Chapter 55

     Ten minutes is very short. As soon as the preparation time is over, Director Song calls everyone to prepare for filming.

     “Our filming time this time is very short. This is also the first time I try to create under such extreme conditions. There is no time for you to familiarize yourself with the script and polish your roles. Just follow my filming habits and shoot the most emotional scene first to warm up the scene.”

     Director Song held the rolled-up script and tapped her palm: “Let’s go, follow me to the second floor, we will shoot the chase scene directly.”

     Liu Ziyu opened his mouth wide: “Are you challenging a high difficulty right from the start?”

     “That’s what makes it fun,” Ji Mingxu wanted to pat his shoulder, but when he saw his face with evil ghost makeup, he hesitated and finally retracted his hand: “Let’s cooperate well and strive for one take, okay?”

     Liu Ziyu was very nervous, but this was also an opportunity for him to justify his acting skills. He said, “I’m sure there’s no problem. I just memorized the words, but Teacher Shi only watched for ten minutes. I hope Teacher Shi doesn’t forget the words.”

     Shi Xi glanced at him calmly: “I’ll try my best.”

     Going up to the living room on the second floor, Ji Mingxu turned on all the lights. The chandelier above his head flickered twice and then stabilized, allowing them to see the current situation in the living room clearly.

     Ji Mingxu pointed at the extra body positioning line on the ground and exclaimed: “Atong’s body is gone! Who drew this positioning line? We didn’t hear any movement downstairs!”

     Shi Xi pushed the frame of her glasses: “Maybe Atong drew it himself.”

     Ji Mingxu was petrified: “…No way? Has Atong also become a ghost?”

     Lu Xiu said in a deep voice: “Maybe Atong is hiding somewhere in this house, watching us.”

     Qiao Qing was furious: “Don’t be like this, I would rather believe that Atong is now in standby mode, ready to enter the next cycle!”

     Hearing this, Liu Ziyu showed an indescribable look, help, Qiao Qing has been passively involved in the play, and even set additional conditions for the cycle!

     “Look there.” Shi Xi pointed to the coffee table, on which were some fruits and vegetables, a plate of roast chicken, and a wrinkled red ribbon on the ground.

     The last time they left, there were no such things on the coffee table.

     Lu Xiu speculated: “While we were holding the opening ceremony downstairs, the ghosts in the wooden building also held the opening ceremony here, silently.”

     Seeing the roast chicken, Ji Mingxu completely forgot his fear: “Damn, their offerings are much richer than ours. This roast chicken has a really good color and tastes absolutely great! But I’m full now.”

     Shi Xi: “It’s just right for a midnight snack after filming.”

     Liu Ziyu: “…” You all said it was the ghost’s stuff, who can still eat it.

     Director Song said: “Let’s clean up here first, these things can’t be in the camera.”

     After packing up and setting up the camera, this small wooden building officially became a set.

     Director Song took the script and detailed the chase scene for them on the spot.

     “Xiao Shi is a novelist. In order to find inspiration for her creation, she came to this mountain homestay with Xiao Ji. Xiao Liu and Qiao Qiao are the owners of this house and also the hidden ghosts. These settings are similar to the original script. I just enriched it a little. I rewrote the next part of the plot. Please listen carefully.”

     Everyone nodded seriously.

     Director Song continued: “That night, Xiao Shi and Xiao Ji were discussing work in the study. When you were talking and walking out of the corridor, you found someone standing in the shadow of the corridor. You thought it was the owner of the house, Mr. Liu, so you called him. As a result, this ‘person’ suddenly revealed his evil ghost face and rushed out to chase you…”

     After talking about the play, Director Song made a gesture: “Prepare your emotions, actors take the props and take your positions. I won’t shout start. When you get into the state, I will start shooting directly.”

     Shi Xi and Ji Mingxu walked into the study. Qiao Qing, who had no role for the time being, acted as a stagehand and also entered the study to prepare.

     Liu Ziyu glanced at the dark corridor and walked in with gritted teeth.

     For Song Zhenbao at this moment, completing the filming is the most important thing. She looked at the hidden camera somewhere and hinted to the director of the Strange Experiencer: “I hope that after the filming starts, the lighting can match the scene I just talked about.”

     Variety show director: “…” How dare I not cooperate? Wuwuwu.

     After entering the study, Shi Xi’s state completely changed, and she completely entered the new role.

     “I didn’t expect the collection of books here is so rich. I like this cottage more.” Shi Xi took off her glasses and wiped them slowly. There was a faint smile on the corners of her lips, and her every move was full of literary atmosphere.

     She put on her glasses and said to Ji Mingxu with a smile: “Every brick and tile here can be my source of inspiration. We are in the right place.”

     The moment he saw her eyes, Ji Mingxu clearly realized that the person standing in front of him was not Shi Xi in reality, nor Shi Xi in the variety show script, but Xiao Shi, the novelist in the play within the play.

     Ji Mingxu couldn’t help but put himself in the shoes of a new character and nodded gently to her: “If you like, we’ll stay longer and leave after you finish writing your new work.”

