I didn't sleep well the night before.
At seven o'clock in the morning, the photographer came to visit, greeted the host, and then knocked on the door of Wen Shi's room.
"Wake up, get ready for filming."
When Wen Shi woke up, he first glanced at the hole in the wall. The cold wind blew in through the hole. The hole was empty and there were no eyes inside.
There was still an hour before the program recording started. We had breakfast at the Red Coat Woman's house. Because of the child's words about corpse oil yesterday, Wen Shi avoided the soup on the table and only ate half a steamed bun. Four dishes, two soups, and a bowl of porridge, these foods did not suit Ah Sang's appetite. He ate a few bites listlessly, his mind wandering, not knowing what he was thinking.
Even the entire meal process was recorded. The cameraman suddenly said, "The most popular couple right now are the special guest Zhou Lulu and her husband. Your popularity was the highest at the beginning, but after last night you dropped to sixth place."
Wen Shi looked at the cameraman. The cold lens reminded him of the densely packed eyes that were staring at him last night.
A drop in popularity means there is nothing to watch; neither the highest nor the lowest is a good thing.
The woman in the red coat was still wearing the coat. She deliberately moved closer to Wen Shi and said in a sweet tone, "I believe we will surpass the others today."
Wen Shi changed the subject: "Where's my uncle? I want to say hello to him."
Yesterday the steward said "the master doesn't like her", which shows that there is another important NPC in this family: the father of the red-coat girl.
The other party did not come to have breakfast together.
"You'll see her soon." The red-coated goddess said mysteriously, "There's a big event at home today."
After breakfast, the cameraman led them to the shooting location, located in a small valley near the village.
Wen Shi made a rough estimate and found that he had passed at least a hundred households on his way to the outside of the village. Assuming there were two people in each household, there were more than two hundred people in the village. Therefore, those who went to watch the recording of the program last night were only a small part of the villagers in Fengguan Village.
In the distance, there are low peaks, rolling up and down as if to block all the exits. It should be summer now, and the flowers are blooming. The temperature in the mountains is very low. The host changed into different styles of clothes, but did not get rid of pink.
"Now that everyone is here, let's start..."
Someone interrupted him: "We are still missing a pair of guests."
Wen Shi also discovered that the short female player from yesterday did not show up.
The host looked regretful: "The popularity of their group was too low, and the production team sent them back overnight." The next second, the tone rose again: "The guarantee for the long-term high ratings of "Crazy Love Season" is that we only make programs that the audience likes to watch!"
The voice echoed in Yougu, and these words made the players feel disheartened. Go back? Where can they go back to
Without caring about their different expressions, the host announced the rankings of yesterday's most popular stars from highest to lowest, with Ji Yuanzhi ranking eighth and Liu Yun fourth.
Ji Yuanzhi's ranking was very dangerous. Not only did he choose a living guest, but the other party was also the weakest among the paired guests, which was equivalent to nothing to watch. Fortunately, he prepared for the rainy day and took the initiative to talk to Ah Sang and got a few more shots. As for Liu Yun, because of some experiences at midnight, her ranking rushed up. Wen Shi noticed that Zhou Lulu, who ranked first, had bloodshot eyes and undried blood on her clothes. It seemed that she had fought with a ghost last night.
He lowered his eyes and thought for a moment. Ji Yuanzhi must have guessed one of the unspoken rules of the copy, but he still insisted on choosing a living person. It seems that the danger of choosing a dead person is far greater than he imagined.
"Love couples want to be together every minute of every second. Privacy is always an issue that lovers cannot avoid. If you are too close, you will lose the sense of freshness. If you are too far away, you will feel insecure," the host said with a chilling smile. "So the first game we are going to play today is called hide-and-seek. One is chasing and the other is escaping. I believe that you will understand the true meaning of getting along with each other during the chase and escape."
When he finished the last word, the game prompt sounded seamlessly—
[Side quest 1: Hide and seek, also known as blind man's play.
Fengguan Village used to be a backward and isolated village, where men were favored over women and medical conditions were very poor. After a period of vicious cycle, the number of singles in the village increased. In order to alleviate this situation, someone came up with the idea of buying a wife from outside.
Li Xiaoluo is an only child who was trafficked to a mountain village. She desperately wants to escape, but no matter whether she is eating, sleeping... wherever she goes, she will be watched. Sometimes the family who bought her will deliberately let her escape, and let other villagers guard the various mountain roads and then catch her back. They call this game hide-and-seek.
