APP: Chapter 74

The two monkeys spotted the peeper and glanced over. They were disturbed while eating and howled with anger. Then they leaped towards Xie Xinglan. One jumped extremely high, its limbs shaking as if it wanted to cling to Xie Xinglan’s head like an octopus, taking off his skull. Then sparks appeared as Xie Xinglan waved the Evil Spirit Blade without hesitation. The monkey missed and instead bit down on his shoulder. It was stabbed by the dagger and fell to the ground with a scream.

The other monkey saw that this situation wasn’t good. It breathed out and stepped forward to harass Xie Xinglan with its companion. It took advantage of its stature to slip under the bed with its companion.

Xie Xinglan crouched down and looked at the bottom of the bed while holding the Evil Spirit Blade tightly. Underneath the bed was pitch black and there was no monkey at all. This time, Xie Xinglan was sure it wasn’t an illusion. The spirits should be able to disappear and hide.

There was a small white thing in the middle that was giving off some light.

Xie Xinglan frowned.

“Brother, that should be a tooth.” Xie Chi said.

Xie Xinglan used one hand to support himself against the ground while he used his foot to reach in and kick it out smoothly. It was indeed a tooth. Xie Xinglan glanced at it. This tooth was white and beautiful with blood on top. It was very similar to the one they found earlier and should be a human tooth.

Xie Xinglan wondered, “Why is it here?”

It was in such an obvious place that it was impossible for the fat chef to not find it.

“My guess is that it fell out of the monkey.”

Xie Xinglan mumbled. This was the only possibility. He quickly picked it up. He didn’t care if it was clean or not and directly stuffed it into his pocket. Xie Xinglan turned his head and found You Jing standing by the door.

Xie Xinglan frowned and he asked Xie Chi, “When did he come? Why were there no movements at all?”

He couldn’t discover it if there were no movements.

“An item?” Xie Chi wasn’t sure.

The moment You Jing heard the movements over here, he used teleportation to rush over. He didn’t expect someone else to arrive first. You Jing walked over and looked at the corpse of the grey named actor. His eyes flashed with disgust and he walked over to Xie Chi. “What were you looking for underneath the bed?”

Xie Xinglan frowned and looked down at him. “Who are you?”

He had already shed all pretenses of cordiality with this person and he had no time to feign civility.

“You!” You Jing’s face was blue and white.

Xie Xinglan glanced at him and walked out of the room. You Jing watched Xie Xinglan’s leaving back with hatred in his eyes. Xie Xinglan ran into the other actors at the door, including Zhao Jinhua. He didn’t linger and asked Lu Wen to return to the room with him. The screams and vomiting of the actors could be heard from the room.

“Xiao Chi, You Jing might know that I’ve found something.” Xie Xinglan waited for Lu Wen to enter the room before closing the door and telling Xie Chi. “It seems that they haven’t found a tooth yet or he would know what it is.”

Xie Chi made a hum of agreement. “I’ll come back.”

Xie Xinglan agreed.

Lu Wen’s face was a bit pale from the disgusting scene just now.

Xie Chi explained it to him and Lu Wen was worried. “We didn’t eat it but I remember that more than one actor ate the iced tofu. It is just that the grey named actor took two more bites. Do you think anything will happen to the rest? Will there be problems with the other dishes…”

Xie Chi pushed up his glasses. “One of the known death conditions is to eat similar foods. For example, if you eat the monkey brains then you will be eaten by monkeys. However, this doesn’t mean that you will die if you eat it or you won’t die if you don’t eat it.”

Lu Wen glanced at Xie Chi’s pillow and his eyes lit up. “I see. I thought back on the dishes last night and none of them seem to be related to mice. We didn’t eat any dishes related to the Three Squeaks  yet the mice still harassed you. This is what you mean by the fact that we might not be okay even if we don’t eat it. Something will happen. Of course, if you eat it then something might not happen.”

Xie Chi put on disposable gloves. “It is more likely a problem of tendency. The monkeys planned to kill someone and eat their brains tonight. They will resent whoever eats the monkey brains for dinner and eats the most. They are more likely to find that person at night.”

“I don’t know if there is a problem with the other dishes.”

Lu Wen nodded and saw Xie Chi pull out a tooth from his pocket. He was about to exclaim with surprise when Xie Chi glanced at him. “Mouth your words.”

Lu Wen understood that the walls had ears, not to mention that everyone else was outside at the moment. He thanked Xie Chi for being cautious and asked, “Isn’t there one with me?”

Xie Chi went to the table and wrote that he found another one.