     “That also requires Mr. Liu and the others to agree,” Shi Xi brushed her long hair behind her shoulders and yawned: “It’s getting late, let’s go to rest first.”

     The two walked out of the study while talking quietly. The chandelier above their heads suddenly flashed. Shi Xi looked up at the chandelier and whispered: “Is the chandelier broken? It’s scary.”

     “Maybe the light bulb is broken…” Ji Mingxu suddenly found a man standing at the other end of the corridor, his whole face hidden in the shadows, and he could only be judged by his body shape to be a tall man.

     “What’s wrong?” Shi Xi also looked over. When she saw the person standing in the shadow, her face turned pale and she called out tentatively, “Is it Mr. Liu? What are you doing standing there?”

     Liu Ziyu did not answer. He lowered his head and walked out of the shadow. He smiled sinisterly. His messy hair covered most of his face, revealing only the pale and scarred lower half of his face. He stretched out his hand behind his back and showed a bloodstained kitchen knife (prop).

     Shi Xi looked down at the kitchen knife. and when her gaze met the ground, her pupils trembled slightly. She hissed, “He’s not Mr. Liu… he doesn’t have a shadow!”

    “Bang!” The study door slammed shut automatically, cutting off another escape route.

     “Run!” Ji Mingxu grabbed Shixi’s wrist and led her towards the stairs.

     “You can’t run away… You can’t run away…” Liu Ziyu chased after them with the knife in hand.

     Liu Ziyu’s acting skills are actually average, and his posture doesn’t look like a demon, but Shi Xi’s makeup is perfect, and the atmosphere of the thrilling chase is pretty good, so Director Song didn’t call “cut”.

     But as they were filming, he found that there was another person behind Liu Ziyu!

     This person had disheveled hair, a hunched back, and scars all over his exposed arms. He also held a bloody kitchen knife in his hand. Liu Ziyu chased Shi Xi and Ji Mingxu, and this person chased Liu Ziyu, but this person ran so fast and lightly that Liu Ziyu, who was concentrating on chasing people, didn’t even notice it!

     Director Song’s heart instantly jumped to her throat, and she shouted: “Kakaka, Liu Ziyu, there is a ‘ghost’ behind you!”

     Liu Ziyu hurriedly turned around and saw a pale figure, and ran away in fear: “Ahhh, there is a ghost!”

     Shi Xi and Ji Mingxu turned around and saw Liu Ziyu rushing over with a kitchen knife in a horrified look, and there was a ghost NPC also holding a kitchen knife chasing him.

     The most amazing thing is that behind the ghost NPC, there is another NPC standing in the shadow, filming this fierce chase scene with a camera.

     Ji Mingxu was so shocked that he held his face and showed the same expression package as the world famous painting: “Fuck, what’s going on! What a complicated food chain!!”

     And, he felt that Liu Ziyu’s appearance was more terrifying than the ghost NPC, and he didn’t dare to look directly at Xiao Liu’s face!

     Liu Ziyu rushed towards them crying: “Don’t worry about the situation, run, don’t block my way!!”

     Ji Mingxu turned around to run, but Shi Xi stood still. When Liu Ziyu ran in front of her, she held Liu Ziyu’s shoulders and asked him to turn around and face the ghost NPC: “Why are you running? Scare him back!”

     Liu Ziyu didn’t expect her to do this, and his brain crashed. Because of his expressionless face, the sinister feeling of the evil ghost makeup was fully revealed.

     The ghost NPC who caught up was caught off guard by seeing Liu Ziyu’s ghostly face, stumbled and fell to the ground, and ran back rolling and crawling: “There is a ghost!!”

     If he had seen this face earlier, he would never catch up!

     Liu Ziyu: “???”

    Ji Mingxu: “???” The food chain has reversed!

     When the ghost NPC ran back to the study, he finally calmed down a little. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath, but the door of the study opened without warning. Qiao Qing, who was wearing the same evil ghost makeup, carefully poked her head out and met the ghost NPC’s eyes.

     Both parties screamed in fear at the same time. Qiao Qing slammed the door, and the ghost NPC slid down softly against the wall like a noodle.

     The NPC who was filming didn’t see Qiao Qing’s face clearly and was confused about the situation: “Brother, what’s wrong with you? You are a professional at scaring people.”

     The ghost NPC cried and said: “No, compared to that player, I am just a little brother.”

     “Brother, your knife fell.” Shi Xi stood in the middle of the corridor, stretched out her hand to shake the bloody knife, tilted her head and smiled: “Do you want it again?” – 

     “No more!” The frightened ghost NPC ran away, and the NPC carrying the camera also followed him in confusion. Damn, his dignity as the boss of the haunted house is gone!

     Looking at the backs of the NPCs fleeing in panic, Liu Ziyu was shocked and took a deep breath: “Is she still a player?”

     “Well… why not?” Ji Mingxu spread his hands: “The big devil player is also a player.”