The Fake Heiress's Guide to Self-Rescue - Chapter 13
Chapter 13: The Unworldly Variety Show [4]
“Um… there seems to be something wrong with this villa.” Lu Yige raised his hand and hesitantly dropped a bombshell. Everyone’s eyes fell on him. The young man’s face was pale. “I have a natural yin-yang eye. When I was wandering around the villa before, I saw a black mist in the garden, but when I was getting some air at the back garden door in the evening, I found that the black mist was gone.”
Song Zhe and Li Weizhao weren’t surprised by what he said. When Zhang Man came out of the bathroom just now, they had already realized that this ghost was definitely not the millionaire that the production team had mentioned but someone else.
Zhao Wen collapsed and grabbed Lu Yige’s collar, yelling at him, “Why didn’t you say anything earlier if you saw a ghost? If I had known, I would have left this afternoon. I don’t care about the breach of contract fee; I don’t want to die!”
Jiang Qianqian stepped forward to separate the two and advised Zhao Wen not to get so agitated. It was already early in the morning, and even if he left, he would have to wait until daytime to get a ride down the mountain.
“Could it be that you saw it wrong because it was a little dark in the evening? Maybe the ghost is still in the same spot?” Zhang Man said hesitantly, hoping that Lu Yige had really seen it wrong and that the ghost hadn’t actually come in.
“Whether it came in or not, I’m going to pack my bags now and leave first thing tomorrow morning.” Zhao Wen didn’t listen to what the others were saying. He walked toward the third floor on his own. The others saw that he was determined to leave and didn’t stop him.
Song Zhe rummaged through his bag and found a bag of dried mugwort, which he handed to Zhang Man. He told her to take a bath with the mugwort later to restore her energy. A living person’s yang energy would be greatly depleted after being possessed by a ghost, especially since the ghost that possessed Zhang Man was a vengeful spirit. Since there was nothing else in the villa that could replenish yang energy, he could only tell Zhang Man to get some sun tomorrow.
Li Weizhao also took a ghost-repelling talisman and walked upstairs. He was afraid that the ghost would come back for Zhang Man tonight, so he put a talisman on her door. But before he could get to the second floor, he heard a scream from the third floor.
A figure frantically scurried down the stairs, clutching something in his hand and running downstairs. Zhao Wen was scared out of his mind and on the verge of a mental breakdown. He was so panicked that he almost ran into Li Weizhao, who was going upstairs.
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Qianqian stopped Zhao Wen and asked him what had happened.
“You, you all look at this. I found this under my bed.” Zhao Wen tremblingly held out his hand. A yellowed talisman was on his palm, and a few drops of bl00d had been dripped on the bottom part of it.
“This is a Fated Talisman of Exorcism and Evil-Repelling. This talisman is used to ward off evil ghosts and suppress evil spirits. However, someone dripped bl00d on the talisman’s center, breaking its power.” Li Weizhao frowned and picked up the talisman. The cinnabar characters on the talisman were thick and skillful. One look at it, and you could tell it was from a master. If that were the case, then a very evil ghost must have been suppressed in this villa.
Now, things were even more difficult. Li Weizhao and Song Zhe were currently “Fifth-Rank Daoists” after receiving the Zhengyi Great Heavenly Master’s Scripture and Register. They might not be able to subdue a malevolent ghost that would require their master to come and deal with it.
It was now two in the morning. Everyone was exhausted after a day of fear and anxiety. They all needed a good rest. Song Zhe gave Zhao Wen and Li Sheng a talisman each and warned them not to step out of their rooms at night.
Jiang Qianqian looked at the exhausted Zhang Man and offered to share a room with her so she could better protect her from the ghost. And so, everyone went back to their rooms, locked their doors, and went to rest.
Zhang Man and Jiang Qianqian were sleeping in the same bed. Jiang Qianqian was not used to sleeping with someone else, and after what had just happened, she couldn’t fall asleep for a while. The only person she could ask for help, Jiang Jing, couldn’t be reached at this time. She closed her eyes and prayed that she would sleep until dawn.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Just as she was finally about to fall asleep, Zhang Man’s hand gently shook her awake.
