Chapter 44: The Witch of the Villa

The name of this food show was “Starry River Wandering Kitchen.” It was a long-running program in the Exile Star System, and had made countless shops famous. It was currently in its tenth season.

The comment they left under Shang Jingyan’s post said: [You guys are making some very new kinds of food. Director Shang, are you interested in directing an episode of our show? (dog head) DM me for details.]

Shang Jingyan had a strong impression of this show. During the period when she had just arrived in this world, she had relied on it to kill a lot of time. She also learned that V059 was rich in seafood through it.

The replies to this comment included:

[Hahaha, are you serious? Doesn’t your show have a director?!]

[So you guys are also watching Director Shang’s works! I caught you.]

[Our Director Shang has never done a variety show before. How about being a guest first?]

The show’s tone was half-joking, so it was unclear if they were serious. For a show like this, which had already established its tone and built a reputation, it wouldn’t easily change its style.

Shang Jingyan decided to DM them directly, sending a question mark: [?]

The other side was clearly waiting for her, replying instantly: [Hello, Director Shang~ (rose)]

Shang Jingyan: [I’ve never done a variety show before. I’m afraid I’m not up to your invitation.]

Not only in this life, but also in her previous life.

Starry River Wandering Kitchen: [Haha, it’s not really a variety show director! It’s more like a guest. We’re brainstorming for the next season of the show, and we’re currently looking for participants.]

The other side sent a file. Shang Jingyan opened it and saw that, in order to increase the audience’s sense of novelty, “Starry River Wandering Kitchen” had decided to invite a Dreamweaver each episode in Season 11 to design a small kitchen with their own unique style, to attract customers. In the last episode, they would compete to see who had the highest sales.

The final winner would receive a three-year lease on a private starship, symbolizing going on a journey, and a “Starry River Wandering Chef” Dream Crystal trophy specially made by the show.

This format sounded fun at first glance, but the requirements for the guests were very high. The first requirement was that they had to have a very distinctive personal style.

—Although Shang Jingyan was a newcomer, her personal style was extremely strong, arguably unique in the entire star system. It wasn’t surprising that the show thought of her.

Starry River Wandering Kitchen: [So, is Director Shang interested? (cute.jpg)]

Shang Jingyan liked to challenge new and unknown things, and after hearing this, she was indeed tempted.

She didn’t say yes or no, but asked: [Who else have you invited so far?]

[To be honest,] the other side was very straightforward, [besides you, we’re also planning to invite Teacher Yun Yongxue. We’ve also asked a few other well-known Dreamweavers, but their responses have been rather ambiguous.]

Shang Jingyan: “…”

“Planning,” meaning they hadn’t even invited her yet, so wasn’t she the only one!

Moreover, Yun Yongxue had only recently arrived in the Exile Star System, but the file the show sent her had an editing date showing that the idea for this season had been approved last year, when the previous season had just ended.

“Starry River Wandering Kitchen” usually started recording in July or August. It seemed that if they couldn’t invite enough guests before then, they would abandon this plan and use conventional formats like visiting shops, as in previous years.

Shang Jingyan also understood the concerns of other Dreamweavers. If it were just “designing a kitchen,” that would be fine, but the show’s idea was “designing with their own unique style.” How could they convince the audience that this style was their own?

Looking at the Exile Star System and even the entire star system, the mainstream theme was “romance.” Most could only expand on this basis.

The only things she could think of within the romance theme were the difference between a “breakup restaurant” and a “honeymoon restaurant,” or at most, a difference in era style.

Or, they could narrow it down to their representative work—but then it would become a derivative theme restaurant of the work.

It was likely that in the end, everyone’s designs would be similar, and it would completely become a competition of each Dreamweaver’s popularity.

But if there were no such limitation, then why only invite Dreamweavers? Wouldn’t it be the same to invite celebrities as guests, like before?

So overall, this idea seemed a bit half-baked from the start.

Shang Jingyan couldn’t help but sigh: [Is the person who came up with this idea still employed?]

The other side was silent for a few seconds, then said: [This was our young boss’s idea. The big boss just said to let him try it. In fact, the big boss is still preparing another conventional route. Director Shang, to support our young boss’s idea, please be kind and agree!]

