Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Can't Let This Lin Wei's Fire Die Down...

Under the watchful eyes of the socially anxious female ghost, several tourists quickly rushed into the final brothel map.

This map was considered the most exciting in the entire haunted house, featuring not only terrifying scenes and traps but also repurposing the originally abandoned carousel from the amusement park.

The carousel had been transformed into countless mannequins, slowly rotating while emitting mechanical rasping sounds.

Wang Zhaoshan, who was most afraid of ghosts, gasped sharply.

“This scene is a bit too much…”

The lighting inside the brothel was very dim, and every rotating male mannequin opened its bloodthirsty mouth wide, making it hard for anyone to muster the courage to pass through under the dark, mottled light.

“It’s fine, you wait downstairs. We’ll go up, grab the props, and come down to get you!”

The college students caught up from behind. After tasting the delicious lion’s head, they too burst with fighting spirit!

According to the previous group of tourists, there would be eight lion’s heads in total. These must be the last two!

“Am I stupid? I’m waiting downstairs!”

Wang Zhaoshan mustered his courage and stepped onto the wobbly giant turntable.

The mannequins on the turntable still moved, arranged very tightly. Sometimes he even had to manually move the mannequins aside to pass through the middle.

He gathered courage, moving aside the terrifying mannequins while trying not to look at their faces.

Listening carefully, one could still hear Wang Zhaoshan comforting himself: “It’s okay, it’s all fake! All fake! There are lion’s heads up there… For the lion’s heads, I have to push through!”

Step by step, holding onto the mannequins as he passed, he wasn’t even the slowest!

Feeling encouraged, Wang Zhaoshan sped up, cheering himself on silently.

That was a chef even better than Chen Ran!

He didn’t know which retired Huaiyang cuisine master had carefully cultivated such a masterful lion’s head. Just this dish alone could qualify to be on the top culinary list!

Even if it was just imitating Chen Ran’s marketing, good skill alone was enough. Later he would inquire about the chef, invite Ms. Chang Nian for appraisal, and wouldn’t this “Famous Chef Records” instantly revive its resources?

He wanted to see who would still dare say Chinese chefs were in a talent drought!

With this confidence, Wang Zhaoshan boldly reached out to grab the mannequin in front, ready to keep moving forward.

But then… he vaguely felt something was wrong.

The mannequin’s arm was different from the hard materials before; it was soft!

He shuddered and suddenly saw a face slowly turn around in front of him, covered everywhere with twisted scars...

Wang Zhaoshan fainted.

However, before passing out, he vaguely felt that ghostly face looked somewhat familiar?

Xu Laoguai saw someone faint from his scare and quickly called over the radio. Soon, two other female ghosts came and swiftly carried him away.

Xu Ruyi finally felt relieved.

“One player eliminated. Please, the remaining players, continue to do your best.”The sudden broadcast startled Ms. Wang and also frightened the two pure players at the front.

The two instinctively paused, then noticed that players from other maps were also rushing over!

“You guys came too? Once the props from this map are taken out, we should be able to go to the core map. Let’s solve the puzzles together?”

Hearing these players, Ms. Wang and the others were ecstatic.

What did this mean? It meant these two hadn’t eaten the lion’s head yet!

“Alright then, come on, we’re one person short anyway.”

“Yeah, that old man was eliminated just now, one less competitor!”

Those who had experienced the lion’s head scramble clearly understood, but the two players in front were a bit suspicious.

Did this group even know how to play? Was it really a good thing that someone got eliminated? More people meant they could share the burden of ghosts and traps.

However, the latest shrine cage was already close by!

“You guys watch outside. I’ll go get the props.”

“I’ll go! I’ll get them!”

“No way, how can one person go alone? Are you trying to keep it all to yourself? Let’s go together!”

The two genuine haunted house players were a bit dumbfounded. The props were to unlock the map — was it really necessary for so many people to go together?

Also, the interior terrain was very narrow; if they all went in at once, wouldn’t the ghosts just block them inside?

“Forget it, if you want to get the props that badly, go get them yourselves. We’ll watch the ghosts outside.”

Han Qiao was a professional haunted house player with strong teamwork awareness. To him, this group seemed all like novices — maybe novices just liked the feeling of retrieving the props themselves?

As a veteran who had personally solved countless puzzles, what was the point of competing with novices for this?

But as soon as he said this, he realized the remaining five people rushed forward as if they’d found a bargain.

Soon, Han Qiao understood what he had missed.

When the shrine cage opened, none of the group went to get the props first — they all scrambled to open the lid of the offerings!

Those were the haunted house’s offerings. What normal person would first eat that kind of thing?

