The genius director, God of Shadows

"Boom!"

Thunder rumbled again, and pale flashes of lightning spread through the pitch-black clouds, casting blinding light, like a spotlight, onto the damp, cold ground, as if Deity in the sky were taking a picture of this rainy night.

The electric light illuminated the two corpses, a man and a dog, floating on the black pond that reeked of fish, allowing Lin Yu to clearly see their wet fur and clothing.

They floated quietly in the pond, raindrops falling on the surface creating ripples that bounced off the two corpses and collided with each other, churning the water.

Lin Yu stood on the shore, his face showing fear and astonishment, as if the most terrifying scene in his heart was appearing before his eyes.

These emotions are not fake. After all, for Actor like Lin Yu who primarily uses Method Acting, once he fully immerses himself in the role, he will naturally develop feelings that are completely consistent with the character and identity he is currently playing.

Lin Yu knew that this scene was specially reproduced by the "God of Shadows" and presented to "Zhu Ming," whom she believed to be "Xia Yue." This was naturally Xia Yue's deepest... fear and shadow.

Therefore, Lin Yu would naturally experience these emotions as well.

However, deep within Lin Yu's mind and soul, he remained Leng Jing and undisturbed as he considered and judged everything he saw.

"I see... there's a time jump between this scene and the previous one."

Lin Yu pondered this in his heart.

After all, when Xia Yue fell into the water, it seemed to be shortly after school ended—although it was already dusk, elementary school students usually get out of school around 5 or 6 pm at the latest. Especially since Xia Yue seemed to be four or five years older than him, even if some elementary schools might let out later now, during the time Xia Yue was in elementary school... the education of elementary school students should still be mainly guided by "reducing the burden" and "quality education".

But now, it's completely dark; it's already evening.

And when we were by the pond just now, it wasn't raining at all.

The middle part... was omitted by the God of Shadows —which is reasonable, since dreams, especially Nightmare, inherently contain disjointed and jumpy parts.

But Lin Yu was still amazed by it.

Because he realized that... the "Nightmare" before him seemed to have something in common with the "movie".

No... in fact, they are completely identical.

The only difference is that this "movie" is specially made for only one audience member.

If we consider all of this as "drama" and "film," then the transition technique we just described—which can be called a "script jump" at the script level and a "Jump Cut" in film presentation—is simply...

Absolutely brilliant!

Lin Yu felt immense admiration in his heart, and almost wanted to embrace the God of Shadows.

Since the purpose of a "Nightmare" is to breed fear and despair, if this Nightmare were to be considered a movie, the genre would undoubtedly be "thriller/horror".

The scene that skipped over the cause and effect, abruptly ending the tense plot of "Xia Yue drowning herself," and then immediately followed by the scene of the little boy who pushed Xia Yue into the water and the dog Xia Yue tried to save "drowning to death" was presented as the result...

It's a design and arrangement that would send chills down the spine of any viewer!

Especially considering that this is a "thriller" tailor-made for "Xia Yue".

That's an even more brilliant omission, a brilliant connection!

If I were truly "Xia Yue" myself, with such childhood trauma and experiences, no matter how much I could remember now, upon seeing this scene...

They'd be so scared they'd probably pee a couple of drops.

The God of Shadows completely defied expectations this time, pushing the dramatic tension to its peak.

As an editor, she is definitely a genius among geniuses.

No...

With such abilities, she could absolutely become an excellent Director —at least in the horror genre, where any work God of Shadows creates immediately becomes a masterpiece in that category.

And with such a brilliant plot design and exquisite Stage Setting...

As an Actor, Lin Yu naturally felt that his Desire to perform and his acting skills had been stimulated to the maximum extent!

Although playing "Zhu Ming" and Xia Yue are practically the roles Lin Yu excels at, these roles are so intertwined with him that they've spawned over ten sequels and spin-offs, becoming almost inseparable from the Actor himself. The time and effort Lin Yu has invested in these roles are second only to his role as "Director"...

However, Lin Yu still feels that his skillful portrayal of "Zhu Ming" and Xia Yue has once again been elevated to a higher level.

Even his understanding of "performance" has deepened.

