Me and My Demonic Friends

Chapter 2

The mobile application, with an icon resembling the eerie door of a haunted house, closely resembles the popular simulation games found on the market. However, instead of managing restaurants, aquariums, or pet amusement parks, this one revolves around the management of a haunted house.

Chen Fan stared at the screen, utterly perplexed as to why such a peculiar little game would be found on a phone left behind by his parents.

He carefully examined the app interface, and to his surprise, all the information—ranging from the daily visitor count to the internal scene setups—mirrored those of his own haunted house. The game evoked a strange feeling in Chen Fan, as if the haunted house he was tasked with running within the game was, in some uncanny way, his real-life haunted house.

Both were in a similarly dire situation, teetering on the brink of collapse. The parallels between the two were uncanny.

"Could this game have been inspired by my haunted house? And if I alter the haunted house in the game, might the changes benefit the real one?" he wondered aloud.

He continued scrolling, and saw that the existing scene of 'Zombie Resurrection Easter' in his haunted house was severely criticized, deemed utterly useless. Meanwhile, the 'Yin Yuan' project—once a media sensation—was only awarded half a star in the game reviews.

"Even 'Yin Yuan' only got half a star? I shudder to think just how terrifying the other unlockable scenes must be." He tried clicking to unlock more scenes, and a message appeared on the screen, informing him that he needed to complete a certain number of daily tasks to gain access.

"Looks like daily tasks are the foundation of everything. Only by consistently completing them can I unlock more terrifying scenes. These will attract more visitors, increasing foot traffic, which in turn will allow for the expansion of the haunted house, creating a positive feedback loop."

Chen Fan, having played many mobile games in his spare time, quickly grasped the mechanics of this one—his progress in the game would directly affect the development of his haunted house.

He tapped on the daily tasks section, and three options appeared on the screen:

Easy Difficulty: The three key elements of a haunted house design—story, scenes, and atmosphere. A haunted house without a story has no soul. Please complete the backstories for the 'Zombie Resurrection Easter' and 'Yin Yuan' scenes.

Medium Difficulty: Repair all the doll models in the haunted house before midnight.

Nightmare Difficulty: You must still be curious about whether ghosts exist in this world. Play a small game—the truth will reveal itself the moment you open your eyes.

The daily tasks reset every midnight, with one task available per day. The difficulty and rewards vary.

(Note: Some tasks are extremely dangerous. Please choose wisely!)

After reading the daily tasks, Chen Fan was taken aback. "So, the tasks in this game require real-life actions? Is this indirectly suggesting that this game can influence reality?"

To test his hypothesis, he decided to accept one of the tasks.

Daily tasks were categorized by difficulty, and he could only choose one per day. If he wanted the maximum benefit, he would have to choose the hardest task. However, the warning about the extreme danger of certain tasks made Chen Fan hesitant.

"It's hard to decide. The description for the Nightmare difficulty task is so vague; it looks like a trap. Maybe I should start with the medium difficulty task. Fixing all the doll models before midnight is a bit tight, but it's doable."

Chen Fan was a man of action—once he made a decision, he acted immediately. Without wasting any time, he grabbed his toolbox and a bucket of unopened artificial blood, and began inspecting the dolls throughout the haunted house.

By now, it was late into the night. Alone in the vast haunted house, Chen Fan chose to turn off the hallway lights to save electricity. He clutched his flashlight under his arm while dragging the dolls in need of maintenance from one place to another.

If an outsider happened to stumble upon this scene, they would probably be so terrified they'd call the police.

"I'm exhausted! I didn't expect so many dolls to be malfunctioning. Looks like the previous maintenance was really lacking!"

At 11:45 PM, Chen Fan received a notification on his phone: "You have completed the Medium Difficulty daily task. Attention to detail is key to creating the perfect atmosphere for terror. Congratulations, you’ve earned the reward: Background Track 'Black Friday.'"

"Isn't 'Black Friday' a banned track overseas? It's said that listening to it too much can make people suicidal, and the original version disappeared long ago." Chen Fan found an icon of a CD in his phone’s inventory. "How could something like this be a task reward? Is this some sort of prank?"

He clicked on the CD icon, and an unfamiliar melody began to play in his ears.

The sound seemed to be born from darkness itself—lonely, sorrowful. Chen Fan felt as though everything around him was slipping away. He felt submerged in the depths of the ocean or walking down an endless tunnel.

When the song finished, his back was drenched in sweat. He was relieved he hadn’t chosen to loop the track—he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to escape its grip.

"That was real! It must be the original version!"

Completing tasks in the game resulted in rewards in real life, giving Chen Fan hope that this might be the shortcut he needed to turn his haunted house’s fate around.

He carefully turned off the music and saved it. After making sure everything was in order, he retreated to the employee lounge.

Lying in bed, his body was tired, but sleep was elusive.

The events of the day were enough to overwhelm any normal person, and it would take time to process them.

By the time midnight passed, Chen Fan was still staring at the ceiling, wide awake.

"I can’t sleep!" With nothing else to do, he retrieved his black phone again. "It’s past midnight. The daily tasks should have refreshed by now."

He opened the app, and sure enough, the daily tasks had been updated.

Easy Difficulty: To give your visitors a truly terrifying experience, you must control the pacing of the tour. If actors or mechanisms appear too early or too late, it can ruin the visitors' excitement. I suggest you install sound detectors and surveillance cameras to monitor the flow of visitors through the haunted house.

Medium Difficulty: A good haunted house needs a strong team to operate it. Hire more talented people to help you through the tough times.

Nightmare Difficulty: You must still be curious about whether ghosts exist. Come play a little game, the truth lies in the moment you open your eyes.

The tasks reset every midnight, with one task available per day. Difficulty and rewards vary.

(Note: Some tasks are extremely dangerous. Please choose wisely!)

The three new daily tasks left Chen Fan torn. The easy task of installing sound detectors and cameras could be completed if he had the funds—but his budget was extremely limited.

The medium difficulty task wasn’t any more favorable. The experienced staff who had been with him through thick and thin had resigned just yesterday, leaving him to recruit new talent. Not only was there no guarantee he could find anyone, but even if someone came, it would take a lot of time to train them, and by the time they were ready, the haunted house might have already closed down.

With the easy and medium tasks out of the picture, Chen Fan focused on the last option.

"The higher the difficulty, the greater the reward. Should I try the Nightmare-level task?"