Chapter 195: Filial Piety
How could it be Lu Caiwei???
Despite being mentally prepared to face a ghost, the completely unexpected reflection in the mirror still made Xie Zhen’s expression twist with terror in that instant.
Could it be that players killed in this instance would return as vengeful spirits?
Xie Zhen didn’t have time to think too deeply. He swiftly raised his hand and slapped a pre-prepared exorcism talisman backward onto the hands gripping his shoulders. The yellow paper stuck firmly, but Lu Caiwei didn’t vanish—instead, she even smiled at him.
Xie Zhen growled in disbelief, "Why isn’t it working…?" Then, realization struck him. He whirled around. "You—!"
What he wanted to say was: You’re not Lu Caiwei.
The talisman couldn’t have malfunctioned. If it had no effect on her, it could only mean she wasn’t a ghost.
But he never got the chance to finish.
Lu Caiwei disappeared from the mirror, and in her place, a black-clad woman with disheveled hair appeared behind him, her lips curling into a grotesque smile.
……
When Li Zhi returned to the room, Li Feng was sitting in the darkness, watching as she removed the disguise mask from her face and took off the coat Lu Caiwei had worn daily to ward off the cold.
Before she died, Lu Caiwei had handed it to her with a smile.
Neither of them spoke.
A long time passed before Li Feng finally broke the silence, hearing her turn over in bed. "Zhi Zhi, get some sleep."
Li Zhi kept her eyes closed. After a while, she asked quietly, "Brother, do you think… when the mission is completed, will those who died in the instances come back?"
Li Feng’s voice was steady. "Never pin your hopes on uncertain things."
Otherwise, all you’ll reap in the end is pain and disappointment.
The three-person room had become a two-person one. It took Li Zhi a long time to fall asleep. In the middle of the night, she and Li Feng once again heard the same hollow click-clack of teeth from the previous night.
This time, there wasn’t just one figure—two hunched silhouettes appeared outside the window. Judging by their builds, it seemed to be an elderly man and woman.
They paced back and forth outside the window. Li Zhi narrowed her eyes, watching for a while. When the sound faded in another direction, she whispered to Li Feng, "It seems like they’re searching for something."
Li Feng’s brow twitched. "Ning Xue?"
"She must have some connection to this village. Tomorrow, we’ll ask the elderly villagers about it."
The sound had appeared the previous night, so its return didn’t startle the players too much. After a while, when it disappeared completely, everyone gradually drifted back to sleep. Half-asleep, Li Zhi heard the sound of a door opening next door.
Someone grumbled softly about the cold as they hurried past the window toward the restroom. From the voice, it sounded like one of the crew members.
After using the restroom, the person jogged back. Only when the door closed again did Li Zhi shut her eyes once more.
The night passed without further incident. When they woke the next morning, the factory building felt noticeably emptier. Half the crew had left, and the remaining members all wore gloomy expressions.
Li Zhi was brushing her teeth beside Li Jianxi when she heard the director calling out nearby, "A-Song? A-Song? That brat can’t still be asleep, can he?"
A-Song was the director’s assistant, who hadn’t left with the others the previous night. Everyone had seen him when they went to bed.
Li Zhi paused mid-brush. Noticing her reaction, Li Jianxi turned and asked quietly, "What’s wrong?"
Li Zhi replied, "Last night, I heard A-Song go out to use the restroom."
Li Jianxi wiped foam from his lips, frowning. "Did he not come back?"
Li Zhi shook her head. "He did. I heard him return and close the door."
As they spoke, the director reached A-Song’s door and knocked. When no one answered, he tried the handle—the door swung open. It hadn’t been locked. Exchanging a glance with Li Jianxi, Li Zhi quickly rinsed her mouth and followed.
The square factory room was sparsely furnished. The blanket on the bed had been thrown aside, and the room was empty.
Li Zhi walked over and touched the bed—it was ice-cold. Clearly, no one had slept there for a while.
Now the director was genuinely worried. "Where’s A-Song? Did something happen to him?"
The crew members who had followed them in exchanged uneasy glances. Someone muttered, "Maybe he sneaked off."
The director shot the speaker a glare. Unfazed, the man added, "He was your protégé, after all. Last night, he probably felt too guilty to leave with the others, so he slipped away secretly."
The director clenched his fists. That was a possibility!
His expression shifted through several emotions before he finally heaved a heavy sigh. "Fine. If he’s gone, he’s gone." Spotting Li Jianxi nearby, he forced himself to rally. "Starting today, we’re speeding up filming! Everyone, bear with it—let’s wrap this up in three days!"
The response was a half-hearted murmur.
Outside, Tianwen’s members also realized Xie Zhen was missing. Cheng Jiaoyun cornered Huang Jingtong, who had shared a room with Xie Zhen, his tone aggressive. "He was in the same room as you! How could you not notice him disappearing?"
