Chi Yi woke up in an instant, her back drenched in a cold sweat as she heard the opera tune just beyond the door, so close.
The pale blue light of dawn seeped into the room, revealing only vague outlines. Chi Yi blinked furiously, trying to signal that she was awake. Only then did Li Zhi slowly let go of her.
“Is it Fang Lin?”
She mouthed the question.
Li Zhi nodded. “It sounds like her.”
Last night, Li Zhi had already analyzed the situation. Fang Lin, being from an opera troupe, if she were to kill after her death, would likely follow the rules of the troupe. These people had their own taboos. Had anyone broken the opera troupe’s rules during the day?
Before she could think deeper, the eerie opera tune outside the door abruptly stopped. The two held their breath, listening intently, but no further sound came. Yet, Li Zhi had a strong feeling that Fang Lin was still outside and hadn’t left.
Sure enough, after a brief pause, a series of dull ‘thud thud’ sounds began to echo slowly.
She was knocking on the door.
But it wasn’t their door she was knocking on. Li Zhi quickly identified the direction; the sound was coming from next door. Next door were Wen Qianxue and another actress, He Anlian.
Chi Yi realized this as well, gripping the time-stopping device she had obtained from the previous instance, her gaze asking Li Zhi whether they should go save them.
Even though Wen Qianxue had been her rival for years, Chi Yi couldn’t bring herself to leave her to die in a life-or-death situation like this.
However, Li Zhi shook her head and spoke in a low voice. “Wen Qianxue has her own props. She might not want us to interfere.”
This wasn’t just about passing the trial; there was also the competition for popularity. By this stage, everyone had a few life-saving tools in their possession. If someone could survive the crisis on their own and win the audience’s applause, they wouldn’t appreciate someone else stepping in and stealing their moment.
If they rushed in to help, Wen Qianxue might not only be ungrateful, but also resent Chi Yi for stealing her popularity.
Li Zhi certainly wasn’t the only one thinking this way. Not wanting to get into trouble, the entire courtyard remained eerily quiet. No one came out to investigate the situation, while the dull knocking continued outside, slow and steady.
The sound was odd, not like someone knocking with their hand. It sounded more like…
Before they could think it through, a sudden scream of terror broke the silence outside, only to be cut short halfway, as if someone had covered the person’s mouth. Then came the sound of something heavy being knocked over and dragged along the ground.
Li Zhi leaped out of bed. “Let’s check it out!”
The two rushed out of the room, just in time to see a ghostly figure in a blue opera costume passing through the decorative doorway. Behind her, two lengths of white silk trailed behind, wrapping around Wen Qianxue’s and He Anlian’s necks, dragging them out of the room.
A golden pair of scissors slipped from Wen Qianxue’s hand and clattered to the ground. There was a trace of despair in her eyes as she was swiftly dragged away by the white silk.
Chi Yi lunged forward, trying to grab hold of her, but she only managed to touch Wen Qianxue’s shoe.
Li Zhi darted forward, picking up the golden scissors and chasing in the direction they had been dragged.
Chi Yi shouted in alarm, “Zhi Zhi!”
Another door opened, and Pink Hair burst out with his two brothers, charging forward as if ready to die. “What happened? Where’s Sister Zhi?!”
Chi Yi didn’t even have time to answer him as she, too, dashed after them.
The speed at which the white silk dragged them was fast, but the courtyard was full of obstacles. There were thresholds every few steps and various landscaping features scattered about. Wen Qianxue and He Anlian’s bodies kept hitting these obstacles, giving Li Zhi precious time to catch up.
Beyond the final decorative doorway was the well where they drew their water.
Li Zhi finally caught up to Wen Qianxue, diving forward and pinning her down, using her own body weight to slow the dragging force. She quickly grabbed hold of the white silk, wrapping it around her hand twice, then lifted the scissors and cut.
In just the couple of seconds it took, Wen Qianxue was dragged several meters farther. As soon as the white silk around her neck was severed, she tumbled free, collapsing on the ground, clutching her throat and coughing violently.
The cut piece of white silk seemed to writhe in anger, snaking its way toward the hand holding the scissors.
At the well, Fang Lin stood ghostly still, her toes barely touching the ground, as if perpetually suspended. Her face was painted thick with makeup, the rouge on her cheeks redder than blood.
Li Zhi switched tactics, stabbing the silk that wrapped around her wrist and pulling down hard. With a tearing sound, the fabric ripped apart. Fang Lin let out a sharp, eerie cry that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. The white silk rapidly retracted, but before Li Zhi could catch it, with a splash, He Anlian was dragged into the well.
Fang Lin’s ghostly figure floated away, her toes dragging along the ground as she muttered strange, incomprehensible phrases under her breath.
By the time Chi Yi and the three with Pink Hair arrived, Li Zhi was already at the well, but all she saw was the corner of a garment sinking into the water. The well was too narrow, and the rope used to draw water wouldn’t support the weight of an adult. The four of them gathered at the edge of the well, helpless, watching the ripples on the surface slowly fade.
Behind them, Wen Qianxue’s sobs of survival filled the air.
In front of their screens, the audience, who had been holding their breath, finally exhaled with Wen Qianxue’s cry:
[Friendly reminder: you can breathe while watching.]
[See, having a prop is only useful in the right hands. Wen Qianxue had those scissors and still couldn’t use them properly.]
[He Anlian had it worse. She had that high-jump tool, but even that was useless—she got dragged down mid-air. Even if she didn’t die, she’d have been seriously injured.]
