Chapter 142
Chapter 142
The movie had been extraordinarily difficult to make. It went from palace intrigue to pure romance, then from pure romance to animation.
The process twisted and turned, but the outcome was delightful.
While they worked, Qiao Yu brought the Bridal Ghost back.
With her present, the other Ghosts had no chance to cause trouble. The six people lived inside the Instance as though on vacation, achieving a situation in which only Wei Mingxuan suffered.
Notably, the Bridal Ghost genuinely returned looking like a different ghost. Her eyes, once entirely white, now had clear whites and round black pupils. Cover her mouth and she would absolutely be a great beauty.
The black thread had been removed, but two rows of dark-red holes and bruising remained along her lips.
The Doctor Ghosts had been unable to fix them, so Qiao Yu beat one up.
Sitting on the dressing-room sofa, he watched the Bridal Ghost continue admiring herself in the mirror and asked curiously, “Tao Zhuyue, how did your eyes return to normal?”
Even without the stitches, the Bridal Ghost disliked speaking. Silently, she opened her palm toward him.
A lock of black hair lay there.
When Qiao Yu reached for it, she abruptly closed her hand, carefully wrapped the hair, pulled open her collar, and stuffed it… against her chest.
Qiao Yu’s temple twitched. “Learning good habits is hard. Learning bad ones takes one slide downhill.”
It was only a lock of old hair.
Did she think he would steal it?
The thought reminded him of the Bridal Ghost’s wedding ceremony. That lock of hair seemed to belong to… Lou Yu, the Prince of Lanling?
“Were your eyes like that because this hair was inside your mouth?”
The Bridal Ghost nodded.
Qiao Yu did not pursue the matter. Seeing her constantly cover her mouth with one arm, he casually handed her a mask.
“Wear this. Much easier.”
The Bridal Ghost’s eyes curved with delight. She had seen many Doctor Ghosts wearing these at the hospital.
Why had she not thought of it?
Time passed swiftly. When Wei Mingxuan finished editing the final animation frame, the long-awaited system notification finally sounded.
[System inspection in progress…]
[Directors: Bu Yan Er Yu, I’m Your Dad, I Want a PhD, Farmer’s Three Punches Hurt a Bit, A Moment of Clarity, Little Art Pro, and Hide-and-Seek King. Executive producer and all post-production staff: Little Art Pro.]
[Movie review complete. The system has determined that production has wrapped.]
[All movie profits will be distributed among the Fan Badge holders of the seven streamers in the Live Stream Room.]
-Painted Skin: Baby QY, I love you to death!
-Sadako: I’m going to cheer for my darling like crazy.
-Li Xiaoqin: At last, some child support.
-Director Zhou: What an unexpected turn. I hardly deserve it.
-Waaaah, I want to become the streamer’s fan too…
-Gambling Ghost: What the fuck? I was about to ask when it’ll be my turn.
-Sadako: Soon. I hope my darling rolls my home field, sob sob…
-Painted Skin: Stop using the little green tea act. Do you have his combat power?
-Sadako: No. I’ll try another. Hehehe?
-Painted Skin: Hahaha.
-Li Xiaoqin: Hehehe.
-Director Zhou: Breaking the pattern.
-Sadako: Warning: fan status revoked!
[Congratulations to the seven streamers for escaping successfully. The Live Stream Room is closing…]
[Countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.]
The familiar weightlessness arrived. In the darkness, new text flooded Qiao Yu’s vision.
[Title reward generated.]
[Reward distribution in progress… Congratulations! The streamer has received the SSS-rank title Gu’s Rules of Acting. (This title is lovingly provided by Best Actor Gu, the original actor playing Tao Zhuyue in the production.)]
Qiao Yu: ??
The Ghost singing opera in the side hall had been a man? And a Best Actor winner!
[Equipping this title transforms you into a master performer: Convincing Lies. As long as your acting scores sixty points or higher, everyone will believe you. Remember, you have only three performance opportunities in each Instance. Be careful! Tell enough lies, and you may even deceive yourself.]
[The streamer has achieved one hundred percent completion of Blue Name Instances. Streamer I’m Your Dad has successfully advanced to Red Name Streamer! Live Stream Room upgrading…]
[Live Stream Room upgrade complete. Congratulations to streamer I’m Your Dad for becoming a Red Name Streamer. Red Name Mall channel now open…]
[The system is scanning completion rates for the streamer’s previous Instances. Please wait… Scan complete. Soul-Bound Item generated.]
[Congratulations! The streamer has received the S-rank Soul-Bound Item-Orange Hourglass. Turning the hourglass over rewinds time. Initial duration: thirty seconds. This item is bound to the soul and has no regional restrictions.]
[Note: This is a growth-type item. Even the smallest change during a rewind may cause a butterfly effect. Please think carefully before use. (Of course, someone blessed with extraordinary luck may not have this problem.)]
[Ding ding ding!]
As Qiao Yu’s consciousness blurred, the Live Stream Assistant sounded a long warning siren.
[Live Assistant 9999999: International connection channel activated. The Live Stream Room will enter a seven-day dormant adjustment period. Please look forward to its return.]
When Qiao Yu opened his eyes, he was back in the bedroom.
It was still early outside, perhaps eight or nine in the morning.
By coincidence, a piercing scream suddenly came from downstairs.
“I didn’t do anything! I’m not a mistress!”
He opened the window. A tall, beautiful woman was surrounded by people calling her a home-wrecker. They held her arms, cursed viciously, and dragged her back.
At those words, the onlookers who had begun to step forward stopped.
No one would help a “mistress.”
The woman’s eyes were red from crying. She struggled desperately. “I’m not… I don’t even know them.”
The crowd hesitated as she was nearly dragged into a car.
Driven by survival instinct, she turned and bit the middle-aged woman pulling her hair, then fought free through the crowd.
Her attackers panicked. One recovered and chased her.
A delivery rider in a bright-yellow vest sped past from ahead. She instinctively slowed to avoid his electric scooter, allowing the pursuing man to catch her sleeve.
The rider glanced back. After hearing the man shout that the shameless mistress had destroyed a family, he looked away indifferently and left.
The woman struggled like a frightened bird. With a rip, her broad, thin sleeve tore. Momentum flung her forward, and she ran for her life.
Brakes shrieked the next second. Just when she thought she had escaped, a vehicle struck and killed her before everyone’s eyes.
Red blood and white brain matter slowly spread across the black road.
Qiao Yu raised the hourglass and flipped the small orange object with one turn of his fingers.
[Orange Hourglass activated. Item lockout: fourteen days.]
The stopwatch paused at 33. Eerily, the number changed to 03…