After some thought, Pei Qian said: “First, this project must be kept far away from the current Horror Hostel park area.”

“Second, this roller coaster should be as low as possible, definitely under thirty meters.”

“And finally… this roller coaster needs to have some randomness in its routes.”

After stating these three requirements, Pei Qian noticed the confusion on Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong’s faces grow even more pronounced.

Pei Qian felt secretly pleased. Confused? Perfect!

Keeping the project far from the Horror Hostel’s current area meant visitors wanting to go from those three attractions to the new one would need a long walk, creating a geographical barrier effect.

The higher, longer, and more twisting a roller coaster was, the more thrilling it would naturally be. Conversely, if a roller coaster was very low, no matter how it was designed, it would struggle to offer much excitement.

Logically, with one hundred million yuan to spend, following normal construction costs, building a sixty to seventy meter high roller coaster wouldn’t be a problem, with room for additional features.

The key to roller coasters is height and length.

Because passengers riding roller coasters experience thrill primarily through special acceleration experiences, such as vertical drops or the weightlessness felt during parabolic motions, or supercar-like acceleration, or aerial spirals and vertical drops subjecting the body to significant G-forces.

These are the most thrilling aspects of roller coasters.

But these thrills have a prerequisite: the roller coaster must be tall.

The higher it is, the stronger the thrill for passengers; the longer the distance, the more sustained the excitement.

That’s why major theme parks worldwide build their roller coasters higher and higher, with the tallest reaching one hundred meters or even one hundred twenty meters.

Taller roller coasters are definitely more thrilling. Even without many fancy elements, just simple vertical ascents and drops are enough to terrify passengers.

As a second-tier city, Beijing had Newland Amusement Park, which featured roller coasters, drop towers, pendulum rides, and other equipment.

Their roller coaster stood about forty to fifty meters tall, which was already quite thrilling for average visitors.

But if Pei Qian built a sixty to seventy meter roller coaster at Horror Hostel, tourists visiting Beijing might add an extra day to their itinerary – first visiting Newland Amusement Park, then Horror Hostel.

After all, roller coaster enthusiasts would want to experience taller, more thrilling rides.

So Pei Qian deliberately went against conventional wisdom. If this roller coaster was built lower than thirty meters, its thrill level would fall short of Newland’s roller coaster, ensuring no one would come to ride it.

Of course, building it low presented another issue – they definitely wouldn’t spend all the money.

Roller coasters came in domestic and imported varieties, pre-built and assembled on site. Large roller coasters could only be imported, while smaller ones were well-made domestically too. Considering this, buying a smaller roller coaster might cost only a few hundred thousand to a million or two, nowhere near one hundred million.

That’s why Pei Qian specifically added the requirement for randomness in routes.

Roller coasters don’t really need randomness.

Because roller coasters move extremely fast, riders complete the whole experience in two to three minutes. With weightlessness and acceleration making their minds go blank, who has the mental capacity to appreciate elaborate tricks?

So most large roller coasters have just one predetermined route, giving visitors a two to three minute thrill before they disembark.

Now Pei Qian wanted route randomness, which would multiply construction costs while offering extremely poor value for money.

This would achieve the goal of spending money while preventing visitors from riding!

Pei Qian was impressed by his own clever strategy.

Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong clearly understood this principle too, completely baffled by what Mr. Pei was planning, unable to figure out how to build this roller coaster.

Chen Kangtuo tentatively asked: “So… Mr. Pei, should we buy existing projects from domestic or foreign providers, or create something original ourselves?”

Pei Qian answered without hesitation: “Of course we’ll create something original!”

Buy existing projects? Those would definitely be proven money-making ventures, ready to use immediately, reducing costs while increasing success rates – that simply wouldn’t do!

Better to have Chen Kangtuo and his team figure it out themselves, creating something original. The failure rate would be much higher that way.

Pei Qian felt he’d given sufficient instructions. Saying more might backfire, possibly triggering overthinking from these two, so he stood up to leave: “Alright, you two think about it quickly. Once you have a proposal, find contractors for quotes and start construction as soon as possible. Time waits for no one.”

Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong exchanged glances, then hurried to open their laptops to research relevant information.

…

Soon, two hours passed.

Chen Kangtuo and Hao Qiong had spent two hours searching online but remained perplexed.

Hao Qiong sighed dejectedly: “Mr. Pei’s requirements this time offer zero inspiration!”