Shang Jingyan started to feel that something was wrong. Why were they being so open and telling her internal affairs right off the bat? And this official account was also too lively.

She couldn’t help but ask: [This young boss you’re talking about, wouldn’t happen to be yourself, would it?]

This time, the other side was silent for longer, and sent her an emoji [You are truly perceptive]: [Yes, I confess. I’m not a staff member, I’m that young boss. Don’t let my mom know. I’ll delete this chat log, please, Director Shang (tears).]

Shang Jingyan: “…”

She couldn’t help but start to doubt whether the other party was even an adult.

She checked online. The investor and director Dreamweaver of “Starry River Wandering Kitchen” was surnamed Qin, and had a son named Qin Xiao, a well-known second-generation celebrity in the Exile Star System’s entertainment industry, a pretty-boy who couldn’t do anything right.

[I’ll think about it.] Shang Jingyan’s interest immediately cooled by half.

The other side:

[Don’t be like this, Director Shang~~~ Director Shang~ TOT My mom has already agreed. If I can invite people, she’ll still be the final person in charge!]

[Our show is very good! We’re also generous with the invitation fees~]

[Director Shang…]

Shang Jingyan vaguely saw a low-budget version of You Yao, not only talkative but also clingy. She had never been one for this type, so she simply ignored it.

However, Qin Xiao’s words “the person in charge is still the original big boss” made her hesitate again, and she decided to put this invitation on the list of considerations.

She exited the light brain, leaned back on the bed, closed her eyes, and entered her mental landscape.

This was a habit she had recently developed. Every night before going to sleep and every morning after waking up, she would go to check on the state of that tentacle piece.

Shang Jingyan’s mental landscape originally contained her home from her previous life, the villa she had personally designed.

In Blue River Moon, after buying the new house, she had made the new house look the same as before.

This way, there was no need to use the scene in her mental landscape to remember her previous life.

Now, her mental realm was half dark and half light, with blue sky and starry sky above a prairie with soft grass.

A river flowed through the grassland, its upper reaches shimmering golden in the sunlight, and its lower reaches dyed silver by the moonlight.

And in the center of the landscape was a glass greenhouse. She kept the severed tentacle of the unknown creature in a glass jar and placed it in the greenhouse.

In her own landscape, Shang Jingyan was no longer a ball of light, but in human form, just like outside. She picked up the glass jar and shook it. The liquid containing Wei Wenbing’s emotions inside the tentacle had completely evaporated, and the tentacle was as dry as dried jellyfish skin.

Actually, it wasn’t originally in this dead state, but after Shang Jingyan made some “small attempts,” it quickly withered.

Her attempts mainly consisted of two types: one was to show it horror films, and the other was to watch horror films herself and then place it nearby.

The former basically had no effect, while in the latter case, when Shang Jingyan’s emotions fluctuated with tension and fear during the film, its reaction was extremely strong.

It could be basically confirmed that this jellyfish monster was born from human emotions and preferred warm, positive stimulation.

Shang Jingyan now vaguely guessed something, but she didn’t tell anyone, just kept it in her heart.

Only in her mental landscape would she reveal a thoughtful look. Here, she was truly alone.

She put down the glass jar, put her hands in her pockets, and moved with her will, instantly arriving at the edge of the grassland.

—After seeing such a terrifying scene, Shang Jingyan had tried to explore the edge of her mental landscape.

Strangely, the periphery of her mental space was not darkness, but pure white. The only similarity was that it was empty and devoid of anything.

She now patrolled it every day, to see if jellyfish monsters would appear in the void, and only after confirming that everything was safe would she relax. Fortunately, her mental power was strong, and these things didn’t take too long.

–

Shang Jingyan finished her patrol and opened her eyes. Only fifteen minutes had passed in real time.

She noticed that something extra had appeared in the system panel. She focused and was stunned.

[Current Heartbeat Value: 500,000.]

[Current Achievement: Rising Literary Star.]

[Ding—Exchange system unlocked.

Currently available items:

Appearance enhancement (value calculated per item);

Candy that evokes the sweetness of first love (value: 1000 points);

Increased heartbeat during dates with a lover (value: 500 points)…]

Shang Jingyan slowly typed out: [?]

