Chapter 53 - Corridor

The first row could see it. The second row could also see it.

When they were in the hotel lobby, not many people noticed the vase sitting on the side but now that it is on the stage, they all recalled it.

The clown looked down at the silent audience. The exaggerated smile also became smaller.

But soon he smiled again and, along with his movements, the “humans” in the vase moved up and down as if they were dancing.

Su Min was a bit disgusted by this performance. He just felt that the organisers for this performance must be mentally ill.

How could the director come up with such a story? Are they not afraid of it being censored? It must not have been easy passing the evaluation so the ending must be something positive.

Su Min thought that if he survived until the finale, he would at least be able to report to the police and pretend to be scared.

As minutes and seconds passed, the atmosphere became more and more tense.

Li Chi Yu sat uncomfortably in his seat. He glanced at Le Ling and sighed: “Do we have to watch all these performances until the end?”

At first, he was quite calm but now he could no longer calm down. This was definitely a matter of life and death.

And if his goddess died here, he cannot escape the blame.

Su Min thought about it and said: “There may be a secret behind the stage.”

The whole performance theatre was surrounded by darkness. Nothing could be seen in the darkness, but the clown had appeared from behind the curtain. This probably meant that their base camp was back there.

Like many theatres, there was a backstage.

Their backstage was probably hiding many things, including the things needed for these performances.

And Su Min had something that he also wanted to know. The only one performing was this clown magician. It was too few.

It was really amazing that performances like these could have its tickets sold.

Of course, there would always be flaws in all movies. For example, in the previous movie the setting was that you cannot make a sound, but the ending ended up making people vomit up blood.

Chen Su remained sitting next to him.

Su Min thought of something and suddenly turned around. He asked curiously. “Would the clown make you perform?”

Chen Su: “No way.”

Su min nodded thoughtfully, “Then he is probably afraid of you.”

Chen Su knew what he was thinking. He smiled, “Yeah.”

He was indeed afraid of him. If that wasn’t the case, he wouldn’t have lost during that hat trick and he also wouldn’t have acted like nothing had happened.

Li Chi Yu asked in surprise: “Who are you talking to Su Min?”

He heard him earlier and thought he was talking to himself, but he soon felt that it wasn’t the case. He seemed to be talking to someone.

But no matter how he looked, there wasn’t anyone sitting next to Su Min. It was more than likely a ghost.

Su Min said calmly: “You heard wrong.”

Li Chi Yu: “…………” He didn’t believe it.

Su Min no longer continued to ask Chen Su questions. He once again concentrated on watching the clown on stage occasionally blow his whistle and the “humans” moving about.

Even if they were angry, they couldn’t do anything.

Perhaps it was because of the poor response from the audience, the clown was very angry. He had blown the whistle several times but was just greeted with a group of trembling, silent audience.

A performance like this was meaningless.

When he looked at the audience in the first row, he saw that there were no expressions on their faces. Those who didn’t know what was going on would have thought that they were watching Animal Planet.

The clown snorted and smashed a vase.

A vague figure of a human fell out from the vase. Their limbs were still intact, but it had become swollen and atrophied. All weak and limp, it laid paralysed on the floor.

The clown saw that the audience were still expressionless.

He was furious. He quickly finished the show and left the stage without caring about the vases on stage.

The “human” in the smashed vase once again crawled back in.

Su Min said: “The clown left.”

As soon as he left, everyone in the room fell into a long silence. After a while, they finally started to think about their means of escape.

Li Chi Yu asked: “Should we run away?”

Su Min thought about this for a second and said decisively, “Yes.”

It was pointless waiting around for their deaths. It wasn’t something he would do and, if they waited until the very end, they may just be falling in their trap.

Le Ling turned around and said: “We just need to find a place we can escape to.”

Su Min looked around. He pointed by the stage, “I checked that place out before. We should be able to hide there. When we have the chance, we will enter the backstage.”

But it was still risky.

Jiang Taozhi’s lips were pale. She whispered: “If we try to escape, will we end up the same as that man from earlier?”

Su Min glanced at her, “It’s possible.”

He said this honestly. This was a gamble and they would have to rely on luck to see whether things would go well. The protagonists naturally shouldn’t die here, but he couldn’t say it with certainty.

Jiang Taozhi lowered her eyes and said with her head bowed: “I……I’m not escaping……”

The four fell silent for a long time.

This was the first time Su Min encountered something like this. In the previous two movies, they had always progressed through the story together.

But he could understand Jiang Taozhi’s decision. Even he himself couldn’t guarantee that he would be able to survive until the end.

Li Chi Yu tried to persuade her: “There’s no point waiting here.”

Le Ling said: “Let her think for herself.”

Jiang Taozhi shook her head. She gripped tightly onto her phone: “I don’t want to die like this……..The magician isn’t here so it should be fine…….”

Su Min: “You’ve decided?”

Jiang Taozhi nodded hesitantly.

Su Min said calmly: “Since you’ve decided then that’s that.”

One’s life and death depend on their decisions and actions.

Su Min didn’t waste any time. He looked back at the remaining audience and said: “We don’t have much time. We should move as soon as possible.”

Who knows when the clown would appear again?

