The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 124

Jian Jing was excited and asked the PD: "Will the location be very big?"

"The content is pretty complex, so filming will take a long time," the PD replied. "Also, we plan to start recording in the evening, and have you spend the whole night inside."

They already knew about spending the night, so Jian Jing simply said, "We can bring our own stuff inside, right?"

The PD responded: "Definitely not during filming tomorrow - we've got all the equipment prepared already. Give me any personal belongings you want to have inside in advance, and I'll take them in for you ahead of time."

Jian Jing batted her eyelashes. "You still haven't found the missing doctor, huh?"

"Just a rumor," the PD had been quite frightened by the corpse last time. She was a little apprehensive now. "Teacher Jian, don't scare me."

Jian Jing chuckled lightly. "I'm just curious. Nevermind, don't ask. Take a look - which outfit do you think suits me best for tomorrow?"

In pursuit of impact, the crew didn't reveal any specifics about the haunted house, not a single word. All she knew was that it was an abandoned hospital, with no clue what would happen inside.

Of course that wouldn't do.

So she prepared two outfits - one a breezy romper, the other a t-shirt with a mini skirt, both perfect for summer.

The PD suggested, "It'll be cold inside, Teacher Jian should wear a jacket on top. Jean pants down below would be best to avoid bumps and scrapes."

Jian Jing's eyes instantly lit up, and her smile deepened. "Alright, I'll listen to you then."

The PD glanced at her and a thought flashed through her mind - of the six guests, this was probably the only one who had come to sincerely play along.

After a full night's rest, recording started formally the next day.

Jian Jing wore slim jeans, white sneakers, a tank top underneath with a pink jean jacket on top. Her hair was braided into a fishtail, lightly made up with long arched brows, and sprayed thoroughly with setting spray no less than three times.

The other guests were also dressed casually, just more glamorously and eye-catchingly than her.

For instance, Zheng Keyan's t-shirt was from a luxury designer brand, while Coco's bangles were custom pieces from a celebrity designer.

However... appearances weren't the point.

Before entering the haunted house, all of them were required to undergo simple firearms training.

The instructor was a tall, muscular black man who introduced himself, "We're pursuing an absolutely realistic experience. The site is filled with highly lifelike NPCs, and there may be combat scenes."

The guests: "?!!"

They looked at each other, genuinely shocked.

The production team had kept things tightly under wraps. No one expected things to get so real.

"You'll need to learn how to use a gun," he opened a metal case and displayed their equipment. "We use BB bullet guns - real ammo, look."

He demonstrated coolly how to load bullets and shoot: "The NPCs have sensors that will judge if it's a light wound, critical wound, or death based on impact."

--

Comments after airing:

Danmu 1: Dang, just dang.

Danmu 2: Such high energy!

Danmu 3: Holy shit, going all out from the start?

Danmu 4: Is this even real?

Danmu 5: Oh my god!!

--

After the initial shock, a trace of excitement also emerged among the guests. Who doesn't want to play with guns, especially since there's no such opportunity in China? Everyone learned eagerly from the instructor.

Cao Yu and Han Bo performed exceptionally well.

Cao Yu said, "I learned a little specially for an action drama role previously."

As for Han Bo, he was a CS expert: "Played with friends a few times before, but it's my first time with real ammo in China."

Among the women, Coco also stood out.

Though she was inexperienced, she picked it up quickly after some practice and soon shot quite impressively. The instructor praised her repeatedly, overflowing with appreciation.

--

Danmu 1: Cao Yu is so professional, you rarely see actors like this nowadays.

Danmu 2: Han Bo, so hot!!

Danmu 3: Little sis is pretty good!

Danmu 4: Rewatching for Teacher Jian, she's so lowkey.

...

--

After two hours, the instructor ruthlessly confiscated all the guns. Naturally they couldn't just hand over such critical props, the guests had to find them inside the haunted house themselves. Same for ammo - they'd have to figure out resupply on their own.

Then, they were blindfolded and led into the haunted house by staff.

The dank, icy, dilapidated, creepy air of the abandoned old hospital hit them instantly.

Jian Jing was in the middle and instinctively started mapping the route in her mind.

Left turn, up the stairs, turn again. Hmm, the footsteps in front separated, were they going to split the groups? The temperature seemed to have dropped again. Brr, so cold.

The broadcast started introducing the backstory: "This is an abandoned, ancient hospital where many bloody, terrible events once took place. It holds secrets that remain unsolved to this day. This is...the last place your friend Henry was seen. To find him, you've come to this desolate hospital, but..."

The heavy, slow voice suddenly turned shrill, like a demon's cackle: "Could things really go so smoothly? Can you truly leave this place?"

"Hiss--" The broadcast let out a piercing, grating shriek, then cut off abruptly.

Silence all around.

Click, the blindfold came loose.

Jian Jing listened carefully, then slowly removed her blindfold.

Dark, extremely dark. The entire room was shrouded in dense, pitch blackness. Her night vision wasn't bad, yet she could barely make anything out.

But her hearing grew sharper in such conditions. She heard two people breathing.

"Who's there?" she asked.

"Me," Jiang BaiYan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Me," no such fear in Coco's voice, rather eager and raring to go, already searching around. "There should be flashlights here, right?"

