Even if the last actor survived, the play had still come to a stop, which would trigger the ghost's killing condition.
Worse, Jiang Cheng had no way to deal with it. He wasn't from a theatrical troupe, after all, and knew almost nothing about performing opera. If he went onstage recklessly, who knew what trouble he might cause?
At the critical moment, a figure leaped up from behind the stage and performed several backflips in a row, landing in the middle of the stage. Only then did Jiang Cheng get a good look: the person in painted-face makeup was none other than the troupe's leader!
The old troupe leader carried himself with calm authority. The moment he opened his mouth to sing, he amazed the entire audience. Then he struck a pose and paced across the stage as he sang his lines, his feet stepping through the blood with a series of wet smacks. Yet his expression never changed.
Fortunately, the surviving actor, who had been scared stiff, finally reacted and scrambled off the stage from behind.
The charred corpses that had been restless before fell silent again. Even the charred corpse ghost that had appeared onstage stopped moving. It turned around, walked stiffly off the stage, returned to its seat, and sat down.
From where Jiang Cheng stood, he could see sweat running down the old troupe leader's temples. It was easy to imagine how tense he must have been. One wrong move, and he might not make it out of there alive tonight.
The crisis onstage hadn't fully passed, but before one danger could settle, another arose. Something new happened below the stage: the girl carrying a gong to collect money from the patrons had been stopped again.
This time, a charred corpse ghost had actually left its