Chapter 108: 0108

Chapter 108

The full moon shattered the sea, leaving fragments of shimmering light on the waves as the boat slowly advanced along its returning path. The production team deliberately captured a wide-angle shot, including the five people on shore to show that there were truly no staff members left on land.

The five of them huddled together, shivering like abandoned baby rabbits, with some even twitching their ears, clearly frightened by their current environment.

[Non-immersive reality show]

[So--]

The scene cuts to the boat, where crew members are chatting and laughing, with some standing on deck, gazing at the people on shore.

The production team thoughtfully labels them: [Timetrain's managers and assistants]

"Yay, we can rest for a week!"

"Haha, paid vacation!"

"Ah... they haven't eaten since this afternoon. I wonder if there's food on the island..." the person says, slurping instant noodles from a cup.

"Ahh! Help! It's so painful trying not to laugh at night!"

"Hahaha, only five people for an immersive experience, huh?"

"I've been laughing for thirty minutes; I'm going to get abs from this!"

This is indeed an immersive reality show, but only for those five people. The island is equipped with hundreds of cameras to create the illusion of being "completely deserted" for them.

The camera cuts back to the five people, who are trying to calm themselves as they look at the bags at their feet.

"L-let's see what's in the bags," Gao Xiayu suggests, although he's also scared. With four people clinging to him, he feels more suffocated than afraid.

He peels the others off him one by one, then picks up a bag from the ground and opens it to look inside.

There are five bags, presumably one for each person, with slightly different contents, but all containing a watch and a flashlight.

When they turn on the flashlights, the dark shore becomes slightly brighter, but only within a short range. Besides the tools, they also find a letter of commission in the bags, explaining the backstory of the small town.

"Everyone in the town has disappeared. Are we supposed to find out why?" Ye Xing looks up at the others.

Yao Shuo glances behind him, where the wind-blown green trees look particularly eerie. He steps forward a bit before looking back, "Didn't they say there were ghosts? What other reason could there be?"

The other four look at him: "..."

"We were finally about to forget about that, and you bring it up again!" Pei Luming says angrily.

The five form a small circle, heads lowered, adhering to the principle that if they can't see behind them, they won't be afraid. They stand there, hesitant to move. The audience in the comments section anticipates that this is when the production team will come to push the plot forward, and then, in the next second--

"What are you doing?"

A voice suddenly rings out, clearly not from any of them. In the silence of the small island, this unexpected sound shatters what little courage they had mustered.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

It's unclear who screamed first, but like dry grass catching fire, the screams spread. They're all scared out of their wits, collapsing to the ground, some covering their heads, others their eyes.

Even the audience in the comments section was startled by the sudden voice.

"That's it, I'm done. You said you'd only scare them, but you scared me too."

"I wasn't scared by the man's voice, but by their screams."

"I'm wearing headphones and nearly went deaf..."

In the convenience store, the five bury their heads in their food, not even taking off their headgear. The reason is simple: in their setting, they are rabbit officers, and if any part of their costume is missing, it would mean they are injured or dead.

Taking off the head would be like twisting off their own heads. They might be a bit foolish, but they're not that clueless.

Yao Shuo, feeling seasick, doesn't have much appetite. He takes a piece of bread and surveys the convenience store, then goes to the newspaper rack at the entrance.

"There are newspapers here," he says, picking one up. The top headline reads [Serial Killer Strikes Again].

"Whoa!"

Yao Shuo is startled by the sudden voice next to his ear, dropping his bread. He clutches his chest, "Chi Qiao, can't you make some noise when you walk?"

"Didn't I make noise?" Chi Qiao tilts his head and asks.

This newspaper must be related to the plot, so the others gather around to look.

It also states that there will be a final round-trip ferry between 11 PM and midnight tonight, after which the island will be closed for a week.

Ye Xing tilts his head, looking at that information, "Hmm... the last round-trip ferry. Wouldn't that mean the serial killer could escape?"

"You can't think like that," Chi Qiao disagreed with his statement. "If we had really let someone go, the five of us wouldn't be here now."

Yao Shuo looked back at him with an expression of speechless disbelief, as if dealing with someone intellectually challenged.

Meanwhile, Gao Xiayu, who was searching on the other side, found a diary at the cash register counter.

"There's a diary here!" He flipped through a couple of pages.

[Someone died today. It's terrifying. Living on this small island for so many years, this is the first time I've encountered something like this. The last big incident on the island that alerted the police was when two old men got into a fight over a swimming competition at the shore. I never thought there could be a murder on this little island.]

[...Another person died. I'm too scared to sleep during night shifts now.]

[Three people died this week. I asked the boss to cancel night shifts, but he said killers don't target poor people and told me not to worry...]

[These days, I'm most afraid of seeing the newspaper. Every day there's news about someone being killed. Everyone's saying the place is haunted. The boss is packing up to run away. What should I do...]

The five of them were reading intently, with Ye Xing taking notes based on the dates. Suddenly, the doorknob behind the cash register counter moved slightly. The five of them immediately froze.

"Click..." It moved again.

They took a small step back.

The door opened, and a person came out, looking drowsy as if they had just woken up.

"Ahhhh, I knew it! If there's Sang Mo, there must be Chen Wu!"

"Well well, the murderer must be one of you!"

"I love this variety show!"

The scene zoomed out, and the people who were standing in front of the cash register suddenly vanished. The person who walked out from behind the door yawned, then looked up, startled by the rabbit ears sticking up on the shelves.

[They hid, but not completely.]

Seeing someone come out, possibly the serial killer, the five of them quickly hid - just forgetting to consider the height of their ears.

Pei Luming was still muttering, "You can't see me, you can't see me, you can't see me..."

Yao Shuo, standing next to him, said exasperatedly, "Speak a little louder and you'll call them right over."

Pei Luming: Who on earth came up with this variety show idea?!