confirmed something through the phone. After a month of pure hard work, three small containers for the second project of the haunted house were done.

  Those small projects did not take up much space. Take the ‘bathroom’ for example. It only measured about ten square meters. All the game’s content could be found in that cramped area.

  What’s more, they could work on multiple small projects at the same time. Thus, they had completed them quickly.

  Although the third project would be the scariest in the Thriller Hostel, Pei Qian could not wait any longer. Ruan Guangjian was going to slip away. Pei Qian had to let him experience the Thriller Hostel; he could not let him walk away so arrogantly!

  At that thought, Pei Qian called Chen Kangtuo.

  “Prepare those three mini-projects for me. I’m going to bring a friend to experience them this afternoon. We have to scare him until he pees his pants!

  In the afternoon, at the old industrial zones…

  It looked like not much progress had been made on the construction of the Thriller Hostel for now. They had only picked out three factory buildings to commence initial works so far.

  One of the factory buildings contained several shipping containers. That was where the second project would be located.

  The old industrial zone was quite big. There would be a ticketing booth and surrounding shops in the future, but there was still no hint of those yet. After all, only a month had passed since they had come up with the plan. Completing three mini-projects in that time frame was impressive enough. Ruan Guangjian and Pei Qian alighted from the car and walked towards the factory building

  “Boss Pei, if people weren’t doing construction work here, I would have thought you were going to kill me and bury my corpse,” joked Ruan Guangjian. Pei Qian sniggered inwardly. Do you think I don’t want to? Ruan Guangjian looked around, confused. “Boss Pei, what exactly is the surprise you were talking about?”

  Pei Qian kept him on tenterhooks. “Follow me, and you’ll find out.”

  As they entered the factory building, Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong walked out to welcome them. When Ruan Guangjian saw the project title ‘Thriller Hostel’, a realization dawned on him. “Oh, Boss Pei, is this going to be the new haunted house?”

  Pei Qian smiled. “That’s right! You said you didn’t have fun at the haunted house when you came to Jingzhou. That’s why I arranged for you to come here!”

  Pei Qian was telling the absolute truth. Apart from wanting to incur losses, the second biggest reason that he had decided to create a haunted house was to regain the upper hand with respect to Ruan Guangjian!

  Even Teacher Qiao had suffered when he had visited Jingzhou the last time. How could Pei Qian allow Ruan Guangjian to leave Jingzhou unscathed?

  That would be unacceptable!

  Ruan Guangjian’s face drained of all color at once. “No, no, no! I can’t! Boss Pei, farewell!”

  He cupped his fists and turned to escape.

  Pei Qian quickly grabbed him. “Don’t do that. You’re already here. You have to at least give it a shot, right?

  “What’s more, I created this haunted house especially for you. If you don’t go in, wouldn’t I have done this project in vain?”.

  No matter what Pei Qian said, Ruan Guangjian shook his head profusely.

  “Boss Pei, I won’t hide this from you. I think nothing of rollercoasters, pendulum rides, bungee jumping, and other extreme activities like that; but I fear haunted houses the most!

  “How about this? Boss Pei, I’ll treat you to bungee jumping. We can jump together…”

  Ruan Guangjian suggested changing the battlefield so that he could play on his own strengths, but Pei Qian turned him down decisively.

  “No way! Bungee jumping isn’t fun at all!” Pei Qian shook his head profusely. “Trust me —this haunted house is way more fun!”

  After a long time, Ruan Guangjian finally gave in and reluctantly agreed to try out the haunted house.

  Before entering the haunted house, he intentionally made a trip to the restroom. He had not brought a change of clothes after all. What would he do if he wet his pants?

  Chen Kangtuo handed the instructions for the project to Ruan Guangjian. “Boss, read this carefully. Once you go in, you have to make sure to complete all the requests on these instructions. Only then would you pass.”

  As if he was facing his biggest enemy, Ruan Guangjian stared intently at the instructions and memorized them. Beads of cold sweat began to form on his forehead.

  Pei Qian stood by the side, cheering on Ruan Guangjian on the surface but celebrating on the inside.

  Ruan Guangjian, Ruan Guangjian… you’ve met your fate!

  You’re immune to pendulum rides and bungee jumps, aren’t you? You savored every second of the roller coaster rides, didn’t you?

  I’ll fix you today!

  Pei Qian knew very well that the third project of the Thriller Hostel would be the scariest. However, the second project was not that far off in terms of horror effects.

  While the third project scared people using traditional methods like backgrounds, props, and actors; the second project scared people using psychological hints.

  The visitor would be scared by his own thoughts, and his mental stress would only intensify. Throughout the experience, he would be functioning in his most nervous state. That level of fear was the scariest.

  Pei Qian could hardly wait to see Ruan Guangjian run out of the container in fear, with tears flowing down his cheeks.

  Soon, Ruan Guangjian memorized the requirements of the first mini-project. Then, he entered the corresponding shipping container.