Yet when the lid was just opened, an intense aroma burst out, and the two pure players instantly realized they’d been tricked!

All the clues connected.

When they first entered the haunted house, they heard this group constantly talking about lion’s heads and chefs. So this haunted house actually had such a perk?

Han Qiao rushed over shouting, “Don’t fight! Leave me a bite!”

When the female ghost Song Yuhan finally caught up and climbed into the brothel, she saw a crowd scrambling in front of the small shrine cage.

As elsewhere, the tableware here was also fixed to the base and couldn’t be picked up.

She was climbing up reciting her lines, aiming to give tourists a chance to escape. Otherwise, if so many were caught and one was passed out below, how could the haunted house’s story progress?

But unexpectedly, even though she had climbed up, not a single person looked down.“One piece each, no biting first!”

“Divide first! Evenly distribute!”

“How do seven people divide? How about rock-paper-scissors, the unlucky one goes out to lure the ghost away, then six people can split it!”

While they were arguing, Ms. Wang turned and saw a pale ghost face climbing up.

She was very surprised, unable to suppress the smile at the corner of her mouth.

“Alright, alright, the female ghost is here! Sacrifice one! Let’s see who’s unlucky and gets caught, the remaining six split two lion’s heads!”

The other six turned around and all stared at Song Yuhan.

“This method is good!”

“Hurry up! Don’t dawdle. If it’s really not working, you just point to one unlucky person, we’ll push you over!”

To increase game difficulty and reduce setup costs, the ladder to the second floor of the brothel wasn’t a traditional stair but a very narrow, almost vertical ladder. You had to hold on with both hands to climb up.

At that moment, Song Yuhan had just shown her face, wearing extremely realistic and terrifying makeup. On her pale face, up close you could see traces of decay, and fresh blood dripped from her dangling tongue…

But those few people looked at her like it was Chinese New Year and they were seeing the aunt who always gave big red envelopes! Some even smiled.

One even stepped forward…

Song Yuhan really couldn’t take it anymore; she really was socially anxious!

So the few who had just been overjoyed watched dumbfounded as the ghost’s head quickly disappeared from the stairwell opening.

The female ghost got scared away!

“No, this is a haunted house. Can you at least respect the scene a bit?”

“You go respect the scene! Who in a haunted house would dare eat the offerings? I’ll eat your share of the lion’s head.”

“No way!”

“Hurry up and divide. What if the ghost comes again later? Don’t forget, the boss specifically said all props will be confiscated when caught, including edible props!”

In the end, the university students came up with a barely acceptable plan: “There are six portions of lion’s head total. The remaining one person can drink all the soup and eat the little vegetables inside. How about that?”

This proposal barely passed, and they took turns playing rock-paper-scissors. The student who proposed it became the unlucky one drinking the soup.

He stood by the offerings, diligently supervising everyone eating the lion’s head.

“Eat the meat! Your spoon has soup in it! Pour it out!”

“Alright, I’ll ladle for you. Don’t dip into my soup!”

Finally, after finishing the two lion’s heads and the soup cleanly, Han Qiao realized, “Wait, you’re so skilled, did every puzzle map before have two lion’s heads?”

His question was collectively ignored by the satisfied eaters who each ate an extra lion’s head.

“Haha, finally got the props!”

“Let’s go, next map! Maybe there’s more delicious food.”

“The lion’s head is so delicious, the other dishes by this chef Lin Wei must be good too, right?”Two players exchanged a glance.

They originally could have each eaten a lion’s head.

This grudge must be avenged!

For haunted houses with puzzle-solving and escape elements, the difference between experienced and inexperienced players is quite significant.

On Ms. Wang’s side, although there was one Ji You who had done a walkthrough and a university student with haunted house experience, their gaming experience really couldn’t compare to these two players who searched haunted houses all over the country.

So, in a trap that was supposed to be set for the ghosts, all five were completely wiped out!

“Don’t worry, once we’ve eaten our fill up ahead, we’ll come back and let you out!”

Han Qiao proudly made a gesture to those behind him and rushed toward the next location.

This was the first time he had betrayed teammates while playing the haunted house, but he had to admit, it felt pretty good!

Especially when he rushed all the way to the new puzzle spot and found only two bowls of soup in the shrine cage…

“One bowl each! Enjoy the drink!”

“What kind of soup is this? Looks a bit strange... just drink it in big gulps.”

After taking a big spoonful, Han Qiao felt a bit reluctant to finish.

“This soup is really fresh, and the ingredients inside are so tender. Is that tofu? It barely feels in the mouth and just goes down directly…”

When he had just eaten the lion’s head, he secretly tasted some of the soup while the university student wasn’t looking.