[When and how you use your tools is critical. Just having them doesn’t guarantee survival.]
[Why didn’t Li Zhi act sooner to save them? She only started chasing after her teammates were already being dragged off. So frustrating!]
[Maybe Li Zhi didn’t expect her teammates to be this incompetent even with their tools.]
[Some people make me laugh—just because Li Zhi is strong, she’s supposed to save everyone? More power means more responsibility? Give me a break.]
[This is a solo competition, after all. Saving someone is a kindness, not an obligation. Don’t go around guilt-tripping her.]
[I actually think Li Zhi shouldn’t have saved anyone. If this keeps up, everyone will blame her for not saving them when they die. It’ll just cause her more problems.]
[If you can watch your teammates die and do nothing, then how are you any different from the ghosts in the trial?]
[Li Zhi’s presence constantly reminds us not to become indifferent to human life. Life is so precious.]
…
Chi Yi walked over to help Wen Qianxue to her feet.
The dark, bruised marks around Wen Qianxue’s neck looked particularly terrifying, and even her sobs were raspy and hoarse.
Pink Hair asked, still shaken, “Will she come back?”
Li Zhi glanced at the sky. “It’s almost dawn. She shouldn’t.”
The group made their way back to the courtyard, where the other players had also gathered. Seeing that only Wen Qianxue had been saved, the mood was tense, though everyone kept their thoughts to themselves.
“What triggered the death condition? We all acted together yesterday, didn’t we?”
They had all woken up together, washed up together, eaten breakfast together, and then gone out to gather information about Zhen Zhen. Their movements had been identical all day!
Li Zhi suddenly turned to look at the water tank in the courtyard. “Who was the first to draw water from the well yesterday morning?”
The others were stunned. Wen Qianxue’s face paled, and in a hoarse voice, she answered, “It was me and Anlian.”
They had woken up the earliest, eager to impress, and had gone to the well to draw a bucket of water to clean the tank. Back then, the sky had just started to brighten, much like it was now.
Pink Hair let out an awkward laugh, “We only checked out the well earlier, didn’t draw any water. We should be fine, right?”
No one answered him.
Since He Anlian had been thrown into the well, there was no way anyone would dare to use the water from it again. Fortunately, they had already filled the water tank yesterday, and if they used it sparingly, it should last them for a while.
With one teammate dead, most people were in a somber mood. Even those secretly relieved at having one less competitor wouldn’t show it on their faces. Li Zhi handed the golden scissors back to Wen Qianxue, who still hadn’t fully recovered from the earlier shock. She glanced at Li Zhi and Chi Yi, her expression uneasy.
Wen Qianxue had originally thought that in this instance, the one who would most want her dead would be Chi Yi.
But to her surprise, it was these two who had been the first to come out and save her.
Feeling ashamed for having misjudged them, Wen Qianxue lowered her head and hoarsely muttered, “Thank you…”
Chi Yi also felt a bit awkward, given that Wen Qianxue had been her fierce rival for years. She suppressed her complex emotions and replied nonchalantly, “Hold on to those scissors, and practice how to use them better when you get the chance.”
Wen Qianxue nodded.
Li Zhi, standing nearby, asked, “What happened after the knocking? Did the white silk suddenly appear in the room?”
Wen Qianxue shivered and recalled, “Our bed was facing the door at the time, but although we heard the knocking, no one was outside. I thought, instead of sitting there waiting to die, I might as well go out and see what was going on. After all, I had the exorcism scissors in my hand.”
She had wanted to take the risk for the sake of gaining popularity. With Chi Yi following Li Zhi, her own popularity was at risk of being overshadowed. She thought that if she could drive away the ghost on her own, it would certainly give her an advantage over Chi Yi.
But things hadn’t gone as she’d hoped…
Wen Qianxue’s teeth chattered as she continued, “I opened the door, but there was still nothing outside. However, the knocking didn’t stop. Then I realized… the sound was coming from above me.”
She slowly raised her head and saw a pair of brightly colored shoes hanging overhead. The wind blew, making those feet sway, the tips of the shoes hitting the door with a dull ‘thud, thud’ sound.
Li Zhi finally understood why she had thought the knocking sound was odd at the time.
The rest of what happened Li Zhi could already guess. After offering a few words of comfort to Wen Qianxue, the sky fully brightened, and the sounds of the opera troupe waking up filled the back courtyard. After breakfast, the group set out to find Zhen Zhen’s grandmother.
Following the directions Zhen Zhen had given the day before, they walked for about twenty minutes before spotting the courtyard she had mentioned, with the osmanthus tree by the entrance.
Inside the courtyard, a small, dark-skinned girl was struggling to push a large stone mill, which looked to be twice her size. Her face was flushed from the effort.
When she saw the players, she hesitated, then quickly hid behind the mill and called out loudly, “Grandma! Someone’s here!”
The players stood at the gate, watching as an elderly woman with a hunched back stepped out of the main house, carrying a winnowing basket.
Pink Hair let out a quiet “huh” and whispered, “Isn’t she the old lady who wouldn’t let us sit in the front row during the performance that night?”
The old woman had an unfriendly look, with three whites showing in her eyes, making her appear particularly stern and unapproachable. However, her voice was unexpectedly calm. “You from the opera troupe? What business do you have with an old woman like me?”
Chi Yi spoke sweetly, “Grandma, we’re friends of Zhen Zhen. She told us to come find you.”
The old woman gave them a hard look, and her tone turned cold. “Nonsense! Zhen Zhen has never left the village since she was born. Where would she make friends? Go, go, get out of here!”