Zhuo Yu withdrew himself from those bizarre emotions, forcing himself to calm down and take a deep breath for three minutes before suppressing his overly intense heartbeat.
What was more important now was where to use the password.
From the arrangement of numbers in the note, it could be seen that the solution to this password wasn’t difficult. Zhuo Yu noted down each string of numbers, then flipped “Seven Days Talk” to the page number displayed at the beginning of the string, and then picked out the corresponding number of letters, combined to form a word.
——Curse.
Zhuo Yu smiled and murmured to himself, “Tormenting the god like this, the Fountain of Immortality, will certainly be a curse rather than a blessing. What about immortality? Turning into a Yin corpse is also considered immortality.”
He stuffed the note back into the book and placed it in the grid space, pondering who left this information.
If nothing unexpected happened, it should be the traveler himself from fifty years ago. After all, he played the role, and his handwriting was the same as his.
Zhuo Yu nestled on the sofa and began to slowly sort out the plot.
Firstly, according to the timeline, after seven days of suffering, the deity transformed into the Fountain of Immortality, now known as the Golden Lake. After thousands of years of development, the nearby spring town was established. Then, fifty years ago, his character lived by the Golden Lake and experienced a group of people that beat him, abused him and broke his legs, and the perpetrators seemed to be avoiding his cohabitant, the “monster.”.
With a thought, Zhuo Yu suddenly remembered the news that Zhou Wu had once said.
Decades ago, there was a father and an adopted son living on the mountain. The father was suspected of witchcraft and was secretly executed by the townspeople. The deformed adopted son drowned in the lake.
Everything was right!
Although no clues to witchcraft had been found, wasn’t “Seven Days Talk” a religious teaching book? Moreover, looking at the code, the character must have devoted themselves to studying this book. Perhaps this “unknown character” was the adoptive father Zhou Wu had referred to, who was k-illed by the townspeople decades ago!
[Character puzzle unlocking progress: 50%]
[Congratulations on triggering the side quest: Find out the true identity of the “traveler.”]. [May I ask if you want to pick it up?]
“I’ll take it!” Zhuo Yu accepted the task in seconds.
On the other end of the screen, the audience, which had been wanting to see the bl-oody screen, was confused by this plot.
[Side quest! Among so many movies, he’s the first one to bring out the side quest!]
[Who said it’s a splatter film? Stand up; I promise not to hit you.]
[Sigh, I have watched this movie and have always been fascinated by the blo-ody scenes in it, so I crouched in the high-risk area every day and watched all six showings. But I swear, there was really no character like the traveler before, and the movie style was pure chopping, with no puzzles at all. In the last few waves, people only analyzed what punishment they would face in seven days at most.]
[I don’t think it’ll be that simple. Look, this time the boss didn’t k-ill anyone, not even Fang Hao. He hasn’t died yet. In the past, the boss would k-ill the actors the next day.]
[I’m a newcomer, I have to ask: isn’t it true that the movie can’t continue if all the actors are dead?!]
[Yes, so the system will automatically add new actors, but if the spots are filled or the team is eliminated and there is no progress in the plot, the system will determine it as an “unfinished film,” terminate this screening, and refund the audience’s points. Of course, there are exceptions, such as some special films, which you will know after watching more.]
[I just want to know what exactly is happening.]
[D-amn it, I’m also very curious. I retracted my previous statement. I don’t want to see Zhuo Yu die; I want to see him reveal the plot of this movie!]
[second the motion +1]
Some movies had been screened too many times, and too many actors had appeared, so the plot was basically well-known to the audience. But this Lakeside Tale itself was niche; it had only been played six times, and coupled with the fact that no one had ever cracked the plot, this was really novel for most viewers who were tired of watching other movies.
The number of people in the screening room continued to increase, and “Strange Tales by the Lakeside” had jumped to become one of the top three online high-difficulty areas.
On the screen, Zhuo Yu was still sorting out the clues he had obtained, and indeed, his line of thought was correct! Otherwise, the system wouldn’t have given him the task.
However, since the adoptive father knew that there was a curse near the Golden Lake, why did he still live here until he was ki-lled?
Zhuo Yu was extremely confused. Just as he was about to ponder, faint footsteps came from the window, and a black shadow flashed by. Zhuo Yu could only see the color of the other person’s clothes clearly.
“… a floral skirt?”
Zhuo Yu had the skill to protect himself, so he took the initiative to sit in a wheelchair and approach the open wooden door.
