Chapter 15 The Psychiatric Ward Theme Restaurant

The conflicted Qiao Liang, the malicious Ruan Guangjian, and the fans who loved a good show all arrived at the themed restaurant in the Thriller Hostel.

Although Ruan Guangjian had offered a reason Qiao Liang couldn't easily refuse, he still couldn't bring himself to challenge "Ultimate Horror." After all, just getting the entry token had already left him feeling hopeless.

With a belly full of curiosity on one side and a belly full of the desire to survive on the other, Qiao Liang was caught in a battle between heaven and man.

So, everyone decided to have lunch first.

After playing all morning, especially after being thoroughly frightened in "Haunted House Nightmare," everyone was hungry.

However, as they approached the entrance to the themed restaurant, Qiao Liang instinctively sensed that something was off.

"Wait, what happened to the maid café? How did we end up here?"

He had seen on the Thriller Hostel's map that there was a healing-style maid café between "Ultimate Horror" and "Haunted House Nightmare," where cute young ladies would serve warm drinks to comfort those who had been frightened.

However, for some reason, the fans had somehow ended up at this "Psychiatric Ward Theme Restaurant."

Just looking at the red sign with white letters and the frightening pictures, Qiao Liang felt that something wasn't right.

"The maid café is just a place to drink coffee, nothing good to eat. Of course, you have to come here to eat. Let's go!"

The group forced Qiao Liang inside with ill intentions, while Ruan Guangjian followed behind, silently smiling.

In the dim light was an iron prison door covered in bloody handprints, with a large red button on it. Pressing the button would automatically open the iron door, allowing entry into the interior of the themed restaurant.

Qiao Liang almost gasped.

This was a themed restaurant?

It was just another haunted house project, wasn't it?!

The lighting inside was obviously brighter than in a normal haunted house, but the dark prison bars, the thick chains on the door, the surrounding decorations, the bottles of seemingly blood-like red liquid on the counter... all reminded everyone that this place seemed no different from a prison scene in a horror movie.

Of course, strictly speaking, it wasn't just a prison theme, but a prison + hospital theme, with its setting leaning more towards the mental hospitals often found in horror movies and games.

There was a huge difference in the positioning of the two.

Many restaurants in China had tried prison themes, but they had all failed. There were two main reasons: first, the location was wrong, and second, the overall direction was wrong.

Most people in real life weren't interested in horror themes. If you opened a prison-themed restaurant on the street, who would go?

But if there was a prison-themed restaurant inside a haunted house, it would be very appropriate, because those who came to the haunted house were young people with strong psychological endurance and a taste for novelty, and they were much more receptive to this kind of quirky restaurant.

In addition, it was still a prison theme, but not all prisons were the same.

The failed prison-themed restaurants in China were all strictly based on real prisons, and even had military-green quilts folded into tofu blocks, with bunk beds, tables, chairs, and iron bars all made of stainless steel, giving people the feeling of a very modern and very real prison.

This 100% created the feeling of eating prison food, which was neither terrifying nor comfortable, just disgusting.

But this themed restaurant was completely different from real prisons. Its positioning was closer to the mental hospitals in horror movies and games. The decorations were in a Western style from the last century, giving people a sense of horror and novelty, and creating a disconnect from the image of real prisons.

Eating inside didn't feel like being in prison, but more like participating in the recording of a horror movie, or playing a horror game. This sense of detachment from reality prevented players from resisting and rejecting the decorations from the bottom of their hearts.

On the contrary, after accepting this style, they would find it enjoyable.

Of course, different people had different levels of acceptance of this style. For example, Qiao Liang was very resistant to it.

"I completely understand everyone's desire for novelty, but... we just came out of a haunted house!"

"Wouldn't it be better for us to find a warm, comfortable restaurant to eat in?"

But Qiao Liang stopped halfway through his sentence.

Because he saw a hot, cold-faced nurse girl walking towards him, with a string of black handcuffs hanging on her left arm.

The nurse's uniform on the girl was also the kind that often appeared in horror movies and horror games, a European style, and seemed to be stained with blood. The red and white contrasting colors and the form-fitting design made Qiao Liang's eyes involuntarily want to move downwards.

He didn't know why, but he reached out and let the girl handcuff him.

After being handcuffed, Qiao Liang realized that the handcuffs were made of plastic. No wonder the girl could string several handcuffs on one arm.

The shape of the handcuffs wasn't the shiny stainless-steel type, but dark, cast-iron handcuffs, which also matched the scene very well.

And this thing was just a toy, which could be opened at will.

After handcuffing everyone, the nurse led the group inside, past one prison cell after another, looking for empty seats.

One of the fans asked with a smile, "Old Qiao, what were you saying just now? Change places?"

