The group of young people was awestruck by the stone tablet.

Behind the tablet was a sheer, misty white fog, through which they could vaguely see the wall not far away. Someone pulled out their phone and checked. “It’s two o’clock in the afternoon, right?”

Everyone exchanged bewildered glances.

Fog at two in the afternoon?

Could they have entered a secret realm?

Were they really so unlucky as to stumble into the Underworld?

Suddenly, Old Fourth tugged hard at Chang Xu’s sleeve, excitedly saying, “Look! This is that amusement park! The one that scared Zhang Lei!”

Everyone followed his gaze and saw a line of small, stylized characters embossed on the base of the stone tablet: Amusement Park Straight Ahead.

Zhou Tong, who studied visual arts, couldn’t help but exclaim, “This design is amazing! The immersion is incredible. The stone tablet and white fog don’t break the illusion at all! This amusement park must specialize in mystery, the supernatural, and so on, right? As for the fog, it must be a fog machine; those are really expensive!”

It was the first time the goddess had said so much, and Chang Xu was thrilled. “Exactly, exactly! This amusement park is great. Let’s hurry in and check it out!”

As he spoke, he didn’t forget to take out his phone and record.

The group excitedly stepped into the white fog.

It was strange how obedient the fog was; it stayed perfectly within the boundary of the stone tablet, not encroaching even a little.

After walking through the fog for a short while, they saw the wall covered in green vines and a large, cute cartoon ghost at the entrance.

Old Fourth darted forward. “Holy cow, this ghost sculpture is so adorable! This is what real men should be looking at…”

He didn’t finish his sentence when the ghost suddenly opened its mouth with an “Awooo!”, revealing Gu Wang in Taoist robes inside.

Old Fourth jumped in fright.

Gu Wang, feigning seriousness, tapped on the window. “Don’t scare the guests.”

For some reason, the ghost wobbled a little, as if alive, looking somewhat wronged.

Of course, Gu Wang had designed this in advance.

Gu Wang looked around, pausing for a moment on Zhou Tong, then performed a Taoist salute. “Greetings, travelers from afar. Do you wish to visit Fengdu?”

Even the staff were in cosplay!

Everyone grew excited.

Old Fourth squeezed to the window and loudly declared, “Yes, yes! We want to go in and play!”

Gu Wang: “Entry fee is ten yuan per person.”

Everyone quickly pulled out their money.

Soon, seven cards were handed out.

Chang Xu grabbed them, first giving one to Zhou Tong and then to his brothers.

The cards felt slightly cool to the touch, somewhere between stiff paper and metal; they couldn’t tell the material. The front didn’t say “ticket” or anything similar, but “Fengdu Rule Tale.”

Rule-based horror stories have been very popular recently, and as young people, they naturally know about them.

Old Fourth was most interested in these things. He read it excitedly: “Fengdu Rule Tale: Visitor Guidelines: 1. Please carry your token when entering the city, otherwise you might be swallowed by the gate-keeping monster… Huh? What token?”

Zhou Tong couldn’t help but say, “It should be the ticket. This rule probably just means no trying to get in for free, right?”

Chang Xu, blindly supporting his goddess, said, “Good point, good point.”

Old Fourth rolled his eyes and continued reading: “2. All employees within the city are ghosts. Do not let them discover you are a living soul. You do not want to know the consequences.”

This time, without Zhou Tong speaking, someone excitedly said, “Holy crap, this requires visitors to act in character? This amusement park is intense!”

Despite saying “intense,” his face was full of excitement. After all, the more immersive it was, the more fun it would be!

Old Fourth: “3. Some ghosts are trapped in certain scenarios due to their lingering obsessions. Following the pebble path will lead you to these scenarios. Fulfilling their obsessions will grant you corresponding rewards.”

“This must be the game rules, right? The scenarios should be like haunted houses or something.”

“Exactly, exactly!”

Old Fourth: “4. Fengdu has only recently appeared, and not many scenarios are unlocked. More scenarios can only be unlocked by absorbing vital energy.”

“Pfft! Does this mean they want us to come and play more often?”

“Definitely! I absolutely have to come and play more in the future. Forget the inside, just the exterior alone is worth the ticket price!”

Old Fourth: “5. If you encounter an evil ghost, shout ‘Soldiers lined up for battle, advance!’ and you might save your life. 6. Fengdu is open daily from 9 AM to 5 PM. Nighttime is for ghosts.”

After Old Fourth finished reading the six rules, he waved his hand. “Let’s go, brothers, let’s hurry inside and see! I have a feeling it won’t disappoint us!”

Gu Wang sat in the ticket booth, smiling silently. He had stumbled upon this “Rule Tale” concept by chance and had bravely concocted a few rules himself.

Seeing that the visitors liked them, he was naturally pleased. When he had more ghost employees later, he could add even more.

The group had already reached the entrance, a seemingly ordinary black wooden door. They remembered the gate-keeping monster mentioned in the rules and cautiously knocked.

The wooden door swayed, revealing a large expanse of golden python patterns.

The python’s head protruded like a sculpture, as large as a human head. It opened its eyes and snarled, “Token?”

Old Fourth nervously presented his ticket card.

The python flicked its tongue, sniffing, and said in disgust, “Sure enough, it’s that stinky Taoist’s smell. One day I’ll swallow him and escape… Hmph hmph!”

The onlookers behind whispered “Holy cow.”

“The setting is so complete!”

“And the technology is amazing! Its mouth moves when it talks!”

