Chapter 38 - Horror Variety (3)

Bai Yi had disappeared, and he was suspected to be seriously injured when he disappeared?

Hearing Bai Xi Xing’s words, Cheng Zhi Chu was shocked. He immediately thought back to Winter Branch’s words. Some players were already in a state of sudden or imminent death when they entered the game, so they had no choice but to enter Death Mode. Could Bai Yi also be in a similar situation?

But, considering the fact that he had just entered the game not long ago and was able to be in the same team as Bai Yi, it would mean that he probably also only just started the game. Then during those six years, where was Bai Yi? Could he have been locked up somewhere?

The more he thought about it, the more horrified Cheng Zhi Chi felt. He didn’t dare to think about what could have happened to Bai Yi at that time.

His impression of Bai Yi was that he was always calm. As long as he was there, Cheng Zhi Chu would feel reassured, but he had never thought that someone like Bai Yi would be in such a dangerous situation. Bai Yi himself also never spoke a word about it.

Why didn’t he tell him anything? Was it because he thought that he wouldn’t be of much help? Or does Bai Yi have another reason that’s stopping him from doing so?

Cheng Zhi Chu was both worried and anxious. He wanted to immediately rush back to the recording room to get his phone and ask Bai Yi what happened in reality back then.

But he is currently in the countryside and can only leave by the bus that he had just taken. The program had only started recording not long ago so the bus naturally wouldn’t leave any time soon. He could only suppress his emotions and wait outside the villa with an ugly expression.

Bai Xi Xing glanced at him and reached out to pat his shoulder to comfort Cheng Zhi Chu.

“Although it has been six years, my family and I still believe that he is alive. He excelled at everything and this time is no exception. He will definitely come back safely.”

Cheng Zhi Chu was a little moved. He nodded firmly: “He will.”

Bai Yi’s family was still waiting for his return. In order to realise this wish of theirs, as long as it is within his capabilities, he will definitely help Bai Yi. Even if it involves putting himself in danger, he is willing.

After returning today, he must clarify things with Bai Yi. Even if Bai Yi isn’t willing, he will force him to spill it out!

“Thank you, junior Cheng.”

Bai Xi Xing smiled and seemingly wanted to say something else but Xiao Liu next to him suddenly frowned. He patted his headphones and called out a few times: “Hello? Hello? Why can’t I hear anything……”

“What’s wrong?” Bai Xi Xing asked.

“My headphones appear to be broken. I can’t contact the people in the villa.”

Xiao Liu took off his headset and examined it with confusion. He then suddenly received a call. It was from the director who said that the recording room also suddenly was unable to contact the people in the villa. Worried that there was something wrong with the signal, he urged Xiao Liu to go in and check.

“Okay, I’ll go now.”

Xiao Liu hung up the phone and, just as he was about to push the door open and enter the courtyard, Bai Xi Xing suddenly called out and stopped him: “I’ll also go in and take a look.” He then smiled at Cheng Zhi Chu: “You want to come too?”

“Ah?” Xiao Liu was stunned. He was a little hesitant. “Fifth Young Master, isn’t this not too good…….?”

Afterall, it’s not a problem if Fifth Young Master Bai wanted to enter since he is the villas owner but for Young Master Bai’s junior brother……..

“That’s right senior, I shouldn’t go in. I also don’t know anything about repairing equipment.” Cheng Zhi Chu said this hurriedly. He didn’t quite understand why Bai Xi Xing would want him to go in.

“It doesn’t matter. The more the better. Perhaps you may unexpectedly be of help.”

Bai Xi Xing’s lips formed a smile that seemed to hold deep meaning but his words sounded normal, so Cheng Zhi Chu didn’t think much about it. He nodded and said. “Then pardon me for the intrusion.”

After all, what Senior Bai said made sense. As long as the signal could be recovered and the program can be recorded quickly, he is happy.

“Okay, then I’ll trouble the two of you.”

Xiao Liu thought about it. At most they could just stop filming or cut this part off. Anyway, he would need to pause the filming since the signal isn’t working. The people inside were probably busy testing out the lines.

Why didn’t they come out and let him know? Made him think that his headphones were broken.

He quietly muttered as he led Bai Xi Xing and Cheng Zhi Chi into the villa.

“Clack.”

Unbeknownst to them, the door softly closed behind them.

Entering the lobby, Cheng Zhi Chu could faintly hear Ji Yun Xiao’s voice from not far away but when they walked through it and reached the living room, they didn’t see anyone. It seems to be coming from another room.

This house is really big……..

Cheng Zhi Chu scanned the living room. The interior was large, and the decorations were simple but also not outdated. It was very clean and in one look you could tell that it was often cleaned and maintained.

The inside of the villa was very dark. Although it was not dark outside, the large French windows were all covered by a thick blackout curtain making it look like it was night.

