This wave of protests from outer star system fish fans was so intense the Huanyu leaders were caught off guard.
“After all, no one expected this haunted house to be so popular.”
The deputy chief editor wiped his forehead, afraid that these noble ancestors would stir up trouble again.
Looking at it this way, it did seem just a little unfair.
Why should fans from the Federation Star get it while fans from other star systems didn’t?
Both sides were equally important, if they ended up in conflict, what would happen then?
But to everyone’s surprise, this time the fight didn’t even start.
In the following days of the offline haunted house event, every Federation Star fan who experienced it left without a word. Some were even so weak in the legs that they collapsed as soon as they stepped outside.
“Excuse me, what are your thoughts on the recent news about alien fish fans demanding the offline haunted house event to be made available?”
The reporter conducting the interview immediately held out the microphone, eager to collect some more explosive material.
After all, if the two fan groups clashed, the bystanders would love to watch the drama unfold.
As a result, most of the fans stumbling weakly out of the exit barely had the strength to speak, yet they still gave their full support to the promotion of the haunted house.
“I support it! I fully support Huanyu expanding the haunted house… Such an interesting experience, how can it not be shared with all fish fans?” One fan, whose face was as pale as paper, gripped the microphone and voiced his support at the top of his lungs.
This was completely different from what the reporter had expected.
[Ernis: Uh… I also support Huanyu promoting the offline haunted house event, so that warriors from other star systems can experience it too. To keep things fresh, I’m even willing to hold back on posting any spoiler guides for now.]
Even Ernis made a statement on Starblog in support of the initiative.
The atmosphere was so peaceful and harmonious that it was nothing like the usual fierce battles between the various factions of Fish fans.
[What? These Federation Star fans suddenly got so polite that now we feel kind of embarrassed (scratches head).]
After seeing the latest news, book fans from other star systems had their initial dissatisfaction and provocations stuck in their throats.
In the end, they couldn’t blame the Federation Star fish fans, they had to blame Huanyu for failing to consider everything properly!
[Huanyu Reading V: Please remain calm. Our internal team is already discussing this. If conditions allow, we may collaborate with Piedmont Amusement Park to promote the offline haunted house event to various star systems, incorporating localized designs based on each region’s characteristics!]
Huanyu naturally responded with a well-mannered reassurance, posting multiple planning documents and explanations on Starblog.
[Alright, alright, it’s a deal then. We’ll be waiting.]
Having successfully defended their rights, most alien book fans left in high spirits, eagerly anticipating the birth of their own local haunted houses.
“To be honest, given the overwhelmingly positive response from Teacher Fish Soup Face’s fans and the unexpectedly perfect playability of the haunted house, we are indeed considering establishing dedicated IP collaboration zones in major star system theme parks!”
None of this would have been possible without the full support of Piedmont Park’s regional director and senior operations president, Ms. Kyra.
Thus, over the next month, as the first small-world dungeon of “I Picked Up a Traveling Light Brain” reached its official conclusion, the haunted house promotion project, assisted by Piedmont Park, officially began.
Each region’s haunted house had its own distinct flavor, some had a primitive touch, some had exotic aesthetics, while others were simply extravagant to the extreme.
Take the Eternal Night Star System, home to the Bart Clan.
Piedmont Amusement Park had never ventured into Eternal Night before. After all, the Bart population was too small, and most of them spent the majority of their lives in deep slumber. Even if an amusement park were built there, the visitor flow would be minimal, making it an obvious money-losing venture.
[Lilith: Build it. I’ll pay.]
But with just one sentence from Big Boss Lilith, the entire funding problem was instantly solved!
Piedmont Amusement Park got a firsthand experience of the Bart’s extravagant spending habits this time. The haunted house was set to feature a Gothic theme, adorned with meticulously designed, luxurious supernatural elements.
When Huanyu unveiled the preliminary construction concept art for the eight newly added pop-up haunted house locations, the Federation Star fans were all shocked.
