Dead
The afternoon shoot featured a scene where a vengeful ghost entangled the second female lead.
The ghost was played by a villager, who put on his own tattered clothes and smeared some fake blood on his head, instantly creating a chilling atmosphere.
Even through the camera, the director could feel the eerie presence.
Slapping his thigh with excitement, he laughed, “We really came to the right place! The supernatural elements in this film are going to look amazing!”
The assistant director was just as thrilled. “The box office is as good as guaranteed.”
The domestic supernatural horror film market had been in decline, and they were hoping this film would be the breakthrough they needed.
Lu Congxing watched from the side, holding small Bai Ze in his arms. He didn’t see anything unusual through the camera.
Sometimes, cameras could capture things the naked eye couldn’t.
But something still felt off to him, so he stayed put.
As soon as the director called for action, the villager playing the ghost lunged ferociously at Wen Yi.
Under the sunlight, his face looked unusually pale—perhaps due to the makeup. Wen Yi was genuinely startled. She instinctively stepped back, but accidentally tripped over a stone.
Seizing the opportunity, the villager closed the distance between them. His hands, smeared with fake blood and bits of artificial flesh, reached out toward her. If one listened closely, he was even making low, garbled sounds.
Even as Wen Yi fell in fear, she remained professional, loudly delivering her lines—her voice trembling naturally.
But something was wrong.
The villager was supposed to stop after her line. Yet, whether it was due to inexperience or sheer forgetfulness, he didn’t. Instead, he lunged forward with full force, grabbing Wen Yi’s leg.
As she shivered, he slowly lifted his head, revealing a wide, unsettling grin full of gleaming white teeth.
His face radiated a sinister malice.
“Cut!”
The director’s voice rang out, and only then did the villager lower his head and release his grip.
Wen Yi, her face tense, was helped up by her assistant. Cold sweat covered her forehead, and she didn’t even dare to look at the villager.
Just moments ago, he had looked so menacing. Yet now, he was back to his usual simple and honest self, scratching his head as he apologized, “Sorry, I made you fall.”
“I-I’m fine.” Wen Yi forced a smile. “You really got into character.”
“Really?” The villager grinned again, flashing his white teeth. But with the fake blood smeared on his face, the scene looked unsettling.
Although the last part didn’t follow the script exactly, the director rewatched it twice and found it incredibly realistic. Pleased, he gave his approval.
The following scenes didn’t involve much supernatural content. Lu Congxing kept an eye out to ensure nothing unwanted had been attracted before finally heading back to his room.
Even though it was only the first day of filming, everyone was utterly exhausted. After dinner, they all went straight to bed.
He Zhouyan was quite pleased that Di Jiang wasn’t sharing a bed with Lu Congxing. Lying on the bed, he bared his small canine teeth at Di Jiang.
Though he looked like just a little puppy, Di Jiang inexplicably felt a sense of intimidation.
Lying on the lower bunk, he asked, “What breed of dog is this?”
Lu Congxing thought for a moment and randomly answered, “Samoyed, I guess.”
Di Jiang was skeptical and pointed at the fluffy tail. “Do Samoyed puppies have tails this long?”
This tail looked more like it belonged to a long-haired cat.
He Zhouyan let out a little howl, as if to say, “Enough talking, go to sleep already.”
To Lu Congxing, he was nothing but cute and harmless, but Di Jiang seemed genuinely spooked. Without another word, he turned off the light and shut his eyes.
The room soon fell into silence. Lu Congxing placed the small Bai Ze beside his pillow and even tucked him in with a tiny blanket.
He Zhouyan was very cooperative, staying as quiet as a real puppy in his hands.
Strangely, despite struggling to sleep the night before, Lu Congxing felt incredibly at ease tonight. The faint scent of cedarwood lingered in the air, lulling him into deep sleep.
Once he dozed off, He Zhouyan quietly pushed off his blanket and instinctively snuggled into the soft, sweet-smelling embrace of the cub.
In the darkness, his pale, slit-pupiled eyes flickered faintly.
In the middle of the night, noises stirred outside. To ensure the cub’s sleep wasn’t disturbed, He Zhouyan set up a barrier and, as an afterthought, reached out a paw to pat him reassuringly.
His motions were clumsy, but surprisingly effective. The cub, who had nearly woken up, sank back into peaceful slumber.
. . . . .
