Monster Escape Room Re-Employment Chapter 7
byA Bloody Claw Machine
Jiang Lingyi vaguely remembered walking home with Lou Xian that day, but what exactly happened on the way was a bit of a blur.
The impact of the phrase, “Because I have always been watching you,” was simply too strong. He was completely stunned. Lou Xian always managed to surprise him with shocking words, making him wonder if he was too much like a firecracker, easily set off. This was not good; the elite demeanor he had painstakingly cultivated over two years was on the verge of total collapse in less than a week.
Generally speaking, being secretly watched in one’s daily life would cause some annoyance. Jiang Lingyi was a hypocrite; if it were anyone else, he would immediately call the police and, depending on the situation, call a lawyer.
But if the person was Lou Xian…
He wished he could leave his clothes open after showering every day so Lou Xian could get a good look. He would even proactively open the refrigerator, the wardrobe, and the computer, adopting a respectful “Please” gesture, complete with an expressive commentary.
White Impermanence set up official accounts for the Phantom Immersive Horror Escape Room on various social media platforms and released several promotional videos, ranging from tacky to high-end styles. Without exception, they sank without a trace, garnering only a few hundred views each. The promotion fees on review apps were frighteningly expensive, making them unaffordable.
Jiang Lingyi never believed that ordinary marketing methods would be effective; they were merely better than nothing.
No matter. He had a more underhanded trick.
That was placing two second-hand claw machines he had scavenged outside the store entrance. These were no ordinary claw machines; they were filled with the valuable dolls confiscated during Night of the Dolls. The machine on the left contained Sanrio and Di*ney series, while the one on the right held two-dimensional figures that every otaku couldn’t walk past without stopping. Customers could play by exchanging tokens inside the store, limited to twenty attempts per day.
The value of these genuine prizes was ten or even a hundred times higher than the cheap, mass-produced goods typically found in claw machines, which were wholesaled online for ten yuan each. By simply walking over to the front desk inside the store and exchanging a few dozen yuan for tokens, customers could easily win prizes with a combination of luck and skill. If someone happened to covet a rare, out-of-print doll that was being resold online for exorbitant prices, they would come back every day until they caught it.
What did Manager Wu Yunying want? Customer traffic, of course! And hadn’t the customers stepped through the door?
The luxurious prizes in this claw machine predictably generated a significant buzz. After buying a few promotional posts, it triggered organic word-of-mouth among passersby. Long queues formed outside the store, and thanks to the despicable—no, the scamming—purchase limit, daily customer traffic was guaranteed to increase compared to before.
Black Impermanence, who was moonlighting as the queue maintenance staff, commented, “Store Manager, if you lived in ancient times, you would definitely be an expert at exploiting the common people.”
Jiang Lingyi retorted, “It’s basic business operation. For a Black Impermanence, your moral standards need lowering. Go, buy a money tree and put it at the entrance. Make sure it’s fake, not alive.”
Some customers who walked into the store to exchange tokens were converted into escape room patrons, though the number was small, about five percent. At least it wasn’t zero, and they gave positive reviews for the revamped themes, saying they would recommend the place to friends who enjoyed Chinese and high-altitude horror. When Ripper Woman was told this, she was so moved that her eyeballs popped out, dragging a large mass of nerve tissue along with them.
Even with the newfound popularity, Jiang Lingyi did not let his guard down. He had anticipated all sorts of emergencies, such as people cutting in line, machine malfunctions, or scalpers reselling tokens, and he instructed Black Impermanence on countermeasures until she grew annoyed. He was also certain that his planning had blind spots, because emergencies are called emergencies precisely because they are unreasonable and outside the scope of common sense—something unavoidable in any job. It was like solving a math problem: even if one felt careful and verified every step, bizarre errors could still occur in the end.
No matter, Jiang Lingyi would adapt as needed.
Three or four days passed, and the number of dolls successfully clawed out was negligible. Consequently, customers began to suspect that the store was deliberately drawing traffic and that the machines were rigged. Complaints were even filed, prompting the Bureau of Industry and Commerce to investigate, drawing a large crowd of onlookers outside the store. Jiang Lingyi was not afraid of them. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and his operating licenses had just been renewed. He opened the doors for inspection and even personally stepped up to demonstrate.
