3 Chapter 3. Have you ever seen a horror movie?
Mist City was a very peaceful town and the businesses set up there were centuries old. New shops would hardly get noticed and although once in a while, shop owners would send out flyers to attract people to their shops, it hardly worked.
Marketing was at a very primitive stage and it was very expensive.
That's why it was important for Kai to do it right. He didn't have a lot of money and it was important to make a big noise in the whole city to promote his theatre shop.
For a whole week, Kai ran renovation services in the shop. He installed good sofas from his family estate into the shop aside from chairs. He also got a nice seat and counter for himself.
The name of the shop was "White Dragon Arts and Entertainment".
The reason for the name was that Wang's family has worshipped the legendary White Dragon for years. It was a symbol associated with the family and having it in the name meant that the business was owned by the Wang clan.
Although it had fallen, the clan still had some say, so people won't dare to go against the shop without thinking twice.
After the renovation was done, Kai made a detailed marketing plan.
Shen Mu was against it but he wasn't able to say anything against Kai. He let him handle everything and at the start of the next week, the shop was officially opened.
Now, the wait was only for the marketing plan to start taking effect.
***
There were a lot of famous tea shops in the entertainment district. Out of all, a few were always filled to the brim as they would have great tea and regular customers.
Out of all, Tang Yan was a regular of Tranquil Lotus Tea House. This was the tea house that gave the best tea in his opinion and for the past year, he had spent his mornings drinking tea and reading novels in the tea house.
Even today, Tang Yan made his way towards the tea house, finding that there were already a few people sitting there.
That was a bit unusual as it would only be in the afternoon that more customers would come in.
But he didn't think much of it and got his favourite tea and the novel he was reading yesterday. He sat in the corner and started reading.
The story was a love story between cultivators of rival sects — A hard hitting tale of their forbidden romance.
He was a sucker for these types of novels, but these days, he had started to find them a bit boring.
After all, the storylines had gotten very predictable.
No new genres have come out in the market and as these were more marketed towards females, every novel was a romance.
No matter how much he loved the genre, he was going to be bored after a year of reading it.
He needed a break.
"Maybe, I should try out something else for a week? I can go and play board games with my brother."
As Tang Yan muttered that, he suddenly heard two people talking behind him. His ears perked up subconsciously as he listened to the conversation.
"Did you hear the news?"
"What news?"
"There's a new shop opened up in the entertainment district. Wang Clan's new head Wang Kai is running it and he had promised that whoever can watch a movie in his shop for two hours, he would give out 50 Spirit Crystals to them. If you can't do it, then you need to pay double the price."
"What?" 50 Crystals for two hours! What kind of lunacy is that? And what even is a movie?"
The two of them kept talking and Tang Yan overheard the whole conversation.
Apparently, a new shop was doing a bet for 50 Spirit Crystals. That was a lot of money for Tang Yan and for a moment, his greed overpowered his reasoning.
That moment was enough for him to want to check out the shop for himself.
'Well, I'm a second year in the academy. I doubt I can't watch whatever this movie is for two hours.'
He thought in his mind.
Tang Yan was a cultivator and had even fought beasts in an expedition. He didn't feel like a random shop would be able to scare him away.
It almost felt like free money to him.
"May I know the address to this shop you are talking about?"
That's why, he quickly asked for the address of Wang Kai's shop and left.
He didn't realise that the two men were snickering as soon as he left the tea shop.
The marketing plan had already begun.
***
"No one had come till now."
Kai thought as he yawned. It had been an hour since the shop had opened up but until now, not one person had come to watch the movie.
"Young master, you need to be patient. We have already instructed everyone. I'm pretty sure a few customers would soon come to our doorsteps. The scheme you have conjured up is sure to attract a lot of people."
Shen Mu said, trying to calm Kai down.
50 Spirit Crystals in two hours was a huge sum and he was sure that it would attract tons of people. The only problem was that he didn't know what would happen if they actually had to give out that much money to every customer.
Wang clan would be on the streets in a day.
"Young master, you are sure that the plan would work, right?" The old man asked, looking at Kai.
"It will work. I myself watched the movie. It's not something that just anyone could watch."
"Yes but what if a strong cultivator or mage came?"
"Even they have fear of the unknown. Although they are more powerful, it doesn't mean they don't know fear. Our horror movie is bound to give them a shock."
Kai smirked, thinking about it.