During the chase and escape, Li Xiaoluo's will was gradually worn out, and she began to obey and integrate into the life here.
One year later, after the New Year's Eve dinner, Li Xiaoluo, who had never killed a chicken before, suddenly picked up a knife and hacked to death a drunken villager's family, gouging out their eyes. She killed them one by one, and when she reached the fourth house, she was beaten to death after she was exhausted.
Her last words were: "I dug out thirteen pairs of eyes so they couldn't look at me anymore."
The owners of these thirteen pairs of eyes hated Li Xiaoluo very much, but they couldn't find her.
In this round of the game, if the player chooses to hide, the paired guest and the thirteen pairs of eyes will come to look for you at the same time. If you can hide successfully for half an hour, you will win.
If the player chooses to catch someone, they must find a part of the paired guest and Li Xiaoluo's body within 30 minutes.]
"Players, please make your choice within ten seconds. Ten, nine..."
The red-coat woman also asked Wen Shi: "Are you going to pretend to be a ghost, or hide?"
Wen Shi: “Hide.”
To hide you only need to do one thing, but to catch someone you need to catch two.
The other players had also made their choices. Except for Ji Yuanzhi and the player named Zhou Lulu, most of the players chose to hide.
The host asked the player who was playing the ghost to close his eyes and count to three hundred seconds silently. He then made a gesture to the others, indicating that they could start hiding.
As everyone hurried to disperse, Wen Shi walked up to the host and asked, "Do you have a map of Fengguan Village?"
The host's smile froze slightly; it was the first time he had encountered a guest who made such a request.
The request was outrageous, but reasonable. The host actually had one in his hand, so he gave him a copy and pretended to be kind while looking at the place circled in red, and gave him a reminder: "The most dangerous place is the safest."
Wen Shi took a quick look at the map. There were mountains to the north and south of the village. The mountains to the south were gentle, and a half-built road was specially marked. The mountains to the north were steeper, and the slope at the foot of the mountain was circled in red on the map, indicating that it was a cemetery.
The cameraman saw that he followed the host's advice and walked north, seemingly heading for a cemetery that sounded dangerous, and said with certainty: "The audience loves to watch it."
A'sang had great physical strength, but due to his short legs, he could only jog after the boy.
Wen Shi picked him up and said, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"
Ah Sang shook his head subconsciously, then nodded: "I'm scared, Dad will hold me."
"I'm holding him." Wen Shi kept glancing at the woods on both sides. The treetops were huge and fluffy, and the sunlight could not penetrate. The forest was dark during the day.
In the gaps between the trees, you can vaguely see pairs of vicious eyes. When Wen Shi moves, they move too. Those eyes never blink, they stare at their prey tirelessly.
The cemetery is not too far from here. From a distance, you can see a crooked stone tablet standing on the high ground in front. The coffins in Fengguan Village are not buried underground, but are all placed in the open air.
The cameraman stopped and did not follow.
Seeing that he was actually scared, Wen Shi asked with a smile: "If you don't follow, how can you take wonderful shots?"
The cameraman opened his backpack and took out a drone.
"… "you win.
The reason why Wen Shi chose the cemetery was simple. It was a dangerous place certified by the host himself. The red-coated woman was also from this feudal and superstitious village. No matter what her identity was, she should have some fear of places like cemeteries and ancestral halls.
Of course it doesn’t matter if there isn’t one. Wen Shi’s main task is to avoid those thirteen pairs of eyes.
"Will you pretend to be dead?" he asked A Sang.
A Sang nodded.
"How similar can you be?"
Ah Sang patted his chest and said, "It's exactly the same. It doesn't even jump here."
Wen Shi touched his head and said, "Good boy."
The other party is a zombie, so pretending to be dead is no problem.
"Dad, are you going to pretend to be dead too?" This time it was Ah Sang's turn to ask, frowning slightly, "It's not easy to pretend."
It's really hard to pretend to be dead.
"You have no idea what Dad is capable of."
When approaching the cemetery, Wen Shi summoned the zombies, then released the old man ghost, and finally replenished his blood. After telling them a few words, Wen Shi lowered his head and said a few words to the child.
The child's eyes widened instantly.
