My House of Horrors

Chen Ge’s Haunted House currently only had two available scenarios, Night of the Living Dead and Minghun.

The Night of the Living Dead was heavily criticized by the black phone. Chen Ge thought about it as objectively as he could, and he had to admit there were many flaws with that scenario. Furthermore, to complete the scenario, he had to have at least three workers.

“Xiao Wan, our main theme today will be Minghun. Later, after I’m done setting up the background music, remember to put on your earphones when you work. Also, I’ll be doing your make-up today.”

“Boss, you know how to do make-up?” Xiao Wan laughed half-mockingly at him. “Fine, but I’ll do it myself if you screw it up.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make you look so beautiful that you’ll take their breath away.”

They walked into the make-up room. Chen Ge set Xiao Wan down before the mirror and used the ball of his palm to slowly massage her face.

“Activating elementary skill—Mortician’s Make-up.”

Looking at the youthful girl in the mirror, many memories that Chen Ge felt did not belong to him suddenly appeared in his mind. It was a chaotic mess. There was not only knowledge about color-matching and other make-up skills but also human anatomy, physiology, bone structure, and the study of death.

“Boss, are you sure you know how to do make-up?” Thirty seconds had passed. Xu Wan sat before the mirror, feeling the unfamiliar temperature of the hand on her face. Looking at the reflection of her face, which her boss was fussing over, her heart started to race, and she felt weirdly shy for some reason.

“A good make-up artist will come up with different styles according to the face shape of his client. And Xiao Wan, I have to say, you have a pretty good base already.” There were literally no dirty thoughts on Chen Ge’s mind. After he activated the Mortician’s Make-up skill, Xu Wan had already become a ‘corpse’ in his mind.

“Hammer, shaver, scalpel, needle and thread, formaldehyde, alcohol… sigh, I’m missing all these things. Looks like I’ll have to settle with the most basic make-up,” Chen Ge mumbled to himself, scaring Xu Wan quite a bit. The girl could not understand why her boss would require so many scary instruments for a simple Haunted House make-up. She was feeling slightly spooked, but since she did not feel like it was appropriate to say no to her boss, all she could was glance at the progress through her half-shut eyes and pray for the best possible outcome.

“The foundation is too bland, and the blush too bright. Also, where’s the lipstick?” Chen Ge continued to grumble, and he even started to blend colors. The familiarity and expertise of his movements did not match his appearance of a geek who should not have known any of these things.

Xu Wan herself was baffled by what was happening before her. Color-matching without the aid of online guides or books, this is some high-level make-up skill!

“Boss, I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself. After all, the lighting in the Haunted House is so dim; the visitors wouldn’t be able to see anything.”

“Shush and stop moving,” Chen Ge cut her off and helped her apply the eye-shadow that he had just blended. It was just several strokes of eyeshadow, but it contributed a drastic change to Xu Wan’s personality; it added an air of mystery and frostiness to her.

Xu Wan’s natural instinct was to mock her boss, but when she saw her reflection in the mirror, her tiny mouth fell open.

“A blush of just Cherry Red will be too simple, lacks layering, but when combined with some of this purple, it’ll be so different. They blend perfectly like they’re meant for each other,” Chen Ge explained like a make-up guru as he used the brush to blend the two blushes on the back of his palm.

“Boss, what are you doing?”

“Our Haunted House’s blush is too gaudy in the hopes of creating a striking visual effect, but that’s pushing it a bit too far, so I’m toning it down by first applying and spreading it on my hand.” Chen Ge’s action was gentle, and minutes later, the blush did become smoother to the eyes, and there was even a brightening effect to it.

Now, Xu Wan’s mouth formed a perfect O. “Boss, you’re amazing! Where did you learn all this?”

“There’s plenty more of my talent you haven’t seen yet; make-up and beauty tricks are just things I explore in my free time,” Chen Ge explained with a smile. He was in quite a great mood because he now had actual proof that the phone app really could affect the real world.

In just ten minutes, Chen Ge finished Xu Wan’s make-up. “Now, take a look, what do you think?”

The person in the mirror seemed to have walked out of a water painting. She was a quintessential eastern beauty, but there was simply something off about her.

Xu Wan could not help but stand up and twirl in front of the mirror. Her expression changed from utter shock to fascination before ending with a shudder.

“Boss, I’ve never looked so beautiful in my life, is this person really me?”

“Of course, it is.”

“But…” She reached out hesitantly toward the mirror. “How come it feels like I’m looking at a dead person?”

Xu Wan’s observation also made Chen Ge suck in a cold breath. The purpose of a mortician’s make-up was bringing out the beauty of the dead, so naturally Chen Ge’s make-up was not meant for the living.

“Don’t worry about it, the amusement park is opening soon, so quickly go change into your clothes and stand by at the second floor Minghun scenario. Remember to put on your Bluetooth earpiece and listen to my direction.” Chen Ge tactfully moved the topic away and shoved Xu Wan off to her work. He used the little remaining time he had left to work on the puppets and mannequins in the Minghun scenario set piece. With the aid of Mortician’s Make-up, all of the mannequins looked creepily alive.

“I suppose that’s all for now, I’ll recolor them when I have time.” Chen Ge packed up his toolbox and rushed downstairs. Before he reached the entrance, he could already hear the chatter of the visitors.

“You’re also here to seek revenge from the immoral bastard?”

“Yes! The creep caused me to drop my phone, and it broke, so what do you think?”

“You people are still lucky. My pants were already on the ground when this thing popped up! I was so scared; the scream left my throat before I could help it. Thinking something happened to me, my parents rushed into my room. So, with not a shred of fabric on me and a roll of toilet paper in my hand, you can imagine how awkward it was…”

…

Listening to the visitors’ complaints, Chen Ge tried to stop himself from laughing. He took a deep breath and put on a serious countenance before pushing the entrance open.

“Welcome to my humble House of Horrors.”

Chen Ge’s lips curled upward when he saw the long line of customers.

“Xiao Chen, your place is already packed so early in the morning? Not bad.” The worker who was fixing the carousel gasped with surprise. As he was about to wander over to greet Chen Ge, he realized how curious these visitors were looking. They did not look like the normal happy park goers.

“It’s okay; I’m just glad for the support.” Chen Ge shrugged as he pulled the gate open.

“Who said we’re here to support you? Shameless!”

“We’re here to resolve debts, not to play!”

“Is he the real deal? You’re the one who uploaded video last night? Where’s my knife? Hand me my knife!”

The visitors were so ‘passionate’ that it was total chaos, but Chen Ge spoke over them. “Since you’re already here, why don’t you come in for an experience? The best way to counter fear is to find a more intense stimulation—fight poison with poison so to speak—to desensitize yourself to the fear. Indeed, it is my fault for not giving more warning for yesterday’s video, and for that, I apologize, so how about this? All the tickets into the Haunted House will be fifty percent off today. Don’t miss out on such a wonderful discount!”