“More than one?”

Xie Chi nodded and wrote, “I just found it.”

“Leave this one with me as well?”

Xie Chi was about to hand it over when he paused. Then he wrote, “No, leave this one here with me.”

“What’s wrong?” Lu Wen didn’t believe it was because Xie Chi didn’t trust him.

“This one is probably exposed. It isn’t safe to place two together.”

Lu Wen also understood that not all eggs could be placed in one basket.

Xie Chi finished writing and thought about where to hide the tooth. Finally, he had Xie Xinglan come out, cut a small hole in the wall outside the window and stuffed the tooth in. This place was a visual blind spot. It was only once you reached out a hand to touch the wall that you could pull out the tooth.

Xie Chi hid it well. He was just about to wash his hands when there was a knock on the door. Xie Chi and Lu Wen exchanged looks and opened the door to find Ren Ze standing outside.

“What’s the matter?”

They didn’t know why but Ren Ze’s cheeks were a bit red.

“Ren Ran?” Xie Chi thought of Ren Ran when he saw this reaction and he called out uncertainly while taking a step back. He was afraid she would rush forward and pull him while calling him brother.

“I’m Ren Ze!” Ren Ze glared at him furiously.

“So what are you blushing about?”

Ren Ze froze for a while. He held back for a long time before speaking in a faltering manner. “I came here, I came…”

“What?” Xie Chi was amused at the way it seemed like a confession was being extracted under pressure.

Ren Ze turned his head away. “I want to say… thank you.”

The words ‘thank you’ were as low as a mosquito. It wouldn’t have been audible if it wasn’t for Xie Chi’s keen hearing.

Xie Chi was surprised for a moment before realizing what this was referring to. He didn’t expect this person to be so awkward and he smiled. “It’s fine. I was taking care of your sister, not you. Don’t feel psychological pressure.”

Xie Chi looked at his watch. “It’s still early. You go back to sleep.”

He was just about to close the door when Ren Ze squeezed in. Before Xie Chi could ask, Ren Ze snorted. “You just said it. She is her and I am me. You took care of her but you indirectly helped me. She doesn’t have to pay you back if she knows you well. However, I don’t know you well. I don’t want to owe you so I will give you some news before leaving. Then neither of us will owe each other.”

Xie Chi glanced at this person in an unexpected manner, thinking about how interesting Ren Ze was.

Lu Wen thought about it for a while before finally coming out of the roundabout words. He thought that it was so real and awkward. Then he saw Xie Chi and Ren Ze and suddenly had a thought. These two people standing together were actually four people.

Xie Chi made a ‘please’ gesture and closed the door. He washed his hands and poured a cup of tea for Ren Ze. Ren Ze took it. “I live alone. You know that, right?”

Lu Wen nodded and Xie Chi looked at him.

Ren Ze’s expression darkened. “I live alone but after I was awakened by your movements, I found that my room was searched. However, the door was properly locked.”

“Was it messy?” Xie Chi inquired.

Ren Ze nodded. “The things on the table were all knocked over, the clothes in the closet were messy, every drawer was open and the most terrifying thing is…”

Ren Ze paused. He once again blushed and he spoke without any expression. “The most terrifying thing is that I was touched all over.”

Lu Wen’s eyes widened and his face was incredulous. “You didn’t wake up?”

Ren Ze explained, “My sleep has always been very shallow because I am afraid Ren Ran will sneak out to play while I am sleeping. Yet just now, I slept very heavily.”

Xie Chi was silent for a moment. “If we rule out the possibility of you being drugged and someone having a spare key to the room then it can only be a ghost.”

Ren Ze glanced at him. “I also feel that a ghost froze me in place before searching my room.”

Ren Ze frowned, “I just don’t know why it froze me instead of killing me. In addition, why did it search my room?”

Xie Chi pushed up his glasses. “It is looking for something. It is looking for something very urgently.”

Lu Wen stared quietly. Ren Ze didn’t know it but both he and Xie Chi knew it. The ghost was looking for its teeth. Was it the teeth ghost? According to the information that Zhao Jinhua received, it was possible that the female ghost was tortured before she died and had her teeth pulled out. Therefore, she was looking for her teeth after she died?

“As for not killing you, either you didn’t trigger the death condition or it doesn’t have the ability to kill.”

Ren Ze’s expression became a bit clearer. He stood up and said, “Then I will go back.”

Xie Chi went to send him away. Ren Ze was a bit comfortable due to this gentle and considerate service. He stood at the door and hesitated for a few seconds before looking back at Xie Chi. “Why did you come here?”