The coffin lid was not sealed with nails. Wen Shi put Ah Sang down, took a deep breath and pushed it open. A cool breeze blew in his face. When the coffin lid was only a few centimeters away, a ghost claw with a gust of wind pierced Wen Shi's chest with lightning speed.
While Wen Shi's health was dropping rapidly, the wandering zombies and the old ghost who were ambushing in the dark attacked at the same time, grabbed the ghost claw together, and forcibly pulled out all the corpses, crushing the bones.
The child was not interested in the dry skeleton, and used his small body to catch Wen Shi who fell to the ground. Although the other party had explained it in advance, the bloodstains were still shocking.
"Dad, Dad, you..."
"I'm used to it." Ever since I acquired the blood-locking skill, I have to die once in every copy. It's like a big flag, planted down 100%.
Wen Shi was sweating profusely: "Did I scare you?"
The child shook his head and said word by word: "I am not afraid of death. I will make my dad a zombie and gain eternal life."
“…” Wen Shi was almost killed by his filial piety.
Jian Qingrong also said the same thing, it was just to make himself a fierce ghost.
After dealing with the ghost in the coffin, Wen Shi hooked his fingers and asked the zombies to put him in the coffin, and then let everyone come in.
The inside of the coffin was very spacious, with space for two people. In addition to the space for the corpse, there was another empty space for a set of shrouds, which were very similar to the clothes worn by the villagers in Fengguan Village, except that they were red.
"Huh—" Wen Shi breathed a sigh of relief.
The mission said that thirteen pairs of eyes hated Li Xiaoluo very much, but they couldn't find her.
There is only one reason why they can't find her. These eyes can only see living people. Li Xiaoluo is dead, so they can't capture her.
[One Sword to Defeate] requires five thousand points, which is too wasteful to deal with those broken eyes. Moreover, these eyes are everywhere and may not be able to be dealt with in one move.
Wen Shi needs to avoid their gaze, but he also needs ratings.
What could be more appealing to the perverted viewers watching this show than blood and violence
With only a little blood left, Wen Shi was very careful and always ready to take potions to restore blood.
The old ghost and the wandering corpses are a double line of defense, and A Sang must have some skills as well. With the three of them around, even if there are any unexpected accidents, it will be enough to hold on for a while.
The cemetery was filled with an eerie aura, with cold winds blowing from time to time.
After the target disappeared, the terrifying eyes wandering on the top of the mountain began to search carefully around, and they came to check each coffin. These eyes seemed to have been soaked, emitting a foul smell. Although the coffin lid had been opened for the most part, they insisted on descending and looking inside the coffin from a peeping angle.
There was no heartbeat, no breathing, only the strong smell of blood.
As the wind blew, it seemed to be mixed with whimpering sounds.
"Where is it hidden..."
The painful and impatient voice gradually faded away, and Wen Shi was still lying motionless in the coffin.
The drone flew around and around, and the cameraman kept his eyes on the sky above the hill. Thick leaden clouds kept gathering here, getting thicker and thicker, with signs of rain at any time, but his target never came down.
"do you died?"
The cameraman was thrilled.
The tragic death scenes can also win the audience's favor, and the cameraman feels that this risk is worth taking. It is daytime now, and the gloomy atmosphere of the cemetery is not too heavy.
As an all-around cameraman, he acted as a commentator while walking: "More than 20 minutes have passed, and Mr. Aaron has not appeared again. I am now looking for him. Oh, the breeze brought a strong smell of blood... Dear viewers, I saw that one of the coffins was opened, and there was a lot of blood on the ground..."
The cameraman couldn't wait to walk over with the camera.
Finally, he stood next to the half-open coffin and looked inside.
In the coffin, four old, weak, sick and disabled beings opened their eyes at the same time and looked at him coldly.
"What's up?"
Bang!
The camera fell to the ground. The unexpected scene frightened the cameraman so much that he sat down on the ground: "Ahhhh!"
The screams scared away a bunch of birds and animals in the nearby forest. It's no wonder the cameraman was scared. This was not his first time in Fengjian Village. He knew very well how the guests who came here would die. But just now—
The man in the coffin had a hole in his chest. The child next to him had a pale face and a pair of lifeless eyes. Further out was a mummy that looked neither human nor ghost. In order to squeeze into the coffin, the zombie automatically evaporated its blood and stored it in the seeds of the mutant pomegranate flower. At the edge was the body of an old man with a withered body. The old man's body was almost a skeleton, with only a little skin on his face. When his eyeballs, which had shrunk like raisins, opened wide, they rolled down.