“Ah ah!!! Don’t get close to me!” A frightened female voice suddenly sounded, and she retreated repeatedly, tripped hard by a stone, and fell to the ground, looking disheveled.
Zhuo Yu wasn’t frightened by the figure, but he was startled by the sudden scream.
He fixed his gaze and saw that the girl sitting on the ground was actually the one who was rejected by Zhou Wu at the beginning of the set.
The girl’s face turned pale, her hair was covered in mud and grass leaves, and her clothes were torn and tattered by the branches of the dense forest. She was panting heavily, and anyone who looked at her could see that her physical strength had reached its limit, as if she had escaped from somewhere.
“Is it you?” Zhuo Yu was a bit surprised and put on a warm smile again. “Don’t be afraid; I won’t do anything, and I’m in a wheelchair, so I can’t hurt you.”
The girl was still in shock, gasping for breath as she looked at Zhuo Yu. Then she visibly let down her guard.
Zhuo Yu brought her into the cabin, which looked like it had been swept by a storm. The girl who had just relaxed immediately tensed; she warily sat on the sofa.
“So, you haven’t been punished by the system?” Zhuo Yu asked.
She nodded dryly and said, “I followed the voice in my head. It led me to Golden Lake before dawn. I didn’t know what to do, nor did I know how to drive. I could only walk along the road for eight hours.”
The two exchanged intelligence, but it could be said that Zhuo Yu was just pushing her to keep talking. After listening to her story, even Zhuo Yu couldn’t help but shudder.
The girl’s name was Liu Jingyun. After walking more than 30 kilometers on the highway, she finally found the stop sign for the Golden Lake Reservoir when dawn was about to break in less than ten minutes. Liu Jingyun was lucky enough to keep her life, but unfortunately got lost in the forest near Golden Lake. Fortunately, the system determined that this mountain was within the scope of Golden Lake; otherwise, she would have become the only actress among these people who died of getting lost.
Liu Jingyun went round and round in the forest, breaking the vines when thirsty and moistening her mouth with the juice inside. When hungry, she chewed on edible mushrooms she knew, as well as beetles that could be seen everywhere. Feeling exhausted, she climbed up tree nests or rested in tree holes, creating a scene of wilderness survival.
In the end, with her tenacious will, she walked out of the forest, but her stamina was also depleted.
Liu Jingyun was just over 1.5 meters tall and had a very weak physique. She had really endured a lot of hardships along the way. If it weren’t for perseverance, the rush of day and night would have exhausted her.
Zhuo Yu pushed the remaining cans toward her to eat, which made her lively again.
“Thank you so much.” Liu Jingyun finished the food with tears in her eyes and humbly probed, “Where are your teammates? I ate your food; your captain won’t be angry, will he?”
Zhuo Yu smiled and said, “It’s okay; anyway, they won’t be able to eat it in the future.”
Liu Jingyun: …
Liu Jingyun fell silent for a moment before probing again. “Did you encounter danger? The cabin looks like this.”
“Well, I was knocked over by the boss, and the rest abandoned their cars and fled, leaving me alone here.”
“It sounds so dangerous,” Liu Jingyun said, taking a deep breath. “But since you dare to open the door and sit in the living room, does that mean the crisis has been resolved?”
Zhuo Yu thought for a moment and felt that the BOSS wouldn’t be able to ki-ll him, so he nodded.
“I need to recover my strength now, and I dare not ask you for anything more. After all, I am very grateful for being able to eat.” Liu Jingyun’s eyes were full of will to survive, and her tone became firm. “So, I want to stay here for a while, and we can watch out for each other at night. Is that okay?”
If it were normal, Zhuo Yu would definitely agree to this request, but now he had something more urgent to do, which required a helper.
“I don’t have time to sleep now. Get up and let’s leave the lake.”
Liu Jingyun was surprised and said, “But the system requires us to come here.”
Zhuo Yu gave the RV a sidelong glance and said calmly, “The mission to reach Golden Lake has been completed, and the system didn’t forbid us from leaving. My last task is for to us escape as fast as possible.”
Liu Jingyun remembered that when she met Zhuo Yu for the first time, she was amazed by his excellent reasoning ability, so she chose to trust him.
“I’ll go with you!”
Zhuo Yu nodded and said, “Then get in the car and go to the driver’s seat.”
“But I can’t drive.”
“It’s okay; all you need to do is step on the accelerator and brake. I’ll sit next to you and help you control the steering wheel.”
