Revised

This answer was something Chi You hadn't expected.

But soon, Jiang Luo continued: 'To be honest, I don't want to play this game with you anymore.'

Jiang Luo leaned against the washstand, playing with a lighter. The metallic clack was crisp, the flame flaring up and dying down. 'On second thought, I'm not that interested in the secret you mentioned either.'

He was lying.

No one wanted to know Chi You's secrets more than Jiang Luo did.

A cat's paw was scratching inside Jiang Luo's heart, making him want to strip off Chi You's mysterious skin, just like stripping off the evil ghost's refined, scoundrel's attire, making him reveal his foul form crawling all over with Ghost Patterns.

But he faked it well. 'Chi You, the initiative is with me. I'll play if I want to, I won't if I don't. Not to mention, you're not being very sincere.'

The evil ghost raised a brow. 'How so?'

Jiang Luo said, 'You told me to find you, but you're not just one person.'

'Ah, you found out,' the evil ghost said regretfully.

Jiang Luo sneered. 'Your Puppet is you, the person you possess is also you... If the game rule is that I can catch any one of you at random, I'd be happy to keep playing.'

The evil ghost said, 'No. The one you need to find is, of course, the real me.'

He thought for a moment, then added considerately, 'The me possessing a human.'

Jiang Luo hung up the call, expressionless.

Ten seconds later, the Mobile Phone rang again and was answered. The evil ghost sighed. 'Alright then. I'll give you one last hint.'

Jiang Luo received a photo.

In the photo was a smiling pair of lips.

A man's lips were lifted high, full and rosy.

'One minute,' the evil ghost said.

Jiang Luo focused, looking at the photo.

He quickly compared these lips to every face he'd encountered here, but Chi You's smile made the search harder. Jiang Luo's memory was good, but not to the point of recognizing a person from just a mouth.

After half a minute, he wisely gave up on finding Chi You tonight, switching instead to thinking about what Chi You's punishment might be, whether he could avoid it, or use it against him.

Jiang Luo lowered his eyes in thought. The minute passed quickly. The evil ghost's voice lifted slightly. 'Time for you to submit your answer.'

Jiang Luo was utterly calm, a complete opposite to Chi You's mood. He probed, 'If I answer wrong, what will you do?'

'A little punishment?' Chi You said deliberately. 'Who knows.'

It was like an unknown gift. Even knowing it wasn't anything good, one couldn't help but guess how bad it could be. Jiang Luo draped the towel over his neck and directly named a person he suspected.

'Xi Si.'

The second-place contestant in Next Stop, Idol, a gentle, good-natured guy. Because of Chi You, Jiang Luo now found such selfless, good people fake and hypocritical—after all, Chi You liked such roles.

The evil ghost hummed thoughtfully. 'Hmm...'

Jiang Luo's heartbeat sped up a little.

The next moment, the evil ghost told him the answer regretfully. 'A pity. You're only half right.'

So, Xi Si was just his Puppet, not the person he was possessing.

Although Jiang Luo had prepared for failure, hearing the evil ghost admit it firsthand still made his face darken.

'Why are you everywhere?' Jiang Luo's lips curled. 'Chi You, don't tell me every trainee has your shadow on them?'

Chi You said leisurely, 'That's actually a good idea.'

He added with feigned reluctance, 'I didn't expect you to guess wrong—even though I really don't want to, I have no choice but to be a little cruel and give you a small punishment.'

'After all, I have a strong sense of sportsmanship,' he said.

Though his words said he had no choice, Chi You's tone grew more and more excited. The suppressed madness and distortion found a crack to vent through, taking on a perverse, serial-killer edge.

Jiang Luo's eyelid twitched. He ended the call.

Water was running in the bathtub; the bathroom was silent. Jiang Luo tensed, waiting for several minutes, but nothing happened. He simply walked out of the bathroom. But the moment he stepped out, the clean, tidy Bedroom abruptly transformed into a dilapidated, sinister Rundown Building.

A rat scurried across the floor; yellowed curtains and fabric were piled everywhere. Jiang Luo looked down; a spider crawled over near his foot.

He crushed the spider and looked around.

This place was like a standard haunted-house scene from a horror film. If this image could be shot into a horror movie, it would absolutely achieve a hundred percent terror effect.

Jiang Luo closed his eyes, following the layout of the Bedroom from memory, and stepped toward where the bed should be.

The bed was three meters from the bathroom; turn right after exiting the door. Once the three-meter distance was up, Jiang Luo opened his eyes.

Before him was a puddle, full of tangled, slithering snakes.

Dense snakes coiled like knotted ropes; at a glance, there were hundreds.

Jiang Luo was absolutely certain this was just an illusion the evil ghost was making him see.

Livid Ghosts mostly killed through illusions, stimulating people's fears, then using that fear to drive them to death.

Jiang Luo wasn't afraid of snakes.

But he was disgusted by them.

Hundreds of patterned snakes thrashed, hissing. Jiang Luo stood by the puddle watching for a moment, then turned, spread his arms, and fell backward into the puddle.

The wind lifted his hair. The next moment, Jiang Luo fell into a soft bed.

As expected.

Jiang Luo nuzzled the soft, smooth silk pillow, the corner of his mouth lifting. An illusion, that's all. He just wouldn't open his eyes, right?

As long as he didn't look, didn't believe, treated it all as mist, then this illusion could have no effect on him.

On the contrary, attacking or being afraid would be stepping into the trap the evil ghost had laid.

