Volume One, Chapter 27: Is Your Cousin Still Here?

Li Luoqi woke in the middle of the night, his mouth dry and parched. He reached for his thermos, only to find it completely empty. Cursing his assistant for neglecting his duties, he resolved to fire him as soon as he returned. But the thirst was unbearable; sleep was impossible. Li Luoqi got up, intent on pouring himself a glass of water in the kitchen.

The hallway lights flickered, teetering on the brink of failure. When he reached the kitchen, he found its lamp was broken as well. Frustrated by these successive annoyances, he finally exploded, shouting, “This wretched guesthouse! The production team is so stingy, picking such a dump. Filming here, poverty-stricken as it is, what’s the point? When I get back, I’ll make sure my agent files a complaint!”

His throat now even drier after his tirade, Li Luoqi groped around for the fridge, remembering there were a few bottles of mineral water inside. But when he opened the refrigerator, he froze. The darkness inside was absolute, nothing visible, like a yawning black hole.

“What’s going on…” he muttered.

Suddenly, countless pitch-black hands reached out from the void, grabbing him, trying to drag him into the abyss.

“Ah—!” Li Luoqi’s scream pierced the silence, waking the others in the guesthouse. Annoyed and groggy, they followed the sound to the kitchen.

“Luoqi, what are you doing? Playing games in the middle of the night?”

“Is this some prank from the production team? Luoqi, did you get some secret role?”

The other four guests soon arrived, glancing around without seeing any crew members. Xiao Shangwen, a young actor about Li Luoqi’s age, patted his shoulder. “Luoqi, why are you standing like that? What’s in the fridge?”

Li Luoqi was still locked in a tug-of-war, exerting all his strength against the grasping hands. But when Xiao Shangwen touched him, the hands vanished abruptly, and the fridge returned to normal.

He gasped for breath, his legs giving way as he collapsed to the floor.

“Luoqi, are you okay?” Xiao Shangwen quickly helped him up.

Liu Jian grumbled, “Where’s the director? If they’re planning something, it’s about time they showed up.”

Bang! The kitchen door slammed shut in response.

“So it really is a trick from the production team,” Xiao Shangwen said, moving to the door and trying to open it, only to find it locked.

He then began pounding on the door. “Anyone out there? Open up!”

No answer came.

At last, Li Luoqi recovered enough to shout in panic, “It’s not the production team’s plan! There’s something wrong with this guesthouse—there’s something dirty here!”

Liu Jian laughed, “Oh, Luoqi, you’re dedicated! But it’s no use, your undercover identity has already been exposed.”

Chi Qianyu said gently, “Luoqi, what is the director planning? It’s the middle of the night, and we’re not prepared for anything.”

She hadn’t put on any makeup; luckily the lights were out, and only a bit of streetlamp light filtered through the window. Otherwise, her bare face would have been caught on camera.

Zhang Qunying, growing impatient, said, “Let’s hurry up and finish whatever process there is, so we can all go back to sleep. If I don’t get enough rest, I’ll have a headache, and tomorrow’s filming might be ruined.”

Li Luoqi shook his head desperately. “No, really, it’s not the production team’s arrangement. I came to the kitchen because I was thirsty, and when I opened the fridge—there were hands, ghostly hands!”

The others crowded around to look. Inside the fridge, tomorrow’s ingredients were neatly arranged, not a single suspicious prank prop in sight.

“Luoqi, are you still half asleep?” Liu Jian asked.

Li Luoqi shook his head violently. “No, I swear I was fully awake! There really were ghost hands, trying to pull me in!”

Still unconvinced, the others could only wait in awkward silence.

Zhang Qunying shivered. “Does anyone else feel like it’s gotten colder?”

Chi Qianyu hugged herself and nodded. “I’ve felt cold since just now.”

“What’s going on? If I remember right, there’s no air conditioning in the kitchen. Whatever, let’s just get out of here.” Liu Jian tugged hard at the door, but despite its thin appearance, it was as if welded shut, unmoving no matter how much force he used.

Xiao Shangwen went to try the window, but it too wouldn’t budge.

The temperature plummeted; the five felt as though they’d stepped into a freezer, their teeth chattering. Zhang Qunying and Liu Jian fared a little better in their long-sleeved pajamas. Chi Qianyu was the most unfortunate, wearing only a strappy nightgown.

“Help…” she murmured.

Huddling together for warmth, they still grew numb with cold, Chi Qianyu’s consciousness fading…

The production staff opened the kitchen door the next morning and were startled to find the five guests curled up in a heap.

“Why are you all in the kitchen so early?” they asked in shock.

Guan He was drawn by the commotion. Seeing the guests sprawled like dead dogs, he was startled enough to forget about the filming, hurriedly calling people to help them out and summoning a family doctor.

The doctor examined each of them, puzzled. “They’re all perfectly healthy, no sign of illness. Why call a doctor?”

Chi Qianyu asked anxiously, “Doctor, are we really alright? We were locked in the kitchen all night and froze.”

The doctor glanced meaningfully at Guan He and his team.

Guan He nearly exploded, quickly clarifying, “Our production team would never do something so inhumane.”

Chi Qianyu, realizing her slip, fell silent; her words had offended the entire production crew.

The doctor, skeptical, said, “There’s no sign of frostbite, and besides, it’s midsummer. Even if you’d been locked in the kitchen all night, you wouldn’t have frozen.”

Guan He saw the doctor out, seething inside. Thinking back over the past couple days of filming, he couldn’t recall offending any guest—why were they all teaming up to mess with him?

Just then, a staff member hurried downstairs. “Director Guan, could you come upstairs for a moment?”

Guan He followed, with Liu Jian close behind. The others, seeing this, trailed after.

They entered Li Luoqi and Xiao Shangwen’s room, and were stunned by what they saw.

On Li Luoqi’s bed, a large, blood-red character for “kill” was painted in striking oil paint.

Zhang Qunying clasped her hands together, mumbling, “Haunted. This guesthouse is haunted. I want to leave right now!”

Guan He was thoughtful. Was it really a problem with the guesthouse?

Suddenly, he remembered what Chi Xingwan, Chi Qianyu’s cousin, had said while filming the pilot at the Chi family home. And yesterday, those two strangers who looked like obsessive fans—they knew Chi Xingwan.

As a famous variety show director, Guan He had plenty of connections, especially among business tycoons. He knew that there really were extraordinary people in the world.

But Chi Xingwan didn’t seem at all like one of them. Still, desperate times called for desperate measures; there was no time to hesitate.

He turned to Chi Qianyu. “Qianyu, is your cousin still in Jili Town? Maybe you could invite her over to take a look?”