The Fake Heiress's Guide to Self-Rescue - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Unworldly Variety Show [7] – VIP Starting

“The fog seems to have gotten thicker.” Jiang Qianqian looked out the window. The fog that had only been on the road down the mountain was now in the villa’s yard, as if it were alive. Lu Yige shivered. The endless fog was constantly eroding the sanity of everyone in the villa. What he had seen and heard for the past two days made him terrified.

“Is everyone ready?” Jiang Jing stood at the door, looking at the few conscious guests. Zhang Man nodded. For some reason, Jiang Qianqian felt that her state was different from the past two days. She hadn’t seen her since last night. When she came downstairs today, she was sitting in the dining room, staring blankly at the stairs, which made Jiang Qianqian feel uneasy.

Li Weizhao and Song Zhe carried the unconscious Zhao Wen and Li Sheng on their backs, respectively, and secured them with ropes. After checking that there were no problems, the group prepared to leave the villa. Jiang Jing’s hand was on the doorknob. As soon as she pressed down, she heard two groans from behind. The people in front turned around and saw Li Weizhao and Song Zhe lying on the ground, struggling but unable to get up.

“Why are the people on our backs suddenly so heavy? They’re not like people; they’re like big rocks,” Song Zhe complained as he untied the ropes. They had tied a complex knot when they tied the ropes so that the people wouldn’t fall off halfway down the mountain. Now, it would take a lot of effort to untie them.

“Quick, quick, help them untie the ropes.” Jiang Qianqian saw the situation and quickly nudged Lu Yige next to her. They all went forward to help Li Weizhao and Song Zhe untie the ropes on their bodies. The heavy ropes were finally untied and fell to the ground. Everyone looked at the two unconscious bodies on the ground. When they saw them, Li Weizhao and Song Zhe’s expressions instantly changed. The people they had been carrying on their backs were not the unconscious Li Sheng and Zhao Wen but two human-shaped bags filled with rocks.

“This is a trick of the eye!” Li Weizhao was shocked. It was too late when he realized it. The fog that they had seen outside the window had somehow already filled the villa. Jiang Jing saw this and wanted to open the door to let the people behind her go out first, but when the lock felt stuck, she realized that the door was already locked and they couldn’t get out. When she turned around, everyone’s figures were swallowed by the fog, and she was left to fight alone.

“Did I say you could leave?” A faint female voice came from all directions of the villa. Although it was morning, no sunlight could get in. The dense fog put a blindfold over everyone’s eyes, and they couldn’t see anything.

Jiang Qianqian still had the ropes that had just been untied at her feet. She tried to turn in a circle within three steps. Strangely, before the fog, she and Song Zhe should have been standing close to each other because she was helping him untie the rope, but why didn’t Jiang Qianqian bump into Song Zhe after turning two circles? She wanted to shout to see if Jiang Jing could hear her, but she closed her mouth just as she was about to open it. The enemy was in the dark, and she was in the light. If she acted rashly, she might attract the female ghost.

With that thought, she called out Jiang Huai from the token. The pale green spirit turned into a ball of light and floated beside her. Jiang Qianqian looked around and asked, “Sister Jiang Huai, where is the person closest to me?”

The spiritual energy spread out, and a moment later, the ball of light responded, “In front of you, to the left.”

After getting Jiang Huai’s answer, Jiang Qianqian cautiously walked forward. She passed the sofa, the dining table, and finally got to the staircase.

“There’s no one here either?” she muttered softly. Just as she was about to look around, she felt something touch her head. A gust of wind blew, and then something lightly landed on her head again.

Goosebumps instantly appeared all over Jiang Qianqian’s body. Her intuition told her that something was definitely wrong.

“Are you sure this is a living person?” She had to confirm with Jiang Huai again.

“It is a living person.”

Since that was the case, Jiang Qianqian took a deep breath and slowly looked up. A pair of sneakers appeared in front of her, followed by a pair of jeans, then a metal belt, and then—

A pair of cold hands quietly covered her eyes. She opened her mouth to scream but found that her throat was too paralyzed from extreme fear to make a sound. This was the first time she had been in such close contact with a ghost. She had never directly touched a ghost before, whether it was the water ghost trying to take her life or confronting the ghost in the mirror.

“Shh, don’t make a sound. Just wait a little longer.”

The voice was—Zhang Man?!

How could it be her? Jiang Qianqian frantically took the hands off her eyes and saw Zhang Man standing behind her. Her eyes held a meaning that Jiang Qianqian couldn’t understand.

Wait a little longer, wait for what? She subconsciously looked up and saw a ferocious face. The rope that had been on the ground was now strangling his neck, hanging him from the stair railing.

“He’s going to die!” Jiang Qianqian looked at Zhang Man in horror. The latter’s face was nonchalant, as if a vibrant human life couldn’t affect her in the slightest.