Huang Jingtong shrugged indifferently. "He went to the restroom and never came back. How should I know?"
Cheng Jiaoyun’s face darkened. "He was killed last night, and you did nothing all night?"
Huang Jingtong smirked. "Knowing how dangerous it is outside, was I supposed to go looking for him in the middle of the night and get myself killed too?"
Cheng Jiaoyun gave him a cold stare, seemingly unwilling to waste more breath. He turned and stormed off.
Nearby, Peacock’s members watched the exchange quietly. "Tianwen’s down to three people now, and their internal unity is shaky. Perfect for picking them off one by one."
Yan Yingrui nodded. "But we still need to guard against them getting desperate and pulling underhanded tricks."
At breakfast, the director realized Xie Zhen—who played the male lead’s rival for Ning Xue’s affections—was also missing. The crew buzzed with theories that he and A-Song had sneaked away together, further souring the director’s mood.
Li Zhi shared last night’s events with the other players. Xing Qingyue’s face paled with fear. "So A-Song died inside his room? Was there something in there?"
Everyone’s thoughts turned to the eerie elderly couple with their clicking teeth.
A-Song had left his door open when he went to the restroom—perhaps the old couple had slipped inside.
"The room was completely clean, with no sign of A-Song’s body," Yuan Qing said with a shudder. "Could they have… eaten him alive?"
The group surveyed the drastically reduced crew, their moods sinking. With so few people left, if the deaths continued, would there even be enough survivors to finish filming? By the time the movie wrapped, the entire crew might be dead.
Now that would be a true horror film.
When Ning Xue finally emerged, yawning, for breakfast, she was startled by the absence of so many faces. Worried she might quit, the director had instructed everyone not to mention Lu Caiwei’s death, claiming instead that some crew members had left in protest after Shi Ziliang’s demise.
Ning Xue had always been aloof, never close to anyone on set. No one volunteered gossip, and she certainly wouldn’t ask. She merely gestured for Jiang Can to inquire discreetly before dropping the matter.
This shoot was a nightmare—she just wanted to finish and leave. Irritably sipping her porridge, she noticed the two elderly actors playing her grandparents wolfing down their food like they hadn’t eaten in weeks. She pushed her untouched steamed buns toward them. "I’m not hungry. Do you want these?"
When they looked up, Ning Xue recoiled at their ravenous expressions. "Wh-what’s wrong with you?"
Uncle Zhang grabbed a bun and took a huge bite, mumbling through crumbs, "Nothing. Just starving."
Watching them devour the food, Ning Xue frowned and told Jiang Can, "Go get more buns."
The village elders, unaware half the crew had left, had prepared breakfast for the original headcount. There were plenty of leftovers. Jiang Can brought over the entire basket, and the two elders polished off every last bun under Ning Xue’s stunned gaze.
Jiang Can observed them carefully before seeking out Yan Yingrui afterward. "Those two are acting strange. Be careful."
Yan Yingrui had an item that could distinguish humans from ghosts. He discreetly used it on the pair—but they registered as completely normal. With no obvious anomalies, they could only keep watching for now.
With actors dead or missing, the director gathered the core team after breakfast to revise the script. Fear had clearly taken root—he stopped obsessing over details, cutting entire subplots to streamline the story. As long as it remained coherent, speed was the priority.
It was only then that Li Zhi saw the film’s ending.
After discovering the village was one massive jar tomb, Xue and her companions faced attacks from vengeful spirits. Of the original six, only the male and female leads survived.
While trying to escape, Xue learned her grandparents had also been victims of the jar tomb—buried alive by their own son.
But instead of becoming vengeful ghosts, the elderly couple had protected their granddaughter since her return. The eerie occurrences in the old house? Just their attempts to scare her away.
In the end, Xue exhumed her grandparents’ remains from the tomb. Under their protection, she and the male lead fled the village. The final shot showed the couple standing behind the sealed tomb entrance, waving farewell with benevolent smiles.
After reading the script, Yuan Qing remarked, "That’s… oddly wholesome."
Trimming the fat streamlined the story, focusing more on Ning Xue’s character. Though rushed, it was the best they could do. Some players approached Li Zhi—the only one with acting experience—for insight. "How long will filming take now?"
Li Zhi considered it. "If nothing goes wrong, we can wrap in four days."
The confirmation brought little relief. Four days was more than enough for disaster to strike. Instances always grew deadlier as they progressed.
To save time, the director split the crew into two units—Group A filming the leads’ scenes, Group B handling supporting roles and background shots. Eager to finish, they made more progress that morning than the entire previous day.
Lunch, as usual, was delivered by the village elders. Everyone ate quickly before returning to set. Li Zhi’s scenes were done for the day, so after eating, she and Li Jianxi helped the village chief clear the tables.
The chief protested, not wanting to trouble the city folk, but when the two insisted—already carrying dishes toward the village houses—he hurried after them.