He was originally a little surprised but when he saw Xiao Liu and Bai Xi Xing acting normal, he realised that this was probably one of the props that the staff had prepared in advance to create a scary atmosphere.

Cheng Zhi Chu looked over at the big aquarium sitting at the edge of the living room. The water inside had already been drained out and there were no fish, only miniature landscape inside. They were covered in something unknown that caused it to emit a pale blue light.

He furrowed his brows and couldn’t help but find it a little creepy, so he looked away and, using the blue light from the aquarium, he looked around the rest of the room. Finally, his eyes stopped at a large wall.

There was nothing placed near the wall and many paintings hung from it. However, from the looks of it, it didn’t seem to be drawn by Zhou Luo Cheng. Even an outsider like Cheng Zhi Chu could tell that the brushworks were mostly quite amateur.

“These were not painted by Teacher Zhou. They’re by us students.”

Seeing him looking at those paintings, Bai Xi Xing smiled and explained.

“To encourage us, he would ask each of us to pick our best painting and he would display them for us. Do you see that one?” He pointed at the watercolour painting in the middle. “I painted it.”

Cheng Zhi Chu looked over in the direction he pointed to. It was a portrait and it was a painting of a beautiful young teenaged boy.

Bai Xi Xing said that he was one of the students that had studied under Zhou Luo Cheng the longest so his was naturally the better of the paintings here. It was vivid and delicate, and the handsome young boy looked straight ahead with dark hair and pale complexion. Wearing a white shirt, his expression was cold and indifferent but the tear mole at the corner of his right eye made it look a little flirtatious.

“Senior drew Bai Yi?”

Seeing that young boy’s face, Cheng Zhi Chu found it very familiar. When he noticed the tear mole, he couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, it’s my cousin.” Bai Xi Xing laughed. “At that time, I wasn’t good at painting people. In order to practice, I asked my cousin to be my model, but I didn’t expect it to be my best one.”

He suddenly revealed an emotional expression: “At that time, it was really not easy asking him for a favour………You have met him before so you should know how difficult his temperament is. If he wanted others to do something, others cannot refuse but if you want him to do something for you, it is harder than going to heaven.”

“It was also because of this that my cousin didn’t have any friends.” He shrugged as he said this. “He even treated the people at home coldly. He’s too closed off. Even though my relationship with him is a little closer than the others, it was all achieved through my hard work.”

Bai Yi is cold, closed-off and difficult to deal with………..? These words are actually used to describe him?

Recalling Bai Yi’s gentle smile, Cheng Zhi Chu was momentarily confused. He almost thought that the person he and Bai Xi Xing was talking about was not the same person.

But in the previous instances Bai Yi indeed didn’t communicate much with people other than him. But he can’t be considered to be closed-off………….Perhaps after growing up, his personality had changed.

“Senior, I am a little curious. Which painting here was done by Bai Yi?” Cheng Zhi Chu asked.

“His painting isn’t here. Because he painted so well, the teacher liked it a lot and hung it up in the bedroom on the second floor.”

Bai Xi Xing said: “My cousin is very gifted and was a student that Teacher was very proud of. Other kids like us couldn’t compare.”

“Sorry for interrupting the two of you.” Xiao Liu who was standing on the side acting as part of the background apologised. “Why don’t the two of you continue talking? I’ll go in and see how things are first.”

“Sorry for delaying you.” Bai Xi Xing made a ‘go ahead’ gesture. “Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Xiao Liu nodded. The three of them followed the source of the sound and went over to the bedroom on the first floor to see Ji Yun Xiao holding onto a note and reading its contents out while the cameraman filmed next to him.

“Why are you guys here?”

Seeing the three of them walk in, the cameraman was very surprised. He gently mouthed some words. Ji Yun Xiao also heard them and looked up. When he saw Cheng Zhi Chu, his expression was both a little surprised and happy.

“The director said the signal isn’t good and can’t hear your voice so I came in to check.”

Xiao Liu made a gesture for the cameraman to pause filming: “I also couldn’t hear anything outside, so I didn’t know what was going on inside.”

“What? But the director is speaking to us right now. You can come and listen.”

The cameraman took off his headphones, adjusted the sound to the highest, and handed it over to Xiao Liu. The people in the room could hear the directors voice.

Xiao Liu was very confused. He put on his own headphones, but still couldn’t hear anything.

“When you film, you must…….ssss——–”

However, at this moment, a harsh sound came from the headphones and the directors voice became more and more strange. Following the sound of white noise, it changed into the sound of a child crying.

“Wu, wuwuwu…………….”

The cries came very suddenly, and it was particularly hair-raising hearing it in this dark and creepy environment. Everyone present was surprised. Xiao Liu revealed a very confused expression and said: “Did the director prepare something like this?”