  The original plan was for visitors to enter multiple shipping containers by chance. They would have to memorize the requirements for all the shipping containers and then try to make it through at least three before they would pass this stage.

  However, since the construction of the other shipping containers was not complete, Ruan Guangjian could only experience them one by one.

  After Ruan Guangjian entered, everyone moved to the laptop next to the shipping container to look at the surveillance cameras’ footage.

  Chen Kangtuo hesitated and then asked, “Boss Pei, shouldn’t we do a brief physical examination on him? This shipping container is quite scary. I’ve gone through it myself, and I was scared stiff.”

  Pei Qian shook his head. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  Ruan Guangjian was well and healthy. He could sit through roller coasters and pendulum rides without a problem. Pei Qian highly doubted that there were any health problems that they had to beware of.

  At most, he would scream and shout inside the haunted house. If he started showing extraordinary reactions, Pei Qian would send one of the staff to rescue him. Nothing could go wrong.

  “Er… Boss Pei, he’s shaking,” said Hao Qiong.

  Through the monitor, they could clearly see Ruan Guangjian. Upon entering the container, he spent ten seconds trying to lock the door alone. Then, he spent another ten seconds picking up the red candle and swi
tching off the lights. He was probably trying to brace himself. Pei Qian sniggered. “Is he trying to buy time? The slower he moves, the more scared he would become!”

  There was no limit to how long one could stay inside the shipping container, and there was no need to set one.

  The longer one stayed inside such a frightening environment, the more terrified they would become. The best strategy was to move as quickly as possible, finish the mission, and then get out. People like Ruan Guangjian would probably be scared out of the container before they could even fulfill all the requirements.

  “Ah!”

  They heard a scream.

  There was a high-definition infrared surveillance camera, as well as a loudspeaker and microphone inside the container. Thus, those on the outside could hear what was going on inside.

  The scream had scared all of them.

  Pei Qian only recovered from the shock after two seconds. “What did he see?”

  Chen Kangtuo scratched his head, puzzled. “He didn’t see anything. He just placed the candle in front of the mirror. He hasn’t even covered his eyes.

  “Did he scream after just seeing his own reflection in the mirror?”

  Hao Qiong turned to Pei Qian, who was looking at the monitor expectantly. “Boss Pei, Big Boss Ruan seems very timid. Should we let him go?”

  Pei Qian shook his head. “How can we? I believe he’ll be able to conquer his own fears!”

  Chapter 406 - Another Reason to Move to Jingzhou!

  Within the cramped bathroom, Ruan Guangjian felt his entire body shaking. His legs were jelly, and his heart was racing. He could not help but scream earlier.

  He had to admit that he was being immersed on a completely different level from when he had played the game.

  When Ruan Guangjian had been playing Be Quiet, he had screamed the entire time. However, he was screaming less in the haunted house, not because it was less scary… but because he could not even bring himself to scream.

  Until now, Ruan Guangjian had not seen any frightening ghosts or monsters. Even though Ruan Guangjian wanted to scream, he could not find the right time to.

  However, the horrifying atmosphere had been intensifying his mental stress from the moment he stepped through the door.

  When he entered, Ruan Guangjian had seen the dirty bathroom under the fluorescent light.

  In the shadows where the light had not reached, he saw what looked like red bloodstains. However, he could not be sure.

  The ground, toilets, and sink had a layer of grease covering them. The entire place looked rotten, filthy, and chilling.

  He closed the door.

  He locked it.

  He switched off the lights. He lit the candle and placed it in front of the mirror.

  Each step that he took required tons of courage. Each step that he took challenged his bottom line.

  Having to close and lock the door hinted to visitors that they would be locked in with the ghosts and monsters. That intensified the feeling of being cooped up. What’s more, switching off the lights limited their vision. In the darkness, they would have no choice but to rely on the weak glow of the candlelight to look around.

  When he saw himself in the mirror, Ruan Guangjian could not help but scream because half of his face had been covered in shadows under the glow of the candlelight. It had been exceptionally terrifying.

  After screaming, Ruan Guangjian slowly calmed down.

  “What was I supposed to do next…?

  “That’s right, cover my own eyes and wait for three seconds before looking into the mirror again.”

  Ruan Guangjian sucked in a deep breath, closed his eyes, counted to three, and opened them again. His pupils immediately contracted!

  He couldn’t see anything in the mirror.

  He couldn’t even see himself!

  The candlelight continued to glow, but Ruan Guangjian’s reflection had disappeared into thin air!

  Before Ruan Guangjian could react, two red eyes suddenly appeared in the mirror. Those eyes were wide open, and two streams of blood were flowing from them! The blood flowed very quickly from those eyes to the frame of the mirror, and then outside… into the sink!

  “Ah!”

  Outside, everyone heard another blood-curdling scream.

