Chapter 53

     “Xiao Shi, are you listening to me?” Ji Mingxu waved his hand in front of Shi Xi.

     Shi Xi came back to her senses: “I heard you. You asked me if I had any other thoughts besides wanting to eat.”

     “Yeah,” Ji Mingxu took Director Song’s script, rolled it up into a circle to act as a microphone, and handed it to Shi Xi: “Please tell me what you think.”

     “My thoughts are,” Shi Xi raised her eyes, her eyes under the lenses were silent: “If we can all leave here alive, what will happen to Atong? Will he enter a new cycle alone or become part of the strange house?”

     There was only the pale fluorescent light of the projector in the room. It was completely dark outside. It seemed that only they and Atong, who was lying motionless on the ground, were left in the whole wooden building. From time to time, some strange noises were heard in the dark corners, as if something would come out at any time.

     Shi Xi’s words pushed the horror atmosphere in the room to its peak.

     Ji Mingxu tapped his forehead with the script, his voice bitter, “What kind of terrifying question is this? I’m starting to suspect that you’re the permanent resident player. Immersive players are really monsters!”

     “The question raised by Xiaoshi is very interesting,” Director Song took the script back from Ji Mingxu, his eyes a little excited: “I want to shoot the Easter egg part from Atong’s perspective.”

     “Okay, it should be very exciting,” Lu Xiu suggested: “Then leave Atong’s ‘corpse’ here, and come back to shoot the Easter egg after we finish shooting the main film. Xiaoji has a similar figure to Atong and can be Atong’s stand-in.”

     Ji Mingxu rubbed his arms: “You guys are seriously talking about something scary.”

     Liu Ziyu was very panicked. Is this really just playing a game? Shi Xi, a flying guest, plays better than the permanent guests. How can he compete with her!

     Qiao Qing was brought into the conversation by them, and once again got goosebumps all over her body. She asked in a panic: “Can I try Atong’s breath?”

     Ji Mingxu heard this and wanted to complain to the camera again: “Dear audience, in every episode before, there would be players who were fooled by Teacher Lu and Director Song and wanted to try the breath of NPCs. I didn’t expect that this episode was fooled by the flying guests. Xiao Shi is a natural born Strange Experience House player”

     Qiao Qing asked weakly: “Then can I try it?”

     Ji Mingxu shook his head and suggested: “You’d better not try it. The resident NPCs are all very professional. You will doubt your life more after trying it.”

     Atong lying on the ground: “…” As a professional weird NPC, I am professional at playing a corpse. I can’t laugh.

     “It’s okay if you don’t try. Actually, I feel much better after talking to you,” Qiao Qing looked at Ji Mingxu gratefully: “The acting skills of these people are so terrible. Fortunately, you are here to help me get out of the play.”

     Ji Mingxu: “You’re welcome, rookie player, we appreciate each other.”

     Shi Xi: “I’m so hungry, let’s go eat.”

     Both the good and the bad actors were silent because they were really hungry.

     Going down to the first floor, Director Song waved the script: “I’ll go and revise the script, and dinner will be left to you.”

     Lu Xiu nodded: “No problem.”

     The kitchen was also very shabby, but there were all the necessary kitchen utensils, but there was no trace of food.

     “There should be food in the refrigerator and lockers,” Lu Xiu glanced at the kitchen, “It’s too small to fit so many people here, Shi Xi will stay to help, and the others can go find work at Director Song’s place.”

     Director Song was concentrating on writing the script, so she didn’t care about them. The next camera would definitely focus on the kitchen. Thinking of this, Liu Ziyu immediately said, “Brother Lu, I want to stay and help you!”

     Lu Xiu didn’t care, “Then you should stay too.”

     Ji Mingxu said, “Then I’ll take Qiao Qiao to find Director Song.”

     Lu Xiu opened the refrigerator, which was empty. Liu Ziyu wanted to show himself in front of Lu Xiu and the camera, so he opened the locker very actively and looked for food.

     It was such a small place, Shi Xi couldn’t help, so she just sat on a chair and watched them look.

     Liu Ziyu searched two lockers in a row, but only found some sundries, and couldn’t help frowning.

     “The production crew won’t be so cruel as to not leave us any food, right? How can we continue recording on an empty stomach…”

     While complaining, he pulled open the third locker. Before it was fully opened, a bloody hand suddenly stretched out from inside and grabbed his wrist tightly!

     “Ahhhhh, a ghost! Ahhhh!” Liu Ziyu trembled all over and sat down on the floor with a thud, her words slurred as she shouted, “Let me go… let go of me!”

    The bloody hand felt cold to the touch, with long black nails. Blood flowed down the pale skin, staining Liu Ziyu’s arm red.

     Liu Ziyu was trembling with fear, and his hands were powerless. He pulled several times but couldn’t break free. His eyes were red and he was about to cry.

     At this moment, he saw a beautiful hand reaching out from the side and holding the bloody hand.

     Liu Ziyu turned his head and saw Shi Xi squatting beside him, with long black hair hanging on her shoulders, the chain of her glasses swaying gently, her profile was incredibly beautiful, and her expression was calm as usual, as if she was holding just an ordinary hand.

     Shi Xi didn’t look at him, and asked through the cupboard: “Friend, can you cook? How is your cooking skill?”

