Everyone was completely stunned! They couldn’t quite figure out what was happening.
“What’s going on? Ruan Guangjian, what are you doing here?” Chen Kangtuo felt extremely confused.
He had previously invited Ruan Guangjian to participate in this revenge operation against Bao Xu as one of the coordinators, just like Qiao Liang, but Ruan Guangjian had declined, citing his busy work schedule.
He never expected that Ruan Guangjian would secretly show up, and in such a dramatic fashion.
Ruan Guangjian laughed heartily. “How was it? My acting wasn’t bad, right?”
Qiao Liang said, “I always said you’d be perfect at playing a psychopathic killer—you just need to tone it down a bit.”
“But to be fair, though your performance looked convincing, you were basically playing yourself, so it wasn’t that challenging. Brother Bao and I were the ones who delivered Oscar-worthy performances.”
Everyone looked at Bao Xu again. The man who had been moaning and groaning as if on the verge of death moments ago was now full of energy and vitality.
He showed everyone the “wound” on his left arm—there was actually no wound at all.
It was just an effect he had created using a blood packet from movie props, producing a deceptively realistic bleeding effect. And with the chaotic situation at the time, Chen Kangtuo had been easily fooled.
The other coordinators still looked baffled, completely unable to understand what was happening!
Qiao Liang explained, “Brother Bao knew you guys would target him, so he found me and Ruan Guangjian beforehand to help him put on a show.”
“We had Mr. Ruan disguise himself as a psychopathic killer, sneaking in secretly, while Brother Bao and I pretended to be chased and attacked by him.”
“As for the phones, of course Mr. Ruan had hidden them away—they’re in that pile of miscellaneous items over there.”
Chen Kangtuo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This was truly a case of the hunter becoming the hunted!
Originally, he had planned to team up with the other coordinators to give Bao Xu a good scare, with all sorts of traps and mechanisms set up.
But unexpectedly, Bao Xu had turned the tables on them! He had recruited Qiao Liang as an inside man and Ruan Guangjian as outside help to put on a performance that ended up scaring all the coordinators instead.
Though it was a bit outrageous, the coordinators had indeed been fooled, genuinely believing that a psychopathic killer had infiltrated their haunted house project.
Bao Xu smiled slightly. “Well, do you want to continue playing?”
Chen Kangtuo waved his hand in disappointment. “Forget it, forget it. Let’s stop. It’s not fun anymore.”
He had intended to be the hunter but had somehow become the prey instead, completely ruining his mood.
Even if they let Bao Xu stay to experience the attraction and the coordinators went back to trying to scare him, it would be difficult to achieve the desired effect now. The entire atmosphere had been completely derailed by Bao Xu.
Chen Kangtuo had never imagined that Bao Xu would break their plans in such a way.
Although he felt quite annoyed, he had to admit defeat.
Qiao Liang said, “Actually, I think this incident has given us some inspiration. The Foreign Traveler project can clearly have more gameplay variations, such as an undercover mode.”
“When visitors participate in this project as a team, each person could be assigned a unique identity and mission. Among them would be one undercover agent who needs to destroy evidence in the haunted house, obstruct the team from completing tasks, or achieve some special objectives.”
“If the undercover agent successfully completes their mission, they could receive unique rewards. Conversely, if this undercover agent is discovered, the other team members could use certain methods to ‘cure’ them, turning them back into friendly team members.”
“I think this kind of entertaining and thrilling format could be an important addition to the gameplay.”
Chen Kangtuo clapped his hands. “That makes a lot of sense!”
“The original design intention of the Foreign Traveler project was like Nightmare Mansion—to create a sense of mental horror by distorting everyday scenes. Following this line of thinking, what could be more thrilling than having someone among your teammates who’s actually a ghost or an undercover agent?”
“Especially for veteran players who have entered multiple times, they may have already figured out the ghosts’ behavior patterns and have ample psychological preparation. Simple mechanisms or staff playing ghosts can hardly give them significant scares or thrills anymore.”
“In this case, if different people could play the undercover role in each team, it would make this project more replayable with higher gameplay value.”
“Moreover, we could develop various gameplay modes in the future, providing visitors with completely different experiences in the same setting each time.”
Ruan Guangjian added, “I’ve also thought of a new idea—determining the ending for visitors based on their final results in team mode.”
“For example, a player who goes through great difficulties, sacrificing their companions to solve puzzles, might think they’ve successfully escaped. But at that moment, they trigger a special ending where they become a vengeful ghost, bound to this place by the wandering souls of their teammates.”
“We could offer multiple endings based on different puzzle-solving results, motivating people to try different routes and form teams for repeated experiences in order to unlock new endings.”
“This would also greatly increase the project’s entertainment value.”
Chen Kangtuo couldn’t help but exclaim, “Great idea! Sounds promising!”
