Escape from the Film Set

[The Third Act]

[Around four in the afternoon, within Yu Xi Village.]

[In front of Li Ling's home, sunlight streams through the windows, scattering on the ground.]

[Bian Zhe and Zhang Zian are searching the house, just as before, each person searching a room on their own.]

[In the bedroom on the left, Bian Zhe is rifling through the drawers of a desk.]

[Bian Zhe: This must be Li Ling's desk, his textbooks are on it, but where could his diary be?]

[A drawer on the right side of the desk is pulled out, revealing a black-covered notebook resting inside.]

[A smile appears on Bian Zhe's face. He reaches out, picks up the notebook, and begins flipping through the pages.]

[The last entry in the notebook was four days prior, the day before Li Ling stopped going to school.]

[The diary holds incredibly important clues related to the disappearance of the Yu Xi villagers.]

[Bian Zhe pores over it. There isn't much in the diary about the unusual occurrences in Yu Xi village, so he finishes reading it quickly.]

[Bian Zhe: Sacrifice? What is a Sacrifice?]

[Suddenly, on the bedroom wall, a black shadow emerges and glides across the wall. The black shadow slides down and gradually moves towards Bian Zhe, all without making a sound.]

[When the shadow reaches the floor by Bian Zhe's feet, his hands let go of the desk and he turns to look.]

[Bian Zhe: What's this?]

[After being noticed, the black shadow quickly retreats, sliding all the way to the window and escaping through a crack.]

[Bian Zhe: Zhang Zian, I've found something!]

[Bian Zhe rushes to the living room, but after only two steps, his legs give way and he almost kneels on the floor.]

[Bian Zhe: What just happened? Why don't my body have any strength? Was that black shadow attacking me?]

[Zhang Zian: What's your discovery?]

[Bian Zhe: Hurry outside, I just saw a black shadow clinging to the wall. This must be related to the missing villagers of Yu Xi Village.]

[Zhang Zian rushes outside to search. Bian Zhe catches his breath and stands, right hand pressing against the door frame as he hurries to follow.]

[End of The Third Act]

Qian Cangyi puts a halt to what he's doing.

The script for the third act has caught his attention. Compared to the previous two scripts, this one features a significant change.

His character, Bian Zhe, is attacked by an unidentified dark shadow. Although there's no threat to his life, his physical strength is affected.]

This is terribly concerning.

Of course, there are also gains. Li Ling's diary recorded the situation before the disappearance of the villagers of Yu Xi Village. However, it's not described in detail; he still needs to refer to the diary to know the specifics.]

"Your script seems to have an unusual discovery. Share it." Hawkeye suddenly speaks.

"Yes." Qian Cangyi nods, recounting the content of the script once more.

"A black shadow?" Hawkeye falls into pondering.

"Yes, should we still split up to search?" Qian Cangyi inhales deeply asks the question he's been wanting to ask.

"Now that we have clues, let's not split up. We'll go directly to the room you were searching." Hawkeye revises his previous decision.

Hearing Hawkeye's words, Qian Cangyi feels much reassured.

He hasn't forgotten the "suggestion" from earlier.

If Hawkeye were not a man who could adapt, then compared to the dangers in the movie world, Hawkeye would be even more dangerous.

In light of this, Qian Cangyi resolves to be more cautious. If necessary, he is not opposed to acting alone.

The two of them headed towards the bedroom on the left.

Upon entering the bedroom, Qian Cangyi made his way in a few steps to the desk and straight away opened the right drawer to fetch out Li Ling's black diary and flipped it open.

The black diary used A5-sized paper, with spaces now visible between pages, and signs of yellowing showed faintly.

The diary was more than half filled with entries, and contained many notes about everyday matters.

Qian Cangyi flipped to the last written page, which was the day before Li Ling had stopped attending class.

[June 11, Tuesday.]

[Today's homework wasn't hard, I finished it quickly. The teacher will surely praise me tomorrow!]

[Last night when I was trying to sleep, I was very scared, I kept feeling as if something was watching me, but I couldn't find it.]

[That thing seemed to be everywhere, even if I hid behind the blanket, I could still feel it.]

[Today I told mom and dad about it, surprisingly, they seem to be experiencing the same thing.]

[Mom and dad told me not to worry, but I could tell, they were scared too.]

[Just now, I was going to look for Mom and Dad, I overheard them talking about something called 'Sacrifice'. I couldn't understand at all.]

[When I pushed the door open to ask what 'Sacrifice' was, Mom and Dad said 'It's nothing'. They also said that Uncle Village Chief is dealing with it, everything will be ok.]

[I hope Uncle Village Chief can solve this, those things are really scary!]

[I'll leave off here for today, time to sleep.]

The diary continued from there, leaving a few blank lines before more notes from Li Ling appeared. Comparatively, the writing in the latter part was much messier as if Li Ling was in a huge hurry.

[I woke up frightened tonight, those things are definitely within the house, but I can't see them. I'm so scared.]

[Just now, I searched the house, but Mom and Dad are not anywhere to be found. No matter how much I called for them, there's no response. Did those things...]

[Mom and Dad mentioned something about 'Sacrifice'. Although I don't know what 'Sacrifice' means, but the presence that's watching me is definitely related to it.]

[I hope nothing happened to Mom and Dad, I plan to go out and take a look, Uncle Village Chief would surely know what's really happening.]

The notes ended here.

The contents of the previous page's diary also had some connections to the villagers' disappearance. However, the content merely noted that Li Ling discovered something strange about the people in Yu Xi village, with no significant observations.

While Qian Cangyi was examining the diary, Hawkeye kept a watchful eye on their surroundings. It was a strategy they had agreed upon in advance.

According to the script, Bian Zhe, played by him, would be attacked by the Black Shadow while reading the diary. If they can be alerted in advance, naturally they could avoid this.

"I've finished reading it," said Qian Cangyi quietly.

"The Black Shadow hasn't shown itself," replied Hawkeye, his gaze landing on the diary.

Qian Cangyi immediately understood the intentions behind Hawkeye's words and handed over the diary.

Hawkeye reached out to accept it.

Suddenly, Qian Cangyi saw a black shadow slowly appearing on the wall behind Hawkeye, it was the very same Black Shadow as described in the script.

The Black Shadow was a twisted silhouette, like a wave with trembling, spiky edges.

Following that, the Black Shadow slid down the wall to the ground, and then started to approach them.

Qian Cangyi's eyes widened. He was about to warn Hawkeye when he saw him bend his knee and jump up in response.

What?

The Black Shadow swiftly slid past underneath Hawkeye, charging straight towards Qian Cangyi.

Oh no!

Qian Cangyi immediately let go, positioning himself sidelong against the desk and using his abdominal strength to draw up his legs.

After the Black Shadow swept past his legs, it startlingly turned and slid towards the desktop.