Chapter 3
Everyone instantly relaxed except for Chi Nan, whose expression changed slightly.
“This is the nightmare instance with the highest beauty index that I’ve ever seen.”
“Bai Yingzhi is so good looking.”
“The goddess of my childhood is simply perfect!”
As everyone was immersed in Bai Yingzhi’s face, Chi Nan wondered, “In the nightmare world, are there many instances that are based on reality?”
Due to his girlfriend’s presence, it was inconvenient for Cheng Xu to look so he seriously answered Chi Nan, “Not many. They can be said to be very rare. Most of them are scenes and stories made up by the dream makers.”
Chi Nan asked, “So the people from reality who appear in the instance are false?”
Cheng Xu nodded. “Of course, they are fake. They are just NPCs fabricated by the dream maker. Every instance has NPCs to advance the plot or release rules. Their words and actions are designed by the dream maker. They are just a string of code.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the majestic Bai Yingzhi and then shifted his gaze to Chi Nan, frowning imperceptibly.
Chi Nan was slightly surprised and twisted his hands together thoughtfully. So You Yu who led the way just now was actually an NPC with no self-awareness? Then why did he say that he knew Chi Nan? Was it a line deliberately designed by the dream maker? It seemed that as long as the instance clearance was smooth, he could know the truth of that year.
“I let you wait a long time.” Bai Yingzhi didn’t put on any airs at all. She smiled softly and easily and had the servant make tea. Then she sat among them and took out a pile of documents. “These are your profiles and assigned script. You can familiarize yourself with your role and stories. Filming will start on the day of the Ghost Festival. We only have three days to find our sense of the drama so time is running out.”
Everyone was dumbfounded before their faces gradually changed color. “Try acting?”
“Yes, the theme of this movie is special and niche but it is a new attempt. You all haven’t graduated from school, right? It is important to accumulate filming experience now.”
Everyone was at a loss. Then the system finally synched the background of the nightmare to everyone.
[The female artist Bai Yingzhi is preparing for her new self-directed film. She invited 10 students who haven’t yet graduated from the film and television school to her private house. During the acting exchange, every sleepwalker will cooperate with Bai Yingzhi to experience the sense of drama. You must not disobey her requests.]
Old Yu learned the background and clicked his tongue. “Just us? Our faces are mixed. There is a mixture of uneven face values, the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled. We still have to audition? What is the evil taste of the dream maker this time?”
The slightly bald man who had just been ridiculed gave a wretched smile. “What special theme? Surely it isn’t some type of erotic action movie?”
A few girls glared at the bald man and Hei Cha said, “You are thinking too much. These movies aren’t niche.”
Everyone, “……”
“I…” The girl who had been trembling weakly raised her hand. “In reality, I’m really a graduate of acting and I have filmed movies. It might be helpful…”
Hei Cha’s eyes lit up. “I thought you looked familiar. You really are a star. You are… Meng… Meng…”
The girl smiled awkwardly. “My stage name is Nan Lu. This is also the name used in the nightmare world.”
Hei Cha awkwardly scratched his head. “Ah sorry, I don’t have a good memory…”
Nan Lu shook her head and smiled bitterly. “It is normal that you don’t remember me. I have never played a role with a name.”
The white-collar female worker muttered, “The system didn’t explain the theme of the movie. How can we cooperate?”
Hei Cha told them, “I heard that Bai Yingzhi seemed to be preparing a horror movie before the accident.”
“The new movie is a story about evil spirits and it is tentatively titled ‘A Feast of Fierce Ghosts’.”
Bai Yingzhi looked at the crowd, her voice soft and light. Perhaps it was because she wasn’t a real person but the smile on her face always maintained the same arc. It was a bit irritating after a long time.
Everyone froze, including the yellow-haired thief who returned with a full load. He swore and walked toward the door. “It doesn’t matter what you shoot. I don’t have time to play with you.”
He had just been caught stealing in reality and hid in the nightmare world.
Seeing the yellow-haired man push open the door while Bai Yingzhi just sat elegantly, Old Yu felt it wasn’t quite right and called out to stop it. “Yellow hair. wait. It might be dangerous to go out like this…”
Unfortunately, the yellow-haired man didn’t give him a chance to finish speaking. The heavy iron door was opened with a loud bang.
Outside the door was white and covered with dense fog. The yellow-haired man was stunned for a second. Then he gritted his teeth, held the bag full of belongings and stepped out of the house into the thick fog. The moment he stepped out, he was instantly swallowed by the thick fog. The door behind him immediately closed.
Everyone watched the yellow-haired man’s actions and the room was silent. Bai Yingzhi kept smiling throughout the entire process. “It’s okay. Let’s continue.”
She happily assigned the script to everyone.
Cheng Xu frowned. “Is it okay that there is a person missing?”
Bai Yingzhi shrugged with tolerance and confidence. “It doesn’t matter. He will come back.”
The group didn’t understand but they got the creeps.
“The scripts you have received are different. The scripts are with your biographies so check for any errors or omissions.”
Why attach their biographies to the script? People were a bit confused but before they could open the script, the rapid knocking on the door echoed in the silence.
Thump, thump thump!
The group raised their heads and glanced toward the entrance. Meanwhile, the arc of the smile on Bai Yingzhi’s face finally changed slightly. “Look, isn’t he back? No one can leave in this thick fog.”
It was a firm tone as if it was entirely like she expected. Bai Yingzhi had the maid open the door and everyone in the room held their breath and stared nervously at the big iron door. Only the blind Chi Nan seemed to be apart from this situation.
The door opened and there was nothing but a thicker fog than before.