“A relatively short roller coaster with randomness? I can’t even imagine what kind of project this would be.”

“Logically, with one hundred million yuan, why not just buy existing foreign roller coaster designs? It would save time and effort.”

Chen Kangtuo shook his head slightly: “Don’t you know Mr. Pei’s personality yet? When has Mr. Pei ever bought existing solutions?”

“Horror Hostel’s three attractions are all original. Naturally, the new project must be original too. Otherwise, how could it clearly differentiate from Newland Amusement Park?”

Hao Qiong sighed: “That’s true, but roller coasters aren’t like games. The gameplay doesn’t matter much. Height is the most important factor. Without sufficient height, it definitely won’t be fun, yet Mr. Pei specifically said to keep it as low as possible, preferably under 30 meters.”

Chen Kangtuo clicked a few times on his laptop: “Do you think… Mr. Pei might mean creating an indoor roller coaster?”

Hao Qiong was stunned: “Indoor roller coaster? Why?”

Chen Kangtuo explained: “I’ve been looking at famous theme park projects worldwide, and those with lower heights are all indoor roller coaster projects.”

“For example, there’s a wizard-themed indoor roller coaster project. Its selling point is combining massive physical sets with projection screens, giving visitors a surreal immersive experience.”

“Indoor roller coasters operate in completely enclosed environments. While they can’t match outdoor roller coasters in height and speed, they can create special environments and atmospheres, giving visitors an incredibly immersive experience.”

“Though this project’s maximum drop is only about ten meters, it can create more thrilling sensations than fifty-meter roller coasters.”

“Why did Mr. Pei emphasize roller coaster height? Clearly, he’s hinting that we should create a similar indoor roller coaster project, combining weightlessness, acceleration, and virtual environments!”

“Only this approach would justify such a high budget of one hundred million yuan.”

Hao Qiong nodded slightly: “Hmm… that makes sense.”

“Should this indoor roller coaster continue with the horror theme? Horror Hostel’s three existing attractions are all horror-themed, especially ‘Ultimate Horror’ with many effective scary set designs that could be reused.”

Chen Kangtuo shook his head: “I don’t think… necessarily.”

“Logically, if we followed Horror Hostel’s consistent style, this indoor roller coaster would definitely be horror-themed – pitch black with countless ghosts trying to grab people, etc.”

“But Mr. Pei gave us a hint, specifically stating this roller coaster should be built far from the current three attractions!”

“Clearly, Mr. Pei wants the new project to differ significantly from the existing three haunted house attractions. Building it far away naturally creates that separation.”

“In conclusion, I believe Mr. Pei is hinting that we should build a project that provides moderate scares to visitors while fitting Horror Hostel’s theme, but shouldn’t have obvious connections to the existing three attractions – meaning we should abandon the current horror theme.”

Hao Qiong considered this: “Hmm, that makes sense!”

“With that in mind…”

“Mr. Pei’s third requirement is also intriguing. He said this project needs some randomness.”

“For regular roller coasters, randomness is completely unnecessary – fixing one route is sufficient. But if we build this type of surreal immersive roller coaster, as you mentioned, some randomness could add fun!”

“The question is, how exactly to implement this randomness.”

“If this project becomes popular, visitors would definitely want to experience all routes. With purely random selection, visitors couldn’t ensure they’d experience routes they haven’t tried yet, which would actually discourage repeat visits.”

Chen Kangtuo nodded: “Right, there need to be multiple routes, but not complete randomness.”

“Using game design thinking, when multiple routes exist, players should ideally choose themselves. When players make different choices, they experience different routes automatically. This creates incentive for replaying.”

“So Mr. Pei is hinting that this should be an indoor roller coaster project with multiple routes for players to choose from. It should provide some scares but avoid overlapping with Horror Hostel’s existing ghost themes, giving visitors a completely new experience.”

“But what specific theme should it be…”

Chen Kangtuo fell into deep thought, as similar themes were quite numerous, making the decision challenging.

Hao Qiong suddenly snapped her fingers: “I’ve got it! I thought of something!”

“Mr. Pei only said not to buy existing designs and to create something original, but didn’t say the story background also needs to be original! Tenda has ready-made IPs we can use!”

“Horror Hostel can be considered Tenda’s theme park, so using Tenda’s IP for attraction projects makes perfect sense, right?”

“This DLC storyline from ‘Sea Fortress’ is quite suitable to use directly, isn’t it?”