Because the clown had left the stage, the lights were off. With everything shrouded in complete darkness, it helped them move around undetected.

Su Min took the lead and went to the place pointed out by himself earlier.

The space here was something that he didn’t expect. On the upper part of it were curtain hems that was easy to take out and remove.

But once you went in, there was a strong possibility of encountering other ghosts.

Li Chi Yu and Le Ling followed closely behind.

Su Min mentally prepared herself as he walked up onto the stage. He could see Chen Su swaying around near the curtains and also causing the curtain to sway along with him.

Chen Su: “Hurry and come.”

Su Min: “………..

Why does that sound a little strange?

After Su Min thought this, he went on stage. He was then pulled forward by Chen Su and fell into his embrace.

The curtains covered them, blocking them from everyone’s sight.

With the beauty in his arms, Chen Su was in a very good mood.

Su Min got up from him and couldn’t help but recall their human and ghost posture. The tips of his ears were slightly red.

Li Chi Yu who came up afterwards also almost tripped. Seeing Su Min quickly get up again, he asked quietly: “Are you okay?”

Seeing Chen Su run away, Su Min said: “I’m fine.”

He then assessed the situation behind the curtains. Although it was dark, what he could see wasn’t the backstage but a wall.

There was a narrow exit on the wall.

Su Min asked subconsciously: “Where does that path lead to?”

In the darkness, they couldn’t see it before but now that they saw it, they realised that this exit was probably there from the very beginning.

Su Min guessed that the clown was probably a ghost, but he also thought for a moment that he may be human.

With the scary experiences from “Murder Island”, his trust towards humans and ghosts were now the same.

It wasn’t impossible for him to be human.

This horror movie had already displayed various strange phenomena including the corpses from earlier and the cannibal tree.

With them arriving at the performance venue, it also indicated that the horror movie was about to end.

That’s why he was willing to take the risk. After all, for most horror movies the moment you find out the final answer to it, it was basically the end of the movie.

Le Ling said: “I’ll go in first.”

Su Min glanced at her and asked: “Le Ling, do you know this place?”

Le Ling didn’t say anything. She just bent down and went in.

Li Chi Yu didn’t understand Su Min’s question, “How could she possibly know it? I was the one who invited her.”

Su Min was disappointed at his ignorance and didn’t want to pay him any attention.

After entering the small hole, they reached a tunnel. It was completely dark, and they didn’t know what it was made out of. It just felt a little strange when they touched it.

Su Min also heard the sound of nails scratching against something.

Li Chi Yu said cautiously: “This sounds like a ghost scratching at a door.”

It was both harsh and unpleasant.

Su Min said solemnly: “Maybe it really is a ghost scratching at a door.”

Li Chi Yu instantly imagined a scene with ghosts filling the corridor, scratching their nails against the doors. He started to tremble violently.

Le Ling turned back: “Don’t scare him.”

Su Min shrugged. He felt that the female protagonist was very brave. It was very different to what he had seen before.

In most horror movies, the female protagonists would all be scared to death and some would even die halfway. There were very few protagonists like this.

Li Chi Yu was contrarily in a good mood, “That’s right, don’t scare me.”

After walking for an unknown length of time, they finally were about to reach the end of the corridor. A small red-green light appeared at the end.

Le Ling stopped and said: “The exit is ahead.”

Su Min said: “It might not be the exit. It might be an entrance.”

Anyway, no matter what it was, they had already come all this way so they should go out and take a look.

Le Ling said: “Be prepared.”

Su Min supported himself by placing his hand on the wall. It felt very strange. He touched it and found a small gap. He then proceeded to stick his finger in.

With a hard pull, he pulled out a stick.

Su Min stumbled a little before regaining balance. He felt it around in the dark for a moment and said: “There are things in this wall that can be used as weapons.”

Although it felt strange to touch, with things the way they are now, he had no other choice. After all, they needed something for self-defence.

Li Chi Yu heard this and immediately pulled one out.

Le Ling didn’t move. She just reached out to touch it and didn’t say anything.

Su Min held the stick in his hand, “Let’s go.”

After taking a few dozen or so steps, wind from outside poured in causing them to feel cold.

The three of them stood at the exit and got ready to examine it.

When Su Min was about to say something, he suddenly saw someone acting strange ahead. He didn’t know what he was doing.

Le Ling warned them: “Someone’s here.”

It was only after the other party turned around that Su min was able to recognise this person.

It could be said that it was the first cannon fodder that he remembered because he had seen him on the first night at the hotel. It was Zhou Qing Qing’s boyfriend who had been going around alone after her disappearance.

At first, he had some suspicious but too many things happened afterwards, so he had completely forgotten about his existence. He didn’t expect to see him here alive and well.

Li Chi Yu also noticed him. He covered his mouth: “Is that a human or a ghost.”

Su Min whispered: “Let’s go and capture that guy. He’s the boyfriend of the Escape the Water Tank victim.”

The first magic trick was still vivid in their memories. When he said this, the others around him also recalled that trick.

What was Xu Jian doing in this place? Running away?

Su Min felt that something wasn’t right. When did he come in? Why didn’t they notice him when the door was right in front of them?

With all these questions were unanswered, he knew Xu Jian must be hiding a secret.