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Qianqian asked sleepily.
“Xiao Jiang, do you hear someone knocking on the door outside?” Zhang Man asked her in a whisper. This question instantly woke Jiang Qianqian up. She calmed herself down and listened carefully to the movement outside.
Knock, knock, knock. A knocking sound was heard at the door. Jiang Qianqian told Zhang Man to stay in bed and slowly walked to the door. “Who is it?” she asked.
“It’s me, Qianqian. I’m Song Zhe. Li Weizhao and I suddenly thought of something and want to discuss it with you.” The familiar voice from outside sent a shiver down Jiang Qianqian’s spine. She knew the person outside was not Song Zhe, or rather, the thing outside was not a person at all. Although she and Song Zhe knew each other, they were not close. Song Zhe would never call her “Qianqian.”
With that thought, she channeled Jiang Huai’s spiritual energy and covered the door, adding another layer of protection.
“Do you want me to get rid of her?” Jiang Huai’s voice came from her mind. Jiang Qianqian nodded. Outside, the knocking became frantic. “Open the door, Qianqian. Let us in.” Jiang Qianqian turned around and sat back on the bed. Soon, the outside became silent again. It seemed that Jiang Huai had already taken action.
“I just feel like… this female ghost feels familiar,” Zhang Man said slowly, startling Jiang Qianqian.
“What do you mean?” Jiang Qianqian didn’t understand her words and patiently asked.
“I just have a feeling that she doesn’t want to harm us, at least not you and me.” Zhang Man’s tone was very certain.
But it wasn’t enough that she only didn’t harm the two of them. What if a few of the others died? Jiang Qianqian had a few question marks in her mind after hearing what Zhang Man said, but she felt more at ease with Zhang Man’s words. She had never heard of this villa before. When the female ghost spoke through Zhang Man, she saw that Zhao Wen and Li Sheng had such a strong reaction, so they probably knew some of the truth.
Jiang Qianqian lay down, pulled up the blanket, turned her back to Zhang Man, and closed her eyes. “It should be fine for the two of us tonight. Let’s get some rest and regain our strength.”
She quickly fell asleep and didn’t see Zhang Man sitting there, looking down with a complex expression on her face.
The next morning, when Jiang Qianqian woke up, the spot next to her was already empty. She washed up, got dressed, and went downstairs. Everyone was already in the living room. When Jiang Qianqian came down, she saw Song Zhe’s grim face looking at the floor of the living room. She walked over curiously and gasped when she saw what was on the ground.
Lying on the floor was the mentally unstable Zhao Wen from last night. His face was a little pale, and there was a clear purplish-blue mark on his neck. He was unconscious.
“I found him on the stair railing when I came down for my morning workout. He was hanging from the railing between the second and third floors with a rope around his neck.” Li Weizhao saw Jiang Qianqian’s questioning gaze and re-explained what had happened.
“There’s a half-empty glass of water on the living room table. It’s likely that Brother Zhao came downstairs to get a drink in the middle of the night and the female ghost found an opportunity to attack him,” Lu Yige said, pointing at the water on the table.
“Didn’t I tell him not to leave his room at all? Why didn’t he listen?” Jiang Qianqian was furious. She had already told him not to do something, so was being thirsty more important than his life?
“It’s a good thing I found him early. He’s not dead; he’s just unconscious,” Li Weizhao said. He was also a little frustrated. If everyone didn’t listen and didn’t cherish their own lives, he couldn’t guarantee that everyone would leave the villa unharmed.
Right, she still had to call Jiang Jing and tell her what had happened yesterday. Jiang Qianqian thought, took out her phone, and called Jiang Jing.
“The number you have dialed is not answering. Please try again later.” The robotic female voice made her heart sink. Jiang Jing wouldn’t usually not answer her phone at this time. Could something have happened?
“It’s no use. I tried to call my master last night and found that everyone’s phones couldn’t get through,” Li Weizhao said, rubbing his hair in frustration.
