—

Ye Xun: '...'

The person outside with Zhang Feng's face tilted his head and asked again, 'Can you open the door for me?'

Ye Xun turned back to glance at the bathroom.

The figure inside the bathroom swayed, and Zhang Feng's singing grew louder.

One Zhang Feng inside, one Zhang Feng outside.

Which one is real?

If the one outside is real Zhang Feng, then who's in the shower?

If the one showering is real, then who is this person outside?

Ye Xun's mind went blank for a moment, then he studied the person outside carefully.

At least on the surface, the Zhang Feng with a face looked more like a person than the faceless one.

Ye Xun hesitated, climbed down from the chair, and put his hand on the door handle.

Just as he was about to open it, he suddenly looked down at the lock.

When the faceless Zhang Feng came in, he only closed the door casually without locking it. Anyone could just turn the handle and come in—so why did the Zhang Feng outside insist on Ye Xun opening the door?

Ye Xun's expression hardened, and he lowered his hand.

He remembered something.

Some people take coffins or wood that corpses have lain on, refashion them into furniture, and sell them. Such furniture breeds 'sui' or 'sha'—entities trapped inside that need a human's permission to escape. So they knock on the cabinet doors to draw attention; if a person willingly opens the furniture, it's like giving the 'sui' and 'sha' a pass, letting them out to do harm.

The Zhang Feng outside wasn't a 'sui' or 'sha,' but he clearly wasn't human either.

The room was a long-term dorm for trainees—four males, full of yang energy. The 'person' outside asking Ye Xun to open the door was clearly wary of that yang energy, trying to get a 'pass' from his mouth.

The roommate hunched over the desk looked up at Ye Xun curiously. 'Who's at the door?'

'No one,' Ye Xun locked the door. 'Someone knocked on the wrong door.'

The roommate didn't press further, going back to his music and lyrics.

Ye Xun didn't know if the person outside had left. He went back to bed and canceled the message he'd just typed. He couldn't let Jiang Luo and the others come now—they might run into whatever was outside.

The knocking went on for a while, then gradually stopped, as if it had given up and left. Sweat beaded at Ye Xun's temples. He hugged Little Pink tighter. At that moment, Zhang Feng walked out of the bathroom.

Zhang Feng, draped in a towel, walked to the Mirror and carefully applied skincare products. He was in a good mood—even putting on a face mask. 'Ye Nan, who was at the door just now?'

The spots on the mask left open for the facial features were smooth and even. Ye Xun's throat tightened. He forced himself to sound calm: 'Someone knocked on the wrong door.'

Zhang Feng lost interest and cheerfully continued adjusting his mask in the Mirror.

Ye Xun said, 'Zhang Feng, you seem happy.'

Zhang Feng smiled. 'I just really like rainy days.'

Ye Xun studied him. 'You look different today.'

'Do I?' Zhang Feng laughed lightly, in good spirits. 'I put some worries down. I feel lighter now. If it weren't raining, I'd even go out for a jog.'

After hearing this, Ye Xun instinctively glanced at the shoes Zhang Feng had left by the door.

Mud clung to the edges of the shoes, dried along the rims, with yellowish streaks of dirty water across the uppers.

Next Stop, Idol had been filmed in the suburbs to avoid disturbance. Remote as it was, the facilities were brand new. Zhang Feng's shoes were that dirty—he must have gone outside the filming location.

Ye Xun took out his phone, shielded by Little Pink, and snapped a photo of Zhang Feng's shoes. After thinking for a moment, he took advantage of Zhang Feng not paying attention to snap one of his face too.

He sent a message to his companions.

[Meet tomorrow morning. I have something to tell you.]

*

The phone received a new message. Its screen lit up briefly, then dimmed again, ignored.

If someone had handed Jiang Luo a gun right now—one bullet—and asked whether he'd shatter the illusion or kill Chi You, Jiang Luo would have chosen Chi You without hesitation, grinding his teeth.

