The movie screening room was empty and extraordinarily quiet.
The players felt a slight relief from their tension, as they had expected that upon opening the door, they would see rows of dark, shadowy figures, bracing themselves for a battle against an overwhelming crowd—a swarm of shadowy people closing in on them.
Although there was no one here, none of them dared to relax.
Any experienced player knew that surviving in the game world meant that the closer you got to the end, the less you could let down your guard. The game’s boss might suddenly jump out at any moment, delivering a fatal blow that would finish off a player right within the game world.
Gu Jiu took the lead into the movie screening room.
The players closely followed behind her, looking like a mother hen leading her chicks. Gu Jiu, who glanced back at them, couldn’t help but feel slightly speechless at the sight. She couldn’t resist saying, “You don’t need to be so tense. Since there’s no audience here, it’s a sign they likely won’t appear right now…”
Just as she finished speaking, the screen in front of them lit up.
This turnaround was almost immediate.
Gu Jiu: “…” Miss Gu was displeased. Could they not let her have a single moment to look cool?
Lord Herlan and Madam Herlan appeared on the movie screen.
Unlike their dark, shadowy forms when they’d emerged from the painting, they now looked entirely human, with radiant appearances and an elegance fitting their status.
However, it would have been far better if their gazes weren’t so chilling and venomous.
Everyone was startled, not expecting them to appear this way.
Especially Wan Xingzhou, who had been forced to play the role of Madam Herlan’s “lover” earlier. He had developed a psychological aversion to the couple and instinctively wanted to hide.
“My dear, why are you hiding? Come over here~”
Madam Herlan’s voice rang out sweetly and joyfully, yet to Wan Xingzhou, it sounded like a devil’s curse.
Wan Xingzhou summoned the courage to look at her and met Madam Herlan’s hateful gaze, which almost made him explode.
How could someone smile so sweetly while staring with such an intense desire to cut him to pieces? Was she still angry about him cutting off her hand earlier? He carefully observed Madam Herlan’s arm and found that one of her sleeves hung empty, confirming that she was indeed missing a hand.
Gu Jiu also noticed Madam Herlan’s missing hand and once again thought that Wan Xingzhou’s luck wasn’t too bad.
Though he often seemed unfortunate, he always managed to scrape through in the end.
The other players looked at Wan Xingzhou sympathetically, feeling relieved that none of them had received the role of “Madam Herlan’s lover.” They weren’t sure they could handle a femme fatale like Madam Herlan.
Wan Xingzhou gathered his courage and said, “D-don’t call me ‘dear.’ I really have nothing to do with you! Besides, your husband is watching you. A good woman shouldn’t act overly familiar with other men in front of her husband.”
Madam Herlan laughed, her laughter so vibrant that it seemed to shake the flowers.
She chided, “Darling, he doesn’t mind. All you have to do is come over.”
Wan Xingzhou, lacking the courage, hid behind Gu Jiu and flatly refused to approach. No matter how beautiful this woman was, she was just a character in the game, and he wasn’t even sure she was human.
Earlier, he had severed her hand—she must absolutely despise him now, probably plotting how to kill him when he least expected it.
Lord Herlan stood silently beside Madam Herlan, his sharp and cold eyes sweeping over the players, giving the unsettling impression that he might step out of the screen and start a fight at any moment.
Seeing that Wan Xingzhou was resolute in his refusal, Madam Herlan didn’t get angry. She simply smiled and said, “I know why you’ve come here—you want to destroy my movie.”
The players were startled and finally realized what was going on.
To successfully clear the level, they needed to destroy Madam Herlan’s movie.
At this moment, they understood why the game’s objective wasn’t simply to “complete” a death movie, but to “play” through it.
The players were actors within the game world, playing roles in the “death movie.”
Up until now, they had been performing as characters in the death movie. Even Madam Herlan and Lord Herlan were actors within the “death movie” world, appearing only on the movie screen.
To clear the game, they needed to destroy the movie; only then would their “performance” be complete.
But how were they supposed to destroy the movie?
As the players pondered, Herlan Castle began to change.
Its brilliant, vibrant colors faded, and everything within the castle dimmed. It transformed from a grand, classical fortress into a sinister, eerie haunted manor.
Throughout this haunted castle, ghostly shadows emerged from paintings, filling every corner.
These apparitions were both the “death movie” audience and a strange force that drove the creation of the “death movie” within the game world.