Jian Jing turned on the mini flashlight on her watch, using the weak beam to inspect their surroundings.

It looked like a single patient room, with an iron bed next to them and a short cabinet by the bedside. The cabinet was rotten and dilapidated, the top scattered with numerous scratch marks gouged deep into the wood.

She cautiously prodded it with her toe. Rustling sounds came from within.

"What's in here?" Coco walked over and pulled open the drawer right away.

The instant it slid open, a black shadow burst out straight at her face.

Jian Jing reacted swiftly to grab it. The coarse, icy sensation and feather-like tickling in her palm made her scalp tingle. She quickly let go.

Damn, it was a furry white-kneed tarantula.

"Fuck!"

Three minutes in and it already forced out profanity.

But the shocks were far from over.

The drawer crawled with plump, shiny black beetles packed densely together, enough to make anyone with a phobia of clustered holes faint on the spot.

Amongst the swarming bugs, the plastic casing of a flashlight was visible. Clearly they wanted them to take the challenge.

--

Comments after airing:

Danmu 1: What the fuck, what the fuck!!

Danmu 2: Such high energy!

Danmu 3: Son of a bitch, going hardcore from the start?

Danmu 4: This is fake right?

Danmu 5: Oh my god!!

...

--

Although meek, Jiang BaiYan wasn't too frightened of snakes, bugs or rodents, only ghosts. "I'll get it," he offered.

Jian Jing said, "Put on gloves first."

The jeans and jacket she wore today had several pockets, stuffed with personal items including disposable shoe covers, hair nets, masks, gloves and other forensic(?) essentials.

Hearing the backstory introduction, she had quietly slipped on a glove over her right hand. Otherwise, no way she'd dare touch anything. She'd expected sticky blood and gore, not a haunted house that went as far as using live bugs.

By feel...they seemed to be real insects, fuzzy and bristly.

Ugh, don't think about it, even more disgusting.

Jiang BaiYan steeled himself against the revulsion and reached in to grab the flashlight, now that he had gloves on.

Switching on the light allowed them to roughly survey the surroundings.

It really was a single patient room, decorated in extreme creepiness. The walls were scrawled with bloody words, the door bolted shut from outside.

The window was boarded up, nothing visible outside, with a cabinet against the wall tightly shut, contents unknown.

Jiang BaiYan said, "According to the usual pattern, since we've been divided into groups, one group will definitely have to wait for the other group to come and save them."

Jian Jing nodded and gestured for Coco to move aside so she could try opening the cabinet door herself.

She grasped the handle, shook it slightly, and felt that it was unlocked. She pulled hard outward.

Nothing happened.

There weren't any disgusting bugs inside the cabinet like there were in the drawers. There was only a backpack. Inside were some outdated clothes, a lighter, and a pack of cigarettes.

"There's a notebook here," Coco said. Holding a pillow, she picked up the hardcover notebook from the bed.

She flipped it open. It was the owner's diary.

Thoughtfully, it was all translated into Chinese.

October 6, 1984

Little Helen told me she heard there was a monster hidden in the operating room. I laughed loudly and told her it was definitely just a patient with a bizarre medical condition. This hospital is well known in the surrounding towns for taking in patients with incurable diseases.

People like me, people like Little Helen, other hospitals won't accept us. We can only come here and try our luck.

November 10, 1984

My roommate George should be back home with his parents and loved ones by now for Christmas! Damn this lung disease, when will I finally get better? I'm really impatient having to lie in bed all day. It's all because of that explosion, damn it!

December 12, 1984

No one has come to take Little Helen home. She's a bit unhappy and talking nonsense more and more often. She even told me she saw George yesterday.

The poor little thing. Maybe I should spend more time with her.

December 20, 1984

Something seems a little strange. Little Helen clearly told me we'd spend Christmas together, but the nurse said her parents came and took her home.

Little Helen doesn't have parents. Who took her away?

December 24, 1984

My god, was that Little Helen?! What happened?? Could everything she said be true...

...

The diary was made very realistically with a lot of nonsense, but in summary there were two key pieces of information.

People have gone missing from the hospital.

There is a monster in the hospital.

After skimming through it quickly, Jian Jing fell deep in thought.

Despite her delicate appearance, Coco was quite bold. Looking at the blood-written words on the wall she asked, "What does 'Qrivy' mean?"

Jiang BaiYan shook his head. "I don't recognize it."

"My English is decent, but I've never seen this word. Is it a code?" Coco asked, looking to Jian Jing.

Jian Jing thought for a moment and smiled. "It's a Caesar cipher. Shift each letter 13 places forward in the alphabet."

Coco counted and was surprised. "Devil?"

Jian Jing nodded.

"Does that open the door?" Coco was clearly also a fan of the previous issues. Curiously circling around the door, she didn't see anything related to a passcode lock.

Dejected, she said, "There's nothing here. Do we have to wait for them to come rescue us?"

Jian Jing contemplated and said, "We should leave here as soon as possible."

As soon as Jiang BaiYan heard this, she shrank behind Jian Jing's back. "Why?"

"If the room was empty, why would the door be locked from the outside?" Jian Jing said slowly. "There must be a reason the people outside had to lock the door."

As she spoke, she turned her gaze to the space under the bed.

The dirty sheets hung down, concealing the area under the hospital bed.

A chill crept up her spine.