“I’ll go back and draft a new proposal right away.”
Hao Qiong asked, “What about our internal testing activity?”
The original plan was to have Bao Xu experience the attraction for 10 to 15 days, searching for various puzzles, but Bao Xu’s brilliant counter-espionage had directly foiled everyone’s scheme, naturally making the internal testing activity pointless.
Chen Kangtuo said, “Let’s select a batch of testers from our Frightening Inn’s veteran players for the internal testing.”
…
…
July 27, Saturday.
A carefully selected team of internal testers entered the Foreign Traveler project at Frightening Inn.
These internal testers were all chosen from among Frightening Inn’s veteran players.
However, only about one-third of them had experience completing Ultimate Horror. The others, though they hadn’t experienced the Ultimate Horror project, had experienced Extreme Escape or Nightmare Mansion.
Initially, Chen Kangtuo had planned to select only visitors who had completed Ultimate Horror for the internal testing. But on second thought, he realized this wouldn’t be appropriate.
Players who had completed Ultimate Horror were basically veteran haunted house enthusiasts with very strong tolerance for horror scenes. If only this type of visitor was selected, the test results might be somewhat biased.
The entire team needed to include players with varying tolerance levels for horror scenes in order to obtain comprehensive and accurate test conclusions.
Moreover, players with different personalities might adopt different gameplay styles after entering, which was also a key observation point for the internal testing.
This time, the ghosts weren’t played by the coordinators but by professional haunted house actors.
These actors generally had backgrounds in physical performance, making them particularly terrifying when playing ghosts.
Chen Kangtuo, as the coordinator, remained at the control center, maintaining constant contact with the ghost actors in the haunted house while monitoring the specific situation in each scene through surveillance cameras. If any problems were detected, he could immediately arrange for staff to evacuate.
This internal testing would last for three days, mainly to determine the scare level of each mechanism and scene for visitors, as well as to confirm the difficulty of the puzzles.
If a particular scene or mechanism was too frightening for visitors, they would consider adding some distinctions and hints at the entrance to the scene—for example, more bloodstains at the entrance to dangerous scenes, encouraging only the bolder players to explore.
If players frequently got stuck at a certain puzzle, they would consider adding more relevant hints for that section to help players solve the clues more smoothly.
At the same time, Chen Kangtuo was also seriously conceptualizing the new gameplay for the undercover mode.
He believed that once the internal testing was complete, the Foreign Traveler project would definitely be an instant hit, becoming Economic Forecast’s new flagship attraction.
…
At 6:00 PM, the first day of internal testing concluded.
The players who had participated in the internal testing left the Foreign Traveler project, each breathing a sigh of relief, feeling as if a great burden had been lifted.
They then began an enthusiastic discussion.
“This new project is very interesting. Not only does it use scenes from various Tenda Group industries to build a thrilling parallel world, but it also creates some special horror scenes based on these settings. It’s quite innovative—I haven’t seen anything like it in other haunted houses.”
“The ability to dynamically adjust the number of participants is also quite interesting. The entire venue is large enough, with good interaction when entering as a team. I heard there are also sessions for individual experiences—I wonder what kind of terrifying feeling it would be to experience such a large place alone. I definitely want to try it when I have time!”
“Solving puzzles in such a thrilling environment is quite fun, somewhat like an escape room, but with larger scenes and a more free-flowing overall rhythm!”
“The horror level is just right, and there’s a lingering aftertaste. Although it’s very scary inside, once you leave, your brain quickly activates its protection mechanism, making you forget the memories from inside. However, because this haunted house is related to real-life scenes, it feels like it has a lasting impact. I still feel a bit shaken!”
“Why don’t we go wash our hands by the Healing Fountain?”
“Wait, there seems to be an entrance to a zoo here. We could go to the zoo to heal ourselves.”
The suggestion to go to the zoo quickly gained everyone’s approval.
Although the Healing Fountain could also provide a certain healing effect, they had been there many times. Washing their hands at the Healing Fountain every time they came out of Ultimate Horror or Nightmare Mansion had become a bit tiresome.
The Foreign Traveler project was right across from the newly opened zoo, so of course they wanted to experience it.
Everyone walked into the zoo and found quite a few people there, probably because it was Saturday.
Various cute animals appeared energetic, jumping around inside. Many of the small animals weren’t afraid of people and interacted intimately with visitors under the guidance of keepers.
After petting the furry little animals, everyone felt that the fear they had experienced in the Foreign Traveler project melted away like ice and snow under warm sunshine.
Continuing forward, they witnessed the peculiar sight of the argument area. Two visitors were seen arguing separately with a parrot named Ganggang and a fully automated smart argument machine, but both were quickly defeated.
Everyone couldn’t help but marvel—this zoo seemed to have quite a unique style too!