Lu Ji, lost in thought, looked up, his gaze seeming to penetrate the thick walls to the emptiness beyond the castle.
In that moment, he understood the hidden truth of the game world.
Lord and Madam Herlan were not the final bosses; the true boss was the haunted castle itself. Since the two were the masters of the castle, they had the power to issue movie filming tasks and control the players’ fate.
However, despite his realization, Lu Ji couldn’t give the players any hints, nor could he tell Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu, intrigued, asked, “So all we need to do is destroy the movie?”
The couple’s gaze fell on her, both wary and venomous. They knew she was the most troublesome among the players, having already evaded death in the “summon the demon” mission. They hadn’t managed to kill her.
Though they had the power to assign tasks, they were bound by the game’s rules. They couldn’t kill players outside of filming times; otherwise, they would have eliminated this most dangerous player long ago.
Gu Jiu held their gaze for a while before suddenly breaking into a smile. “I understand now.”
The couple: “.…” What exactly do you understand?
“Thank you for the kind reminder,” Gu Jiu said politely, nodding to the couple. “You deliberately suggested that destroying the movie would let us pass the level, but that’s not quite the truth, is it? In fact, your reminder is more of a strategy to conceal a certain truth, isn’t it?”
The couple: “…”
The other players, although unsure of what Gu Jiu meant, sensed from the couple’s reaction that she was right.
Could there be a hidden truth?
Gu Jiu continued, “Madam, you called Wan Xingzhou over earlier, intentionally setting things up to mislead us and distract our attention, hoping to keep us from getting too close to the movie screen, isn’t that so?”
The couple: “…”
The crowd: “…”
The couple remained silent, too afraid to respond further, lest this sharp player strip away more of their secrets.
The players, caught between shock and suspicion, scrutinized Lord and Madam Herlan, hoping to catch some sign that might confirm Gu Jiu’s theory.
However, the couple’s faces were stony and inscrutable, making it nearly impossible to tell what was true.
Gu Jiu started walking forward.
As she drew closer to the movie screen, the couple’s expressions shifted visibly—there was wariness, fear, even rejection. Their varied expressions left the players stunned.
Just moments ago, this couple had seemed like formidable final bosses. But now, it seemed more like they were bluffing.
Aside from Lu Ji, Wan Xingzhou was the next to follow Gu Jiu without hesitation.
Lu Ji shot him a disdainful look, irritated by this unlucky hanger-on who had somehow become Gu Jiu’s follower. Yet he had no reason to chase him away, which left him in a sour mood.
Seeing this, Ruan Yuan and the others quickly followed suit, sticking close behind Gu Jiu.
When they finally reached the movie screen, nothing happened.
This only made the players more certain that Gu Jiu’s theory was correct.
So, it wasn’t as simple as just destroying the movie to clear the level?
“It’s true that destroying the movie will let us pass,” Gu Jiu said, her tone as soft as a spring breeze, gentle and reassuring. “But not in the way you imagined.”
Ruan Yuan eagerly asked, “Miss Jiu, what should we do?”
Although older than Gu Jiu, Ruan Yuan fondly addressed her as “Miss Jiu” out of admiration and respect.
Gu Jiu smiled, ignoring the angry glares of the couple on the screen, and asked the players, “What were your initial thoughts on how to destroy the movie?”
The players exchanged looks before Wan Xingzhou timidly offered, “I thought we should destroy the movie screen.”
“I thought we needed to destroy the film equipment,” another player added.
“I thought the same—destroy the equipment,” echoed a few others.
……
Even though this was an unusual game world, the equipment in the movie screening room was quite complete, not something conjured out of thin air. That’s why the players thought about destroying the film equipment as a means to clear the level.
Gu Jiu chuckled. “To be honest, when I first got here, I thought destroying the film equipment would be enough too.”
If not for the eagerness of Lord and Madam Herlan to step forward and enlighten her, she might have gone through with it. But had she destroyed the equipment, the players wouldn’t have cleared the level—instead, they would have been trapped in the game world forever.
Hearing Gu Jiu’s words, the players couldn’t help but laugh.
If it had been just their own idea, they might have felt embarrassed, thinking themselves foolish. But with Gu Jiu admitting she had the same thought, it seemed funny instead, and the shared laughter drew them closer together. In that moment, they all felt like comrades fighting side by side, with the game’s boss as their common enemy.
