27: Rising to fame, the challenge craze begins

In the crimson glow of the setting sun, Jesus was covered in dense cracks, as if he would shatter at any moment.

Walking back to the statue, Li Zhou looked up and stroked his chin.

According to the Bible, Jesus… was God's spokesperson, right?

After a moment of thought, as if something came to mind, Li Zhou suddenly reached out and grabbed the ancient crucifix in Jesus' hand.

The crucifix did not turn to dust like other miscellaneous items when he took it.

The next moment, a notification sound suddenly rang in his ear:

"Ding! Congratulations, player, you have obtained the game item: crucifix (can repel Black Rat Swarm and Vampire Butler, but its effect only lasts three times and has no effect on Demonic Hounds)."

Oh, there's a notification?

Sure enough, he wasn't careful enough before!

Listening to the system's prompt, Li Zhou smiled faintly.

At the beginning of the game, the parchment mentioned God.

And Jesus, as an existence often associated with God, he actually overlooked him.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

After the crucifix was taken by Li Zhou, the statue of Jesus suddenly began to crumble.

Stones flew, and dust rose everywhere.

Taking a slight step back, Li Zhou covered his mouth and nose.

Did he trigger some trap or mechanism?

After waiting quietly for tens of seconds, the dust cleared.

The previously standing statue was gone, replaced by another parchment floating in the air.

"Hint"

"Three: Silence is golden."

"Four: One hand alone cannot clap."

New hints?

It does feel a bit like an escape room game.

Looking at the content on the parchment, Li Zhou stood still, his mind racing.

Haunted House instances usually have some clues to hint at players, but these clues generally require players to study them carefully and deduce their true meaning.

For example, the first hint from the system.

Jesus represents God, so the statue has a crucifix that can repel the Black Rat Swarm and the Vampire Butler.

And the second hint from the system mentioned the moon.

It's not night yet, where would the moon come from?

Suddenly, Li Zhou turned his head sharply, looking at the narrow passage leading to the corridor.

Those head-shaped sconces in the corridor, if viewed from a distance, weren't they like glowing moons?

"The moon will guide you to escape..." Recalling the scene where he stood under a sconce and died from a drop of wax corrosion, a hint of doubt flashed in Li Zhou's eyes.

What exactly does this second hint mean?

The crimson hue outside the skylight above grew more vibrant; evening was drawing closer.

The known dangers so far should be five.

The Black Rat Swarm, the Vampire Butler, the Demonic Hounds, the sconces, and the game's biggest Boss, the owner of the castle.

Is the difficulty of the beginner instance already this high?

Holding the crucifix, Li Zhou put away the second parchment, then walked towards the passage in the corner.

The game's clear condition was to find the castle key and go down to the first floor of the castle to open the main door before nightfall.

Li Zhou still knew nothing about the key. This castle had four floors, and he had only explored less than a tenth of it.

It's better to get through the corridor first.

Bending down, Li Zhou once again squeezed into the passage.

The attic behind him fell into dead silence again.

The broken Jesus lay on the floor, his eyes on his body and head staring straight at the dark passage.

Under the crimson light, his compassionate expression disappeared, and his lips split into a smile.

It was as if a devil's smile appeared... While Li Zhou was still experiencing the new area, online discussions about the Tianfeng Haunted House were already escalating.

The details of Song Yang's livestream before and after the event were also dug up by a group of netizens.

Aside from those deliberately eye-catching titles, discussions about the Tianfeng Haunted House grew more and more.

Among them, the most discussed was the Butcher's Eye.

Goethe's glance towards the livestream room earlier was screenshotted by some fans.

Some speculated that Goethe was definitely a bloodthirsty butcher, while others said Goethe was a madman who escaped from a mental asylum.

However, very quickly, after the official police of Nanshan District, Jinling City, personally came out to debunk the rumors, everyone realized it was all a misunderstanding.

It turned out that Goethe was an employee NPC in the Tianfeng Haunted House, not a serial killer.

Additionally, the zombie at the very beginning was also an employee of the Haunted House.

Once the truth was revealed, countless people instantly developed a strong interest in Li Zhou's Haunted House.

In fact, immersive entertainment venues like escape rooms or Haunted Houses have always been very popular among young people.

This world never lacks brave people.

Upon learning that there was such a special Haunted House in China, many people began to plan group trips to challenge it.

In addition, some bloggers and Streamers also started to get restless.

Their focus was not quite the same as that of the netizens.

Seeing Song Yang gain over a million followers so quickly after being scared out of his wits, they also started to stir, one by one.

Among them, there were even some female Streamers.

TikTok Chenze's livestream room.

"Brothers, don't say the Streamer is a coward or anything."

"Isn't that Tianfeng Haunted House quite popular these days?"

"Streamer, I've decided to go to Jinling tomorrow to show you what a real man is!"

"It's all about being real!"

Shark Dai Xiaomei's livestream room.

"No, you want me to challenge the Tianfeng Haunted House?"

"Oh my god, didn't you see those screenshots on TikTok of what they call the Butcher's Eye?"

"I wouldn't dare go alone!"

TikTok Self-Disciplined Hualong's livestream room.

"Brothers, it's not that the Streamer is scared, it's that the Streamer has been busy exercising recently and doesn't have time!"

"If you want to see someone challenge it, I can recommend someone to you."

"Teacher Tong Jingchen seems to be in Jinling recently, you guys tell him to go!"

Almost every popular Streamer was asked by their fans to challenge the Tianfeng Haunted House.

Some refused verbally, but then immediately started arranging flights to Jinling.

These people were all shrewd, how could they not see the current traffic of the Tianfeng Haunted House?

Didn't Song Yang gain a million followers overnight just by livestreaming his challenge of the Haunted House?

That's a million followers, with no fakes!

To say they weren't envious would be a lie.

Although the screenshots circulating on TikTok did look quite scary.

But how scary could it really be?

Everyone knows that the ghosts and such inside are fake.

To take a step back, as long as they can gain followers, what's wrong with being scared a little?

If Li Zhou knew all this at this moment, he would probably be grinning from ear to ear.

These are all big Streamers!

Their follower counts are solid.

Although many screenshots of the zombie and Goethe are circulating on TikTok now.

But screenshots are just screenshots, and they are all scraps, providing pitifully little fright value.

If these Streamers all came to challenge his Haunted House.

Li Zhou could confidently say that within a month, he would renovate all the venues in the Haunted House!

And, by the way, hire several more terrifying employees!