Since Chi You had dragged him into a dream and killed him eighteen times, this was the first time Jiang Luo had been in such a sorry state.

Jiang Luo didn't understand why Chi You wouldn't just kill him, why he didn't punish him with pain and blood, but instead toyed with him like this.

But he had to admit—the evil ghost's move was precise, a Surgical Knife cutting straight to Jiang Luo's weak point.

If it were physical torment, Jiang Luo could grit his teeth and keep his composure. But this strange, eerie teasing robbed him of all reason, left him seething.

Beneath the roaring fury, there was also a nameless unease.

The evil ghost had found his jugular with absurd, outlandish methods.

He knew this kind of treatment would be harder for Jiang Luo to bear than anything ordinary.

The angrier Jiang Luo got, the more pleased Chi You became.

The evil ghost was delighted, his laughter low. 'Guess.'

'Guess you—mmph.' Jiang Luo's lips were covered. His face was iron-gray, his lips flushed red.

'Your teacher taught you: think before you let words leave your mouth.'

Chi You said it slowly.

The hand on his lips lifted. Jiang Luo parted his lips; the curse words circled his throat, then he clenched his teeth again and said nothing.

Fuck.

The evil ghost watched the black-haired youth's face shift through expressions, feeling a lightness and pleasure he'd never known before.

This pleasure was even greater than when Chi You had first mastered Puppetry Art, first survived merging with the Ghost Pattern.

The black-haired youth would rather fight with flesh and blood than lie tangled with a thousand ghost hands; his usually sharp tongue couldn't even spit out nonsense. This Jiang Luo gave the evil ghost a deeply satisfying sense of achievement.

He thought.

To deal with Jiang Luo, this really was the way.

The ghost hands grew bolder. Jiang Luo knew Chi You was deliberately disgusting him. Veins stood out on his forehead, fine beads of sweat clinging to his skin. He cursed silently, then said in self-abandon: 'All these hands are fucking yours!'

The hands crawling over him suddenly stopped.

The evil ghost sighed, reluctant to let go. 'You guessed right.'

The next instant, every ghost hand vanished. The decayed, rotting ghost building became bright and clean again.

Rain pattered outside the window. Jiang Luo panted in great gulps. When he had the strength, he propped himself up to sit. His hair was a mess, red finger marks still pressed into his exposed skin. His face was dark enough to drip ink; his fist creaked, as if it were squeezing the evil ghost's neck.

After a long while, Jiang Luo gloomily pressed a towel over his face.

He had to reflect.

Was his way of fighting back against Chi You too one-dimensional?

Making him hurt—what would a fucking ghost fear about pain?

As for killing him—ha, unless his soul scattered, Chi You couldn't die right now.

Chi You bit him once—why didn't he bite back the same way?

The evil ghost wanted to disgust him, and he'd succeeded.

Jiang Luo's clenched fist suddenly gripped the bedsheet.

He snapped his eyes open, flames of unwillingness churning.

Damn it.

He'd disgust him right back.

Make that evil ghost never dare toy with him like this again.

*

Ye Xun slept fitfully, his heart uneasy. At four in the morning, he heard footsteps in the dorm.

Ye Xun cracked his eyes open and looked out. Zhang Feng, fully dressed, opened the door and left the dorm.

The footsteps faded. Ye Xun hesitated for a moment, then quietly followed with Little Pink in his arms.

But by the time he reached downstairs, he'd lost Zhang Feng. At four in the morning it was still dark, the morning wind cold and sharp; only a lone streetlight was on.

Ye Xun stood in the wind, unsure where to go. Just then, a hand landed on his shoulder.

'...'

Ye Xun's breath caught. He turned stiffly and saw Jiang Luo's face.

Jiang Luo looked terrible—the words 'I'm in a shit mood' written all over his face. His clothes were wrinkled too. He frowned at Ye Xun. 'Why are you standing out here so early?'

Ye Xun exhaled in relief. Seeing Jiang Luo, his heart, suspended since last night, finally settled. He shook his head, not planning to explain here. 'Why are you back at this hour?'

