January 5th, Wednesday.

Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong sat in the coffee area of Slackin’ Internet Café, each with a laptop, rapidly typing away.

Both appeared to be in a state of creative flow, their fingers never stopping except for the occasional pause to gather their thoughts and take a sip of coffee from the table.

They were working on plans for the haunted house.

Their time in America had been like a dream—more precisely, a nightmare.

The “Foggy Mountain” State Mental Hospital, built on the site of an abandoned hospital, was known as the most terrifying haunted house in the world.

During their five-day trip, the tourism team had experienced this haunted house “multiple times in small doses,” going through it completely. The hardship they endured was beyond words.

The impression was too deep, the insights too numerous—even in recent nights, they would often “gain new insights” or “revisit some fading memories” in their dreams.

So, upon returning to Jingzhou, Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong were bursting with ideas, eager to apply their experience to their haunted house project.

But they weren’t simply copying—they were critically absorbing.

After writing for an entire day yesterday and another morning today, under this efficient work mode, the basic plan was nearly complete.

“Let’s compare notes,” Chen Kangtuo suggested.

They sent their documents to each other.

Since returning, they hadn’t communicated much, mainly to avoid their ideas influencing each other.

Each had created their own plan, and after thorough discussion, combining both plans would yield the best results.

Of course, both plans shared a consensus based on Mr. Pei’s previously stated direction for the haunted house construction.

Mr. Pei’s opinion was the most crucial standard, not to be violated.

“Make brave people spend less, while deterring the timid”—these were Mr. Pei’s exact words.

After Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong went through the standard process of reading comprehension, they summarized two key points:

Create three attractions with progressive levels of horror.

Through discounts and refunds, charge brave people less and timid people more.

This way, they could maintain the haunted house’s reputation, ensure profitability, and cater to different customer groups.

However, neither had a clear idea about what specific attractions to create.

That’s why they needed to draw inspiration from successful haunted houses.

Now, with material gathered and frights experienced, the focus shifted to the specific plans.

They both finished reviewing each other’s proposals.

Chen Kangtuo was surprised: “It seems we agree on many aspects. Perhaps it’s because we’ve both worked in the gaming industry, so we’re accustomed to solving problems with a gaming mindset?”

Hao Qiong nodded. “Yes, that might be it.”

Their plans had independently converged on several points.

The first attraction would have a low horror level, suitable for multiplayer social games.

Chen Kangtuo’s idea was to create a classic horror escape room, while Hao Qiong wanted to adapt the gameplay of “BE QUIET” into a real-life version.

Of course, neither had fully developed ideas yet, just a simple general direction.

The second attraction would have a moderate horror level, serving as a transition to the third attraction, primarily designed for solo play.

This attraction could be small in area, but must deliver effective scares. Only those who passed this attraction would qualify for the third one.

Both agreed on using narrow spaces of a few to a dozen square meters for individual experiences.

Hao Qiong additionally suggested using shipping containers decorated as various scenes, with wheels underneath, allowing different setups to be rotated randomly so players wouldn’t know which experience they were getting.

The third attraction would have the highest horror level, aiming to recreate their experience at “Foggy Mountain” Mental Hospital.

However, both their proposals differed from the approach used at “Foggy Mountain.”

Most current haunted houses don’t handle pacing perfectly.

Many small domestic haunted houses essentially offer a single path from start to finish, with no additional exits for those wanting to leave midway—visitors must simply push through.

Fortunately, these simpler haunted houses typically don’t have staff interactions, and the scares aren’t too intense, so almost everyone can complete the entire course.

Larger haunted houses with longer processes and more intense scares need sufficient emergency exits. Visitors who can’t continue can leave through these exits at any time.

Of course, abundant surveillance cameras must be installed to monitor visitors’ conditions in real-time.

Ultra-large haunted houses like “Foggy Mountain” Mental Hospital naturally require even more emergency exits and standby staff to escort visitors who can’t continue.

But after visiting this haunted house, both came to a shared conclusion: most people can’t make it through this haunted house—what a waste!

In fact, on the first day of their visit, the team’s haunted house challenge didn’t go well.

Bao Xu and Hao Qiong barely lasted ten minutes before retreating. Lin Wan and Li Yada lasted the longest, persevering for over twenty minutes.

Of course, Li Yada only lasted that long because Lin Wan dragged her along; otherwise, she might have given up immediately upon entering.