[This is a massive project! They’re building so many at once, and they all look incredible…it’s practically luring us to visit each one!]
[Especially the haunted house in Eternal Night. Are the robots’ eyes made of rubies, or am I seeing things!? If I pried one off, would I instantly achieve financial freedom?]
[Other than the haunted house on Imperial Star, I’m most curious about the one in Eternal Night. Of course, I also want to see how the warriors of Kael Star System handle their haunted house experience (smirk).]
Over the past month of the haunted house event, as more and more Federation Star fans participated, naturally, details about the haunted house’s true horrors began leaking out.
In particular, Huanyu would send each participant highlight photos and short videos of their experience. Many fish fans shared their most memorable moments online.
Some had videos of themselves wiping fake blood off their faces in front of a mirror, only for a holographic ghost to suddenly appear in the reflection, scaring them so much that their faces distorted from terror.
Others had footage of shining a red flashlight, carefully searching for clues, only to stumble upon a rotting corpse in the darkness, nearly scaring their souls out of their bodies.
The most popular moment was naturally Ernis’ video where he was so terrified that he jumped into his younger brother’s arms, crying. This unexpectedly made his brother, Douglas, go viral on star network.
After all, everyone believed that Douglas was a fearless Federation hero, who could remain calm in the face of danger and even came close to catching the stunt actor playing the ghost!
Of course, under Huanyu’s confidentiality agreement, all participants were sworn to secrecy about the final 1% of the haunted house where the crazy director dropped upside down at the exit.
Just when players thought they had finally escaped and relaxed completely, an NPC covered in tomato sauce would suddenly pounce onto their faces, delivering a perfect final scare.
However, just as the haunted house craze was settling into routine popularity, a supernatural incident brought it back to the top of hot searches.
“I saw a ghost! I really saw a ghost!! The player suddenly disappeared…”
In the news video, an actor playing a random ghost character clutched half of their prop head and scrambled out of the exit, tumbling and crawling in terror.
The comedic horror effect was simply perfect.
Hahaha, aren’t you the scariest thing here? You’re the one claiming you saw a ghost, does that even make sense?]
Just seeing this scene of a “ghost calling for help” had netizens laughing nonstop.
[Damn, I remember this guy! He almost scared me to tears when I went to the haunted house the other day. Karma really comes full circle, huh?]
[But everyone, stop laughing! The thing I fear most in my nightmares seems to have appeared…there are actors in the haunted house, but what if a real ghost sneaks in one day!?]
Huanyu quickly pulled up the surveillance footage, only to discover that the culprit was actually an old acquaintance.
“…I-I got scared, so I ran into the picture frame on the wall. Did I scare him?”
When Belle hesitantly stepped out, feeling a bit embarrassed, everyone suddenly realized the truth.
Wasn’t she the original character inspiration for the protagonist in Teacher Fish Soup Noodles’ previous picture book, “Fallen Morning Star”?
Ever since Belle stepped out of the frame and left the gallery, she had tried many different jobs. Of course, she never stopped following Yu Mian’s new books.
After drawing a haunted house experience ticket this time, she came to give it a try…only to end up scaring the staff instead.
“But why do I feel like there’s a job that suits Belle in an oddly perfect way?”
After his initial amusement and surprise, Yu Mian quietly came up with another wicked idea.
When he sent the suggestion to Editor Shaxs, Editor Shaxs’ face went through a series of changes.
“Damn, this effect is absolutely perfect.”
So a few days later, when everyone saw Belle standing before them in a custom-made, bloodstained white coat, a new layer of fear appeared in their eyes.
“Is this really okay? Can I really do this job? And I even get paid?”
Belle, as always, was a bit shy about it.
“You’re the most perfect choice in the entire universe! Even full-holographic effects aren’t this realistic!”