He stood in front of the two claw machines and surveyed the crowd. “Hello everyone, I am the (acting) manager of Phantom. These dolls are surplus materials from previous projects that were optimized out, just being reused. These two machines are standard commercial models and have absolutely not been tampered with.”
“So he’s the manager? He used to sneak around the store, only appearing at night. I thought he was a thief…”
“All claw machines are like this. How would the store make money if you could grab everything?”
“Baby, I really want that Lin*bell. Can you grab it for me, please?”
“This manager is kind of handsome… No, no, I can’t let my morals follow my looks.”
“Strike down unscrupulous businesses!”
Jiang Lingyi deliberately paused, allowing the onlookers to vent their feelings, before giving a look to the Vampire and Black Impermanence.
The Vampire, having been briefed beforehand, immediately played the bad cop. “If you ask me, some people are just unskilled! They can’t catch anything themselves, so they blame the machine! Getting so triggered over a claw machine is hilarious.”
Sure enough, an otaku—wearing glasses, a plaid shirt, a watermelon haircut, and a backpack, a complete stereotype—stepped forward, looking indignant. “Although I can’t tell the method, it must be rigged! I am the blogger ‘Iron Claw Grabs Bread,’ specializing in exposing fraudulent claw machine operators like you.”
Jiang Lingyi knew this person. He was a famous vertical-market claw machine blogger, and Jiang Lingyi had even helped him gain initial popularity. He didn’t doubt the otaku’s skill, but given the Extremely Inauspicious Ground feng shui of the Phantom Escape Room… it would be a miracle if anyone could claw anything out.
Some passersby who recognized him nodded in agreement.
The Vampire saw that the momentum was right. “How about this? I’ll demonstrate right now. It definitely can be caught.”
“Tch, you’re an employee. Who knows if you’re a shill.”
“Then how about this? Come here, little sister.” The Vampire waved to a seven or eight-year-old girl in the crowd. “Do you want that doll? Do you know how to play?”
The little girl nodded and looked at her mother. The Vampire immediately flashed a brilliant, professional smile at the mother, who cautiously pulled her daughter behind her. The smile on his face instantly faltered. “Iron Claw Grabs Bread” pushed through the crowd, holding his phone up to record. “This isn’t a magic show. Let me try.”
Jiang Lingyi had retreated to the side. With his eyes unobstructed by lenses, he clearly saw a mass of black mist swirling inside the claw machine, enveloping the pile of dolls. A white mask wore an expression of indifference.
He had said it before: if you could win something from this claw machine, it meant there was a ghost.
In the end, the Bureau of Industry and Commerce found no issues, and random passersby verified that the machine’s probability was normal. “Iron Claw Grabs Bread” was utterly perplexed but couldn’t find any fault.
Unfortunately, the claw machine tactic ultimately did not survive a week. It survived one disaster, but the next was unavoidable.
“I don’t know if it was a scalper or a thief, but they snuck in late at night after the mall and the store closed, and smashed the claw machine glass with a rock. After all, the things inside were quite valuable, and that area is very ominous… you know. A large shard of glass cut an artery, and the blood sprayed out like a fountain. It was the security guard who heard the commotion and called an ambulance. Otherwise, there would have been a corpse outside our store the next morning!”
In the rooftop garden at night, Jiang Lingyi excitedly gestured, explaining to Lou Xian the sudden collapse of the claw machine strategy. They spent almost every evening on the rooftop, enjoying the breeze and talking about everything, with Lou Xian mostly listening quietly to Jiang Lingyi’s various stories.
“Although it was that person’s own fault, nearly causing a death meant the mall asked Manager Wu Yunying to notify us to shut down those two claw machines.” Jiang Lingyi scratched his head. “Those dolls are yours. How should we handle them?”
Lou Xian thought for a moment. “If any employees want them, they can take them. Sell the rest second-hand; we can recoup some funds.”
“Aren’t you keeping one?”
Lou Xian hesitated. He had only purchased these dolls based on online reviews and didn’t genuinely like them. But with Jiang Lingyi saying this, he wavered. He wanted to try and discover the dolls’ lovable qualities.
“You choose for me.”
“You trust my taste?” Jiang Lingyi asked half-jokingly.
“I don’t know if I will like what you choose, but I will definitely cherish it.”
“Are you saying things like that on purpose to provoke me?”
Jiang Lingyi felt it was necessary to reduce the frequency of their conversations. If this continued, he would genuinely lose years off his life.