“Wow! I even feel like I’m really in Fengdu right now! Maybe we really did go to the underworld!”

“Hahaha, that’ll scare you!”

Gu Wang watched from afar, thinking, Of course. The entrance is one of the immersive elements I designed. Whether visitors will behave after entering depends on whether this can impress them.

The guests obediently lined up to have their tickets checked.

After everyone was checked, the python head let out a huge, yawning “hah!”, flicked its tail, and opened the door. “Try to come out alive, guests.”

Everyone excitedly and enthusiastically entered the door, immediately starting to chatter again.

“The pebble path is made of skulls! So cool!”

“Look at the streetlights! They’re lotuses! And they’re glowing with fire!”

“Ah! The fog over there is so thick, I can’t see anything. That must be the ‘unlocked’ area, right?”

Despite being college students who spent all their time online, they acted like country bumpkins here, utterly amazed. They even wanted to touch the strangely shaped seats.

Outside, after watching the group go inside, the python pattern on the door wriggled, then slithered down and transformed into a small black snake.

It wiggled its way to Gu Wang, climbed up his clothes, and reached his shoulder, hissing into his ear.

Gu Wang smiled, stroking it. “Is it that girl? I saw her.”

The little black snake continued to hiss.

Gu Wang let out an “Oh?” “Is that so? Well, let’s see if she’s willing to let me help. Some people actually quite like this.”

With that, he stood up and walked into the park, continuing to observe the first truly paying customers’ experience.

Over there, the group had already followed the pebble path to the embroidered building haunted house.

The dilapidated exterior of the embroidered building stood in the thin fog, radiating a chilling Chinese horror vibe that slightly suppressed their excitement.

A trickle of coldness crept up their backs.

Old Fourth: “Is this the haunted house Zhang Lei went to?”

Chang Xu stood in front of Zhou Tong, looking as if he were ready to face death. “It should be. It looks pretty scary.”

Zhou Tong, however, seemed fine. She looked left and right. “How do we get in? The door seems to be closed.”

Just as she spoke, a low, mournful wail suddenly came from the fog.

Old Fourth immediately got goosebumps. “Holy cow! Who’s there? Who is that?”

In the shadows next to the small building stood a woman.

The group had just arrived and hadn’t looked closely, so they didn’t know if this woman had been there all along or appeared suddenly.

Considering this was probably an NPC, Chang Xu gathered his courage and moved forward, lifting his phone and asking, “Miss, who are you? Why are you crying here?”

The woman, still weeping, slowly turned around.

Everyone collectively took three steps back, only to realize it was a normal human face.

The woman appeared to be in her thirties, dressed in ancient clothing, with a gentle demeanor, somewhat like a woman from a wealthy family in ancient times.

She held a red candle in her hand and sadly bowed to everyone. “Greetings, young masters and ladies. I am embroiderer Li. My young lady has been betrothed, and I am responsible for embroidering her wedding dress.”

“Yesterday, I asked my young lady to try on the wedding dress. But after she put it on, she went into the embroidered building and never came out until night. I waited a whole day and night…”

She covered her face and cried again. “That wedding dress is worth a fortune. What if it’s lost? The steward will surely punish me severely…”

This was clearly a prelude to a task. Old Fourth stepped forward and asked, “So, how do you want us to help you?”

The woman wiped away her tears and lowered her gaze. “I beg you all to enter the embroidered building and help me find the wedding dress.”

The group was already planning to enter the haunted house, so they immediately agreed, rolled up their sleeves, and rushed inside.

The woman smiled faintly. The red candle in her hand floated up, and the embroidered building’s door opened with a wave of her hand. “The building is dim inside. I lend you a red candle to light the way.”

“Wow—”

Everyone followed the red candle into the first floor, still chatting. “That NPC just now had great acting! Her demeanor was very fitting, too!”

“This red candle is actually floating! What’s the principle behind it? A projection?”

The first floor resembled an ancient reception hall, completely open and without partitions.

At the head was a square table with two grand chairs, and below, on both the left and right, were rows of tables and chairs.

The left side could seat four people, and the right could seat three.

The red candle that led them in automatically settled onto the table at the head, burning with a faint glow. Further out, against the walls, were furniture pieces like tea cabinets.

Having all played haunted houses and escape rooms before, they immediately started searching through everything upon seeing the scene. They searched for more than ten minutes but found no clues.

Chang Xu finished searching the last cabinet. Turning around, he saw Zhou Tong looking thoughtfully at the two rows of chairs. He immediately scampered over. “Goddess, what are you looking at? Are you tired?”

Zhou Tong’s mouth twitched. “Just call me by my name.” She pointed at the chairs. “Look, the number of chairs is the same as our number of people.”

The others heard and gathered around. “Oh, you’re right. Normally, there should be eight, four on each side, but there are seven here.”

Chang Xu thought for a moment. “Does it mean we should sit down?”

Old Fourth: “Let’s try it. We haven’t found any other clues anyway.”

The group each found a seat.

After the last person sat down, whether it was an illusion or not, the room grew significantly darker.

On the two grand chairs at the head, two figures suddenly appeared.

“Holy cow! Are they ghosts?”

“It must be a projection…”

“Good heavens, the budget exploded! They even have holographic projections! Won’t a ten-yuan ticket lose them a fortune?”

Gu Wang, standing outside the embroidered building, smiled, feeling the Yin energy within him suppressed a little more. He thought, Not a loss, not a loss. The more people that come, the better!

Inside the room, the scene began to move.