Trembling At A High Altitude

Not arranging too many NPCs might be to save on the resources consumed by the script.

Unlike the last script, the other actors in the last one were rather enthusiastic young people.

These extras this time clearly come from various walks of society.

Those young people from last time took very good care of Uncle Li, actively starting conversations with him and supporting him as he walked.

The social types this time were quite indifferent towards Uncle Li, and some even showed looks of disdain.

Li Teng didn't really mind.

He indeed had grown old and frail, but he believed it was his own doing.

He had no wish to be a burden on anyone, nor did he think others had any responsibility to take care of him.

After all, he wasn't yet at the point where he couldn't walk; he just moved more slowly and couldn't run as fast as the young people, but taking care of himself was certainly enough.

This script posed a serious test for Li Teng as he was now.

After all, he wasn't as young as he used to be, and in a survival of the fittest situation, he would be the first to be eliminated.

The minibus finally stopped in front of a cornfield.

The Old Mountain Village House was on the other side of the cornfield, but the field only had very narrow trails for walking.

From here on, it wasn't possible to continue by vehicle, so they had to walk.

The group got off the bus and entered the cornfield.

While everyone chatted variously on the bus and had gotten rather familiar with each other, four women walked together, chattering nonstop, and three men walked together, sharing two packs of cigarettes and a lighter from the bus, smoking and talking along the way.

Li Teng found himself lagging behind alone.

Fortunately, their walking speed wasn't too fast, so Li Teng, exerting himself, didn't fall too far behind.

The paths through the cornfield meandered, but thankfully there were signposts marking the directions at every fork.

Winding their way through, it took the group nearly twenty minutes to exit the cornfield.

Ahead stood the Old Mountain Village House.

That was the location for this filming session.

The Old Mountain Village House lay at the base of a small hillock.

Atop the hillock was a very small Taoist temple.

The Old Mountain Village House and the hillock were part of an isolated area, hemmed in by a lake, cornfields, and wild woodlands, separating them from the outside world.

It was daytime, and according to the script, it was around three or four in the afternoon.

According to the script, the ghosts wouldn't appear during the day.

So for the group, there were still a few hours of safety.

Inside the old estate were several buildings, surrounded by a low stone wall.

A man and a woman, both appearing to be around thirty, stood by the gate to welcome everyone.

They were locals hired by the general manager, responsible for cleaning the rooms, cooking, and other chores.

According to the script, they would leave after dark.

After entering through the gate, there was a large courtyard within.

The main house, annex, kitchen, and latrine buildings surrounded the entire courtyard.

Upon their arrival, with the guidance of the man and woman, the group first toured the various rooms of the old house.

After purchasing this old mansion, the general manager had made some simple renovations.

The main house had a large living room with sofas, a coffee table, a television, and other furniture, including a mahjong table.

On each side of the main house were bedrooms, one of which had four beds and had been decorated in a hotel style.

One room in the annex was designed to look like a conference room, and another was an entertainment room with a pool table and a ping-pong table.

The kitchen was quite rustic, maintaining the village-style stove, and the fuel was the typical wood and straw found in the village.

Outside the kitchen, there was a cellar in the yard where various vegetables and ingredients were stored.

The toilet had a flush system and stalls, with a total of four compartments, divided into two for men and two for women by a wooden board, making it look like the public toilets in the city, rather clean and tidy.

Besides these common functional buildings, there was also a chicken coop housing more than a dozen chickens.

Next to the chicken coop, a sheep was tied up which bleated innocently at the sight of the people, presumably in danger of not escaping the hands of the actors over the next three days.

The pair had already slaughtered a few chickens to serve as the main dish for tonight's dinner.

If one did not consider the ghost, the living environment was pretty good overall.

Someone was responsible for the food, so people didn't have to do it themselves.

Therefore, they discussed taking advantage of the daylight to visit the Taoist temple on the small hill.

The Scripted World had designed this Taoist temple and it probably wasn't for show; it might be very useful to evade the ghost's pursuit at night.

The hill was not very high, and it took about eighty-plus steps to reach the top.

The stone steps, each step about thirty to forty centimeters high.

For the others, it was quite easy.

But for Li Teng, it was a bit harder.

After walking up a dozen steps, he would need to catch his breath and rest.

No one came over to help him; he could only climb up by himself.

Being old, everything he did lacked strength.

When the others reached the top of the hill, Li Teng had only climbed half the way, still around the forty-something step mark.

When Li Teng reached the hilltop, the others had already entered the Taoist temple.

There was only one Taoist inside the temple, with a beard, but he appeared much younger than Li Teng, only in his fifties, and looked very spirited. The seven actors who had arrived earlier were talking to him.

Calling it a Taoist temple, in truth, it was just a small courtyard with one room.

Whenever someone asked the Taoist about the haunting in the Old Mountain Village House below, the Taoist would deliberately change the subject, refusing to answer directly.

When asked if he had any talismans for exorcising ghosts, he'd just chuckle and say that his cultivation was shallow and he didn't know about such things.

It seemed he wouldn't be much help with exorcising ghosts.

Or, perhaps, a hidden condition hadn't been met.

The general manager and others cordially invited him to come down to the courtyard to sit, to join them for dinner that evening, but he declined politely.

Later he said he needed to meditate in quietude and asked everyone to stop disturbing him.

The group had no choice but to leave.

After they left, the Taoist shut the door of the temple.

"Who knows what the plot designed this Taoist temple for?"

"Looks like we can only rely on ourselves tonight."

"It shouldn't be useless."

"Let's still follow the script rules. After nightfall, everyone should stay together and not be alone."

They chatted and returned to the courtyard at the foot of the hill.

With nothing better to do, as they were all from society, after returning to the courtyard, they found an extension cord, brought out the mahjong machine, and four of them started to play mahjong.

The other three played a game of Fight the Landlord.

Li Teng, bored, wandered around by himself.

He couldn't find any special buildings or props.

For this script, he had no leads for the time being.

It seemed he could only strictly follow the script rules, and after dark, try his best not to be alone.

Night falls early in the mountain village; after the couple had prepared dinner, the sky slowly darkened.