'I just saw the message you sent. I was afraid something happened to you, so I came to check.' Jiang Luo rubbed his temple, head aching. 'What happened?'

Ye Xun: 'I'll tell you later.'

He looked at Jiang Luo's eyes. 'Your eyes are so red. Did you not sleep all night?'

Jiang Luo pulled his lips into a cold half-smile. 'Yeah.'

An admission, more or less.

Ye Xun seemed to sense a hint of killing intent. He paused, then asked curiously, 'Why didn't you sleep?'

Jiang Luo shot him a look. 'Don't be too nosy.'

The two walked around downstairs. After dawn, they called Lu You and the Dead Ghost, and borrowed the Overall Director's Office.

The Overall Director had slept poorly the night before. Hearing they wanted to borrow the Office, he delivered the keys without a word of protest, wanting to follow along and hear the current progress.

Ye Xun put the photos he'd taken last night on the computer. 'These are the shoes Zhang Feng was wearing when he came back last night.'

Jiang Luo spotted the problem at a glance. 'No wonder we couldn't find him yesterday. He went out.'

The Director frowned. 'Our contracts all state that during recording it's a closed environment. Unless the Program Team allows it, they can't go out.'

Jiang Luo thought for a moment. 'Is there any place here you can get out without reporting to the Program Team?'

The Director thought hard. 'Come to think of it, there really is one place—an old broken-down Warehouse left over from before. There's a hole in the window; you can climb out through it.'

'Outside the Warehouse is a stretch of wasteland, like a rural wild-goose grove,' the Director added. 'There's a lot of garbage piled up there—dirty and messy. No one goes.'

Quietly waiting for them to finish, Ye Xun continued, 'Did you see Zhang Feng's face?'

Lu You and Jiang Luo exchanged a glance. 'What's wrong with his face?'

Ye Xun silently pulled up Zhang Feng's photo.

Looking at the person in the photo, they all sucked in a cold breath.

—In the frame, Zhang Feng had no face at all.

Jiang Luo's face darkened. 'He came back like this yesterday?'

Ye Xun stared at the photo. Even though it wasn't the first time, he still felt a chill run through him. 'Yes.'

The Director said, confused, 'What's wrong with Zhang Feng's face? Hasn't he always looked like this?'

The air went still. Lu You turned to the Director and murmured, 'The Zhang Feng you see—there's nothing different about his face?'

'No...' The Director's hair stood on end at the question. 'What's wrong with him?'

Ye Xun said softly, 'I noticed last night. To ordinary people, it seems they can't see any change in Zhang Feng.'

He paused. 'Even he himself hasn't noticed he's lost his face.'

This was undeniably terrifying.

He'd lost his own features, but the person who'd lost them hadn't noticed. The image of Zhang Feng carefully applying his face mask yesterday struck Ye Xun as far more eerie and horrifying than anything he'd experienced before.

Ye Xun told them about the other Zhang Feng knocking at the door last night.

Goosebumps rose all over Lu You. 'Why didn't you call us over yesterday?'

Ye Xun: 'It was too dangerous.'

Jiang Luo said nothing.

His brow furrowed tightly as he remembered the Faceless Monster in the darkness.

Was the monster connected to Zhang Feng?

And how did Fu Wei know about 'turn off the lights and die'?

Zhang Feng had gone out yesterday. Whatever he'd done had resolved something that had been troubling him, so he came back light as air—but had lost his face.

Zhang Feng had previously been cold to Ye Xun, but this time his attitude had warmed. As if, after dealing with that trouble, Ye Xun no longer posed a threat in his eyes.

These threads tangled together like a fog. Jiang Luo thought they should go see where Zhang Feng had been—that Warehouse leading outside was very likely the place. 'Director, where's the Warehouse?'

The Director told them the location. 'How about I take you over right now.'

'No,' Jiang Luo stood. 'Let's go see Zhang Feng first.'