That's right, that's right... I am currently confronting the psychological trauma of my childhood, "Xia Yue".

So...

On this cold, dark, rainy night, in this pond where two bodies are floating... how will Xia Yue react?

Fear, panic, and bewilderment—these are the emotions that may arise.

But what happens next?

Xia Yue is not a foolish girl who would panic and scream in this situation—she feels fear, but she never lets fear affect her actions.

Even on her deathbed, the girl's actions were still an attempt to kill herself... Lin Yu could still clearly remember all of Xia Yue's actions before she fired the gun—it wasn't even a desperate gamble based on mere bravado.

Lin Yu could clearly recall that when Xia Yue lunged at him, she even lowered her body and tried to throw the Dagger.

At that moment, she was still trying to find the "optimal solution" rather than panicking and rashly resisting.

Even in the face of utter despair and terror, such a dangerous individual can still act "rationally."

Even when she was a primary school student, she probably wouldn't have become foolish and panicked in the face of a crisis like other primary school students, acting like an animal cub with only instinctive reactions.

"What's more, although I'm currently in the body of the 'elementary school student' version of Xia Yue, the 'soul' I'm supposed to play is the 'Xia Yue' at this point in time who has returned to the Nightmare, only now being disturbed by Nightmare..."

Lin Yu realized that the "Xia Yue" he was playing was a more Instance version of someone who had experienced many "Death game" than the real Xia Yue he had encountered before. If she had really experienced so many "Instance" like the "Zhu Ming" he was playing, she would definitely have grown to a terrifying level.

Therefore, Lin Yu knew what he had to do.

How should I interpret and act as the character "Xia Yue" that I am playing?

Lin Yu concealed all the panic and fear on his face and looked at the corpse in front of him.

An unprecedented Leng Jing shone from that young face.

"So that's how it is. This is the 'Nightmare' you found," Lin Yu said coldly. "Just the level of this 'childhood trauma'... it does startle me, it does make me feel a little scared and painful."

But... this won't break me, nor will it plunge me into despair or Desperate Plight.

"To be honest, presenting this image so clearly in front of me is almost like helping me desensitize."

As Lin Yu spoke, he wiped the rain off his face and flicked it to the ground, then jumped into the pond again—this pond was actually not drownable; even for elementary school students, the deepest part of the pond would only reach their chests.

The only thing that could drown in that pond is a dog.

That's why Xia Yue didn't die after falling into the pond—because she was perfectly fine after getting up from the pond.

It'll just be a bit embarrassing.

But...

So why did the little boy still drown?

Lin Yu slowly walked towards the depths of the pond and laboriously turned the drowned, face-down body of the boy over.

The drowned child's face was ashen and pale, his eyes were closed, and he looked extremely distressed.

But what Lin Yu cared about even more was the mark on the other person's neck—bruises could be seen on the skin that had turned white from being soaked in water.

Lin Yu stretched out Xia Yue's small hand and gestured.

There were also some bruises and scratches on Xia Yue's forearms and wrists.

Even though that part was skipped, he could still reconstruct what probably happened in that part—even if he wasn't a professional "Detective" like Fu Luo, Lin Yu could clearly understand the cause of the boy's death from the wounds on the corpse.

He wasn't accidentally pushed into the pond and drowned—this wasn't an accident.

He was choked by Xia Yue and pressed down into the pond until he suffocated to death.

This Xia Yue's childhood trauma wasn't even a case of "manslaughter."

Rather... it was a completely subjective and malicious murder.

It might even have been premeditated—after all, it was late at night and raining on campus—theoretically, neither the boy nor Xia Yue should have been here.

Especially during the other person's painful struggle, Xia Yue had many opportunities to feel compassion and change her mind—a process that could last for several minutes.

Drowning someone in water is a method of murder that can be easily stopped and thus becomes "attempted murder".

But now... the result is obvious.

The boy still died.

Lin Yu faced the result head-on, and even a somewhat bored expression appeared on his face.

"Is that all? Deity who rules over 'Nightmare'... is this all you can do?"

Lin Yu muttered to himself, looking at the floating corpse in front of him.

The next moment...

The little boy's corpse suddenly opened its eyes and grabbed Lin Yu's throat.

"Pay with your life!"