Zhuo Yu approached the RV and tried to start it, but as Zhou Wu had experienced, cars unexpectedly stopped working in horror movies. Zhuo Yu disdainfully smashed the front fender of the driver’s seat, reconnected the spark plug, and in an instant, the engine roared.
“What are you still waiting for?” Zhuo Yu urged.
Liu Jingyun, who had been stunned, finally regained consciousness. She helped Zhuo Yu into the passenger seat, then put away the folding wheelchair and sat nervously in the driver’s seat.
Unexpectedly, the two of them adapted for a while and actually drove the car. Although the speed wasn’t stable at all, they slowly drove out of the bushes and onto the open road.
Liu Jingyun felt a little excited. This was her first time driving, and it didn’t seem difficult.
“Where are we going? Are we going to leave the highway and go to the nearest airport?” Liu Jingyun felt her idea was very clever and somewhat playfully continued: “Then find the customs police and have them send us back to China!”
Zhuo Yu was infected by her optimism and faintly smiled, saying, “You thought too much. We’re going to Spring Town.”
To be honest, this type of horror film was generally considered true happiness if one successfully cleared the dangerous zone. Perhaps, as Liu Jingyun said, being far away from this place was a good solution.
But in order for the movie to continue, the system would definitely impose restrictions on them. Did the actors want to leave the movie scene?
That was just a fantasy.
And as a perfectionist, he wouldn’t allow himself to leave here without knowing anything after collecting so many clues. Zhuo Yu had already made up his mind to figure out the plot of this horror film.
Besides, he only saw the BOSS once, and he wanted to take a few more glances.
He was more curious about the BOSS than about himself.
“I know where Spring Town is,” Liu Jingyun pointed in a direction. “My character is a resident of the town. It’s not far from Golden Lake and can be reached by car in half an hour.”
Another character from Spring Town.
In fact, Zhuo Yu wanted to go to the town mainly for two reasons. Firstly, if the punishment in the [Seven Day Talk] was followed, a big fire would be set up here tomorrow. If he wanted to avoid the fire in the forest, except for jumping into the Golden Lake, all other ideas were empty talk.
As a rational person, Zhuo Yu didn’t want to go into the water.
He believed that the set wouldn’t really present a dying scene while also encouraging him to seek the truth. So Zhuo Yu planned to take refuge in Spring Town, and he was sure there would clues in the town that could surprise him.
Since his character had adopted a child, and Zhou Wu and the other four were all students from Spring University, it was highly likely that his adopted son, who drowned fifty years ago, also studied there.
Zhuo Yu was an excellent writer, and in terms of movie scripts, he also had some experience.
Chekhov developed a theory called “The Shotg-un on the Wall,” which was now used by a large number of screenwriters: if a shotg-un appeared on the wall in a script, the shot must be fired.
In short, a good script wouldn’t write a useless setting that had nothing to do with the story. Zhuo Yu still remembered that when Zhou Wu shared information about his character, he specifically mentioned that “Spring High School” was in the synopsis.
Zhuo Yu decided to go inside the school’s archives to look for information; he might be able to discover some secret information.
Besides the school, it was also residents of Spring Town who broke the traveler’s legs at that time. It had only been fifty years, so there must be someone who experienced what happened back then and knew what happened.
Zhuo Yu’s spirit was uplifted, but strangely, his body gradually felt tired. Not long after, he didn’t have the strength to grip the steering wheel. His muscles relaxed, and he let go of his hand, which scared Liu Jingyun enough to hit the brake hard and they almost hit the fence.
Zhuo Yu frowned, feeling that the further away he was from the Golden Lake, the more his stamina was drained.
What exactly was going on?
Before Zhuo Yu could think it over, Liu Jingyun’s voice interrupted him.
“We’re here.”
She pointed to the large “Spring Spring” signboard ahead, which was somewhat comical, but under the cold and misty moonlight, it was extremely eerie, giving off the style of 1980s rural horror films; even the shadows cast by the tree canopy were eerie and deformed.
Zhuo Yu had a premonition that once he stepped into this place, he would face a more dangerous situation than a Yin corpse, but on the contrary, he could also obtain more tempting clues and truth.
He knew what to choose.
Zhuo Yu regained control of the steering wheel, his tone mixed with a hint of solemnity. “Are you ready?”
Liu Jingyun stepped on the accelerator, and her playfulness also disappeared: “Actually, I understand that we have no other choice left.”
The two remained silent for a moment, then smiled at each other and drove straight into Spring Town.
TN:
See ya tomorrow ✌
Thank you for the update!
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