*

Zhang Feng had gone out this morning—where was unclear. But right now he was in the practice room dancing. Jiang Luo moved to a corner to observe him. With no features on Zhang Feng's face, he couldn't read any expression.

But human emotion shows not only in the features—it shows in manner too.

At first Zhang Feng was relaxed, smiling and greeting the other trainees. But gradually he grew restless. Silently he walked to the side, sat down, and lifted his faceless head to watch the others dance.

Jiang Luo was thoughtful.

Zhang Feng's state reminded Jiang Luo of colleagues he'd once worked with at a design institute.

Three fresh graduates who'd come to the institute as interns—only one would be kept. By the end of the probation period, their behavior had looked just like Zhang Feng's.

At first, sure they'd be fine, certain they'd stay at the institute. But gradually they'd lose confidence, begin doubting themselves, become anxious and uncertain.

Zhang Feng was more severe than they'd been.

Jiang Luo watched Zhang Feng for a while. The Dead Ghost came over and handed him a bottle of water. 'Lu You says they found something.'

'What?'

'A diary written by the dead crew member.' The Dead Ghost said it flatly.

Jiang Luo's eyes lit up. He followed to find Lu You. But just as they stepped out, they ran into Fu Wei coming out of another practice room.

Fu Wei was wearing the A-tier outfit from Next Stop, Idol. The pink top didn't soften his look much. He held a Mobile Phone expressionlessly; catching Jiang Luo in his peripheral vision, he walked straight toward him.

Jiang Luo focused on his lips.

Probably just finished training, a thin sheen of sweat on Fu Wei's face. His lips were slightly red, thin and sharp, the lip line pressed tight—somewhat like the lips in the photo Chi You had sent Jiang Luo yesterday.

But not necessarily.

Jiang Luo's mouth pressed down.

He knew that if he let subjectivity take over, he'd only see Fu Wei as more and more like Chi You. Or anyone else—once he started suspecting who Chi You was, he'd keep searching for evidence to confirm his own idea.

That wouldn't work.

Jiang Luo exhaled a breath of stale air. 'Did you need something?'

The Mobile Phone in Fu Wei's hand was pointed straight at Jiang Luo. Jiang Luo glanced at it strangely, then suddenly remembered something and his expression stiffened. 'Where did you get a phone?'

Fu Wei pulled his lips. 'It's the phone the Program Team gave me.'

'I'm live-streaming,' he looked down at Jiang Luo, his slightly curled black hair lifting at his brow, and said carelessly, 'The camera's pointed right at you.'

In the phone's lens, the black-haired youth's strikingly beautiful face froze for a moment.

The comments were flying.

[??? Who is this?]

[From his clothes he should be a trainee on Next Stop, Idol, but it's weird—how come I haven't seen him in the main episodes?]

[Wuwu this guy is so good-looking, lemme lick lick lick, Brother Fu point the phone down, let me see his name]

[God-tier looks! Ahhh I wanna vote for him]

[Wait everyone, how come I haven't seen this trainee in the show? I couldn't have seen him and not remember—I'm a super looker, I remember every good-looking person on Next Stop, Idol, there's no way I'd forget him... and he's got long hair too, first time I've seen someone with long hair look this good and not weird, such a unique trait, how could I not remember him!]

[The sis above said exactly what I was thinking, damn I don't believe it, if there was a trainee who looked like this how could I not have noticed before?]

[Report—I just checked the official blog, couldn't find a single thing about this guy, heartbroken]

[Ah... did they deliberately cut out this good-looking guy's footage? Even if his skills were bad, being a pretty face should be enough, this is too sad]

[Fam I'm back, my girls and I quickly went through the previous episodes and bonus clips, guess what? Hey, this guy really doesn't have a single shot!]