Breakfast was much the same as the day before. Lu Congxing peeled an egg and handed the yolk to the small Bai Ze.
The furball ate everything without hesitation—if it came from the cub, he accepted it wholeheartedly.
He even stole Di Jiang’s egg, using his freshly washed little paws to carefully peel the shell, trying to separate the egg white for the cub.
Di Jiang was furious but didn’t dare say a word.
Observing from the side, Gu Hanyin’s mouth twitched. He watched the palm-sized furball diligently peeling the egg, realizing that it had two faces.
The moment Di Jiang reached out, he was met with a fierce glare. But whenever Lu Congxing—completely unaware—turned to look, the furball instantly switched to a harmless and adorable expression.
Absolutely shameless.
But no one expected that just after breakfast, a piercing scream would ring out.
Lu Congxing reacted instantly, standing up and rushing outside. The small Bai Ze immediately leaped onto his shoulder.
Di Jiang, caught off guard, nearly choked on his porridge. Coughing violently, his face turned red. “What happened!?”
No one answered him. Lu Congxing had already dashed off.
By the time the others hurried over, they saw Chen Xiangxiang’s assistant being carried out of a room—completely unconscious.
Due to limited conditions, there was no medical team on site. Lu Congxing stepped forward and pressed an awakening talisman to her forehead.
A moment later, she slowly regained consciousness.
The director, witnessing this, was astonished. “Impressive!”
He thought someone had simply fainted.
Lu Congxing shook his head. “The real problem is still inside.”
As a demon, he was particularly sensitive to the scent of blood. Since Chen Xiangxiang’s room was a bit further away, he hadn’t noticed it at first. But as soon as he stepped outside earlier, the smell hit him.
Now, standing right in front of her room, the thick, metallic scent was overwhelming.
Hearing him say that, the staff who had just carried the assistant out finally caught their breath and nodded repeatedly, panting heavily. “S-Something happened inside!”
Some brave individuals still wanted to go in and take a look, but the director immediately stopped them.
Frowning, the director asked Lu Congxing, “Can we go in now?”
Lu Congxing nodded, and only then did the director cautiously push the door open.
At some point, Gu Hanyin had also followed them inside.
The stench of blood in the room was overwhelming. Chen Xiangxiang’s corpse lay exposed on the bed, completely unhidden.
A closer look revealed that the scene was far more gruesome than anyone had imagined.
A gaping hole had been torn open in her abdomen, her internal organs completely hollowed out, leaving only a pile of skin, flesh, and bones barely resembling a human form. The most chilling detail was how she had been deliberately arranged into a kneeling position, facing the doorway, with her hands raised above her head as if offering something.
It was a horrifying sight for anyone who entered.
The director took just one glance before stumbling outside to vomit, his legs weak as he walked out.
“Woof.” The small Bai Ze tilted his head and let out a soft sound.
Lu Congxing gently stroked him to comfort him, then moved closer to examine the scene.
But before he could reach the bed, someone grabbed his arm.
Gu Hanyin’s face darkened, his striking peach blossom eyes filled with inexplicable anger. “Are you not afraid of death? Why are you trying to get closer?!”
Lu Congxing remained calm. “I just want to see what killed her.”
He Zhouyan, noticing the little cub’s hand being restrained, was clearly displeased. Sliding down from Lu Congxing’s shoulder, he swiped a paw and smacked Gu Hanyin’s hand away.
Gu Hanyin, momentarily startled by the little furball’s imposing presence, instinctively let go, though he still frowned. “This isn’t something we can handle. Let’s wait for the police.”
“The police can’t come. Or rather, you won’t be able to call them,” Lu Congxing said as he gently stroked the small Bai Ze again, assuming the little furball was merely unsettled by the smell of blood.
Even though he knew this little furball was actually the bad Bai Ze, he somehow had more patience for it in this form.
Lu Congxing said, “This is already within the realm of the supernatural.”
The air inside the room was thick with an oppressive, ominous energy, making it difficult to breathe.
Gu Hanyin let out a dry laugh, as if exasperated. “You’re still talking about that—”
Before he could finish, a sudden clap of thunder split the sky, followed by a torrential downpour.
Just moments ago, the sky had been completely clear with no signs of rain. Now, fierce winds howled, and rain lashed against the windows.
Cries of alarm echoed from outside.
Lu Congxing glanced at his phone. “No signal.”