"Ahem." Qiao Liang coughed twice and said in a low voice, "There's no way, I've already been handcuffed."

As they walked, Ruan Guangjian suddenly stopped.

He looked through the iron bars at one of the prison cells: "Hello everyone, what a coincidence!"

Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, Chen Kangtuo, Hao Qiong, and others who were eating inside were also pleasantly surprised: "Big Boss Ruan? What a coincidence, you're here too?"

Ruan Guangjian smiled: "How could I not come and support President Pei's haunted house opening?"

Lin Wan suggested, "Want to eat together? We can add seats."

Ruan Guangjian looked around and saw that the cell itself was large, and it shouldn't be a problem to add Qiao Liang and the others.

He rolled his eyes and came up with a plan.

Ruan Guangjian approached the iron bars and said in a low voice, "Everyone, cooperate with me for a while and let Old Qiao..."

The nurse in front, leading a group of "prisoners," stopped halfway through and waited when she suddenly realized that someone was missing.

The others didn't ask any questions, and Ruan Guangjian caught up a minute later.

"Let's join a table over there. They're acquaintances."

Everyone was stunned and instinctively wanted to refuse. After all, those were Big Boss Ruan's friends, and they didn't know them.

Ruan Guangjian added, "They are the developers of the *BeQuiet* and Thriller Hostel projects."

Qiao Liang was stunned for a moment, and then happily agreed, "Okay!"

The group came to the cell where Lin Wan and others were, and took their seats.

After introductions, Qiao Liang and the fans were all pleasantly surprised.

This was practically half of Tengda Games!

The producer, main designer, and main artist of *BeQuiet*, the person in charge of Thriller Hostel, the designer... they were all there!

Qiao Liang originally had a great prejudice against the designer of Thriller Hostel, and didn't know how many times he had cursed the designer in "Haunted House Nightmare," but now that he actually saw Chen Kangtuo, he immediately shook hands with a smiling face and highly praised the design of Thriller Hostel.

He vividly demonstrated what it meant to be a "keyboard warrior online, a respectful bro offline."

After a round of mutual business compliments, the nurse girl began to serve various dishes.

They didn't accept orders here. The servers would decide on the dishes according to the customers' dietary restrictions, and the main purpose of all the dishes was to be novel, such as drinks that looked like blood bags.

After symbolically eating something, Ruan Guangjian looked at Lin Wan, who winked at the others.

Everyone immediately understood.

Lin Wan asked with a smile, "Has everyone experienced 'Ultimate Horror'?"

Qiao Liang and the fans looked at each other, and no one spoke.

Ruan Guangjian nodded: "Yes, I went, it was very good! Did you all experience it too?"

Lin Wan picked up a piece of cake from the table that looked like a raw steak, and said while eating, "Of course, we've all experienced it. But we all exited at the last save point, because we're staff, and the honor of being the 'first to complete Thriller Hostel' must be reserved for a real... hardcore player."

She didn't look at Qiao Liang, but the pause in her tone was obviously hinting at something.

Qiao Liang's face was full of disbelief: "You... all of you... completed it?"

Exiting at the last save point was no different from completing it.

Qiao Liang's fans obviously didn't believe it either.

The others were fine, but Lin Wan was a girl, could she complete it too?

Seeing Qiao Liang's expression, Lin Wan guessed what he was thinking. She smiled slightly, picked up a bag of blood from the side, and said while drinking, "Do you think I'm exaggerating?"

"Then... do you know about Mist Mountain Psychiatric Hospital?"

"Back then, in order to gather material for *BeQuiet* and Thriller Hostel, this group of us went to Mist Mountain Psychiatric Hospital and wandered around for five whole days."

Qiao Liang and the fans didn't stand in awe, because they were directly shocked.

Mist Mountain Psychiatric Hospital was known as the scariest haunted house in the world!

This group of people actually played in it for five whole days to gather material?

Were they even human?

Now they understood why these people could say so lightly that they had almost completed it. Even if "Ultimate Horror" was on the same level as Mist Mountain Psychiatric Hospital, it would be nothing to these people!

Qiao Liang inexplicably felt a sense of shame.

Look at them, a weak woman, able to wander around in Mist Mountain Psychiatric Hospital for five days for work!

And he didn't even have the courage to enter "Ultimate Horror"...

Shameful!

Too shameful!

Ruan Guangjian asked at the right time, "Then, what's the difference between Thriller Hostel and Mist Mountain Psychiatric Hospital?"

Lin Wan thought for a while: "The experiences of both are excellent, but I think Thriller Hostel's details are better and it's easier to persevere. Thanks to Chen Kangtuo's extreme attention to detail."

Chen Kangtuo shook his head: "No, this credit should still belong to President Pei."