Jiang Luo repeatedly reminded himself to ignore everything.

The next moment, he felt a cold hand grip his ankle.

Jiang Luo didn't react at all, treating the hand as nonexistent.

But several more ghostly hands reached out, restraining Jiang Luo's arms and legs. They held the dark-haired young man spread-eagled on the bed like a sacrifice. This feeling was off.

Jiang Luo's eyelid twitched several times. He finally couldn't help but open his eyes.

Hundreds of pale, bluish ghost hands extended from both sides of his bed. As if waiting for him to open his eyes, they all reached for Jiang Luo the moment his breath hitched, covering the dark-haired young man from head to toe, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.

A final hand descended from above, slowly approaching Jiang Luo's eyes. Jiang Luo heard a light laugh from Chi You. 'I'm so kind—how could I bear to punish my 'lover'?'

He said leisurely, 'I thought it over and decided to give you another chance to find me.'

'Among these thousand ghost hands, guess which one is mine?'

'Is it this one?' A ghost hand slid teasingly across Jiang Luo's waist. 'Or this one.'

Another hand, chillingly cold, slowly brushed over Jiang Luo's thigh.

On the huge bed, the dark-haired young man was held by a thousand ghost hands, firmly locked on the bed. The young man under the ghost hands struggled fiercely, but to little effect.

The scene was terrifying and horrifying. Only a few strands of black hair hung down from under the ghost hands over the bedside. One hand after another grabbed at Jiang Luo's clothes; even his bathrobe was crumpled into a pile of waste cloth.

'Fuck your mother,' Jiang Luo cursed with difficulty from between the fingers. 'Chi You.'

The back of Jiang Luo's neck was pinched punishingly. Chi You said, 'Don't swear.'

*

The night deepened. Lu You and the dead ghost didn't stay in Ye Xun's room long and returned to their own dorm first.

Ye Xun had been waiting for Zhang Feng to return. He brushed Little Pink's fur over and over. By the time Little Pink was dry, Zhang Feng finally came back.

Hearing the door sound, Ye Xun looked out. But after seeing Zhang Feng clearly, his pupils abruptly constricted.

'Back?' Another person in the dorm greeted him. 'Zhang Feng, where did you go in this heavy rain?'

Zhang Feng's voice held a laugh. 'I went out for a walk, got drenched. I'll take a shower first.'

He walked lightly to the cabinet to find a change of clothes, humming the theme song of Next Stop, Idol.

Zhang Feng had completely changed from before. The hidden oppression, panic, and ferocity on him had all vanished. It was as if he'd resolved a troublesome matter; his good mood was obvious to anyone.

A layer of cold sweat slowly appeared on Ye Xun's nose.

Zhang Feng, clothes in hand, turned toward the bathroom. Noticing Ye Xun watching him, he turned to look at Ye Xun. His attitude toward Ye Xun had also lost its previous hostility and sharpness, becoming quite amiable. 'Ye Nan, why are you looking at me?'

'Do I have something on my face?' He raised a hand to touch his face.

Ye Nan was Ye Xun's fake name.

Ye Xun swallowed. A chill shot up his spine.

On Zhang Feng's face, there was nothing. It was clean.

The skin was smooth and fine, no acne scars, no depressions or protrusions.

And no facial features.

It was distinctly a faceless countenance.

*

But Zhang Feng and his roommate didn't notice anything wrong.

Zhang Feng picked up a Mirror. The faceless countenance leaned close to the Mirror, muttering, 'No dirt.'

He looked at himself in the Mirror back and forth, carefully touching his featureless face. Ye Xun's scalp slowly crawled. He tried to steady his expression, watching Zhang Feng put down the Mirror and enter the bathroom.

Only after Zhang Feng closed the door did Ye Xun let out a heavy breath. He walked over to his roommate, who was studying at the desk, and whispered, 'Is Zhang Feng running a fever? His eyes look a bit red.'

'Do they?' the roommate asked blankly. 'Isn't he exactly the same as this morning? I didn't see his eyes were red.'

Ye Xun stood there for a moment, shook his head, retreated to his bed, hugged Little Pink, and took out his Mobile Phone to send a message to Jiang Luo and the others.

But before a single message could be sent, the door was knocked on again.

Ye Xun paused, holding Little Pink as he approached the door. He was about to open it when he stopped and withdrew his hand. 'Who is it?'

Zhang Feng in the bathroom heard the sound and raised his voice. 'Ye Nan, who is it?'

After a moment, he added, 'If someone's looking for me, tell them I'm not here.'

Ye Xun thought Zhang Feng was probably afraid someone would come to ask about the incident during the morning recording, when Zhang Cheng pointed at him saying there was a ghost beside him, and he almost got into a fight with Zhang Cheng.

Ye Xun said, 'Okay.'

The roommate had put on headphones, concentrating on writing lyrics, and hadn't heard their conversation.

The knocking outside continued. The sound seemed to knock on Ye Xun's heart. Ye Xun pursed his lips, moved a chair over, and cautiously peered out with both eyes through the glass pane above the door.

His movements were careful, his position hidden. Not only would he not be discovered, but he could also see the person outside from a high vantage point. The person outside was knocking silently. Ye Xun could only see the crown of his head and the back of his skull. This person looked vaguely familiar to him.

The moment he finished this thought, the person suddenly looked up and met Ye Xun's eyes.

He smiled stiffly, revealing a face that belonged to Zhang Feng. 'I forgot my key. Can you open the door for me?'