Xie Chi smiled. “Why can’t I come?”

“You shouldn’t have come. You Jing’s mother is very small-minded. I’m not as good as her son and I can’t get in his way. So even if she doesn’t like me, she won’t do anything to me.” Ren Ze was very upset after speaking and suppressed his emotions. “You are different. If there is a conflict of interest with her then perhaps she will take the opportunity…”

Xie Chi interrupted. “We are all here anyway.”

“In the final analysis, you are just a newcomer. Potential doesn’t equal strength. Potential plus time equals strength. Sometimes your mind is so good that it doesn’t work. It isn’t good for you to run into them at this time. I advise you to be careful. Once you gain strength in the future, it won’t even take a minute to handle that mama’s boy.”

Ren Ze obviously saw the previous scene of Xie Chi and You Jing’s quarrel and was giving him a reminder.

“Zhao Jinhua is very mediocre and isn’t as smart as you. However, she has reached this point. Can she have no cards? it is impossible. I think you know better than me that there are many big people in society who bully the small.”

“Hmm.” Xie Chi nodded cooperatively.

Ren Ze knew this person wasn’t listening. He glanced over and felt a bit like he was showering affection on an uninterested person. “You are so fu*king strange. If you don’t want to listen to me, don’t blame me for not reminding you when you die.”

“Thanks.” Xie Chi just laughed.

Ren Ze snorted coldly and turned his head away.

***

Nothing happened for the rest of the night and the next day came. Based on the news from the app, the free time during the day passed at 5.0 times the speed. So basically, after two hours, it would be night again and time for the next dinner. The app specifically stated that their hunger value would still fall during this period. In other words, it might be only two hours but it would feel like they hadn’t eaten for 10 hours.

The actors seized this time to search the house. The house was too big. Even if 12 actors were searching, it wasn’t easy to search all of it at once.

Xie Chi found the room where the grey named actor had died. The corpse was still present and it wasn’t cleaned up. Indeed, no one would care about a cold corpse. The fat chef happened to pass by and was surprised. “What are you doing here?”

He followed Xie Chi’s gaze and looked into the room. His tone was light and he made an expression of disapproval. “It turned out to be a dead person.”

Xie Chi stared at the chef. This definitely wasn’t the reaction of a normal person.

The fat chef didn’t deal with the corpse. He just said good afternoon to Xie Chi and walked on blindly. On the other side, the girlfriend of You Jing, Xia Yao, had stopped in front of a drum. It was a western-style drum and was leaning in the utility room near the staircase. There was a thick layer of dust on it and it was very inconspicuous.

“There is a body in there.” Xia Yao sniffed the air and determined.

This was Xia Yao’s ability. In Xia Yao’s last horror movie, the ghost had a fetish for corpses and appeared wherever there was a corpse. She got the ability ‘Corpse Sensing’ from the movie. She could sense the existence of a corpse within a radius of half a metre.

Half a metre sounded like trash but it was a good ability in ghost movies that limited the range of the actors’ activities, especially in closed haunted house ghost movies. The smaller the range of activity, the more useful her ability.

Corpse Sensing could help her find the corpse hidden in the haunted house the fastest but it could only work once per instance.

“This should be the body of the abused female ghost?” You Jing wondered.

Xia Yao was a bit proud. Corpse Sensing was paired with a psychic. One could find the corpse while the other could communicate with the ghost. There were no disadvantages in a ghost movie. In addition, You Jing had body protection items. They only need to use a bit of time to crush this instance.

The drum was too big and the two of them were a bit worried.

“Why don’t we wait for Auntie to come over and discuss what to do next? Or wait until it is night to bring it back?” Xia Yao suggested. Due to the existence of the comprehensive performance ranking, if they could ensure their own safety then in most cases, capable actors were actually unwilling to cooperate with other actors.

They naturally didn’t want to share a key thing like the female ghost’s corpse with others.

You Jing smiled. “No, we can just bring it back to the room. Even if they see it, who will dare to say anything or to ask questions?”

Xia Yao thought he was right.

“It’s heavy.” Xia Yao raised the drum. You Jing also helped carry it. This drum was scary. He felt it was very laborious to carry it. It didn’t seem like the weight of a woman…

The two of them carried the drum into a room. You Jing sent a message to Zhao Jinhua on his mobile phone, asking her to come back. Then he found some tools and pried open the drum with great effort.

The two of them stared with wide eyes. The body in the drum wasn’t the ghost but… the fat chef.

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Proofreader: Purichan