That soup could be described as extremely fresh and delicious.

But this soup, which only had white and green thin shreds in the middle, was even richer than that soup.

Elegant and mild in appearance, but the freshness was almost heavy and dense.

After swallowing a mouthful, it felt as if the full rich flavor still lingered on the tongue!

The various thin shreds in the soup gave a slight texture while drinking, but when trying to catch that texture with teeth or tongue, it was completely imperceptible.

This kind of subtle texture combined with the richness that almost had substance made it the best soup he’d ever drunk!

Especially now… the flavor still clearly lingered in his mouth, urging him to take another sip…

“Drink quickly! That mechanism isn’t very stable, they might escape soon!”

Han Qiao then understood why the haunted house planners fixed all the bowls and dishes to the table.

If they hadn’t been fixed, he could have just carried them away — how great would that be!

But now, he could only lie on the table together with his partner, desperately scooping soup into his mouth in a very awkward posture…

“This soup really has magic, I just can’t stop…”

At that moment, someone caught up!

Not Ms. Wang and the others who were locked up, but Wang Zhaoshan, who had just been knocked unconscious and was now allowed back in.

Before he came in, Xu Ruyi was a bit worried: “Uncle, you’re a bit old, maybe you shouldn’t continue? If it’s really too much, I can refund you some money?”She was experiencing for the first time that someone was scared unconscious!

“No need, I have to go! If you’re really worried, just send me the chef’s contact info.”

Xu Ruyi was still considering keeping it secret from Chen Ran, so naturally, she wouldn’t share the contact info.

“How about this, I’ll send you a small souvenir later, and you can continue from the new map, okay?”

She didn’t dare let Wang Zhaoshan continue with the previous brothel map; what if he got scared unconscious again?

So, Wang Zhaoshan didn’t see Ms. Wang and the others but quickly caught up to Han Qiao and the others who were drinking soup vigorously.

Looking at them, Wang Zhaoshan felt distressed that they were passed out!

“That’s Wensi Tofu! You two slow down!”

After the previous lion’s head battle, how could Han Qiao dare to drink slowly? If he drank slowly, would this gentleman rush over to snatch it?

Wang Zhaoshan truly cared.

Wensi Tofu, as one of the top skill dishes in Huaiyang cuisine, has actually somewhat gone off track over the years.

In major Huaiyang restaurants, this dish often loses its original meaning as a soup dish and instead becomes a performance dish displayed in the main hall.

The chef performing first crisply chops a piece of tofu, then slowly pushes the tofu shreds into the soup bowl, and everyone is satisfied watching the fine tofu shreds as thin as cow hair.

But the most important part of this dish is absolutely not the knife skills!

The three basic skills of Huaiyang cuisine are: clear soup skill, deboning skill, and kneading skill. Deboning belongs to knife skills, but knife skills for cutting tofu can’t be fully counted as one of the basics.

The most important basic skill for Wensi Tofu lies in the clear soup skill!

The tofu shreds serve to carry the ultimate freshness of this soup, not to let the chef show off chopping in the main hall for the customers.

The soup’s freshness, even standing five meters away, Wang Zhaoshan felt all 36,000 pores of his body were open, every part smooth and perfect.

“Is it not okay if I don’t go? This soup must be tasted with the middle part of the tongue! You can’t just gulp it down!”

Huaiyang cuisine is scholar’s cuisine: first appreciate the elegant presentation, then scoop a spoonful of soup into the middle of the tongue.

The middle of the tongue has the most distinct sense of texture.

Han Qiao looked at Wang Zhaoshan a bit doubtfully. Seeing him really just standing there unmoving, he tentatively scooped a spoonful of soup and tasted it according to what the gentleman said.

He felt it!

At first drinking the soup, he thought the white tofu shreds filling the bowl seemed useless.

The tofu shreds were so fine he couldn’t feel any texture, and in taste, the tofu flavor was completely overwhelmed by the delicious soup broth.

But as he slowly pushed it up to his palate with his tongue, that texture was amplified by this piece.

That extreme fresh and delicious mouthfeel slowly blossomed on his tongue, then flowed down the sides all the way to the base of his tongue…

This incredibly smooth texture combined with the fresh taste he had rarely experienced formed a sensation he could never forget.

Han Qiao patted his companion hard: “Listen to him, taste it with the middle part of your tongue!”

He had eaten delicacies before, but he never knew that fine dining actually had a unique way to savor it!Just like these tofu shreds that break at the slightest touch—if swallowed in big gulps like he did just now, the perfect combination of texture and flavor would be missed.