“Miss Jiu, then how do we destroy the movie?” Ruan Yuan asked, grinning.
Gu Jiu’s gaze returned to the movie screen.
Everyone followed her eyes, enjoying the sight of the couple’s expressions, twisted with rage and shock, and feeling a sense of satisfaction.
In the past, they had always been the pitiful victims, relentlessly chased by the bosses of the game world, fighting desperately to survive. Now, seeing this pair of bosses being driven into a corner by Gu Jiu, the feeling was as refreshing as drinking ice-cold soda on a scorching day.
The players had already assumed that this couple was the game’s boss.
Gu Jiu, however, wasn’t so sure—they seemed a bit too incompetent to be the final bosses. But she chose not to correct the players’ assumptions.
She said, “To destroy the movie, of course, you have to enter the movie itself.”
The players: “…” They understood what she said, but how were they supposed to do that?
“It’s simple,” Gu Jiu replied, flashing a particularly sweet smile at the couple on the screen. She pointed at the screen and said, “Just go through here.”
The couple’s expressions finally broke.
The players were stunned—wait, was that even possible?
Wan Xingzhou, ever eager, had already drawn his red sword and was itching to try. “Then let me give it a shot.”
Before the others could react, he charged toward the movie screen, leaping at the screen itself. To their amazement, he slipped right through, landing inside the movie world and coming face-to-face with the couple.
The players: “!!!!!!” It actually worked!
Overjoyed, Wan Xingzhou swung his sword wildly at the pair.
The couple’s expressions changed drastically; they could no longer maintain their cold and haughty demeanor and turned to flee.
But the space inside the movie screen was limited. No matter how they ran, they couldn’t escape Wan Xingzhou’s red sword, which had the power to subdue malevolent spirits. He slashed at them, leaving them in a disheveled and miserable state.
From the perspective of the players outside the screen, the couple was being chased and wounded repeatedly by Wan Xingzhou.
Just as it seemed he might finish them off, Gu Jiu called out, “Wan Xingzhou, don’t kill them yet! Leave some for us too—they’re worth points!”
The players were startled, suddenly realizing that this couple was crucial to the game world. Whoever managed to kill them would earn a large amount of game points—how could they let Wan Xingzhou hog all the glory?
Eagerly, the players rushed into the screen space to join in the hunt for Madam and Lord Herlan.
Once inside, they quickly understood why Wan Xingzhou had been able to strike at them without hesitation. In the space within the movie screen, the once-normal-looking couple had transformed into dark shadows, making it easy for the players to attack them without a second thought.
Moreover, their strength had significantly diminished. They were nothing like the ferocious figures from the fourth floor, now reduced to weak shadows.
What was going on?
When Gu Jiu and Lu Ji entered the screen space as well, the others turned to her, asking, “Did you know this all along?”
Gu Jiu took out her dagger, smiling. “I had a hunch. Since the game requires us to destroy the movie to clear the level, there must be some mechanism to keep the in-game enemies manageable for players. So no matter how powerful this couple is in the real world, once they enter the movie screen, their strength has to balance with ours. It’s a rule of equilibrium.”
In fact, her suspicions began during the exploration of the fifth level. When she cut the face of the woman in the painting who had ambushed her, she started to theorize about the nature of these painted figures.
They were all ghosts or spirits. When they left their paintings and appeared in the real world, their power was considerable. But once they returned to the frame, they had little ability to resist any attacks from outside, hence the scar that remained on the face of the woman in the painting.
By the same logic, the couple must be bound by a similar rule.
Strong in the real world, they turned weak once inside the movie screen.
The players had to admit—Gu Jiu’s mind worked on another level. She had probably figured out the path to clearing the level as early as the fifth floor, which explained why she allowed Ruan Yuan to organize the players into an alliance, releasing the truth of the fifth level so they could join her in this mission.
It was honestly a stroke of luck to play alongside someone like her; clearing the game became almost effortless with her leading the way.
At last, the shadowy couple was defeated by the players.
The moment they died, the movie screen space began to collapse, and the players felt a familiar pull—their signal that they had cleared the level and were about to leave the game world.
Wan Xingzhou quickly shared his player account with Gu Jiu, calling out, “Sister Gu, I’ll be waiting for you at Boundless City! Just call for me anytime, and I’ll be there in a flash.”
Ruan Yuan, unwilling to be outdone, added, “Miss Jiu, don’t forget me—I’m also at your service whenever you need.”
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