Chapter Eleven: The Boss Is Omnipotent

He wiped his mouth with his hand and signaled the chefs to prepare a few more portions. The two chefs, overwhelmed with honor, felt it was a great privilege that their boss appreciated their skills so much. They hurried into the kitchen and soon brought out three more meat pies.

Suppressing his nausea and feigning enjoyment, Shang Yi forced down another pie. Seeing his HP was now fully restored, he stored the remaining two pies in his personal inventory.

At that moment, Shang Yi suddenly remembered there was something important he had yet to do. He rushed up to the third floor and found a ghost-faced head left over from the haunted house in the storage room. Returning to the prison’s restroom, he called the Lizard over privately and told him about the White Phantom.

Shang Yi hoped the Lizard could serve as a security guard in the prison scenario. If he detected intruders like the White Phantom, he was to do his best to protect the guests. Therefore, Shang Yi asked him to possess the ghost-faced head, allowing Shang Yi to monitor the Lizard’s location at any time through the surveillance system.

The Lizard readily agreed to the boss’s request. He quickly possessed the ghost-faced head and began bouncing and hopping across the floor, producing a remarkably terrifying effect.

With the Lizard settled, Shang Yi, even with his ten points of resilience, still felt a trace of fatigue. He returned to his room on the third floor, set his alarm for nine o’clock in the morning, and lay down for a nap.

At precisely nine, the alarm woke him. After a quick wash, he walked to the entrance of the haunted house. Only one female employee had arrived on time, making it clear that something was wrong.

“Boss! Here are the resignation letters from the other four employees. They said your parents were always kind to them and felt too embarrassed to quit in person, so they asked me to pass these on to you.”

The young woman speaking was nineteen years old, named Su Xiaoxue. Petite, with a doll-like face, she looked adorable and full of youthful energy.

From his experiences before crossing over, Shang Yi knew that once employees had decided to leave, retaining them would come at a steep price—it was better to hire new staff. Besides, in a service industry like a haunted house, aside from the boss and the core designer, no one was truly irreplaceable.

He accepted the resignation letters with a wry smile. “Although I saw this coming, losing so many old employees at once still feels a bit sad.”

Seeing Su Xiaoxue’s undiminished enthusiasm, he nodded. “In the company’s most difficult moments, what we need most are pillars like you.”

“Side mission completed—Key Employee.”

“You have learned the skill—Ghost Face: You can instantly make any expression you desire.”

Shang Yi read the system’s floating text and couldn’t help but marvel at how considerate the system was. Right now, he truly needed a skill like Ghost Face. Whether managing staff, dealing with guests, or even facing the amusement park management, a superb performance was essential.

He took the “Closed” sign from the ticket counter and placed it at the entrance.

“Xiaoxue, the haunted house will be temporarily closed this morning. We have a new scenario, and I need to assign you some new tasks.”

“Huh? When did we get a new scenario?” Su Xiaoxue looked at him, wide-eyed in astonishment.

Without explanation, Shang Yi used the Ghost Face skill for the first time, giving her a look that said, “Your boss is all-powerful—just trust me, and you’ll experience all sorts of surprises.”

Gazing at his handsome face, Su Xiaoxue’s expression instantly turned to one of admiration mixed with bashfulness.

Seeing how effective the Ghost Face skill was, Shang Yi proudly led Su Xiaoxue into the prison scenario, introducing her to each haunted house actor and the locations of the scare points room by room.

Although Su Xiaoxue was already something of a veteran, having worked here for over half a year, she had never seen anything on this scale before. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the fierce-looking guards and prisoners.

“Boss, was this scenario built just last night? Did you hire all these actors?” Her mouth hung open in disbelief from the moment she entered.

“These are all high-tech. The whole scenario is high-tech. You just need to focus on your job—scaring the guests isn’t your concern.”

Shang Yi, unable to think of a better explanation for the actors and scenes, simply attributed everything to advanced technology to hoodwink the naive young woman.

He then displayed another Ghost Face—this time exuding the aura of an unchallengeable boss.

Su Xiaoxue instantly fell for it, asking in a childlike voice, “Boss, what will I need to do from now on?”

After showing her all the areas of the prison, Shang Yi finally brought her to the surveillance room on the first floor.

“This control room isn’t open to the public. From now on, besides ticket sales and bookkeeping, your job is to help me monitor this room.”

“You need to keep an eye on the status of every guest and actor in real time. If anything happens, you can provide immediate assistance.”

Su Xiaoxue looked around at the room full of screens, clicking her tongue in awe. “Boss, this is really high-tech. I’ve never seen a haunted house with a control room this big.”

“You’ll need to memorize the routes through the haunted house. If a guest can’t handle it and wants out, you must be able to get them out quickly.”

“Yes, boss! I promise to complete the task.”

“That’s the kind of decisiveness I like.” Looking at Su Xiaoxue’s youthful, doll-like face, Shang Yi couldn’t help but marvel at the effectiveness of the Ghost Face skill.

“Go back in and do another round—go all the way to the deepest part and come out again, so you can really get familiar with the routes. I’ll watch you on the monitors.”

“Okay, boss! But this prison scenario is so realistic—it’s a little scary going in alone.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll tell the actors to stay put. No one will scare our own staff.”

Su Xiaoxue spent a full twenty minutes jogging through every area again.

“Alright, that should be enough. Time to open for business. I’ll give the actors a few more instructions. You go greet the guests and start selling tickets.”

That day, the haunted house opened a full hour later than usual. But even on normal days, visitors were scarce—if one or two people showed up, it was already considered a good day.

After sending Su Xiaoxue out, Shang Yi went into the prison interior, gathered the team leaders, and reiterated the key points for opening.

He found the walkie-talkies left behind by the prison and distributed one to each employee. This way, he could watch the screens in the control room and direct every staff member.

All the team leaders pounded their chests, guaranteeing they would accomplish their tasks. Only the Lizard leader, now reduced to just a ghostly head, bounced around the floor like a basketball. With each leap, he tried to prove his ability and loyalty.

Just as Shang Yi was about to give a few more instructions, Su Xiaoxue came running in, breathless.

“Boss! Something’s wrong—a huge crowd of guests just arrived!”

Shang Yi smiled at her flushed face. “It’s a good thing to have customers, so why say something’s wrong?”

“No, boss, you don’t understand. A lot of the guests are shouting and cursing.” Su Xiaoxue clenched her fists, looking as if she’d suffered some great grievance.