  Pei Qian could not help but lift his hand to his chest. Since he was outside, he did not think that the haunted house looked particularly scary. In fact, Ruan Guangjian’s screams were scaring him more than anything.

  Unable to watch any longer, Pei Qian said, “If you see that he’s about to collapse, fetch him out at once.”

  Everyone else nodded and waited to rescue Ruan Guangjian as if they were facing their greatest enemy.

  After screaming, Ruan Guangjian calmed down quickly. He switched on the tap and began washing his hands.

  However, what flowed from the tap was not clear water. Instead, it was a red, viscous fluid!

  Ruan Guangjian let out a sharp cry again and quickly retracted his hands. The strange thing was that, under the candlelight, his hands did not look like they had been dyed red with blood.

  Ruan Guangjian quickly switched off the tap. After bracing himself mentally, he lay down in the bathtub.

  He lay there for ten seconds, but nothing happened.

  It was then that he realized that he had left out a step.

  There was a rusty timer next to the bathtub. Ruan Guangjian felt around, found it, and gave it a gentle tap. Then, the timer made ‘tick-tock’ noises as the countdown began.

  In the quiet bathroom, the monotonous sounds felt like a rasp, filing away at Ruan Guangjian’s faltering sanity non-stop.

  He covered both his eyes with his hands, reciting the instructions in his head again and again: he was not to make a sound.

  As the timer kept ticking, time passed, second by second.

  Ruan Guangjian had thought that he only needed to wait for three minutes until the ticking sounds ceased. However, he had obviously been wrong.

  He heard the sound of someone unlocking the locked door. Ruan Guangjian had even heard the sounds of someone inserting a key into the lock.

  The person at the door kept trying to open it but failed each time. That was because the door was bolted.

  After that, there was a loud banging on the door.

  Bang!

  Bang! With every bang, Ruan Guangjian’s heart rate quickened. Trembling violently, he had no choice but to cover his eyes with one hand and his mouth with the other. That was the only way he could stop himself from making a sound.

  All of a sudden, the banging stopped. It was almost as if the person at the door had given

  up.

  Although Ruan Guangjian knew that this was fake, he could not help but heave a huge sigh of relief.

  However, just as he was relaxing, he heard the door bolt crack and then creak.

  For some reason, the door had been unbolted and opened!

  Ruan Guangjian heard heavy footsteps. It was almost as if the person who had just entered the cramped bathroom was wearing boots!

  He heard labored breathing like the person was looking for something. The person’s leather boots were causing dull thumping noises as they struck the floor. Yet, as they lifted off the ground, it sounded like they had been stuck in the puddles of blood.

  He also heard deafening grinding sounds from behind him like someone was dragging metal against the ground.

  It was probably either an ax or a hammer.

  Ruan Guangjian continued to cover his eyes and mouth for his life, not daring to make a single sound.

  Piak!

  The person switched on the light. The fluorescent light rays shone through the gaps between Ruan Guangjian’s fingers and onto his eyelids, causing his vision to light up at once.

  The person’s footsteps ceased, but his breathing did not sound far away. The bathtub’s curtains were slowly pulled open. The labored breathing was getting closer Ruan Guangjian could almost feel puffs of air blowing out of the
person’s nose and onto his own hands…

  Click.

  The timer ceased. That meant the three minutes were up.

  According to the instructions, Ruan Guangjian had completed the challenge. All he had to do now was open his eyes.

  However, Ruan Guangjian did not dare to because he had not heard the footsteps leaving. The person was still standing next to the bathtub, holding his ax up silently and observing him.

  After a full minute, Ruan Guangjian sneakily peeked through the gaps in his fingers, and carefully looked outside.

  Under the fluorescent light, everything looked like it did before. The murderer with the ax that he had conjured up in his head was not there.

  Ruan Guangjian heaved a huge sigh of relief. He climbed out of the bathtub, his legs weak. All he could do was walk towards the door, one step at a time.

  The door was still bolted. No one had opened

  it.

  Ruan Guangjian quickly unbolted the door and pulled it inward, ready to exit the container.

  However, on the outside of the door were a fresh, bloody handprint and an ax dripping with blood!

  “Ah!”

  Everyone outside was guilt-ridden. Chen Kangtuo had been worried that Ruan Guangjian would be scared out of his wits the entire time.

  After all, this big boss was one of Boss Pei’s good friends. He had been drawing concept art for Tengda ever since they started working on Ghost General. One could say that this man had witnessed Tengda rise to where it stood today.

  One could also say that, on a certain level, Ruan Guangjian’s art had given Tengda’s games their souls!

  If they scared such an important person out of his wits, and he ended up causing trouble for them, none of them would be able to take responsibility!

  Even Pei Qian was beginning to think that he had gone too far. “Ai, when would the cycles of vengeance end? Seeing that I’ve already scared him this much, I’ll forgive him. In any case, I’ve taken my revenge. I can push him down the list in my notebook for now.”