Chapter 24
Chapter 24
The woman before him did not move away. An Sen’s heart stirred as he imagined the wonderful night ahead.
Then she said nervously, “But are you sure we should go somewhere deserted, just the two of us? Today, I overheard two hotel employees talking. They said someone died in this hotel before, and the owner paid to suppress the story. Apparently, it was a young guest who had been jilted. Unable to bear the shock, they killed themselves in a guest room. The scene was horrible–the whole room was covered in blood…”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. At some point, the door behind her had closed. The spacious corridor had originally been brightly lit, but now–perhaps only because of his imagination–the lights seemed deathly pale.
An Sen inexplicably began to feel uneasy, and half his amorous excitement instantly evaporated.
Still, he did not want to let such an opportunity slip through his fingers. Forcing himself to remain calm, he said, “Those are just ghost stories made up to scare young women like you. If you’re afraid, you can hold on to me.”
“Hold on to you? Like this?” A pair of soft hands wrapped around An Sen’s arm.
It should have been an intimate, enticing scene, but An Sen shuddered. The hand around his arm was as cold as a block of ice and strangely slick, with the tang of salt and blood clinging to it.
The hotel kept its air-conditioning running around the clock, normally a welcome comfort in the summer heat. At that moment, however, a chill crept down An Sen’s back.
The pungent smell of blood filled his nose. His entire body went rigid, and he did not dare look down.
Someone giggled and blew against his ear, asking in an eerie voice, “Brother An Sen, weren’t you going to take me somewhere so we could study and discuss the script? Why won’t you look at me?”
An Sen did not want to look, but he had lost control of his body. It was as though invisible strings were manipulating him. His head lowered inch by inch until he met a pair of pitch-black eyes with no whites.
The female ghost nestled against him and smiled gently. “Brother An Sen, is it quiet enough here?”
At some point, the corridor around them had transformed into a guest room. Every inch of the walls, ceiling, and floor had been smeared with sticky blood.
“Aaaah!”
The sudden scream shattered the quiet night.
Several rooms on that floor were occupied. The braver guests opened their doors and saw a familiar figure sprinting for his life down the corridor, screaming things like “Don’t kill me!” and “Help!” as he ran.
“Isn’t that… Assistant An, the one who works for Director Ji?”
“What’s going on?”
People called to him, but An Sen ignored them all. His expression was deranged and his eyes were bloodshot, making him look terrifying.
Several people exchanged knowing looks. He couldn’t have… taken something, could he?
Hotel security soon arrived. Because no one could communicate with him, they had no choice but to restrain and remove him. And because An Sen’s condition was so abnormal, they called the police as well.
Zhu Yin took a long sip from a cup of milk tea. Beside her stood a beautiful woman in a red dress. Her hair was jet-black, her skin was snow-white, and her entire being radiated a startling allure.
Of course, anyone who looked more closely would see that, beneath the lights, the floor under her feet was perfectly bare. She cast no shadow at all.
Zhu Yin nodded to her. “Thank you for your help.”
She casually handed her a cup of milk tea that had been specially altered so abnormal entities could taste it too.
The woman in red accepted it and took a satisfied gulp. “Lady Zhu Yin, you’re too kind. I’m off today and had nothing else to do. I should be thanking you for letting me visit such an entertaining place. Slurp! This is delicious…”
She stared greedily around the peaceful suite, her gaze passing through the wall to Lu Yao asleep in the bedroom.
Unable to resist, she leaned forward to draw a little closer. “Is this the fortunate young woman under Lady Zhu Yin’s protection…?”
Hiss!
As though burned by something scorching, she hurriedly jerked her gaze away.
Still wearing her harmless smile, Zhu Yin held her milk tea and looked at her with laughter in her eyes. “She’s only an ordinary person. You should go back.”
This world did not welcome abnormal energy. The female ghost had only been able to visit briefly because of Zhu Yin’s item.
The ghost apologized in a rush. “I meant no harm. I was only curious… only curious.”
When she glanced at Zhu Yin and saw no displeasure on her face, she sighed in relief. Without delay, she dissolved into a wisp of green smoke and returned to her own world.
Naturally, she did not forget to take her milk tea with her.
.
It was quite an eventful night for many people.
An Sen’s unending screams woke people on more than one floor. Even those who slept well enough to miss the screaming were roused by the commotion afterward.
The most unnerving part came later. After hotel security subdued him, An Sen kept shouting, “Blood! So much blood!” and “There’s a ghost!”
At that late hour, in a hotel of all places, his cries were especially chilling.
Someone from the production asked the hotel for its surveillance footage. An Sen looked perfectly normal at first. Then, after reaching a certain spot, he suddenly stopped and began speaking to someone. He even seemed to make physical contact with them.
The problem was that from beginning to end, no second person appeared anywhere in the footage!
The recording showed it clearly. After An Sen spent a while conversing with the empty air beside him, his expression suddenly changed as if he had seen something horrifying, and he began running for his life.
It made everyone’s scalp prickle.
Almost no one in the production slept during the second half of the night.
Lu Yao was completely unaffected. Curled beneath the covers, she slept soundly. At that moment, even the sky collapsing could not have summoned her out of the scenario, much less a disturbance like this.
Besides, Zhu Yin believed that what Lu Yao was experiencing in the scenario was far more exciting than An Sen’s little incident.
The long night passed.
Dawn arrived.
Lu Yao opened her eyes.
When she saw the familiar yet strangely foreign white ceiling, she remained stunned for a very, very long time.
The ice in her eyes gradually melted. Abruptly, she rose from the bed, walked to the window, and pulled open the curtains.
Golden sunlight, unobstructed by gray smog, spilled across her face. It felt like another lifetime.
A familiar knock sounded at the door.
Lu Yao opened it. Zhu Yin looked at her with a smile. “Our star seems to have grown up quite a bit.”
Lu Yao curved her lips. This habitual gesture, practiced for more than twenty years, suddenly felt slightly unnatural.
“I-I traveled to another world. I had a very, very long dream.”
Zhu Yin handed her a cup of warm water and gestured for her to sit while they spoke.
“How do you feel?”
Her casual, everyday manner calmed Lu Yao’s racing heart. Cradling the cup, she let out a long breath. “It feels wonderful to be back!”
Her memories returned, along with the realization of where she was and what she was doing.
Yet all her previous fear, uncertainty, and confusion had disappeared.
Compared with omnipresent, terrifying zombies and the constant danger of death, what did filming a show or being excluded by a few coworkers amount to?