Chapter 3

Yellow Hair returned with Chen Si just as Jiang Liu and the others had finished cleaning the theater from top to bottom.

Once the thick layer of dust was washed away, the true face of the theater was revealed. Stripped of its grime, it exuded a sense of history. The old-style wooden building mostly used a mortise and tenon structure, with each part meticulously carved by craftsmen. Barring any accidents, it was even more sturdy and durable than modern reinforced concrete. Although the place wasn’t large, everything from the furnishings to the layout had been carefully planned. The dozen or so tables were arranged in a staggered yet orderly fashion, ensuring a clear view from every seat.

On the second floor, there were rooms for people to rest. The furnishings were elegant and proper; though simple, they were not crude. A few decades ago, this style was highly esteemed and popular. Logically, it shouldn’t have been abandoned like this.

“I didn’t expect this place to be so classical.”

Yellow Hair wiped the sweat from his forehead, made a gruff comment, and then called everyone to eat.

Meanwhile, Chen Si looked around curiously, quite excited. “This is the first time I’ve seen it all cleaned up. So this is the kind of place Mother lived in when she was a child.”

Her gaze caught Jiang Liu staring blankly at a vase. Chen Si walked over to her side in a few steps. “Sister Liu must be hungry, right? I brought dinner, including your favorite plum blossom cakes.”

Jiang Liu lowered her eyes, feeling even more puzzled.

The steamed fish at lunch could have been a coincidence, but what about the plum blossom cakes? How did she know they were her favorite?

Seeing her silence, Chen Si moved closer, her watery eyes staring at her, a little nervous. “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Liu was speechless.

Just talk, why are you getting so close!

There were two things she couldn’t stand: one was being hungry, and the other was being stared at by a beauty.

With a beautiful young girl standing right in front of her, the little suspicion in her heart instantly vanished. Her mind was filled with thoughts of how considerate the game’s plot was. Even her own preferences were known by an NPC. How wonderful!

Jiang Liu smiled gracefully. “It’s nothing. I was just getting hungry. Thank you.”

Chen Si’s cheeks flushed. She grabbed her hand and led her to the food, only reluctantly letting go. She then made an excuse about going home to take care of Granny Chen and left in a hurry.

As soon as she was gone, Yellow Hair became excited. He first chugged some tea, then began to recount his story with great enthusiasm.

“You were right! This theater has a big history!”

According to him, the Curtain Dream Theater was once extremely popular. Many old-timers still spoke of it with endless praise. It had launched the careers of many famous actors, and those who could get a seat were either rich or noble. Business was booming!

“Then why did people stop coming?” Xu Shu, who had been listening quietly, suddenly interjected.

Yellow Hair coughed heavily, emphasizing his words. “I heard there was a big fire here forty years ago, and it gradually declined after that.”

Seeing the impressed looks from the others, Yellow Hair beamed with pride. Suddenly, he noticed someone was missing. Looking closely, he saw that Jiang Liu had left at some point and was once again staring blankly at the vase.

He was a little displeased and frowned, shouting, “Hey, were you even listening? There was a fire here!”

Jiang Liu glanced back at him and pointed to the wall, saying calmly, “This part of the wood clearly shows signs of being burned, but it was later repaired by someone. The craftsmanship is excellent, so you can barely see the difference.”

“And these furnishings were probably brought in after the repairs. The era and craftsmanship are not the same.”

Yellow Hair was stunned. He stared at the wooden wall for a long time but couldn’t see any difference. He looked at Jiang Liu with suspicion. “You knew all along? Then why did you send me out to ask around?”

Jiang Liu was speechless. “I asked you to find out why this place is so deserted.”

Plenty of places have had fires. Since this place was renovated, there must have been plans to reopen. Why had it become more and more desolate instead?

Yellow Hair next to her scratched his head, a hint of embarrassment on his face.

“I was going to ask, but then I ran into that Chen Si girl bringing food, so I helped her carry it back.”

Then, as if remembering something, his eyes lit up.

“I don’t know how you guessed it, but you were right! I walked for two kilometers from here and didn’t see a single person. I thought I was trapped in a ghost-walled maze.”

If it hadn’t been for the bright midday sun, he might not have dared to keep walking.

Yellow Hair’s words sent everyone into deep thought.

How could a highly sought-after theater be located in such a remote and desolate place?

Jiang Liu and the others soon found out why.

Ding—

The third chime of the clock rang out. Jiang Liu’s eyes shot open. She reached out and restrained an unknown object that had appeared in her arms, breaking out in a cold sweat.

How did she fall asleep?

Before she had time to think about the reason, she grabbed the thing with one hand and jumped out of bed. Her movements suddenly froze, and she stiffly turned her head to look behind her.

In the faint moonlight, Chen Si’s face, pale as if she weren’t alive, appeared in her vision. The girl was hugging her with sleepy eyes, like an octopus with its limbs wrapped around her, still looking drowsy.

“Sister, why are you awake?”

Jiang Liu’s throat moved. Feeling the warmth of Chen Si’s body behind her, she froze on the spot.

Appearing in her bed in the middle of the night—what was wrong with this NPC? Didn’t she know about keeping a respectable distance between women?!!

