Trembling At A High Altitude

"I didn't mean to harm her intentionally, everyone saw what kind of person she was. In those horror movies, people as mindless as her not only get themselves killed but can even drag others down with them."

"Rest assured, aside from her, I won't alienate or abandon anyone else."

The general manager calmed his emotions and said a few words to the others in the courtyard.

The tone of his voice had already taken on that of the team leader.

This person, in the real world, was indeed the general manager of a certain company. It was not surprising that he unconsciously slipped into his role as a general manager.

In the real world, the others had identities similar to their roles, too. The Film and Television City seemed to have intentionally made these role assignments, more or less.

"We're not bad people, we hope that everyone can survive. Everything we did, we were forced into it by her," the salesman added a few words on the side.

"Enough, I hope that there won't be any more quarrels in the future. Let's all stay together and safely get through these three days," the driver also spoke up.

"She truly brought this upon herself," the female secretary spoke up; it was better to go with the flow at times like this.

"I don't want to have any conflicts with anyone; I hope everything goes smoothly," the female supervisor also spoke up—she, apart from Li Teng, was the one who spoke the least.

"Sigh, it's all in the past now, let's take it as a lesson!" the female financier clearly didn't intend to say anything about the female manager's death.

They were all but strangers who had met by chance.

Receiving a boxed lunch while acting and then being sealed in wax afterward were things they had seen a lot of.

Moreover, the most important thing was that the female manager's death also meant that the rest of them were completely safe for the night.

Li Teng continued to remain silent.

In horror films, those who frolic the most always die the fastest.

For the weak, minimizing their presence is the best strategy.

The room where the female manager had been was now unsuitable for sleeping in, but thankfully there were two bedrooms.

They could sleep in the other room.

...

The night passed.

As expected, the rest were all safe and sound.

A dead fellow Taoist cannot be saved by a living one.

The next morning.

The hillbilly couple came again, washed yesterday's dishes, made breakfast for everyone, and then went to tidy up the beds.

Upon seeing the horrific state of the female manager, they had no abnormal reactions; like robots, they treated her corpse as trash, bagging it and throwing it into a pit behind the courtyard.

They also rinsed off the bloodstains on the walls and floor with water.

They couldn't completely clean it, especially on the walls—the traces of the bloodstains were still very visible.

They even set up the mahjong table in the courtyard again and picked up all the mahjong tiles back onto the table.

After busying themselves with all this, they left and would not come back until before noon to prepare lunch for everyone.

The others had grown accustomed to this 'abnormal' behavior of theirs.

They were just NPCs in the Scripted World, after all.

...

After the meal, under the general manager's suggestion, everyone decided to go see what the Taoist at the Taoist temple was up to.

The Taoist seemed to be a point of suspicion in the Scripted World; the scriptwriter unlikely would arrange a strange Taoist temple near the courtyard without reason.

So, while it was safe during the day, it was the best opportunity to clarify this issue.

Even though it was daytime, Li Teng still dared not be alone.

Even if he couldn't walk fast, he tried his best to keep up with everyone's pace, panting as he climbed the eighty steps, and entered the Taoist temple last.

The general manager and others had already started chatting with the Taoist.

Today it seemed as if the Taoist's lock had been picked, and when Li Teng approached, he was speaking passionately.

"Last night, I witnessed everything on the mountain. Feeding your companion to that female ghost was a huge mistake! You will pay a heavy price for what you've done," the Taoist said, slightly agitated.

"Before we came here, we heard a legend that said the female ghost kills only one person every night, and only those who are alone. Is this legend false?" the general manager probed the Taoist.

"There is such a legend, but you've only heard half of it," the Taoist replied to the general manager.

"Oh? And... the other half?" the general manager continued to ask.

"The female ghost kills one person each night, referring to those who accidentally find themselves alone and are killed, not those betrayed by companions. If it is someone betrayed by a companion who dies...heh," the Taoist trails off without finishing.

It looked like he knew everything that had happened the previous night.

"What will happen?" the general manager's face soured.

"Fate must not be revealed," the Taoist said irritatingly.

"You're the ghost, aren't you? You didn't go down the mountain, so how do you know what happened to us last night?" the salesperson accused the Taoist on the spot.

"If I were the ghost, would you all be here safe and sound?" the Taoist said, appearing somewhat angry.

"That's because your powers are restricted during the day," the salesperson added.

"Say what you will, I, the poor Taoist, will be leaving this place tomorrow for a long journey," the Taoist said with an expression that showed he was tired of the conversation.

The general manager and salesperson exchanged glances.

Although they felt that killing the Taoist during the day might be the key to breaking this ghostly situation...

...no one was willing to take the risk.

After all, this was not the same as leaving the female manager alone in a room to be killed by a ghost—it required them to take action themselves.

It would be risky for anyone to act, possibly at the cost of their own life.

It wasn't worth it.

After failing to get more information from the Taoist, the group had no choice but to leave.

Under the guidance of the general manager, they did not return to the old house but tried to explore the surrounding woods and cornfields.

They encountered a boundary air wall within.

The area was sealed off; it was clearly impossible to escape the evil ghost's slaughter by fleeing.

Even if there were a way to escape, they probably wouldn't dare to take it.

The show wasn't over, and leaving the filming location on their own would clearly be against the rules.

...

After some discussion, they decided to return to the old house courtyard, spending the morning playing Mahjong and cards to pass the time.

After lunch, they took turns sleeping by force.

Then at night, they stayed up as a group to prevent what happened last night from recurring.

The Mahjong table in the courtyard was reorganized by the couple, so they continued playing Mahjong and Fighting Landlords.

But one person was missing.

Thus, Li Teng was forcefully pulled in to make up the numbers for Mahjong.

Li Teng spent his free time playing cell phone games, had no interest in playing Mahjong, and wasn't very good at it either.

After being found out, he was switched over to playing Fighting Landlords.

The two others at Fighting Landlords took turns winning, while Li Teng kept losing; whoever was a farmer with him would lose.

It frustrated the other two players, who resorted to all sorts of mockery.