<The Conjuring> was one of the most famous horror movies on Earth and it was quite a good movie. In his past life, he wasn't able to watch it entirely in the first setting and had nightmares for a week.
It was a bit cliche but its quality was undeniable.
Moreover, he doubted that the people of this world who had never watched a movie before would be able to stand against a horror movie.
As he was waiting, a man suddenly walked in. Kai and Shen Mu both stood up straight.
Their first prey was here!
"Hello, are you the one who is giving out 50 Spirit Crystals if I manage to watch your movie?"
The man had black hair in a pony tail and his face had delicate features. He looked rich from his face to his clothes.
"Yes, if you can't do that, then you need to pay double the price."
Kai explained the rules. It was pretty simple to be honest. A classic gamble.
"You are not trying to scam me, right?" The man squinted his eyes. "I'm Tang Yan, a student from the academy. If I find out it's a scam, I'm going to destroy your whole shop."
"You are free to do so." Kai stood firm against the threat. "We are running an honest business here. You pay and I can start the movie."
Kai said as he gestured towards the theatre room.
He opened the door and they walked in. The whole room had been cleaned and now, there was a sofa in front of the TV screen that people could sit on.
When Tang Yan gazed upon the TV, he tilted his head in confusion.
"What is this?"
"It's a magical artifact called a TV. The movie would run on this."
"This movie is a story?" He asked, unsure of everything around him. All this was something he was hearing for the first time.
"It's a story about ghosts." Kai explained with a smile and then pointed towards the TV. "You need to pay 15 Spirit Crystals for two hours of usage. 10 for activating the artifact and another 5 is the cost. If you bring your friends, then you can share the activation fee."
This was one of the business tactics that Kai had planned. Although he would earn a bit less like this, at least more people would visit his shop.
He had accepted the quest, so he needed to complete it.
"That's a lot of money you are asking. Can't you lower it?"
Tang Yan said, hoping to get the prices to be a bit lower. Haggling was a skill everyone in the town knew.
"The price can't be lowered. You are here to win the gamble anyway. Does it matter how much the price is when you are confident of winning?"
"Well, that's true."
Tang Yan hesitated a bit as Kai looked too confident and he had not seen such a magical artefact before but if he managed to succeed, he would make a profit of 35 Spirit Crystals in just two hours.
In the end, he quashed all his worries and decided to try. A cultivator shouldn't fear a measly shop owner.
"Okay, take my money and turn on the artifact."
He handed over 15 Spirit Crystals and Kai quickly inserted 10 of them into the TV. It turned on in the next instant and a message was written on it.
[There's only one movie installed.]
[Do you want to watch <The Conjuring>? Y/N]
"You can select yes and start watching. I will see you in two hours."
Kai said and left the room. In his mind, he was sure that Tang Yan wouldn't even make the first 30 minutes of the movie.
As soon as the shop owner left, the lights suddenly turned off, startling Tang Yan but as the TV was on, he was still able to see.
"That scared me."
He thought and sat down, then looked at the screen in front of him before selecting the option to watch <The Conjuring>.
"Hopefully, it's not something bad."
He muttered and got comfortable.
The movie soon began and at first, Tang Yan was very surprised by what he was seeing.
"Are they moving pictures? Or is it one of those highly sought after recording artifact?"
In this world, there were all sorts of artifacts, some going up to the First and Second Epoch. These artifacts are known to be made by geniuses from thousands of years ago and among them, any type of recording artifact was worth more than anything.
Any sect would pay handsomely for it.
At first, he was surprised that the Wang clan had such an artifact hidden but after a while, he focused on the screen, having lost himself in the story that was unfolding in front of him.
It was way more interesting to watch people a story unfolding in video rather than just reading it.
Although he wasn't able to know what kingdom the people were from, it didn't harm his immersion into the story.
It started from the scene of three people explaining a story about a doll. Tang Yan had never seen something like this before, so he kept his eyes glued to the screen as it all unfolded.
He saw the story of the doll, how it was a possessed doll with an evil spirit on it but until the part where the two girls threw the doll out, Tang Yan was still okay.
It was a bit creepy but he had seen worse things.
But as the scene cut to the banging on the door, he was momentarily scared.
"Calm down, you are supposed to aim for the heavens. This can't scare you."
He said to himself as he saw one of the girls move towards the door and open it, only to find a note there.
Until this part, he was okay but when one of the girls turned their head around and the banging happened again, he wasn't able to stop a scream from leaving his mouth.