Based on everyone’s observations, this reaction wasn’t unusual.

Most visitors, after buying tickets and watching the atmospheric short film in the waiting area, were already quite frightened. Most couldn’t handle it shortly after entering.

Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong both felt this was a shame.

Having put tremendous effort into creating such a terrifying haunted house, yet scaring off more than half the visitors before they even entered seemed wasteful.

As the saying goes, fatten the pig before slaughtering it.

Like in games, creating a punishing game where most players give up at the first level is problematic. If more than half the players quit at the first level, the difficulty is set wrong.

Difficulty should increase gradually. Even if players must suffer, the degree must be well-controlled—you can’t drive them away.

If they blindly copied “Foggy Mountain” Mental Hospital’s approach, there would be only one result: nobody would come.

Because “Foggy Mountain” Mental Hospital had already established its reputation as the world’s most terrifying haunted house, visitor flow was guaranteed.

Their own haunted house, located in the suburbs of Jingzhou, had no fame yet and couldn’t possibly attract visitors from around the world. If the bar was too high, they definitely wouldn’t recover costs.

Therefore, every visitor was important.

Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong each came up with solutions.

Hao Qiong planned to sell tickets that allowed multiple entries while deliberately keeping the initial horror level low.

The early stages would include fun elements with lower horror levels to retain visitors.

Simultaneously, each ticket would allow multiple entries, with prices set higher, giving visitors buffering time to calm down before re-entering for another challenge.

This was how they had approached it in America. The first time was so terrifying that they barely remembered what they experienced, being in a completely dazed state.

But on subsequent entries, with some psychological preparation, the haunted house became more interesting.

However, normal visitors wouldn’t wait in line again or pay for another ticket just to suffer a second time, so they wouldn’t experience this feeling.

Therefore, Hao Qiong believed they should design tickets for multiple entries from the start.

This way, even if some visitors were temporarily scared away, since the ticket allowed re-entry, they might return after some time when they had calmed down.

This would help them gain returning customers.

Chen Kangtuo’s plan was to design the haunted house as a circular route with a safe house in the center.

After passing each small section, players could enter the safe house to rest and adjust their emotions.

Like at “Foggy Mountain” Mental Hospital, going through a haunted house for over an hour straight was too much for most people, meaning most couldn’t see the entire haunted house.

This was a serious waste of resources.

Therefore, Chen Kangtuo thought they could adopt approaches from games to solve this problem.

Many horror games include “save points” or “safe houses” to let players rest their constantly tense minds and relieve tension before continuing.

So Chen Kangtuo believed they could incorporate a safe house mechanism into the haunted house, allowing players to continuously adjust their mindset during play, preventing them from being easily scared away.

While their plans differed, they weren’t contradictory and could coexist.

After reading Chen Kangtuo’s plan, Hao Qiong expressed concern: “Arranged this way, wouldn’t our haunted house be quickly conquered? If visitors can complete it in one go, they definitely won’t come back for a second time, right?”

Chen Kangtuo shook his head: “I think the ultimate purpose of a haunted house isn’t to scare visitors so badly they can’t finish. If visitors are scared away at the first level, what’s the point of all your later designs, no matter how good or scary?”

“Letting visitors experience the entire process naturally provides many opportunities to scare them.”

“Regardless of whether they complete the entire haunted house, most visitors probably won’t enter the same haunted house again.”

“If most visitors are scared away at the beginning, their reviews of the haunted house definitely won’t be high, which doesn’t help build a reputation. Other potential visitors, seeing reviews saying this haunted house scares people away right at the start, will likely be deterred.”

“Given that, finding ways to let visitors play longer, gradually increase intensity, and leave them with deep impressions and memories is more beneficial for building our reputation and attracting new visitors.”

Hao Qiong thought about it and nodded. “Yes, that makes sense.”

“So next, should we report our progress to Mr. Pei first, or develop detailed plans for each attraction?”

Chen Kangtuo said, “We definitely can’t produce all the detailed plans at once. The first and third attractions are more difficult to design, occupying larger spaces with complex gameplay, requiring long-term planning.”

“For these two major attractions, we’ll allocate space first, recruit people, and gradually develop them.”

“The second attraction, comprised of many smaller attractions, is relatively simple and easier to implement. Let’s finalize the second attraction first, then show the entire plan to Mr. Pei.”

“After Mr. Pei approves, we can start work. While building the second attraction, we can slowly consider the first and third attractions.”