Did these look like things she needed?

X71 was particularly embarrassed: [After all, my main purpose is bound to the current plane. The theme was set as [Romance] based on the plane, so the items are all romance-related…]

Shang Jingyan had the urge to facepalm: [But didn’t you tell me at the beginning that your purpose was to cultivate a literary master?]

Even if it was a literary master in the romance genre, the items given shouldn’t be like this, right? If she really exchanged for all of them, the final result would definitely be that the Dreamweaver herself would be addicted to love and unable to extricate herself.

X71 was also hesitant, and said stupidly: [Yanyan, you’re right! Yeah… how could this happen?]

Shang Jingyan browsed through the list that made her speechless and finally found something that might be useful—

[Mental Space Expansion (1 cubic meter of spirit / 10,000 points): As the name suggests, you can exchange Heartbeat Value for mental landscape space.]

Compared to other items, this one’s price was shockingly expensive.

The size of the mental landscape symbolized a person’s mental power level. Generally speaking, it would increase with age, but it would basically be fixed after the age of 20.

Being able to expand the mental landscape meant that one could also synchronously increase the level of mental power. For a Dreamweaver, this was like cheating. No wonder it was so expensive.

Shang Jingyan was now wary of anything related to romance, including the system.

However, her intuition told her that she shouldn’t worry too much about X71. It was more like an artificial intelligence placed in the system, not completely the same as the system.

She thought for a few seconds, but still didn’t choose to try the exchange.

After reading the comments and messages, Shang Jingyan flipped through her private messages and saw an anonymous unread text.

[How’s the contact with Su going?]

Still without any context, Reality Matter Society’s style.

Shang Jingyan replied coldly: [Steadily progressing. Do not disturb.]

Su Tong frequently traveled between the Main Star System and the Exile Star System. Shang Jingyan had been in close contact with them recently, and it was obvious to everyone. Although the outside world didn’t know Su Tong’s whereabouts yet, the Reality Matter Society had its own channels and must have already known.

The other party’s tone seemed a little more humble: [Well done. Then we won’t disturb you. We will soar again.]

–

Rose Heart.

Wei Wenbing finally got to experience the Chinese-style haunted house he had been longing for. He came out in high spirits, saying in the group: [You must also come and experience it if you have the chance! The hair ghost inside is so realistic. When it falls on your face, you really feel like you’ve entered “Rouge Comb.” The two tourists in front of me were so scared they ran away…]

He didn’t use a wheelchair this time—Wei Wenbing didn’t have any leg problems, he was just too weak, so he needed to use a wheelchair to move around. The little lamb spirit body was clinging to his shoulder, bleating in fright the whole time.

Wei Wenbing’s mental power was recovering at an astonishing speed. After the medical team measured him with professional instruments, they found that his current mental power value was already over 50, and he would soon reach the normal person’s minimum standard of 60.

–

Blue River Moon.

Shang Jingyan received another thank you and bank transfer from Su Tong. This tycoon’s way of thanking people was very simple: give money, collaborate, and give more money.

She felt that the people in Su Tong’s private medical team were already looking at her like she was a rare species. If it weren’t for Su Tong, they might have already grabbed her and asked if she wanted to cooperate in research.

The cooperation on the haunted house was already on the agenda, and the announcement would start today. Shang Jingyan stretched, feeling like she saw small bills flowing towards her, and the world was very beautiful.

She took a rare day off. In the evening, she swiped through her light brain and clicked on Pei Yi’s voice message: “I’ve arrived. Let’s go.”

Shang Jingyan got up and opened the door. Pei Yi was standing in front of the door, holding a box of pastries. This man was always dressed very casually. At this moment, he was wearing a coffee-colored thin sweater with a casual long shirt inside.

—With Wei Wenbing’s example, Shang Jingyan was thinking about whether to treat Pei Yi as well.

Because they were friends, it was actually harder to bring it up, as it touched on other people’s privacy and scars.

