The selection process for Tenda’s acting department heads was proceeding in a passionate and efficient manner.

One candidate after another took the stage, explaining their connection to the department, their understanding of the Tenda spirit, and the measures and actions they would take if they became acting department heads.

Some offered practical strategies, while others presented strategies full of imagination.

Tenda’s department heads were all listening attentively, recording their opinions, scoring each candidate, and finally selecting the most suitable person based on comprehensive evaluations.

Different departments faced different situations and required different types of acting heads.

Some departments weren’t directly impacted, so they naturally prioritized stability; while others were engaged in fierce competition with the Anti-Tenda Alliance and needed an acting head with fighting spirit.

At the same time, factors such as the candidate’s experience, ability, personality, and understanding of the Tenda spirit were all comprehensively considered.

Besides this, not every department had to have an external person serve as acting head.

Mr. Pei had no mandatory requirement about this, saying that it must be an outsider.

Mr. Pei had only said that if an outsider served as acting head, there would be certain incentives: the original department head would spend one month less at the grassroots level.

In other words, if they couldn’t find a suitable outsider, they could also find core members from the original department to serve as acting heads, as long as the original department head spent the full three months at the grassroots level.

So, if a department truly couldn’t select a suitable acting head, the current head certainly wouldn’t irresponsibly make a random choice.

That would not only harm the Tenda Group but also betray Mr. Pei’s trust!

If they couldn’t find someone suitable, they would just assign a core member to fill in, and at worst, they’d have to spend one more month observing at the grassroots level—not a big deal.

They could only blame themselves for not being capable enough to find suitable candidates.

Soon, candidates came on and off the stage, and through the scoring system, the department heads selected acting heads for several key departments.

The entire process was quite swift since Tenda’s core departments weren’t that many—only about twenty or thirty in total—and there weren’t too many people present, just around forty or fifty.

Moreover, these forty or fifty people weren’t competing for every position. At most, they would select two or three departments they were interested in. So each department had only about three or four candidates, which was enough for one day.

After finalizing the list of acting department heads, they would begin an intense handover process next Monday to get things on track as quickly as possible!

……

……

March 16th, Saturday.

Indoor training base for the Suffering Journey.

Min Jingchao had just come down from the rock wall, feeling his hands and feet going weak. He nearly collapsed onto the ground.

Sun Xi and Chen Kangtuo supported him, one on each side.

Chen Kangtuo whispered, “Hang in there! We absolutely can’t let Bao look down on us!”

Min Jingchao was absolutely furious. This was all because of you two troublemakers!

If Sun Xi hadn’t been so interested in the Suffering Journey initially, Min Jingchao would never have joined this group from Tianhua Studio to participate in the Suffering Journey together.

Of course, what made him even angrier was Chen Kangtuo.

If he hadn’t been so clever in trying to threaten Bao Xu with the haunted house incident, they wouldn’t have to do extra training every time!

The key was, if Chen Kangtuo had only doomed himself, that would have been fine. Bao Xu would have only given extra training to him alone.

But when Chen Kangtuo threatened Bao Xu, he had dragged Min Jingchao into it too!

This situation was difficult to resolve. For Bao Xu, new grudges and old hatreds were calculated together, so he definitely had to arrange double the punishment!

As a result, Chen Kangtuo, who was responsible for the haunted house project and had been required by Mr. Pei to go through the haunted house every few days, had developed extremely strong psychological resilience. Not only that, but the work at the haunted house was also relatively simple, so Chen Kangtuo had plenty of time to go to Tuoguan Fitness, making his physical fitness excellent.

Min Jingchao was the one who suffered!

After each extra training session, Chen Kangtuo still looked energetic and lively, while Min Jingchao could barely hold on.

Now, being supported by Sun Xi and Chen Kangtuo, Min Jingchao was filled with curses that he didn’t know where to begin, nor did he know whether to curse the person on his left or right first.

Too miserable!

The special training concluded, and everyone collapsed on the ground to rest, earning the reward of half an hour of phone time with their diligent efforts.

Chen Kangtuo ignored the soreness in his fingers and arms, quickly typing on his phone screen.

Min Jingchao, sprawled nearby, saw how active Chen Kangtuo was and felt a surge of anger.

What a troublemaker!

After playing with his phone for a while, Chen Kangtuo moved closer: “Jingchao, I have an idea I want to get your opinion on…”

Min Jingchao turned his head away directly: “Not interested!”

You’ve caused me so much suffering, and now you want me to give you advice?

Dream on! Keep dreaming!

Chen Kangtuo turned his head away somewhat regretfully: “Oh, then I’ll have to make my own decisions about the haunted house…”

“Huh?” Min Jingchao was startled and moved closer on his own initiative: “You should have said it was about the haunted house earlier. I can definitely offer some advice on that.”

The best way to let go of hatred is to find an even greater hatred.

