Shh~ Don't Speak

The coffin that appeared out of thin air stood directly before him. A strange, inexplicable sensation surged through his limbs like a tide, and the oppressive atmosphere was enough to make one feel suffocated.

However, before he could even begin to study how this coffin had materialized, a shrill scream cut his thoughts short.

"Ah!!!"

A shadow lunged out of the darkness. Xu Tong dodged to the side, and the figure slammed hard into the muddy ground, sending dirt splattering in all directions.

Looking at the mud spots on his shoes, Xu Tong reached down with a look of disgust, intending to wipe them off. But halfway there, he froze in surprise: the leather shoes he had been wearing had somehow been replaced by coarse, hand-stitched cloth shoes.

It wasn't just the shoes; his pants and shirt had all changed as well.

Seeing this, Xu Tong glanced left and right, then quietly pulled open his pocket and peeked inside. "Heh, feels breezy!"

"Damn it, what kind of hellhole is this? Come out, you bastard! Waiter, host..."

The angry roar from the side—obviously the fat man, Li Bo—didn't even need a glance to identify. He had finally scrambled up from the mud, his eyes scanning the surroundings with a face full of shock and terror.

The building they had been in was gone without a trace, replaced by an endless forest.

It was impossible to tell where this forest was; the trees were tall with massive leaves, and the sunlight filtering through the canopy only managed to pierce the gaps in a few weak, narrow beams.

Right in front of him, a tattered, hole-ridden coffin stood half-buried in the dirt.

"Where's my watch? Where's my gold chain?"

In the wake of his brief panic, the fat man suddenly realized his clothes were gone, and his watch, gold chain, and phone had all vanished with them.

This only fueled his rage further, and he began to stomp his feet and curse at the top of his lungs.

"Robbers? Thieves? Do you know who Laozi is? Once I get out of here, I'm going to tear your shop down!"

"Is that Brother Li?"

At that moment, a figure crawled out from the bushes and asked in a low voice.

"Huh?"

Li Bo turned around, but upon seeing it was Wang Shaohui, his face twisted into a look of utter disappointment. He even cursed with visible impatience, "Pah! These people are absolutely insane—they even robbed a poor student like you?"

The words sounded like he was standing up for Wang Shaohui, but the implication was clear: being robbed alongside someone like him was beneath Laozi's status.

"You guys are here!"

Soon, Zhang Hao and Zhou Yu emerged from a nearby corner. They were actually seven or eight meters away, but Li Bo's voice was so loud that unless one were deaf, they could have heard him from ten meters away.

Seeing Zhang Hao and Zhou Yu, Li Bo's mood settled down significantly.

"You guys got robbed too?"

Li Bo stepped forward, glanced at the clothes Zhou Yu was wearing, and a trace of lewdness flickered across his fleshy face.

"Robbed?"

Zhou Yu paused, then frowned. "If it were just a robbery, that would be one thing, but do you really think we were just robbed?"

Zhang Hao and Wang Shaohui shook their heads. Everything had changed too quickly; the moment they saw the coffin, the world had shifted like a kaleidoscope, and the next second, they were here.

Not only that, but their clothes had been swapped without them even noticing.

Just as Zhou Yu said, if it were only a robbery, they might have been able to accept it.

"Are we... seeing ghosts?"

Wang Shaohui looked at the eerie, gloomy forest, noticing the many grave mounds and broken coffins scattered about, and couldn't help but feel his skin crawl.

"Don't scare yourself!"

Zhang Hao, being bolder, spoke up to comfort Wang Shaohui. "There's no such thing as ghosts in this world."

"Everyone, check your belongings and see if there are any clues," Zhou Yu reminded them.

Prompted by her, the group hurriedly began to search themselves.

"I found something!"

After rummaging through his chest, Zhang Hao actually pulled out a few items: a short blade and an envelope.

"I have one too!"

Wang Shaohui pulled an identical envelope from his sleeve. He didn't have a blade, but he did have an octagonal jade pendant.

Zhou Yu was no exception, though she held a bronze mirror.

Seeing that everyone had produced an item, the fat man Li Bo began to search himself as well. "What the hell is this?"

The fat man stared at the thick stack of Underworld Banknotes in his hand, and his entire demeanor collapsed.

Everyone else got a dagger, a jade pendant, or at the very least a bronze mirror—why did he get a thick stack of funeral money?

"Damn it, are you playing with me? Host, get out here! Next Qingming Festival, I'll burn this money for you!"

Zhou Yu ignored the fat man's grumbling and turned her gaze toward Xu Tong. When she looked up, she found Xu Tong staring right at her, causing her to knit her brows. "What about you?"

"Just a little trinket."