So she decided to use the haunted house visit to bring up the topic, not the Rose Heart haunted house, but the newly opened branch in Blue River Moon—Xue Jiang’s haunted house was a great success, and she had completely established herself within the group. After that, she immediately opened haunted house branch projects on all habitable planets in the Exile Star System.

“Why did you bring a gift?” Shang Jingyan took the box and asked.

Pei Yi smiled. “You’re treating me to a haunted house, so of course I have to return the favor. And I like to cook when I’m at home.”

The first haunted house in Blue River Moon was a derivative of “Building 18,” using a local abandoned school as the setting.

It was an old building from before Blue River Moon’s tourism industry developed, as dilapidated as could be. Xue Jiang was also very good at marketing. She deliberately released some “supernatural stories during the construction of the haunted house,” and although there were scientific explanations for them in the end, they still aroused the curiosity of tourists.

Shang Jingyan didn’t participate in the design of the ghost school haunted house, so the content inside was also new and unfamiliar to her. But in her previous life, she was not afraid to go to famous haunted houses such as “ChangX Ghost School,” and she wasn’t afraid now.

“It’s just the two of us. Do we need to group with other tourists?” Shang Jingyan asked. She vaguely remembered that Pei Yi had said that he was a bit timid.

Pei Yi thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, “No need. I want to challenge myself.”

As a result, less than ten minutes after entering, Shang Jingyan felt something fluffy fall on her head and hook onto her hair.

Shang Jingyan thought it was a designed part of the experience. She reached out and grabbed it twice, ready to catch a monster. Who knew that she would pull down from her head a… trembling rabbit.

Shang Jingyan: “…”

Why did Pei Yi’s spirit body run over to her?

–

Main Star System, Azure Snow’s live broadcast room.

[Anchor! Have you seen the news? Director Shang’s haunted house is going to open in the Main Star System!]

[And it’s in cooperation with Su’s Cultural Tourism. Oh my god, this is better than I dreamed.]

[Director Shang is really amazing. Not long after her debut, she’s cooperating with a top-tier offline cultural tourism group like the Su family…]

“I saw it! And I’ve already booked tickets at the first opportunity.” Ao Qingxue chuckled, causing a wave of envy and jealousy from her viewers.

[Anchor, you’re so fast, how did you manage to grab tickets TvT].

Su’s Cultural Tourism was also a well-known enterprise in the entire Main Star System. It’s a trending topic of cooperation with Shang Jingyan, which was several times more eye-catching than the previous time with Yun Yongxue.

The general public of the Main Star System might see this news and forget about it, but fans were already somewhat familiar with Shang Jingyan: This newcomer from the Exile Star System was amazing, receiving favor from both Yun Yongxue and the Su family as soon as she debuted.

Today, Ao Qingxue planned to do a live broadcast, watching ‘Infinite Heartbeat’ along with her viewers. Before that, she was still broadcasting drawing fanart of it, the content being her imagined Witch of the Blizzard.

As a newly launched drama, after the double-episode premiere on the first day, “Infinite Heartbeat” would broadcast another episode on the second day.

—And considering the length of “Infinite Heartbeat,” Shang Jingyan also issued a notice during the day, telling the audience that the show would be updated with 1-2 episodes per week from now on. If there wasn’t a major cliffhanger on Saturday’s episode, another episode would be added the next day.

This ensured both the pacing and the level of excitement.

However, in the eyes of the audience, this was: Damn it, Director Shang, this woman is so good at leaving us hanging!

At midnight, Ao Qingxue quickly put down her pen. “It’s starting! We’ll draw later. Let’s watch the show!”

At the end of the last episode, when Lan Qing looked up, the audience expected to see an impactful scene, and they weren’t disappointed.

The fat man was dead. Those drips from the ceiling were his blood.

He was completely entangled in a kind of white, spiderweb-like substance, hanging upside down from the ceiling. From his exposed limbs, it could be seen that half of his body had been charred, seemingly corresponding to the flames of the lighter.

Even though he had handed over the lighters, he still died!

[Ahhh, @JiangXindong your gig is here. Can you make it with chocolate and raspberry sauce?]

[Ahhhh, the one in front, you’re poisonous!]

[I’m dying of laughter. Little Jiang’s stuff could only be eaten after it melted last time. This time, it will really waste ingredients!!]