It was a vague statement, yet Gu Hanyin immediately understood. He quickly pulled out his own phone, his movements slightly frantic. Sure enough, there was no signal at all.
With a dark expression, he cursed under his breath before stuffing the phone back into his pocket.
Lu Congxing continued, “We can’t contact the police now, but we can’t just leave the body like this either. If you’re scared, you can wait outside.”
Gu Hanyin stubbornly retorted, “I’m not scared. What do you plan to do?”
Lu Congxing took out a talisman and placed it on Chen Xiangxiang’s hand. Nothing seemed to change, but the talisman would slow down the body’s decomposition.
The moment he saw the talisman, Gu Hanyin instinctively frowned, as if about to say something, but in the end, he just opened his mouth slightly before closing it again.
He stood off to the side, scowling but refusing to leave.
Chen Xiangxiang’s eyes were wide open, as if she had seen something utterly incomprehensible and terrifying in the moments before her death.
“Why were all her internal organs taken?” Lu Congxing frowned.
He immediately ruled out organ trafficking—if that were the case, the crime wouldn’t have been so ostentatious.
The way the body was mutilated suggested the use of a blunt instrument, rather than something supernatural.
The room was steeped in a sinister, ominous energy, yet the wounds on the body didn’t carry the same heavy aura of malice.
Lu Congxing carefully laid the body flat, removing it from its kneeling position, then covered it with a straw mat and placed another protective talisman on top.
Gu Hanyin asked, “See anything?”
Lu Congxing shook his head frankly. “No.”
As he stepped outside, all eyes turned to him as if he were their last hope—especially Chen Xiangxiang’s assistant.
The way he had effortlessly used a talisman to snap someone back to their senses had already won over most of the onlookers. Not to mention, he had the nerve to stay inside that room for so long, while even the horror-loving director had staggered out and vomited up his entire breakfast before forbidding anyone else from entering.
Lu Congxing walked up to the assistant. “Can you describe exactly how you discovered the situation?”
His voice carried an inexplicable sense of reassurance, and without realizing it, the anxious crowd—rattled by the storm and the lack of signal—began to calm down.
Wrapped in someone else’s blanket, the assistant spoke in a small voice. “Sister Xiang usually wakes up late in the morning, so I rarely go to wake her. But today, even after I finished breakfast, there was still no movement from her room. She was about to be late, so I decided to call for her… but no matter how many times I knocked, there was no response. I-I went in, and then…”
There was no need to describe what happened next.
She choked up, the horrific scene flashing through her mind again. The sounds around her suddenly felt distant, as if she were being pulled away from reality.
A corpse with an empty chest cavity, kneeling and facing her directly—it was too much for a young woman under twenty-five to process. The heavy, ominous energy inside the room only worsened the situation. If she wasn’t careful, she might lose her soul to fear.
Noticing her dazed state, Lu Congxing swiftly tapped her forehead and commanded in a low voice, “Return.”
The assistant’s once-dazed eyes regained focus, unaware that she had just narrowly avoided having her soul leave her body.
A hint of maturity appeared on Lu Congxing’s youthful face. “Don’t be afraid. You’ll be fine.”
Surprisingly, his words actually stopped her from trembling.
The staff member who had dragged her out earlier couldn’t help but ask anxiously, “Weren’t you sharing a room with her? Didn’t you hear anything unusual last night?”
Lu Congxing glanced at him. The man’s name was Wang Xing—a strong, hard-working crew member who usually handled the more physically demanding tasks. He seemed to have a decent amount of courage and independent thought.
He was the one who had pulled the assistant out of the room earlier, meaning he had seen the body. Despite being frightened, he was still capable of thinking clearly.
The assistant shivered slightly. “We weren’t sharing a room. Sister Xiang didn’t like having too many people around, so I slept separately. I really didn’t hear anything last night. I sleep pretty deeply, and I was exhausted after working all day…”
The crew was short on staff, so not only did she have to cater to the actress’s needs, but she also had to help move props for the production team.
They had chosen a small house with only two rooms.
Everything had aligned in an eerily unfortunate way.
Just then, a sudden cough sounded from outside.
Lu Congxing turned his head to see the village chief approaching with two villagers in tow.
The chief’s face was filled with sorrow as he sighed deeply. “Dear guests, I sincerely apologize, but the heavy rain has completely blocked the road down the mountain.”