Jiang Qianqian looked down at her phone screen, and it indeed showed that there was no signal. She looked out the window. The weather, which was sunny yesterday, was now foggy. But she remembered that the weather forecast for the past two days was sunny. The fog was similar to the fog she encountered on her way to Chen Village. She guessed that it was probably the work of the female ghost from last night.
Now they couldn’t go down the mountain. The walkie-talkie couldn’t get a response from the production team. The seven of them were completely trapped in this villa, becoming the female ghost’s prey.
Zhang Man’s expression was frozen. She was sitting on the sofa like a puppet, looking at the strangulation mark on Zhao Wen’s neck. Jiang Qianqian thought she was scared after seeing Zhao Wen’s current state, so she walked over and sat next to her, hugging one of Zhang Man’s arms and whispering, “It just looks scary. At least he’s alive.”
To her surprise, Zhang Man said something else that she didn’t understand. “What’s so scary about this? I’ve seen a similar wound a long time ago. It’s just that she wasn’t as lucky and died.” Li Sheng’s expression slightly changed. His gaze shifted to Zhang Man but then involuntarily moved away.
Ding-dong, a new mission has been released~
A cheerful robotic voice came from the TV screen. It turned out that the missions were pre-recorded by the production team. Although they couldn’t contact the production team, the missions were still being released as usual.
“This mission requires you to eat two lemons without anything else. The executor is Lu Yige.”
“The mission reward is to provide information about the millionaire’s husband.”
The six of them looked at each other, unsure if they should continue with the mission since they couldn’t contact the production team. After all, they wouldn’t die if they didn’t do the mission, and they had all seen what happened to Zhao Wen.
“It’s fine. I remember the director said that there are cameras in every corner. Maybe they’re recording everything. If we get the show edited, we might even become a little famous,” Lu Yige said with a wry smile. He was from a normal family and couldn’t afford such a high breach of contract fee. It was just two lemons. At least he couldn’t let the production team film him not cooperating with the filming and get him to pay a penalty.
The light-yellow lemons gave off a fresh scent. Lu Yige cut them into four pieces and picked them up.
“Wait, is it really okay to eat this lemon raw? It’s a bit too sour,” Li Weizhao said. The smell made his teeth hurt. He frowned as he watched Lu Yige eat two lemons without changing his expression.
“It’s fine. I’ve eaten them before. The taste isn’t that strange if it’s just lemons,” Lu Yige said reassuringly, shrugging his shoulders. He poured a glass of water and drank it all at once.
There were many unspoken rules in the entertainment industry. Before Lu Yige debuted, he was once challenged by a producer who promised to write a song for him if he ate an entire lemon with wasabi on it. The producer was very talented in music and had a few hit songs. So, Lu Yige ate the lemon filled with wasabi and got acute gastroenteritis, which landed him in the hospital for three days.
“Congratulations on completing the mission.”
“Now, releasing information about the millionaire’s husband.”
Two clues appeared on the screen: a psychiatric examination report and a recording.
Jiang Qianqian played the recording. Two voices were in the audio.
“Are you sure they don’t know they are…” a static sound appeared.
“His dad and I have tried everything we can. The doctor said that aggressive methods would only worsen their condition,” an old voice came. “I agree to your marriage, but you might not be able to get a marriage certificate in our country.”
“I’ll find a way.”
A static sound appeared, and it was clear that the recording was not complete.
“My dear, I was planning to immigrate to… Will you come with me? We’ll move there after my parents are gone,” the same voice from the last recording said. “Okay, I’ll listen to you, baby,” a neutral and soft voice replied.
After last night’s questions, the guests already knew that the millionaire’s husband was a woman, so they all agreed that this must be her voice.
“The next mission will be released at 5 PM. Please be in the living room on time~” The cheerful robotic voice appeared as if what had happened last night and this morning was just a dream. Nothing had happened, and they were just filming a variety show in a normal villa.
Jiang Qianqian silently watched the screen turn off, feeling a sense of ridiculous absurdity.