However, his companion cared about something else: “Hey, Han Ge, let’s book another day. I haven’t had enough yet!”

Han Qiao struggled a bit; as a professional haunted house player, he had his own principles.

Once a puzzle is solved, never replay it!

He even had a dedicated haunted house review account. Although this field was niche, who in this niche hadn’t heard of Han Feng Qiqi?

“This isn’t really breaking the rule, right? We’ve broken other rules before… Isn’t this just to come back for some more good food?”

Han Qiao hesitated, then nodded: “Then hurry up and book a group deal.”

His companion quickly took out his phone, flipped through a few pages, then looked shocked: “No more left…”

At this moment, Wang Zhaoshan had already quickly approached with a smile on his face: “So, how’s the soup tasting method I taught you? Different, right?”

Han Qiao hesitated a moment and gave him the seat: “If you don’t mind, you can drink the last two sips.”

By now, Han Qiao’s companion had finished the other bowl, and the two exchanged a glance and quickly left.

Meanwhile, Wang Zhaoshan, immersed in the Wensi Tofu, didn’t notice that Ms. Wang and the others had finally broken free from the trap!

Just as they arrived, they saw Wang Zhaoshan with a proud look, standing there savoring something, but in front of him were only two empty bowls.

“Wang Zhaoshan!”

“Did you forget you’re on the bottom team?”

“How can you eat so much?!”

Wang Zhaoshan was all talk but didn’t dare face the fury of these food lovers head-on.

He could only weakly defend himself: “Bottom team isn’t Chen Ran’s team, right? Isn’t this Chef Lin?”

Ji You was momentarily speechless. Indeed, this wasn’t Chen Ran.

“What dish is this? Don’t just eat for free, describe it properly.”

“Who is this Chef Lin? But from the menu, it looks like he specializes in Huaiyang cuisine? Maybe a disciple of someone?”

Wang Zhaoshan suddenly recalled that scary ghost face that frightened him earlier—it looked a bit like the rarely seen Huaiyang cuisine master, Old Xu.

But why would Old Xu be here? He quickly dismissed the thought.

“This dish is probably the most famous Huaiyang dish—Wensi Tofu. Many of you have probably tried it, but few know…”

While Wang Zhaoshan was explaining Wensi Tofu to everyone, Han Qiao had already finished this haunted house adventure.

Unable to get group tickets, he communicated with Xu Ruyi and finally exchanged a review article for two spots in a few days.

Soon, his review was published.

“A masterpiece full of Easter eggs!”

In this review, Han Qiao praised the haunted house’s story and scene design. But in the end, he couldn’t resist devoting a full third of the article to praise the lion’s head in the haunted house.

“Honestly, I’ve also tried Tian Kailou’s clear stewed crab meat lion’s head, but the lion’s head in this haunted house tasted much better than theirs…”“Although I am a devoted fan of various haunted houses, I sincerely hope that Chef Lin Wei of this haunted house can one day open his own Huaiyang cuisine restaurant.”

“Of course, if the restaurant also has some horror elements, that would be even better!”

What’s easiest to become popular these days? Crossovers!

Especially when Chen Ran’s various ranking videos are still going strong, suddenly a chef named Lin appears, specializing in cooking in haunted houses?

Lion’s Head and Wensi Tofu, these two classic Huaiyang dishes, put together with haunted houses—how could that not be so captivating?

However, to some people, this sounded less wonderful.

At Tian Kailou, Yang Jingzhou looked at a series of reports his son forwarded to him, his face gradually darkening.

Why can’t that old bastard just settle down? His hands are crippled, yet where did he go to find a disciple?

And he even somehow taught himself internet marketing?

Back when Xu Zhuoxing learned cooking under him, if that old man hadn’t been so protective of his little territory and had a marketing brain, would he have done those things?

“Any news from your second senior uncle?”

“No, still locked up in the countryside…”

Looks like it really is a newly recruited disciple.

He couldn’t let such rumors spread: lion’s head tastier than Tian Kailou’s—what nonsense!

Yang Jingzhou had some marketing experience; after thinking it over, he came up with an idea he thought was brilliant.

—Fight marketing with marketing!

He looked up and instructed his son: “Find the contact info for that popular Chen Ran from a while ago. Isn’t she fond of working all over? Working at Tian Kailou is just another job. Offer her some benefits and respectfully invite her over.”

The same marketing approach, the same internet-famous chef—let Chen Ran’s braised lion’s head compete against the haunted house’s lion’s head! No matter what, he’d ride the wave of traffic and only profit, never lose!