At this moment, Cheng Zhi Chu inadvertently glanced at the painting on the wall. The painting was of a child sleeping while leaning against a tree. He clearly recalled that when he came in the child’s eyes were closed but, at some point in time, the child’s eyes had opened and was watching them quietly.

What’s going on?

Cheng Zhi Chu’s scalp went numb. He was clearly in the real world and this isn’t an instance so why would these supernatural phenomena appear?

He wanted to tell himself that this was just the special effects the program had prepared beforehand but when he saw Xiao Liu and the cameraman’s scared expressions, his heart immediately sank. He suddenly had a bad feeling.

“What’s going on here…….Could there really be a ghost here?”

Xiao Liu was a little panicked. Just as he was at loss, a hand suddenly appeared from outside the bedroom door. It didn’t reveal its body and just made a gesture while a hoarse voice said: “There’s a problem.”

“What is it?”

Xiao Liu walked over but, just as he took one step out of the room, the hand quickly pulled him out and he disappeared past the door. A few seconds passed and a horrifying cry was heard from just outside the door followed by a large amount of fresh blood splattering onto the floor.

“There’s a problem.”

“There’s a problem………..”

The hoarse voice repeated the same phrase over and over again. Its tone was monotonous, like a something that was recorded in advance.

“Thud, thud, thud………”

Along with this strange repetition of words, there was also the sound of something heavy falling onto the ground and rolling.

A bloody human head rolled from the same direction that Xiao Liu had disappeared in. Its expression was contorted and pale, and he looked like one of the staffs that had entered the villa earlier!

“There’s……a problem………”

“There………”

The human head opened its mouth and it gradually stopped talking. With blood oozing out of its mouth, its eyes were wide open and staring at the people in the room.

“Dead………Dead person!”

The cameraman fell onto the ground and his camera also smashed against the floor. With his face void of colour, he cried out: “G-ghost! There really is a ghost! Ghost!!”

Bi Xi Xing and Ji Yun Xiao were shocked. Cheng Zhi Chu also felt a chill through his body. He said a quick “run” and went straight for the window. When he wanted to open the window to escape, he discovered that the window didn’t move an inch. He even tried to smash open the window with the camera, but it just made a dull “thud” before rebounding back and falling heavily onto the ground.

【Initiating reality instance: Horror Variety.]

【Level: ?]

【Difficulty: ?]

【Players: 1]

【Background introduction]

【Your sister was selected to participate as an audience of a variety show but, because of an injury, she couldn’t make it so as her brother you went in her stead to have a close interaction with the star Ji Yun Xiao]

【The extremely pleased you followed the other fans to Ji Yun Xiao’s outdoor filming site at a villa were a death had occurred. The young painter Zhou Luo Chen had committed suicide in this mansion 12 years ago and the reason behind this still remains a mystery.]

【Here, you accidently discover that your friend Bai Yi and the villas owner Bai Xi Xing are cousins, and Zhou Luo Chen also used to be their art teacher. However, you don’t know if Zhou Luo Chen’s suicide was related to these two brothers, nor do you know the full inside story behind Zhou Luo Chen’s suicide.]

【This place gives you a very bad feeling. You don’t like the scent of rose in the air and you also hate the aquarium in the living room. In addition, you are worried about Bai Yi, so you wanted to hurry back but at this moment, there suddenly were traces of ghost activities in the villa.]

【You find out that you can’t get out.]

【Also, the ghost here seems to like you very much. It wants to make you stay.]

【Main task: Leave this villa alive.]

【Your special mission: Collect the photo and kiss the boss. If you don’t complete the special task, you will not be able to leave the instance even if you complete the main tasks.]

Fuck, why is he suddenly in a reality instance? Wasn’t it said before that there hasn’t been anyone who has done it before? Why did he have to run into this situation?! Also, clearly Ji Yun Xiao is also a player and similarly in this place, yet why didn’t he receive the task as well? The description said that there was only one player and that’s he himself!

Cheng Zhi Chu’s expression changed, and his mind was filled with questions. When he wondered what it meant by the ghost liking him very much, he saw a few bloody red lines of words appear on the glass.

<We meet again, Zhi Chu.>

<I’m very happy to see you again.>

<I love you.>

<I love you>

<I love you I love you I love you…..>

****

Bai Yi’s Diary (Part 38)

Suddenly remembered that I used to learn painting.

(There was a sketch in the diary. It was a picture of Cheng Zhi Chu in a boyfriend shirt sitting on the bed with bare legs. His face was flushed, and he was unbuttoning the shirt with wet, watery eyes. Next to him was a sentence:

“Brother Bai Yi, please comfort me…….”)

[The Cheng Zhi Chu in the instance felt a sudden chill.]