CH 609

The lights went out, and everyone sank into chaos. All the actors stood where they were, but Han Fei heard the footsteps clearly. He turned to the sound. There was something standing behind the safety passage door. Han Fei retrieved the phone the crew had given all the stars and switched on the flashlight function. The light pierced through the dark and revealed the woman’s face behind the glass of the safety door.

A-Lin, beside Han Fei, screamed in fear when she saw the human face. She staggered and knocked into Xiao Chen. The celebrities were a mess. They were so different from their normal image. Only Han Fei retained his ‘persona’ of being an undercover cop.

“Why are you screaming?” Xiao Chen was spooked. He almost shoved A-Lin back. He had already raised his arms when he realized the cameras were still rolling.

“There’s a ghost behind the safety passage door! It’s a woman’s face!” A-Lin held her face and screamed. This was her authentic reaction and what Tang Yi wanted.

“It’s all fake. This is what Tang Yi do best.” Bai Cha said with forced composure. “There is no ghost in this world.”

Li Feng snapped out of it too. She took out her phone and looked at Han Fei in confusion. “How did you know there’s someone behind the door? You aimed your light at it directly.”

“I heard footsteps.” Han Fei walked towards the safety door. “The woman has a weird face, and it’s not similar to a normal ghost.”

“You can see so many details in just a flash?” Li Feng asked suspiciously. Then, she realized something scarier. “What do you mean by it’s not similar to a normal ghost? Have you seen a ghost before?”

“No.” Han Fei walked to the safety door. He pushed open the door and noticed more blood on the ground. “I wish to go upstairs to take a look. You guys want to come?”

“I want to quit!” A-Lin was very scared. She was a popular singer. This was her first variety show. Her friends had already told her not to come. However, she had big ambitions and wanted to use Tang Yi’s new show to help herself gain new fans.

“There’s still time to quit now. I can’t say the same later.” Han Fei was like the representative of the program team. But he was telling the truth because he knew this place was really haunted.

“I…” A-Lin hesitated and took out her phone to call her manager. Then, she realized the phones the crew gave them had no sign. Their phones were confiscated earlier. “What’s going on? How come the phones have no signal?”

“Our phones have no signal in the script, so Tang Yi is trying his best to reconstruct everything.” Li Feng checked the phone when she first got it. She thought everyone knew that. “A-Lin, this show has all the potential to go big. Once we manage to escape and become fixed cast, it’ll be wonderful for our future, so I think you should stay.” A-Lin accepted Li Feng’s advice and stayed beside Li Feng.

“Don’t be scared.” Bai Cha tried to console A-Lin. “Do you think Tang Yi will harm you? Does he dare to?” A-Lin shook her head and wiped her tears.

“That’s right. Since no harm will come to us, then we are invisible. There is no need for us to be afraid of killers or ghosts.” Bai Cha walked beside A-Lin. “Just consider this a unique type of reality tv.”

“Reality tv?” Han Fei smiled. “I think this is more like a horror show. Don’t ever think that we’re the main characters. We’re just the outsiders.”

“What are you trying to say?” Bai Cha retorted. He didn’t like Han Fei.

“I’m afraid that you’d die for no reason, so I’m giving you free advice.” Han Fei didn’t explain and entered the safe passage. He looked at the bloody footprints on the ground. “It looks like a pair of female shoes. She has gone downstairs.” Han Fei went down the stairs. The wall of the first-floor basement was painted with cute cartoons and various oil paintings of children playing. The children’s paintings were a huge contrast to the abandoned hospital. The children’s smiling faces looked at the medicine and abandoned syringes on the ground.

“The set designer is crazy!” Wu Li grumbled.

“Is it possible that this is already here in the first place?” Han Fei followed the blood trail and opened all the doors along the way. He kicked down those which were locked. As the doors slammed open, the others found their courage.

“You brutally destroyed the props and set. You’ll be scolded by the audience when the show is broadcasted.” Bai Cha followed behind the group and grinned wickedly.

Instead of being on a show, it felt Han Fei was on a ‘police investigation.’ Han Fei could explore the place freely since he had six meat shields. If he ran into Pure Hatred, he only needed to run faster than his teammates. ‘If I can find something this time, I should cooperate with Tang Yi, and have him put me in locales I want to investigate.’

Han Fei finally found something. The first-floor basement was similar to the underground of the white orphanage. The only difference was there were more rooms for kids here.

“The children of the rich are waiting above for personality correction, while orphans are kept underground waiting to be made into different personalities and sold like products. This is crazy.” Han Fei had a feeling Immortal Pharma really discovered something scary, and he was getting close to it. At the end of the corridor, Han Fei opened the last room. The children’s entertainment room had a rusted iron cage. Inside the cage was a pair of rotting arms.

“The cage is locked, and there’s a bloody message here.” Han Fei shone the light on the ground. “Your love is like a cage that traps. I want to leave, but you threaten to destroy me and the cage.”

“In the security room, there’s an iron cage under Bai Cha’s picture, so this should be Bai Cha’s test.” Wu Li turned to Bai Cha. “Did your script mention anything like this?”

