In the pouring rain, Gan Yu jumped into the steadily-rising pool of water in the swimming pool, picked up the unconscious Ponytail lady, and made his way back to the castle, splashing through puddles of varying depths.
They didn’t have anywhere else to hide.
Even though they knew that “Guan Qiaoqiao” was in the castle, they had no choice but to go back.
Before they headed back, Chi Xiaochi turned to look at the corpse of Pigtail guy being carried away by the crew members.
He was like a sack that had sprung a hole, slung over someone’s shoulder as he was moved over to a side hut with the props.
Pigtail guy’s unbound hair was matted with thick blood and cold rain, dripping bloody water.
Chi Xiaochi turned away, not looking any closer.
The living room of the castle was dead silent. Other than “Guan Qiaoqiao”, who’d gone to have her beauty sleep as an actor should, everyone else was gathered there.
The photograph had returned to its original position, the young maiden’s lips slightly spread, the blank yet distressed expression on her face making it so you couldn’t help but find her lovely.
But no one dared to look directly at the photograph.
Tall lady was curled up on the sofa, the look in her eyes extremely cold, her teeth clenched so hard they hurt, yet she didn’t feel it.
Upon hearing Freckles say that Pigtail guy had run out into the rain, she knew that he wouldn’t be coming back, yet she still held a hint of hope within her, so she only dared to stay inside the castle and wait.
……Waiting, was often better than going to see it for yourself.
However, when she heard the news of his death, she still couldn’t stop herself from breaking.
The four of them had gotten to know each other through the internet, and had formed an alliance from the fourth task onwards. They had made it through together all the way until now.
Their alliance sounded both trifling and unreliable in the ears of others. None of them could be considered smart people, but fortunately, their luck wasn’t too bad, and they were sufficiently united, leading them to actually be able to stumble their way to this day.
All four of them had each dragged the others down at some point, and all four of them had each saved the one lagging behind at some point. They were loud and bickering, blundering and clumsy, but from beginning to end, it had always been the four of them.
Pigtail guy had even joked once, saying, just wait for that one careless unlucky bastard who’ll be the first to die, making it so that everyone can’t even get a game of mahjong going. When the time came, they shouldn’t be in a hurry to cry about it, they should first spit at them together before anything else.
But now, no one had the strength to spit at him. They couldn’t even cry.
Tall lady and Freckles both had wooden faces. Freckles let the unconscious Ponytail lady rest on his lap, using a towel to gently wipe at the broken skin on her face.
Since there was only one ghost in the castle manor, there too should only be one standard she used to pick her target.
The first unlucky one to be chosen was Guan Qiaoqiao. She died after three days of spiritual corruption.
Taking into account the requirements of the task, Chi Xiaochi had theorised that she was simply unlucky, having caught the eye of the female ghost while out on tour picking characters.
However, Pigtail guy’s death had overturned his conclusion.
Xi Lou, thinking of the Pigtail guy who had fallen and already become rotten watermelon mush, felt a little frightened. “Is it because both he and Guan Qiaoqiao wanted to kill the female ghost?”
Guan Qiaoqiao had smashed the photograph, while Pigtail guy, suspecting that going by the direction the plot was headed, the next one to die would be him, and having a tool that could control evil, had hence had the intention to kill rise up within him.
But Chi Xiaochi shook his head. “Don’t forget, Guan Qiaoqiao didn’t even know that there was a ghost in the photograph.”
Thinking about it, Xi Lou found that true.
Then, what was the point of similarity between her and Pigtail guy?
What had she done?
With the key word of “malice” as a guide, Xi Lou only had to think for a moment before coming to a realisation. He and Chi Xiaochi spoke in tandem, “Chunyang’s eyes.”
At that time, she had wholeheartedly wanted to seize Song Chunyang’s eyes for herself.
But Xi Lou soon found a hole in this theory. “No, at that time, wasn’t Yuan Benshan also——”
Chi Xiaochi corrected, “Not just him, there was also me. I was also planning out Guan Qiaoqiao’s fate.”
Chi Xiaochi lightly rapped on his temple. “Think back to the time.”
Xi Lou, “What time?”
“The time when Guan Qiaoqiao started acting up,” Chi Xiaochi said, “She returned to her room, and only after one to two hours did she start to have the feeling of being watched.”
At that time, the female ghost might have been hesitating between Yuan Benshan and Guan Qiaoqiao. Perhaps even Chi Xiaochi could have been in her list of people to observe.