     The NPC hiding in the cupboard: “???” Friend, why are you asking this?

     The NPC didn’t want to talk to her and wanted to escape quickly. After letting go of Liu Ziyu’s wrist, he struggled to break free from Shi Xi’s hand.

     Shi Xi opened the cupboard, but there was no trace of the “ghost”. The cupboard was barren, save for a shadowy, downward-sloping hole.

     Leaning in, Shixi peered into the darkness. It twisted and turned, disappearing into the depths. Her voice echoed as she called out: “Friend, don’t go.”

     Lu Xiu thought she was going to chase after him, and quickly stopped her: “Teacher Shi, forget it, I’ll cook.”

     When Liu Ziyu was just grabbed by the ghost NPC, Lu Xiu wanted to go over to help, but Shi Xi was one step ahead of him. He thought Shi Xi was going to help Liu Ziyu break free from the shackles, but he didn’t expect it to unfold like this… It can be said that her personal style is extremely strong.

     Liu Ziyu was stunned throughout the whole process, with exclamation marks all over his face. He had seen brave people, but he had never seen anyone brave enough to let the ghost NPC stay to cook. 

     Ji Mingxu rushed over after hearing the noise, stood at the kitchen door, and glanced at Liu Ziyu and Shi Xi, whose hands were covered in blood: “What happened? A ghost appeared?”

     Lu Xiu said concisely and clearly: “To be precise, the ghost appeared and was scared away by Xiaoshi.”

     “Huh?” Ji Mingxu laughed and leaned against the wall: “Xiaoshi, you still have this skill?”

     Shi Xi turned on the faucet and slowly washed off the blood on her hands, saying innocently: “I just asked it if it could cook.”

     Ji Mingxu laughed even louder: “Friends, I have seen the future of NPCs. Here comes someone who is more like a thorn than Lu Yingdi. It’s so lively here, and Director Song doesn’t have much work to do. I’ll watch you cook here.”

     After searching the entire kitchen, they finally found a basket of fresh ingredients.

     Lu Xiu cooked, Shi Xi helped him, and the frightened Liu Ziyu sat on a chair to adjust his mood.

     Ji Mingxu leaned against the kitchen door and said to the camera not far away: “Dear audience, we are actually a variety show for eating, and the cooking part is our highlight. Look at our Lu Ge’s professional posture, you can tell he is very good at cooking.”

     Ji Mingxu licked his lips: “Lu Ge, what delicious food are you going to make?”

     Lu Xiu didn’t even turn his head: “Vegetable noodles, I only know how to cook this.”

     Ji Mingxu was silent for a moment and concluded: “It would be better to let Teacher Xiao Shi catch NPCs to cook just now. I don’t understand why you need Xiao Shi to help you cook vegetable noodles.”

     It’s really pitiful to eat only vegetable noodles. There happened to be tomatoes and eggs. Shi Xi said that he could make tomato scrambled eggs for everyone.

     Ji Mingxu agreed with both hands: “That’s great, I don’t want to eat only vegetable noodles. Don’t you think the conditions are not difficult enough?”

     As soon as the tomatoes were put into the pot, a trace of pain flashed across Shi Xi’s face in the sizzling sound. She used a spatula to stir-fry the tomatoes, and couldn’t help covering her head again.

     Everyone noticed her strangeness, Ji Mingxu asked: “Xiao Shi, what’s wrong with you? Do you have a headache?”

     “I remembered some fragments of memory,” Shi Xi looked at the tomatoes in the pot, her pupils trembling: “I also made fried tomato eggs here in my last life. Until this moment, I finally felt that I had entered the cycle.”

     Ji Mingxu lowered his eyes and said in a low voice: “Being able to taste your fried tomato eggs again may be the only thing to be thankful for after entering the cycle.”

     Lu Xiu turned around and asked him: “Isn’t it worth your gratitude to be able to eat my vegetable noodles again?”

     Ji Mingxu raised his face and smiled: “If we can leave alive, when we meet somewhere else, please cook me a meal again. Even if it is boiled noodles in plain water, I will feel grateful.”

     Liu Ziyu, the only one who was not in the play, once again doubted his life. Why could they steadily catch Shi Xi’s unwarranted addition of drama? Even Ji Mingxu caught it very naturally. He almost suspected that Ji Mingxu was playing the pig to eat the tiger before!

     Ji Mingxu noticed his gaze and looked at him sideways, still in the same carefree manner as before: “Xiao Liu, are you feeling better?”

     Liu Ziyu nodded, but she was thinking: If I continue recording with you, I may not be able to get better.

     For dinner, there were only vegetable noodles and scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Looking at the dishes on the table, those who were not in the play remembered the luxurious dinner they saw on the way here, and all the members showed sad eyes.

     “Although the conditions are difficult, I still want to stick to the original quality of life. Light a candle,” Ji Mingxu lit two white candles and stood on the table: “Is there an atmosphere of a candlelight dinner?”

     A gust of cold wind blew, and the shadows of the tableware swayed with the candlelight. A strange cry sounded outside the house, and a creepy shutter sound sounded in the house, as if someone was peeping in the dark, which made people feel creepy.

     Shi Xi glanced at the pale candles and said bluntly: “It has the atmosphere of a memorial service.”