“What is going on…” The knowledgeable Old Yu couldn’t help muttering as he stared at the white fog.
“Madam, there is no one outside.” The maid’s voice didn’t fluctuate at all and she didn’t seem like a living thing. She should be a more crudely made NPC.
Bai Yingzhi tapped on the edge of the table with her index finger. Her lips moved slightly but before she had time to make a sound, a spherical object suddenly broke through the dense fog and rolled into the room, falling heavily to the ground with a ‘bang.’
“Ahhhhh!”
Nan Lu was sitting closest to the door and she was so scared that she fell off her chair. She crawled back with her hands on the ground while crying.
The sphere that rolled into the house was the cut off head of the yellow-haired man.
This bloody head didn’t stop and rolled toward everyone’s feet as if it had eyes. As the dead head got closer and closer, everyone could see that his eyeballs had fallen off somewhere. there were only bloody holes where the eyes were. The mouth was wide open in an exaggerated and twisted arc, revealing smoke-stained yellow teeth. It seemed like it could bounce off the ground at any time to bite a person’s calf!
A few newcomers were frightened and constantly screamed. Their bodies stiffened like stone carvings. Meanwhile, the veterans frantically searched for nearby objects that could be used for self-defense.
Hei Cha was relatively calm among the newcomers. He glanced at Chi Nan’s cane and wanted to open his mouth to ask to borrow it. Then he saw the dead man’s head rolling closer…
Bang. The blind Chi Nan directly kicked the dead man’s head. The angle was just right. The head bounced on the ground and rolled toward the door.
Everyone, “…???”
Bai Yingzhi’s face stiffened before she smiled weirdly.
The dead man’s head rolled out the door and the heavy door closed automatically again, isolating the thick fog. There were only shocking blood stains left on the ground.
“I’m sorry, what did I seem to have kicked just now?” Chi Nan wondered in a gentle and polite tone.
The corners of Hei Cha’s lips twitched. “A head…”
“Oh, human?”
“Yes…” Hei Cha hesitated a moment and didn’t tell him that the owner of the head was the yellow-haired man who had been unscrupulously robbing the house just now. It was better not to increase the fear of the other party. Sometimes it was cleaner not to see it. This was what Hei Cha kindly thought.
Just then, there was a piercing noise in the direction of 8 o’clock. It sounded like a blown fuse. The group looked up anxiously and Old Yu discovered the abnormality the soonest. “One of the wall lamps is burned out.”
“Yes, there are only nine lights left because there are now nine living people.”
“It seems that this row of wall lights represents the life value of a sleepwalker.”
The sudden change caused a few newcomers to panic and some cried directly.
Cheng Xu slammed a hand against the table. “Don’t panic. Pay attention to your current awakening value!”
His words came just in time and everyone fell silent. After all, fear would cause the awakening value to soar. If this value was too high, they would be completely wiped out by this world. Unbridled fear spreading was no different from suicide.
Bai Yingzhi laughed and covered her mouth with her hand gracefully. “Don’t mind it. The yard next door always has children playing football. They are very noisy and often kick the ball into the house. They smashed the window glass several times.”
Hei Cha stared incredulously. “You said that this is a ball… a ball?!”
Bai Yingzhi waved her hand. “Isn’t it? Didn’t the male student kick the ball very accurately just now?”
She was still charming as she winked at Chi Nan. Unfortunately, Chi Nan couldn’t see it to appreciate her style. The people in this room never wanted to see Bai Yingzhi’s sweet smile anymore. Bai Yingzhi urged them to read the script. “The trial scenes take place at 2 o’clock every night. I hope everyone can be on time. I don’t like people who are late.”
The yellow-haired man had been killed and the newcomers got rid of the idea of making their way out of the house. They opened the script with trembling hands.
“Huh? Why is there nothing on my script?”
“Mine as well. What is the matter?”
“Me too…”
Bai Yingzhi placed her hand on the table and smiled slightly as she explained, “It is like this. In order to avoid a messy situation where there are too many people and I can’t control everyone, the trial scenes will be carried out in batches.”
Her gaze swept toward the sleepwalkers present. “Those who have a blank script can rest on that day. Only those who are assigned to the scene need to come over.”
Hei Cha’s heart was beating like a drum as he opened the script. The moment he saw the white piece of paper, the stone in his heart fell. It was great. He got one extra day. He raised his head and found that everyone was relieved.
Bai Yingzhi’s eyes were still wandering around. “Which lucky student was selected tonight?”
The air instantly solidified.
Chi Nan calmly handed the script to Hei Cha next to him. “Sorry, can you please help me take a look at the script?”
“No problem.” Hei Cha took Chi Nan’s script and opened it. Then his face instantly changed color. “Y-y-y-you—!”
Chi Nan turned his head slightly. “What’s the matter?”
Hei Cha held the script with trembling hands. “You have a scene tonight…”
Chi Nan nodded and waited for him to continue.
“The role: a corpse.”
Everyone, “…!”
Hei Cha continued with difficulty. “Brackets, cause of death: being killed by a fierce ghost…”
This was almost certainly announcing Chi Nan’s death.
The air seemed to drain from the room for a while and everyone had difficulty breathing. They looked at Chi Nan with nervousness, worry, sympathy, regret, panic and even a hint of luck that they could survive tonight.
Bai Yingzhi smiled sweetly again. “Acting as a corpse is also a test of an actor’s skills. The difficulty isn’t small, which I regret. Still, I am looking forward to it.”
She looked at Chi Nan like she was looking at someone about to die. “I believe it won’t be difficult for this male student who kicked the ball so well.”
The author has something to say:
Chi Nan: That’s great. I didn’t cry today.
Author: I will make you cry at night.