Chapter 336
Chapter 336
The assistant director watched me write and draw on the paper, unable to understand what I was doing.
Sun Yuan could not understand either.
“Mr. Chen, what are you doing?”
I did not answer and continued my analysis.
A hexagram consisted of two trigrams. The one above was called the Outer Trigram, while the one below was called the Inner Trigram.
The Official Ghost representing the female Ghost appeared in the Outer Trigram. This indicated she did not belong to the courtyard residence, but had come from outside. In other words, someone on the film crew had brought her here.
Whether that person had done so intentionally or was being haunted by the Ghost remained unknown.
Today was the fifteenth, a Mao day. Mao corresponded to Wood.
The Official-Ghost Line was You Metal. Metal could overcome Wood, but a yao (line) within the hexagram had no authority to generate or overcome the Day Builder, so it remained dormant and powerless for the day.
Working backward, a Chou day corresponded to Earth, and Earth generated Metal. That was when the Official-Ghost Line would be at its strongest, meaning the time when the Ghost would be powerful enough to cause trouble.
The previous Chou day had fallen on the thirteenth. That should have been the day the second female lead died in the accident.
Working backward again, the previous Xu day also corresponded to Earth, making it another day when the Official-Ghost Line was at its strongest. That had been the tenth.
The tenth was when the first accident occurred, the one in which the supporting actress broke her leg.
By now, I was completely confident. I asked the assistant director, “Did the first accident happen on the tenth, and the second on the thirteenth?”
The assistant director froze. Before he could answer, Sun Yuan exclaimed excitedly, “That’s right! Brother Chen, you’re incredible!”
Sun Yuan was quick-witted. When he saw the assistant director’s reaction, he immediately explained, “I never told Brother Chen the exact dates of the accidents. I really didn’t.”
Brother Liu hastily added, “Neither did I.”
They truly had never told me, but their explanations sounded weak. I interrupted, “There’s no need to explain. I’ll prove it directly.”
I had already confirmed that the place was haunted. But to convince everyone else, I naturally had to let them see the evidence with their own eyes.
The two Official-Ghost Lines were Shen Metal and You Metal. Shen Metal was Yang Metal, while You Metal was Yin Metal. That was how I determined the Ghost was female.
The direction associated with You was west.
I had not brought my compass, which had cost nine yuan and nine jiao with free shipping. I could only pull out my phone, open its compass app, and determine which way was west.
I led everyone out of the room and began searching in that direction.
It soon pointed us toward a restroom.
And restrooms were already among the places in a home where yin energy tended to gather most heavily.
I led them inside. The restroom contained four stalls and was not separated by gender.
No one else was there at the moment.
I turned off the lights and shut the outer door, plunging the room into darkness.
“Wh-why are we doing this?”
Brother Liu had spoken. He sounded frightened.
I told them not to be afraid. It was broad daylight, so no Ghost would appear.
“Anning, give me a candle…”
Anning soon handed me one. I lit it and stood it in the corner.
The restroom had been pitch-black. Under the candlelight, it became merely dim.
I pulled the others into a crouch and said, “This is the normal color of a candle flame. Remember it.”
The three men answered in unison, “We remember. So what?”
I said, “That’s enough. You’ll understand in a moment.”
Only ten or so seconds passed before the normal flame began to change.
At first, only its tip carried the faintest hint of green. Then the entire flame gradually turned greenish, yellow tinged with green.
Eventually, the green deepened further.
This indicated that the female Ghost causing trouble harbored resentment and was somewhat vicious.
Brother Liu and Sun Yuan drew sharp breaths at the sight.
But perhaps the assistant director still did not trust me. He stared blankly and said, “Could this… be some kind of prop?”
I sighed. “Assistant Director, Brother Liu is Sun Yuan’s cousin and a police officer. He introduced us. We have no reason to stage some supernatural trick for you. If you don’t believe us, you can find a candle yourself and test it here. Or you can hire someone else.”
“But you had better find someone with genuine ability. Otherwise, accidents will keep happening here, and more people may die.”
Perhaps my sincere words finally dispelled his doubts.
“No, no. I believe you. I do!”
He also began to panic, stumbling over his words. “What… What does this mean? Why is it happening?”
I explained, “The second female lead was already possessed before her accident. The female Ghost entered her body in this restroom, which is why the yin energy here is so dense that it changed the color of the candle flame…”
I had only just finished when the restroom door creaked.
In the silence, the sound was especially piercing.
All of us jumped and instinctively looked toward the entrance.
The door had opened. A female Ghost with disheveled hair stood in the doorway.
The sudden fright stunned even me.
Holy fuck!
This Ghost had come out to scare people in broad daylight!
“Ah! Fuck! Fuck!”
Brother Liu and the others screamed in terror.
Even Anning hid behind me.
But then I noticed the female Ghost was screaming too.
The assistant director recovered first and shouted, “Wu Yiyi, what are you doing? You nearly scared us to death!”
“Everyone, calm down. That’s Wu Yiyi, the director’s assistant. After the second female lead’s accident, we had no one to play the Ghost, so Yiyi had to take over the role temporarily.”
By then, Wu Yiyi had already rushed inside. She hurriedly turned on the lights, clutched her chest, and asked, “Assistant Director, you’re the ones who nearly scared me to death! What were you doing in here with the lights off? You almost killed me!”
With the restroom brightly lit, we finally saw the full appearance of this “female Ghost.” She was another beautiful woman.
But she really was terrifying!
Her makeup made her look more like a Ghost than a real one!
“It’s fine. Everything’s fine…”
The assistant director breathed a long sigh of relief and led us out of the restroom.
Even after we emerged, Brother Liu and Sun Yuan had not recovered.
The assistant director grabbed my hand, his face deathly pale. “Mr. Che… No, Master Chen! I believe you. I really do! Tell us what to do. How do we handle this Ghost? Will she be like the one in our movie and try to kill all of us?”
“Master Chen, do you have a protective Talisman or a Life-Saving Talisman? I… I… You have to protect me!”
He was so frightened he could barely speak coherently. I hurriedly said, “Protective Talismans can resolve small problems, not major ones. I don’t know the Ghost’s exact situation yet.”
“I need to determine her origins and identity, as well as why she is hurting people. That means I must make contact with her first.”
“What time do you begin filming tonight?”