strictlysupreme Chapter 422 The Haunting Returns
Chapter 422 The Haunting Returns
After these few days of development, Qimeng Resort has finally taken on the look of a resort.
Seeing the increasing number of tourists, Iggy and Teresa finally smiled again after a long time.
However, just when everyone thought that the Dream Resort should fully resume its operations, a terrified scream shattered that expectation.
When Ling and the others arrived, they looked in the direction the frightened tourists were pointing and indeed witnessed a paranormal event.
A terrifying portrait floated calmly in the air, surrounded by many other terrifying things floating around it.
The crowd rushed forward to comfort the tourists and explained that it must be a prank. Alice then went to a scary doll that was hanging by a rope and reached out to take it down.
But the next second her hand grasped nothing; her hand passed right through the rope in full view of everyone.
"Ring, ring...!"
Alice, who was afraid of ghosts, froze instantly, tears welling in her eyes and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Then, amidst Shinto's angry shouts, these things slowly disappeared, accompanied by bursts of eerie laughter.
This incident made the tourists at the scene believe the rumors that the Dream Resort was haunted, and they began to demand refunds.
Seeing that things were getting out of hand, Igi had no choice but to ask all the disgruntled tourists to move to the front desk to appease them.
If all else fails, the only option is to refund the tourists. By the time the matter was completely resolved, it was already late at night.
Iggy walked heavily to the group, but Theresa was in even worse condition than him.
Iggy had already comforted her, but she was still in a bad mood. However, it was already late, so Iggy decided to let everyone go back and rest first, and talk about everything tomorrow.
Because what had just happened was so bizarre, Yuzuha and Rin suggested that the three of them sleep together. Alice agreed, and then, with a force that almost made someone faint, Alice hugged Rin and Yuzuha and fell asleep. The next day, Rin was awakened by the noise outside.
When I went outside, I found that Iji was dealing with some tourists again. When I went up to ask, I found out that something had happened yesterday and was filmed by some tourist and posted online.
This meant that even though they dealt with the matter immediately yesterday, it still managed to escalate within the resort.
He can manage things here, but Teresa's situation is more serious, so he hopes that Ling and the others can go to the front desk to help take a look.
When Ling and the others arrived at the front desk, they found that a large number of tourists had already gathered there, demanding an explanation from Teresa.
While trying to maintain her composure and calm the tourists, Teresa operated the cashier, refunding money to those who insisted on a refund.
But Rin could vaguely see the tears in Theresa's eyes, and just then a familiar hand patted Rin's shoulder.
Ling turned around and saw that it was indeed Zhe. Zhe didn't say anything, but gestured with his eyes for everyone to go to a corner to talk later.
Once they reached a corner, Zhe couldn't help but worry, "I didn't expect the news about the ghost to spread so quickly... If this continues, the resort's hard-earned popularity will plummet again..."
“Hmm…it seems we need to find out what’s going on with the milk price as soon as possible,” Yuzu said. “Masato can temporarily take charge of the resort’s operations…while he’s holding things together, we need to thoroughly investigate the truth of this matter. If we delay any longer, we don’t even know if the music festival can be held smoothly.”
Yes, a music festival.
Just as the Dream Resort was gradually getting on track, Yuye proposed an idea to completely ignite the resort's popularity with a grand music festival.
Even the band Alice had been contacted, but given the current situation, it's questionable whether they're even willing to come.
"Yuzu, are we really going to investigate the ghost stories...? Wouldn't it be better if I let Mr. Arnold take over..."
It was obvious that Alice was scared. Yuzuki complained about Alice's sleeping posture yesterday while advising Alice to give up the idea.
"...Besides, Aino's husband is probably busy with all sorts of things at home right now, isn't he? Dealing with ghost stories should be our job at the Ghost Story House!"
The Mr. Arnold they were referring to was Alice's butler, because Alice had recently decided to release the patent for the corrosion inhibitor for free, which had caused the Timfeld family to lose a significant portion of their income.
This led Alice's grandfather to start thinking about which assets could be divested to reduce expenses after his condition improved, and Arnold, as the butler, naturally had to help with this.
That's why she didn't come to help run the resort. After all, running a resort was Alice's first business project. Although it wasn't her own property, the Timfield family's rules didn't allow them to just take it lightly.
However, Arnold simply couldn't spare the time, so he had no choice but to let Alice and Yuzuha figure out how to run the business on their own.
Just as Yuzuki and Alice were jokingly trying to persuade her, Kiana and the others happened to pass by. After learning what had happened, Kiana and the others readily agreed to help.
However, Yuye planned to wait and see, since it wouldn't be hard to guess the mastermind by working backward from the whole incident, but they didn't have any reasons, evidence, or clues.
So Yuzuha plans to keep the resort popular, which will inevitably make that [ghost] lose his composure and appear.
Although this might further damage the resort's popularity, as long as the truth is investigated in time, its popularity can be preserved.
However, before waiting for the rabbit to come to the tree stump, Yuzu decided to first talk to Theresa to find out what had happened to the resort in the past.
So the group split up to investigate the resort staff, while Kiana went with Rin to the front desk to find Theresa. Kiana waited until Theresa had finished dealing with the tourists before approaching her to ask questions.
Theresa was sitting dejectedly in a chair nearby. Although it was not good to rub salt into someone's wounds, everyone had no choice but to do so in order to quickly dispel the rumors of haunting.
Through Theresa's words, everyone gradually learned about what happened back then. Willis, whom they had met once before, suddenly appeared when the resort had been operating for more than a year.
Because of the ghost stories circulating when the resort first opened, its business took a sharp downturn, and it failed to even recoup its initial investment. It was at this time that Willis approached Theresa and her group, claiming he wanted to help them.
In desperation, Teresa and Willis signed an agreement. According to the agreement, the Sanmen Group gave Teresa and her associates a large sum of money, while also specifying a latest repayment deadline.
But that money only prolonged the resort's demise. After several years, they still failed to generate any revenue, and now there is still a long time left before the deadline.
As for the inability to repay the money, according to the agreement, the resort will be transferred to Sanmen Group to offset the debt.
Iggy guessed that this was the other party's goal from the very beginning, but unfortunately, it was too late to regret it now.
Later, the group learned from Adi that when Kaminosuke was patrolling with him last night, he saw a mosquito hovering in the air. They also learned from Theresa that the resort was originally called Midsummer Resort, and it was the legacy of the Midsummer Group, which was on par with the Sanmen Group in the military industry before the fall of the old capital.
She is the daughter of the president of the Midsummer Group, who has now disappeared in the fall of the old capital. At the same time, Igi's boss and Adi's first master are both his father.
Before the fall of the old capital, Midsummer Group began its transformation and venture into the cultural and entertainment industry, with Midsummer Resort being the first step in this transformation.
Unfortunately, his departure and the destruction of the group shattered all of this.
A group of employees, including Iggy, stayed to take care of the young Theresa. Six years later, Theresa felt she was capable of being independent and decided to run the resort, the last legacy her father left her. This is the background to the resort's opening five years ago.
Because calling it Midsummer Resort directly would easily evoke associations with the Midsummer Group, the name was changed to Dream Resort after much deliberation.
Now that they had a lead, Kiana and Rin met up with the others who had finished their investigation and found a convenient place to talk, where they began exchanging the information they had gathered.