Xu Tong shook the Cinnabar Bracelet on his wrist.

Zhou Yu frowned, feeling no fondness for this unreliable fellow, yet she still suppressed her impatience and said, "Everyone, let's open our envelopes first and see what's inside."

As she spoke, Zhou Yu opened her envelope, only to find that it contained nothing but a black-and-white still photo.

The moment she saw the photo, Zhou Yu's expression froze, her gaze locked onto the face in the picture—a face identical to her own.

Zhang Hao caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye and saw that the photo depicted a coffin suspended in mid-air, with Zhou Yu sitting beneath it, dressed in a red bridal gown. Even more chilling was the sight of a pair of rotting hands tightly gripping Zhou Yu's throat.

The photo was so grotesque that Zhang Hao felt his scalp tingle just looking at it, let alone the fact that the protagonist was Zhou Yu herself.

Seeing this, the others couldn't wait to tear open their own envelopes.

Like Zhou Yu's, their envelopes also contained a single still photo.

But the moment their eyes fell upon the images, a flood of chaotic scenes surged into their minds.

A black coffin.

Two Paper Dolls holding suona horns, grinning at them.

In the jumble of memories, Zhang Hao saw himself tied to a large wooden table, while beside him, a butcher with a pig's head held two gleaming cleavers in his hands.

Just as he watched the cleavers descend toward his skull, his throat suddenly tightened. A wave of icy coldness washed over him, jolting Zhang Hao awake from the hallucination, and he began to flail his arms, jumping and shouting.

His scream snapped the others out of their own visions. Seeing Zhang Hao's terrified, unstable state, everyone else wore an expression of extreme unease.

Only Xu Tong sat on a nearby rock, eyes slightly closed, his expression calm. Unlike the others, who were gripped by fear, he seemed to be immersed in the hallucination, savoring the experience.

Within the vision, he was like a third-party observer, scrutinizing the scene he had just witnessed.

When he saw himself in the hallucination being hoisted high into the air by two iron hooks, Xu Tong frowned involuntarily.

This scene was clearly not to his liking; if it were up to him, he would prefer it to be different.

A thought flashed through his mind, and the hallucination before him began to twist accordingly...

Two rusted iron hooks pierced through his skin from left to right. As the hooks were slowly pulled upward, his skin and flesh stretched and peeled away from his body, hanging high in the air like paper cuttings, forming a large, intricate character for "Double Happiness."

"Hiss..."

Watching the scene in his mind, he inhaled deeply, as if he were a nicotine addict taking a long drag.

When he opened his eyes again, the look in them showed even greater anticipation for this so-called Script Space.

That's right, Script Space.

Beyond the hallucinations they had seen, fragmented information had been implanted into each of their minds.

From this information, they could conclude that they had been dragged into a bizarre space known as the Script World. Only by following the rules set by the script, playing their assigned roles, and completing the tasks could they hope to leave alive.

Otherwise, they would remain trapped in the Script World forever, or meet their end in the underworld.

"Hahahahaha!!"

Just then, a sudden burst of laughter interrupted everyone's thoughts.

The fat man pointed at Zhou Yu and the others, laughing, "No way, no way! What year is this? You're still playing these kinds of tricks?"

"Keep it down, Brother Bo!"

Zhang Hao stepped forward to grab the fat man's arm, signaling him to lower his voice.

But the fat man didn't care; instead, he grew louder, gesturing to his surroundings. "It's fake, it's all fake! Haven't you ever watched those prank reality shows? We must have been drugged or given hallucinogens and brought here to be messed with. I bet there are cameras hidden all around us!"

"Hey! Come out! I'm telling you, this is illegal! I'm going to call the police on you! Get out here, now! Laozi is done playing!"

The fat man cursed as he walked over to a coffin half-buried in the dirt, stomping his foot hard onto the lid. "Come out, or wait for me to call the cops to arrest you!"

"Li Bo!"

Zhou Yu's face turned cold as she snapped, "Stop it!"

Zhang Hao and Wang Shaohui also stepped forward, grabbing his arms to stop him from causing more trouble.

But the two of them were no match for the fat man's strength, and they were shoved aside in seconds. Just as the fat man was about to continue his tantrum, Xu Tong suddenly reached out and covered his mouth. "Shh... be quiet!"

The others were stunned, unsure of what Xu Tong meant.

But seeing Xu Tong tilt his head and prick up his ears as if listening to something, they all fell silent.

The surroundings plunged into stillness, but soon, a rustling sound—sha, sha, sha—reached their ears.

"Creak... creak... creak..."

The sound grew louder. As everyone followed the noise and looked down, they saw a furry hand emerging from a fist-sized hole in the coffin beneath the fat man's feet...