“We can design a little puzzle task, let players discover that the scientist in the picture frame changes every time, with more and more bloodstains on her, her eyeballs shifting in different directions, and finally, she even smiles at them!”
The haunted house manager was so excited he almost slammed the table in approval.
The day after Belle officially started working, the popularity of the haunted house event skyrocketed, and many players were so scared they burst into tears on the spot.
Even those who knew in advance that Huanyu had hired Belle, and even after watching related videos on star network, the firsthand experience of it all was still very thrilling.
[Fish: Not bad, we found Belle a job that suits her perfectly, and also added depth to our haunted house. I even think writing a dedicated dungeon for her later wouldn’t be a bad idea.]
A faceless bride in a bloodstained wedding dress, that would be exciting.
[Crispy Shark: I can only say, your creativity is absolutely overflowing lately TwT]
While discussing things with his author, Editor Shaxs was just short of kneeling in admiration.
Before the haunted house event, no one had expected it to become this popular.
They could hardly imagine what kind of sensation the simultaneous launch of eight haunted houses would cause.
Meanwhile, the first dungeon of “I Picked Up A Traveling Light Brain” was reaching its conclusion as the haunted house event went on in full swing.
In the final three chances left, Si Yao deeply involved himself in the brutal battle between the 100 players.
So, a mysterious leader, “The Freak”, appeared and began organizing players who each had different levels of information to resist the rule-driven slaughter.
He did everything he could to preserve as many of the randomly assigned players as possible, regardless of their initial identities.
Therefore, no matter how the light brain enforced its bloody directives, this time, under Si Yao’s covert influence, nearly all of the 100 players, except for a few unexpected casualties, managed to stay hidden and endure.
All they knew was that a powerful player called “The Freak” existed in this dungeon, but no one knew his true identity.
They were only certain that this “Freak” had obtained the key item before anyone else, and he was unusually familiar with the dungeon.
And whenever a player was on the brink of death, he would always intervene, defying the fundamental slaughter logic of the dungeon, and to save them.
Even if that player was completely weak and useless, someone who would have been sacrificed in the first round without external help.
[[“This damn fate threw us into this hellhole, but at least that Freak gave us a sliver of hope… The harder he is to figure out, the more reassuring he actually feels, don’t you think?”
A player, who had crossed over from being an interstellar mercenary, gritted his teeth in pain as he wrapped his severed arm, yet still managed to laugh bitterly in self-mockery.
If the robot overseer hadn’t suddenly sparked and shut down at the last moment, he would’ve been dead by now.
“You have a point. At the very least, I choose to believe in the Freak.”
A frail girl curled up in the corner, still clutching her chest in lingering fear. The fact that he had even saved someone as powerless as her made her want to believe he was some god.
“My directive is to map out the ventilation ducts in the B2U sector. I think I can do it…”
“I can too!”
“Me too.”
The players who had survived by a hair’s breadth fell silent for a moment before ultimately making their decision through action.
Therefore, these ordinary players who seemed to be the most useless in the dungeon and should have died and been eliminated first, for the first time, played a role far beyond anyone’s expectations.
Si Yao now regularly received critical intel and assistance from them.
Meanwhile, the usually smug and sinister light brain displayed an expression of annoyance and frustration for the first time.
Like a spoiled child who couldn’t get its candy, it was visibly displeased with the survival count still at 95, yet it could no longer pull off its usual tricks to reset everything to zero.
And with all his past death cycle experiences, Si Yao had taken a more proactive role this time and personally applied to be the handler of Experiment 114!
As he activated a hidden path in the dungeon, he soon uncovered a terrifying truth–Experiment 114 was fundamentally different from all the other experiment subjects.
Because Experiment 114 was not cultivated from a laboratory embryo.
Instead, the director had personally thrown his own newborn son into an incubation pod in the laboratory and step by step turned him into the most perfect mechanical monster!
“Si Yao, why are you hesitating? Come over here.”]]