“So what?” Her tone had no emotion.

Her nerves frayed, Jiang Qianqian rushed up the stairs. The knot was not difficult to untie. It was a simple live knot, but her fingers were pricked by the thorns that had sprouted from the rope.

Thud. The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground. Zhao Wen’s body fell. Zhang Man kicked Zhao Wen twice in disgust and walked to the side. Jiang Qianqian ran down the stairs and tremblingly put her finger under Zhao Wen’s nose. She felt his regular breathing and let out a sigh of relief.

Zhang Man’s disregard for life made Jiang Qianqian furiously grab her collar and ask the heartless person with eyes wide with rage, “Did you do this? Did you also do what happened to Li Sheng? Are you trying to kill someone in front of us? Why? Why are you killing innocent people? What did they do?”

Her collar was tightly held. The two were very close now, so close that Jiang Qianqian saw the tears in her eyes. The overflowing tears restored some of her rationality.

“Heh, innocent. You ask him if he’s really innocent,” Zhang Man said, using force to pry Jiang Qianqian’s fingers off one by one. She then pointed at the pale-faced Zhao Wen, who was sitting on the ground, gasping for air.

“What do you mean?”

“You ask him if he’s really innocent.”

When Zhang Man looked at him, Zhao Wen’s legs trembled with fear. He tried to crawl away but was kicked to the ground by her.

“You tell her what really happened here ten years ago.”

Zhao Wen’s eyes flickered, and a fine sweat beaded on his forehead. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand. What ten years ago? I’ve never been here before.”

“Still pretending? Do you want me to help you remember?”

One hand grabbed Zhao Wen’s hair and pulled it back forcefully, and the other hand pinched his neck. With just a little force, Zhao Wen couldn’t help but kneel and beg for mercy.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk. Please don’t kill me.” Zhao Wen swallowed hard. “I had just entered the entertainment industry for three or four years and played the third male lead in a hit show. I was a little popular.”

“Li Sheng, who is also filming this show, was also in the same cast as me. He played the second male lead in that show.”

The stuttering voice passed through the fog, showing Jiang Qianqian the scene from ten years ago in this villa.

“At that time, the third female lead was a very gentle girl. She was pretty and had a good personality. Everyone on the set liked her. After the show wrapped up, Brother Li suddenly sent me a message one afternoon, saying he wanted to treat everyone to a wrap-up dinner. The location was this villa.”

“I was so happy to be able to see my former colleagues again, so I took a car and came here. But when I arrived, I found out it was just me and Brother Li, two male actors from the cast. The rest were a few female extras from the cast.”

“And the so-called wrap-up dinner was hosted by the investor, Chairman Zhang, and a few of his real estate developer friends.”

“Anyone with a pair of eyes could see what this dinner meant. This situation was also very common in the entertainment industry at that time. The few young girls were too scared to speak.”

“Xiao Ran, why aren’t you talking? You were the most lively girl among all of them. Come on, toast to Chairman Zhang.” Li Sheng’s voice sounded in the fog. His greasy tone was sickening.

“Brother Li, we only came here because we wanted to see our former colleagues again after the show was finished. I’m very grateful that you hosted this dinner, but you probably have other intentions for calling us here.” A female voice followed. The voice was a little young, but her attitude was resolute.

“Little sister, that’s a little harsh. As the investor of this show, I also think you all have a lot of potential and want to help you go higher.” Another elderly male voice slowly refuted her. His pretentious appearance was disgusting.

“Later, many of the girls accepted the reality and stopped struggling. Only Zhang Ran was determined to leave and not stay,” Zhao Wen continued. He had a look of fear on his face after hearing these voices, as if he had remembered the tragic scene from that day.

“So, she was the only one who was left behind. The other girls were sent away. Those rich businessmen tortured her inhumanely and then killed her and buried her somewhere in the villa.”

“Chairman Zhang was afraid that Zhang Ran would become a vengeful ghost after she died and take revenge on him, so he found a master to perform a ritual to make sure she could never step into this villa again.”

“And you, after hearing Zhang Ran’s cries for help, were afraid of offending the investors and pretended not to see anything. You left in a hurry after dinner, didn’t you?”

Zhang Man sneered and looked back at Jiang Qianqian. “Do you still think they are innocent?”

“I…” Jiang Qianqian couldn’t speak. She just felt that the story sounded so harsh.

“At first, my sister tried to fight back, but she couldn’t fight against four or five middle-aged men. The more she fought, the more excited they became.”

“You, you’re Zhang Ran’s sister?” Zhao Wen looked up at Zhang Man in fear.

“No, I’m the King of Hell who has come to take your life.”

Zhang Man suddenly burst into laughter. The fog wrapped around her and Zhao Wen. Jiang Qianqian reached out, but the two of them disappeared, leaving her alone. The time for the Zhang sisters’ revenge had finally come ten years later.