But after Yuan Benshan had given up his plan on plundering Song Chunyang’s eyes, the malice in Guan Qiaoqiao’s heart had completely drowned both of them out.
If they could be considered to be watching someone die and not offering a hand to help, Guan Qiaoqiao’s actions of betraying a good friend and digging out his eyes for her own life was more than ten times more malicious than theirs.
When human malice collected like sediment in their heart, it was easy for it to turn into a pool of putrefied sludge. The smell of the silt led the female ghost over, helping her find Guan Qiaoqiao, as well as Pigtail guy who wanted to kill her.
She didn’t just hate the action of “killing ghosts”.
What she truly despised, was “malice” itself.
In the beginning, Song Chunyang had been robbed of his eyes. The female ghost had probably also been attracted by his intense hatred towards Guan Qiaoqiao and Yuan Benshan.
A sudden realisation came upon Xi Lou. “Then isn’t passing very simple? Just go according to the requirements, don’t go out of character, don’t think about anything else, control yourself and don’t feel malice……”
Chi Xiaochi asked, “Easy?”
Nothing in this world was more complicated than the composition of the human heart.
At that moment, Ponytail lady let out a long breath, and woke up.
Gan Tang’s lips moved, silently asking for Chi Xiaochi’s opinion, knock her out again?
Chi Xiaochi sighed softly.
……There were still ten more days, what would be the point of constantly knocking her out.
Besides, they still had scenes to film.
Ponytail clutched at her head as she shakily got up, gradually remembering what had happened before she had been knocked out, but she didn’t immediately sink into hysteria, rather curling up into a ball, her shoulders shuddering with an indescribable grief.
The always-talkative Freckles silently wrapped his arms around her shoulders, comforting her.
The pain eased, an earth-shattering sea of hatred taking its place.
She violently shot up from the sofa, staring at Freckles. “Where’s the dagger.”
Her hatred had reached the point where she no longer cared about keeping secrets.
Tall lady’s face paled. “Didn’t Liao-ge take it?”
Liao-ge was Pigtail guy, his full name was Liao Wu.
Ponytail lady gathered up her sopping wet hair behind her head. “No, when he ran out he wasn’t holding a dagger——”
Her words reminded her of something. She raised her feet and rushed out, not caring in the least about if there was still something hiding in the darkness.
When one’s emotions were fluctuating violently, their body would receive a rush of adrenaline, making them forget fear, but at the same time, making them lose their sense.
A few minutes later, Ponytail lady rushed back inside, utterly drenched, followed by the equally wet Tall lady and Freckles.
She ran straight towards Chi Xiaochi, raising her hand like she was about to punch him across the face.
Gan Tang stepped in front of Chi Xiaochi and grabbed the wrist of her balled right hand. With a clench of her fingers, the bones of Ponytail lady’s wrist creaked.
Gan Tang’s voice was still that soft, pleasant Wu dialect that enchanted one’s heart, “There’s no need to fight, if you have something to say, just say it.”
……Given her current actions, her words could be said to be utterly unconvincing.
It was a woman hitting another woman, so Freckles couldn’t find a reason to intervene. His lips trembled for a moment, wanting to say something to ease the atmosphere, when Ponytail lady turned and snapped at him, eyes bulging with anger, “Xiulin!”
Freckles, having been called by name, froze.
That dagger was their life-saving ace. If it had been taken by the other party, wouldn’t they be making someone else’s wedding clothes for them?
And it was just a body search……
Freckles grit his teeth. Saying an “I’ve offended”, he shoved Gan Tang out of the way, then reached out towards Chi Xiaochi who was standing between Gan Yu and Yuan Benshen.
However, before his arm could make it even halfway there, Gan Tang, who was still holding on to the other’s arm, suddenly threw Ponytail lady to the side. Kicking out her leg, she hooked it around Freckles’ neck, then with a twist of her waist, she leaped up to sit on Freckles’ shoulders. Tensing her leg muscles, she had Freckles in a chokehold from behind.
Terrified, Freckles’ face turned purple, and he couldn’t keep himself from falling onto his back from the weight.
When they were about to land, Gan Yu used her ab muscles to flip over and jump up from the ground, her knee landing on Freckles’ chest. A strand of hair fell loose across her face. She wasn’t even panting.
She said gently, “I’ve offended.”