The negative energy in the coffin exceeds the negative energy in the cemetery during the day.
All the evil spirits instantly locked onto the cameraman. Especially when the child opened his mouth, he felt as if his soul was being sucked away and death was approaching.
Next to the dry well at the entrance of the village.
Ji Yuanzhi has found a matching guest. At least for now, the other party is just an ordinary woman, easy to find. While searching for Li Xiaoluo's body, he heard screams coming from afar.
It doesn't seem to be the voice of a certain player.
Who could be screaming then
Time was running out, so he stopped investigating and prepared to dig up the body.
It was not too difficult for Ji Yuanzhi to find Li Xiaoluo's body. He just needed to use illusion to confuse the NPCs and get information from them. Ji Yuanzhi had started from the old people in the village and learned that Li Xiaoluo was divided into eight parts after her death, and the closest one was next to the dry well in the village.
Halfway through digging, Ji Yuanzhi felt a strong sense of being watched from behind. He turned around and saw a pair of eyes flash past behind him.
He adjusted the frame of his glasses, caught the movement of the eyes, and made sure they were not directed at him.
Not long after, a paired guest ran over. Without even looking at Ji Yuanzhi, he picked up a huge rock with great strength and threw it into the well.
"Ah!" The dull sound of crushed bones and screams merged into one, echoing at the bottom of the well.
This time it's the player's voice.
Ji Yuanzhi frowned. It seemed that a player had hidden at the bottom of a well. The natural yin energy in the well, water tank, cemetery and other places in the copy was heavier than other places. Hiding in places with heavy yin energy and using props could very likely deceive the eyes of ghosts.
Unfortunately, some eyes cannot be deceived.
After killing someone with his own hands, the paired guest even pretended to be surprised and looked at the bottom of the well: "It seems like there is some sound."
"Did you hear that?" he asked Ji Yuanzhi.
Ji Yuanzhi ignored him and continued to dig the body quietly.
Throughout the game, the characters responsible for catching people are safe. As long as they don't violate any taboos, any monster will ignore them. The trouble is how to find the body without any clues. Those who dare to take this task are those who have innate advantages in skills and props.
For the players in charge of hiding, every second feels like a year, except when it is warm.
He was lying in a coffin, asking for a bribe.
"You just yelled loudly," Wen Shi's voice became light due to excessive blood loss, "You were deliberately exposing my position."
The cameraman moved his mouth but was unable to refute.
Wen Shi: "You broke the rules of the game of hide and seek."
The word "rules" weighed down on the cameraman like a mountain of iron, and his body shook for no apparent reason.
Wen Shi said one thing after another: "Tell me the location of all the bodies of Li Xiaoluo, and I am willing to reconcile."
"Li Xiaoluo?" The cameraman obviously knew this person, his face changed and he said without thinking: "No."
Wen Shi half closed his eyes: "After the hide-and-seek game is over, just tell me."
This time the request was within an affordable range, so the cameraman hesitated and asked, "Why do you insist on knowing this?"
"After Li Xiaoluo was killed, her body should not have been simply buried hastily."
The villagers of Fengguan Village chose to dismember the body and bury it in different positions. This behavior must have a purpose, either to suppress or to improve Feng Shui. Wen Shi said indifferently: "Her body has been torn into pieces for too long."
The cameraman was stunned: "So you want to..."
Wen Shi slowly uttered a few words: "Put it together and bury it again."
Do one good deed a day, and this is the kind of person who deserves a proper burial.
While the cameraman was stunned, Wen Shi asked, "How long will it take?"
The cameraman subconsciously checked the time: "The last minute."
A pair of pale hands grasped the edge of the coffin. The young man covered in blood slowly sat up. There was a gloomy aura around him. He tilted his head and smiled at the camera: "Dear audience friends, I will bring you a completely different audio-visual experience from the past few episodes. I will tell you what the glory of human nature is..."
The last word he pronounced was filled with an indescribable weirdness, which was quickly dissipated by Wen Shi's deliberate cuteness: "Remember to always support me, love you~"
To be on the safe side, he waited for a few more minutes and only walked out of the coffin after Wen Shi recovered his health.