“I think so. Based on the script, I’m a very controlling person and hate small animals. To prevent them from escaping, I love to trap them in cages.” Bai Cha walked around the cage and noticed the names of various animals written at the welding points. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Bai Cha was the main character. He needed to rely on something inside the script to open the cage and remove the arms. He was calm and handsome, but he wasn’t that clever. He was using his acting skill to cover up his confusion. Han Fei smelled a faint paint smell. It was strange. It was like paint mixed with blood. He turned to look out the door. In the dark corridor, a ball slid out of the wall. Then, a small shadow walked out of the wall to pick up the ball. ‘The painter painted all the paintings here when he was young?’

Han Fei wouldn’t dare come to such a dangerous place alone. The crew had helped him solve a big problem. The shadow that held the ball looked lost. He didn’t return to the wall but walked up the stairs.

“We don’t have time to play house anymore.” Han Fei asked Bai Cha. “Can you do it?”

“I’m thinking, don’t rush me!” Bai Cha said. “Then, tell me what’s on your mind? How do you plan to solve this? What can you think of from these animals?” Han Fei stood beside Bai Cha. “Tell us everything you know from your script. We can help you.”

“I…” Bai Cha was anxious and couldn’t say anything.

“Thankfully, you’re handsome, or else I have no idea what you can do.” Han Fei grabbed the iron cage and started to shake. The cage was sturdy but not by Han Fei’s standards. The cage was shaken loosen, and Han Fei walked out with the two arms.

“Hey! They can’t show that on tv!” Bai Cha shouted.

“You want stuff that can show on tv? There will be more.” Han Fei returned to the first floor. “Since Tang Yi wants to pursue authenticity, I will prove to him with actual actions that real exploration has no rules. He should understand that.”

“What nonsense! Boss Tang is probably exploding behind the camera now!”

“He makes the rules, but we play the game.” Han Fei pushed open the door. He realized the lights before the elevator had come back on. “The lights are back?”

The actors immediately ran out of the stairwell as if there was a monster hiding there.

“Who wants to go in this time?” Wu Li was frightened when he last used the elevator. He didn’t dare use it again.

“I’ll do it.” Han Fei looked at the light closest to the elevator. When he got close, the light extinguished. A-Lin screamed and leaned towards Li Feng. The other actors were ready and immediately took out their flashlights.

Han Fei pressed for the elevator and the old door slowly opened. A stinging paint smell wafted out. The booth was covered with red characters of the word Deaths!

The ghastly handwriting and dripping red paint formed many different human faces.

“Fuck!” Wu Li cursed. This was too shocking and scary.

“We’ve only been gone for a few minutes. How can the elevator booth change so drastically?” Li Feng held her nose. She couldn’t stand the smell. The other celebrities curled at the back. Han Fei stood in front of the elevator alone.

‘He is close by.’ Han Fei tossed the broken arms into the booth. Soon the elevator panel glowed in red. Then, the number 4 appeared.

“Is this a hint telling us to get to the fourth floor?” Han Fei frowned. “If Tang Yi has assigned each actor their individual tests, then piecing together the body will take a lot of time. It looks like brute-forcing my way through is the only solution.”

The elevator closed, and Han Fei planned to head to the fourth floor. His pupils suddenly narrowed as he stared at the group of actors.

“What’s wrong, brother? Don’t look at us like that!” Wu Li felt pressure from Han Fei for the first time.

“One is missing.” Han Fei pointed at the group. “Xia Yilan is missing!” When everyone was drawn by the ‘deaths’ inside the elevators, Xia Yilan disappeared.

“There was no sound, so she probably left on her own, or the director had given her a special identity.” Li Feng explained logically.

“But why is she the one who went missing?” Han Fei looked around and didn’t find anything left behind by Xia Yilan. It was as if she had disappeared into thin air. They looked around and still couldn’t find any trace of Xia Yilan. “We need to speed up. Something might have happened to her!” Han Fei needed Xia Yilan to get more info. He didn’t want her to die just like that. They decided to head to the fourth floor.

“Strange, isn’t this place supposed to be a plastic surgery hospital? Why are all the paintings about children playing?” Even the dullest among them, Xiao Chen, noticed the problem. “And I have this feeling something is trailing us, is it Xia Yilan?”

“There is no reason for her to do that!” A-Lin grabbed Li Feng’s clothes. She was scared, so she stayed at the back of the group with Li Feng. When she heard Xiao Chen, she turned to look behind her. The abandoned building was dark. It really looked like something was moving in the dark. A-Lin dried her eyes and focused her eyes on the stairwell corner. A ball rolled out from the second-floor corridor.

“A ball?” Moments later, a boy walked out. He picked up the ball and then seemed to notice A-Lin. The body slowly turned around. The boy hugged the ball and looked at A-Lin.

“Why would Tang Yi get a child actor?” Before she could figure it out, another child walked out from the corner. The child teetered. His arms searched in the dark. His neck ended in a stump. He seemed to be looking for his head.