Chen Si seemed oblivious to her stiffness, her eyes half-closed and drowsy, her voice muffled. “Go back to sleep, I’m so sleepy…”

Her voice grew softer and softer, until the last word was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.

Jiang Liu looked closely and saw that the girl had hugged the blanket and fallen asleep again.

***

Zhang Xiaochen thought he must have worked too many night shifts, which was why he was seeing ghosts.

It was one thing to be inexplicably dropped into a theater, but how could he be chased by a ghost in his dream?

Don’t ask him how he knew he was in a dream; he didn’t know either!

As he sprinted wildly, he didn’t forget to glance back, on the verge of tears.

This must be what they call dreaming of what you think about during the day! The one chasing him was a ghost actor, wearing a scholar’s opera robe of some unknown genre. He couldn’t see its face, and it spoke in strange, unintelligible squeaks.

He had already been chased for eight blocks, and his body couldn’t take it anymore. He bent over, panting, and muttered frantically.

“Old lady, if I can wake up now, I’ll definitely burn two sticks of high-grade incense for you when I get back, and make sure you eat well. Please protect me!”

The pressure from behind grew heavier. He broke out in a cold sweat, but he didn’t have the strength to move an inch and could only pray silently.

Just as the scholar’s bloody mouth was about to devour him, Zhang Xiaochen felt his body sink heavily, and he was back on his wooden bed.

He reached out a hand and felt the bedsheet, already soaked with sweat. The cold sweat clung to his body, and when the night wind blew… wait, he hadn’t opened the window before bed! Where was the wind coming from?

His heart skipped a beat. He stiffly and slowly raised his head and saw a rustling by the window, as if a shadow was swaying.

“Damn it, I’ll fight you to the death!”

Zhang Xiaochen hardened his heart and rushed out of bed to see what was going on. His heart was about to leap out of his throat when he saw a pile of fallen leaves being swept in by the wind, landing messily on the table.

Fallen… fallen leaves?

The tension in his heart suddenly snapped. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickly closed the window.

“What a godforsaken place.” He sat on the floor, completely drained. The terrifying nightmare had banished all sleepiness. Seeing the basin of water nearby, he had an idea and thought of washing his face.

He had glanced in this direction when he first came in, and there had been some clear water in the basin. But now, the closer he got, the more he felt something was wrong. A turbid liquid had formed a layer of what looked like grease on top, forming a pattern that seemed to be beckoning him.

Zhang Xiaochen swallowed nervously, clutching the dagger hidden on his person, and walked towards it step by step.

The closer he got, the more he could see the pattern swirling and flowing. A foul, fishy smell filled his nostrils, and only then did he realize what it was.

It was a basin of suddenly appeared fresh blood, and the grease congealed on top formed a face—his own face!

“Ahhhhhh!!!!”

Jiang Liu restrained the crazed Zhang Xiaochen with one hand, casually tore off the belt of an opera robe, and tied him up. Only then did she examine the dagger.

Although this yellow-haired kid was reckless, she hadn’t expected him to have a knife. The quality of the blade looked good; he must have gotten it when he went out today.

No wonder he was so eager, running off by himself without letting anyone follow. So he had a purpose.

The door was pushed open. Jiang Liu quickly hid the dagger at her waist and looked up to see Xu Shu and a female student walking in.

“Are you okay?” Xu Shu immediately noticed the wound on Jiang Liu’s arm and was startled. He then looked down at Zhang Xiaochen, who was tied up like a crab, and felt a little worried.

Jiang Liu ignored the wound and lifted the basin of water, pouring it over Zhang Xiaochen’s head.

The cold water splashed on him, and Zhang Xiaochen finally regained some of his senses. He looked at his trussed-up state in confusion, his expression quickly turning to horror.

“Isn’t this a bit unethical? We’re all in the same boat. Are you going to rob and kill me before we even get off?”

What was all this nonsense?

Jiang Liu held her forehead, speechless, almost driven mad by this kid’s bizarre train of thought.

Xu Shu barely managed to stifle a laugh. Seeing Jiang Liu’s unwillingness to speak, he took the initiative to explain.

“We heard you screaming in your room and saw you trying to stab yourself in the neck with a knife. If it weren’t for Jiang Liu, you would have killed yourself.”

Zhang Xiaochen let out a cry of surprise, his gaze sweeping over them doubtfully as rationality gradually returned, his face turning pale.

“No! There was a ghost in my room, in that basin! There was a ghost in the basin! I was trying to kill it!”

As he spoke, he staggered to his feet, about to look for the basin, but Jiang Liu pressed him back down with one hand.

“There’s something strange about this place. The ghost you were trying to kill was yourself.”

She pointed to the bottom of the basin. With the sharpness of that dagger, it would have been easy to pierce through the basin’s bottom, but the iron basin was perfectly fine. The one who was injured was Zhang Xiaochen himself.

Hearing this, he touched his neck and found his hand covered in fresh blood. Fortunately, Jiang Liu had stopped him in time, or else he wouldn’t even know how he died when he reached the underworld.

The warm blood from his own body gushed out from between his fingers. Zhang Xiaochen was finally awake from the pain. He stared at Jiang Liu and asked, trembling, “What… what exactly is going on?”