Obviously, when it came to dealing with Bao, Min Jingchao could temporarily set aside his resentment towards Chen Kangtuo and work with him to do a good job on the haunted house project!

“How’s your concept for the new haunted house project coming along? Bao has been to Wushan Mental Hospital and experienced the Ultimate Horror at the Terrifying Lodge. Ordinary haunted houses won’t scare him,” Min Jingchao reminded him.

Chen Kangtuo nodded: “I’m well aware of that!”

He had previously misjudged Bao Xu, failing to threaten him with the haunted house project and instead earning “extra training” for himself and Min Jingchao. This lesson was deeply engraved in his memory.

Since that was the case, he would naturally give his all in designing the new haunted house project.

What if Bao Xu experienced the new haunted house project after it was completed and found it unremarkable? Wouldn’t that be the greatest insult to Chen Kangtuo?

That was absolutely intolerable!

Seeing Chen Kangtuo’s fighting spirit, Min Jingchao couldn’t help but give him a mental thumbs-up.

Good, as long as you don’t forget our grudge, you’re still my good brother! As long as you can avenge me, I can write off how you dragged me into trouble before!

Min Jingchao looked up and, seeing that Bao Xu wasn’t nearby, lowered his voice and asked, “What do you plan to do?”

Chen Kangtuo brought his phone closer: “I think to achieve the best effect with this new haunted house project and thoroughly frighten Bao, we must accomplish two things.”

“First, it must be a long-term, sustainable experience. It absolutely can’t be short. It needs to be like the Suffering Journey, where you have to persist for a sufficient amount of time!”

“Second, I think since Bao has already experienced Wushan Mental Hospital and ‘Ultimate Horror,’ conventional horror elements might not be very effective for him anymore.”

“I believe the best sense of horror actually comes from daily life. So, I plan to draw inspiration from life, ideally striking at Bao’s deepest fears!”

Min Jingchao nodded frequently as he listened.

Yes, that makes sense!

It seemed that Chen Kangtuo had indeed made thorough preparations.

“So how exactly should we do it?” Min Jingchao asked.

Chen Kangtuo explained: “First, I think we must create a venue that’s large enough, and not the kind where you go in, walk around, and come out. Instead, it should be a place where you eat, sleep, and live for a week to a month.”

“Just like this Suffering Journey training camp.”

“Think about it: if the Suffering Journey was just a one-day suffering experience that ended after going around once, would it have the same effect? Definitely not.”

“It’s precisely because the Suffering Journey lasts for two months that it makes people so desperate.”

“So, I think this new haunted house project should also draw from this experience. We’ll lock Bao in this haunted house for a full month, having him eat and sleep in there. It will definitely give him the maximum degree of fright!”

Min Jingchao couldn’t help but look at Chen Kangtuo with newfound respect in his eyes.

Indeed, hatred gives people strength!

His hatred for Bao Xu had completely unleashed Chen Kangtuo’s imagination, allowing him to come up with such a ruthless plan that broke human boundaries.

Chen Kangtuo continued: “Then for the specific content, I want to draw scenes from daily life.”

“Those pure horror monsters can only give people some visual impact but can’t produce spiritual shock. For someone like Bao, whose armor is strong enough, physical attacks might not be very effective. We definitely need to use some magical attacks.”

“Do you remember ‘Haunted House Nightmare’? Actually, this project had better effects in some aspects than ‘Ultimate Horror.’ I think we can dig deeper in this area.”

Min Jingchao nodded: “Indeed!”

The Terrifying Lodge had three projects: “Desperate Escape,” “Haunted House Nightmare,” and “Ultimate Horror.” Among them, Desperate Escape was a replayable interactive horror game, while Ultimate Horror was a long-term haunted house with save points.

Haunted House Nightmare was special. It used scenes commonly found in reality, mainly focusing on psychological horror. It also served as the ticket to “Ultimate Horror.”

But later, based on visitor feedback, many people felt that Haunted House Nightmare left a more profound impression.

This actually surprised Chen Kangtuo, because from the initial design, everyone thought Ultimate Horror would be the scariest project.

After careful study, Chen Kangtuo finally figured out the reason.

Ultimate Horror could be considered physical damage, mainly frightening people through scary scene elements, giving people a strong visual impact. But firstly, this stimulation was too intense, making many people afraid to experience it; secondly, even if they did experience it, most people would just run around with their heads down, afraid to look around, and their self-protection mechanisms would be easily triggered, quickly forgetting the scenes inside after coming out.

In contrast, Haunted House Nightmare was more like a magical attack. Most people couldn’t forget it for a long time after experiencing it, and familiar scenes could trigger memories of that time.

So, in many people’s evaluations, Haunted House Nightmare was actually scarier.

Therefore, Chen Kangtuo took this experience to heart and decided to develop it further in the new project!