[...Does Next Stop, Idol have some kind of illness? They don't know how much traffic a face like this could bring? If they really did deliberately cut all his footage, I'm speechless]

[Trash editor, time for the daily ritual of cursing the Program Team]

[Didn't want to curse originally, after all they arranged Brother Fu's stream today, I even praised the Program Team before the stream, well turns out they can't take a compliment, doge]

[Are you guys even Brother Fu's fans, climbing the wall right in front of him? It's just a slightly good-looking trainee, I still love Brother Fu the most! Brother Fu please don't move the phone thanks]

[Not making money when you can, real idiots, Program Team you're really something [thumbs up]]

The comments were chaos. Fu Wei was right there, but the fans had started talking about Jiang Luo instead. A few snide comments were quickly buried, not even given time to be read.

Fu Wei glanced at the comments. People were already cursing under the official blog.

Jiang Luo had no idea what had happened in those few minutes. He took a deep breath, turned his body and face away, and said quietly, 'Don't point it at me.'

Fu Wei gave a cold laugh. 'So many fans want to see you. Aren't you happy?'

As a trainee, of course he should be happy.

Jiang Luo turned around with a tight smile. To the camera: 'Hello everyone, I'm Jiang Huan. Sorry, nature calls—I have to use the Toilet. See you in a bit.'

He waved at the camera, flashed one last smile, and turned away with the Dead Ghost, cool and easy.

The comments paused, then exploded with double the previous enthusiasm.

[Ahhh so handsome!]

[Wuwu mama I'm in love again]

[See you next time, you promised me, you have to see me next time [shouting]]

Jiang Luo put the livestream out of his mind. He said a word to the Assistant, telling him to sort it out with the Director—after all, he'd only shown his face for a few minutes; he didn't think it would cause much trouble.

After handling it, he hurried off to find Lu You and Ye Xun.

The reason Lu You and Ye Xun had called him over was that a staff member, while sorting through the dead crew member's room, had found a diary.

A thin diary with a lock. Before Jiang Luo arrived, Lu You and Ye Xun had tried the password several times—one more wrong attempt and the diary would lock for an hour.

Lu You and Ye Xun didn't dare try again, holding the diary like a hot potato. 'We tried her name, her birthday—neither worked.'

'What's her name?' Jiang Luo asked.

Ye Xun replied, 'Feng Xiuyun.'

Jiang Luo took the diary. It had an electronic lock, nine-grid keypad format. Ye Xun handed over Feng Xiuyun's ID. Jiang Luo looked—the victim had just turned thirty this year.

Not her name, not her birthday—what else could it be?

They didn't know Feng Xiuyun well. Whatever secret the diary was locked behind had to be deeply private. They couldn't just guess.

Lu You looked at Jiang Luo hopefully. 'Jiang Luo, what do we do?'

Jiang Luo simply ripped it apart, brute-forcing the electronic lock off.

'Doesn't this work?' He looked at Lu You and the other strangely. 'Why'd you waste all that time?'

Lu You: '...'

Ye Xun: '...'

The Dead Ghost nodded in agreement.

The diary had only a thin dozen or so pages. Jiang Luo flipped through it quickly and found every entry was about Feng Xiuyun and her boyfriend.

Feng Xiuyun was plain-looking, thirty years old and never having dated. In the diary, her inner world was as sensitive and joyful as a girl in first love. She wrote that being in love had made her feel years younger.

'But what he and I have can't be discovered by anyone. His situation is special, and I'm insecure—actually, this is already good enough... How many people in a lifetime get to be with someone this outstanding? Whether it ends or not, a love like this has made these thirty years worth living.'

In every line, the woman's worry and unease were visible, as if a fog wrapped around Feng Xiuyun, keeping her ungrounded, ready to fall from the clouds at any moment.

Her insecurity shadowed her; she was so cautious that the boyfriend's name never appeared anywhere in the diary.

Reading these lines describing the man, Jiang Luo suddenly had a bold thought.

He picked up the electronic lock and called the Director. 'When's Zhang Feng's birthday?'

The Director said, 'March second.'

Jiang Luo pressed 0302. With a snap, the electronic lock opened.