His steps were unsteady and it took him a while to recover from the serious injury.
The cameraman stared at the large area of scarlet on the young man's chest, swallowed his saliva and asked: "How are you still alive?"
Wen Shi lied calmly, "I am one of the few people whose heart is on the right side. I was stabbed on the left side."
A'sang temporarily acted as Wen Shi's crutch, supporting him as he walked towards the valley to meet up.
When they arrived, there were only three players waiting. After a while, Ji Yuanzhi came over. Wen Shi saw that he didn't have any body parts in his hands.
Knowing his doubts, Ji Yuanzhi explained: "The wreckage can be put into the backpack. I have triggered other side quests. If I fail to complete them, I will be killed by the wronged ghosts."
Glancing at Wen Shi's clothes that were still dripping with blood, Ji Yuanzhi guessed that this man had died again.
Wen Shi interrupted his thoughts with a further question: "Does the side quest require finding all of Li Xiaoluo's bodies?"
Ji Yuanzhi shook his head: "Only three parts are required."
"Give."
The time for hide-and-seek had passed. The cameraman had secretly written a note with the location of Li Xiaoluo's body and slipped it to Wen Shi, who then gave it to Ji Yuanzhi. The latter opened it and saw that it listed eight locations, one of which was the dry well.
"This is..." The lenses couldn't hide the surprise that emerged in his eyes.
Wen Shi saw Zhou Lulu walking towards this side: "She should have gained something as well. With her share, the body will be complete."
Ji Yuanzhi was even more curious about how the other party got the exact location. Wen Shi whispered, "Ask the cameraman."
Ji Yuanzhi: "You want him to give it to you?"
A Sang at the side knocked on the bowl and interrupted, repeating Wen Shi’s previous words: "You know nothing about your father's abilities."
"… "
There were nine players, and after a game of hide-and-seek, only eight were left, three of whom were seriously injured.
The guest paired with the dead player disappeared. The host explained that it was because the other party was too infatuated and was going to collect the body of the player who had an accident.
No one believed this nonsense, and the host was happy alone: "After the last round of games, Mr. Aaron's group is currently the most popular! The audience left a message saying..."
His eyes suddenly widened, and the host leaned closer to the tablet to make sure he was reading correctly: "He said that he saw a glimmer of humanity in him, and that when he was stabbed in the heart, the blood splattered beautifully."
The host didn't want to read the following message, so he reminded: "Today there will be three small sessions in total. The one with the lowest popularity will be eliminated. I hope everyone will keep up the good work!"
Wen Shi's eyes darkened. This mechanism meant that a player would die every day. He looked at the people around him. Unlike the first night when everyone was willing to exchange clues, the players now looked at each other with a kind of hidden hostility towards competitors.
This is exactly the effect the host wanted. "After the loving hide-and-seek activity, the second part will allow you to get to know each other better. This part is—"
He deliberately dragged out his tone to create suspense.
"Exchange gifts! Recently we have been eating and sleeping in the paired guests' houses, so they have the right to ask for gifts first." The host raised a sly smile: "Paired guests can ask for one thing from your crush within a reasonable range, and of course the paired guests will also give gifts in return."
Ji Yuanzhi asked coldly: "What if the other party asks for something and I don't want to give it to them?"
The host smiled and said, "We've already said that it's a reasonable range of mutual gifts, and the paired guests won't go too far. If you can't even fulfill this little wish of the other party, it means you're not sincere, so what qualifications do you have to participate in our love variety show?"
The implication is that this is a rule that must be followed.
The girl who was paired with Ji Yuanzhi blushed and was the first to speak: "Dear, I just need you to help me pick ninety-nine roses in the mountains."
Zhou Lulu's partner is a sturdy man: "I am a rough man, I like people who can do farm work. You just need to go to the mountains and chop two bundles of firewood. Remember, they must be mulberry branches."
The one who was in Liu Yun's team was a gentle-looking older sister who couldn't wait to ask, "Would you accompany me to pay respect to my parents?"
One by one, the paired guests made requests. When it was the turn of the red-coated lady, she pointed lightly with her bright red nails, looked at the innocent-looking Ah Sang and said, "I. Want. Him."
A Sang hugged the bowl tightly.
The villagers invited me to dinner.
(End of this chapter)