The comments, besides screaming, also tagged Jiang Xindong to play on the joke, because not long ago, Ao Qingxue and Jiang Xindong had followed and interacted with each other, essentially getting to know each other based on their shared love of the Dreamweaver.

In the scene, the remaining Challengers also came out one after another, screaming. The veterans took charge, and everyone worked together to take down the fat man’s body. The white spider silk that entangled him was extremely tough and sticky. The female lead couldn’t cut it with a kitchen knife, and it took a long time to burn it with fire.

[Could it be that white spider-masked person from the trailer??]

[I thought of it too. The forms of the two types of spider silk are very similar!]

[But judging from the trailer, although it doesn’t appear much, it can be seen that it’s like a beast with low intelligence, only knowing how to bite and spit silk. But the ‘thing’ that killed that couple would use tools… My god, how many monsters are there in this villa?!]

In just two days, three people had died. Fear was like a shadow, and at the breakfast table, everyone discovered a note under a vase, on which was written that “Witch’s Delicious Soup”!

The radio was broken, but the terrifying recipe reappeared in another form, like a creepy prank.

The Challenger, the driver, finally couldn’t take it anymore and started crying, because she was the person referred to in the third line of the recipe: “It wants my gloves… Will giving them to it be useful? Someone save me, someone save me!”

She wasn’t actually a newcomer, but a veteran, but her breakdown still spread like a tangible thing to outside the screen. Ao Qingxue couldn’t help but empathize, thinking, “This game is too terrifying. If it were me, I’m afraid I could do nothing but collapse and wait for death…”

Under these circumstances, it was even more valuable that someone could still think. Among the newcomers, only Lan Qing and the General still maintained their composure.

“We can’t keep being passive. We should seek to be proactive,” Lan Qing’s voice was steady and low. “The trial grounds can’t be that friendly to us… Even if it’s just a bonus question, I think that to survive, it’s impossible not to understand the secrets of the witch’s mansion. Otherwise, how will we know the other party’s weaknesses? How can we avoid being killed?”

She held the piece of paper and analyzed, “I wanted to mention this yesterday… The tone of the narrator of this witch’s recipe, doesn’t it seem like a young girl who hasn’t reached adulthood yet? Perhaps it’s a clue.”

Just then, a scream came from upstairs. Everyone rushed over.

It turned out that one Challenger always felt like someone was watching him in his room. After the daylight made things clearer, he found that there was a vaguely human-shaped, grayish-yellow shadow imprinted on his wall.

Everyone smashed open the wall and dug out a corpse from inside.

The corpse should have been rotten before it was buried, otherwise the smell couldn’t have been concealed for so long.

But when it was dug out, it still emitted a foul odor.

This was a female corpse, about 20 years old. Judging from the windbreaker on the corpse, she was once a traveler. The woman’s fatal injury was on her neck, as if it had been broken by a great external force.

A travel backpack had also been sealed up in the wall alongside her. Lan Qing opened it and found a diary inside, with entries from 30 years before the villa’s present time.

The diary element appeared for the second time in Shang Jingyan’s works, each time bringing a terrifying atmosphere. The diary found on the corpse was even more bizarre and thrilling than the last time.

xxxx/1/2 Lost direction in the blizzard.

xxx/1/4 Food is running out.

…

The diary entries were very brief, roughly describing that their tour group of thirteen people went to the snowy village to explore the legend of the witch, but they were halfway through when they encountered a blizzard and got lost in the forest. Unknowingly, they came to this snowy slope.

Just then, they looked up and saw yellow lights on the snow slope above. They were overjoyed and went to see that it was a villa.

[Here it comes: No normal person writes a diary like this.jpg]

[The fear of “Building 18” has returned. Help QAQ]

[It also happens to be thirteen people? The light in the predicament is so unreal. I’m afraid to watch, ahhhh!]

Ao Qingxue also felt it was strange. The suddenly appearing villa in the predicament was not like sending charcoal in the snow, but more like a premeditated plan.

In the plot, Lan Qing continued to read. The diary’s owner wrote that the owner of the villa was a beautiful woman who entertained the 13 people, giving them food and shelter.