The death of a stunt double had no effect on the filming schedule of "The King of Hell Is Here."
Early the next morning, everyone arrived at the Castle on time to film the scene where they discovered "Yu Xiaohe's" body in daylight.
Li Qing had helped Director Li deal with the stunt double's death and hadn't slept all night. By the time he arrived on set, all the actors were already there.
The set was utterly lifeless.
Yu Xiaohe's eyes were swollen from crying. Still wearing her bloodstained clothes, she slapped the makeup artist's hand away when they tried to touch up her makeup.
Bai Cha stood silently to one side, staring at Yu Xiaohe with unfocused eyes. There was no telling what he was thinking.
Even Gong Yao had lost his smile. He sat in the director's chair with his legs crossed, clearly unhappy that filming was continuing.
An Ya glanced at Tao Lele and whispered, "Could this have happened because the opening ceremony was disrupted...?"
Tao Lele immediately bristled. "What's that supposed to mean!?"
Just as they were about to start arguing, Gong Yao spoke, his tone neither harsh nor gentle. "What's all the arguing for?"
Tao Lele was instinctively a little afraid of him and immediately shut up, though the defiant look remained.
An Ya glanced at him and said ingratiatingly, "Sorry, Yao."
The morning's filming ended with everyone unwilling and reluctant.
Just as the screenplay described, the group was weighed down by the death of a companion, yet they collectively covered up the girl's death and drove back to the city.
The next scene took place five years later.
In the afternoon's scenes, He Li, whose mental state had grown increasingly unstable because of his inferiority complex, stalked Meng Tian, the woman he idolized. After his failed confession, he prepared to murder her in an underground parking garage by running her over. But when he stepped on the accelerator, his car exploded.
Only He Li and Meng Tian appeared in this scene, so the other actors returned to the hotel first.
Li Qing wanted to find Yu Xiaohe and sound her out, but Director Li kept him too busy, forcing him to give up.
Still, that was fine. The livestreams could keep him informed about the absent players.
Li Qing divided the Admin Backend screen into several sections and loaded a different player's livestream into each one.
As long as a player had activated the livestream feature before, a channel of their own would be created.
An especially popular player like Gong Yao had to meet a streaming-hours requirement, while ordinary players could turn their streams off whenever they wanted.
But in this Dungeon Instance, none of the players realized they were players, so they had no idea the Dungeon Instance had turned on their livestreams by default.
Gong Yao's livestream still had the most viewers, while the chat for An Ya, an A-rank player, was also lively.
Yu Xiaohe's livestream showed her playing a game. Its chat was bizarrely different, full of anxious viewers complaining about how bad she was at gaming. There was none of the atmosphere a death instance ought to have.
Although Tao Lele was only a B-rank player, the channel was fairly popular, with the chat consisting mostly of "hahahaha."
But the livestream slot Li Qing had reserved for Bai Cha kept displaying "Unable to retrieve player livestream information. Player has not activated the livestream feature."
...That was perfectly normal for an F-rank player who had only just joined a Dungeon Instance.
Leaning against the wall of the underground parking garage, Li Qing watched Meng Tian and He Li's scene while multitasking, keeping an eye on the activity in the players' livestreams.
The scenery in Gong Yao's livestream suddenly began to look familiar.
The corner of Li Qing's eye twitched involuntarily, and he heard someone behind him say, "Yao."
...Then Li Qing saw his own figure appear in Gong Yao's livestream.
The chat was immediately flooded with [Li Qing, Mommy loves you], [Wifey, I'm here], [Don't you Li Qing fans have a livestream of your own?], and [We actually don't].
Li Qing turned his head and saw that Gong Yao had changed into casual clothes. The gloom from that morning had vanished from his face, replaced by a brilliant smile as he waved at Li Qing.
Li Qing blinked and noticed the quiet, taciturn Bai Cha following behind him.
Gong Yao first went with Bai Cha to greet Director Li, then headed straight for Li Qing. "Hey there, Mr. Li~"
"What brings you here?" Only after speaking did he remember what Meng Tian's assistant had told him about this world's conversational etiquette, so he added a greeting. "Mr. Gong Yao."
Gong Yao leaned against the wall beside him. "Nothing much. Just wanted to come take a look. I happened to run into Bai Cha, who was coming over too, so we came together."
Li Qing was fairly sure he hadn't asked, "Why did you come with Bai Cha?"
Still, Bai Cha looked listless whenever he did anything other than acting. Whether it was staying behind yesterday to watch Yu Xiaohe's scene or making a special trip now to watch Meng Tian and He Li, both seemed a little out of character.
With his glasses concealing his gaze, Li Qing observed Bai Cha and noticed that Bai Cha kept looking his way too.
...More precisely, he sometimes looked at Gong Yao and sometimes at Li Qing.
It wasn't the sort of look someone gave the person beside their intended target in passing.
Li Qing pushed up his glasses and met Bai Cha's eyes again.
Bai Cha also realized that Li Qing was watching him.
He didn't avert his gaze. They stared at each other for a long while before Gong Yao's voice came from overhead. "Uh... do you two know each other?"
Bai Cha turned away.
Without shifting his gaze, Li Qing slowly shook his head.
Gong Yao nudged him with his shoulder. "Then why do you keep looking at him? I think I'm a little more handsome."
Li Qing: "..."
At that point, He Li was about to film the scene where he started the car and drove at Meng Tian.
Director Li shouted, "Where's the stagehand?" Li Qing immediately left Gong Yao to help move the equipment.
Just then, He Li and Meng Tian noticed Gong Yao's arrival too. They gathered around to greet him, so Gong Yao had to let the matter drop.
Bai Cha remained indifferent.
As Li Qing passed him, he finally spoke first. "Aren't you going over, Mr. Bai Cha?"
He looked toward Gong Yao.
"You want to go over there, don't you?"
Bai Cha's gaze sharpened in an instant.
Then he lowered his eyes again. "No, I don't."
"Oh," Li Qing said, offering nothing more as he carried the equipment over to Director Li.
He put the equipment down, then turned his head, only to find an enormous, deathly pale face pressed cheek to cheek with his.
-the King of Hell!
This guy had disappeared after returning from the hospital. Now that he had suddenly shown up on set, there could only be one explanation...
"That's right," the King of Hell said happily, circling Li Qing like a dog. "I've got another one for my performance quota today."
Li Qing slowly looked toward He Li, who was walking to the car.
He stepped aside and said quietly, "This one doesn't count toward your quota."
The corners of the King of Hell's mouth immediately drooped in displeasure. "Even if I'm not the one who kills him, he's someone I have to take away. Naturally, he counts toward my quota."
He Li was already sitting in the car, and filming began.
With a vicious expression, he stared at the glamorous Meng Tian at the other end of the garage and started the engine.
The car speakers suddenly crackled twice, then a girl's voice came through:
"My death was so horrible..."
"Why are you still alive... He Li!"
He Li's expression changed, and he instinctively moved to step on the accelerator-
"Wait!" Bai Cha suddenly shouted.
Everyone stopped what they were doing. Director Li looked at him in surprise. "What is it?"
Bai Cha looked a little pale. He took a deep breath. "Shouldn't we check the props again?"
Ordinarily, Director Li would certainly have mocked him for worrying over nothing.
But yesterday's Safety Air Cushion explosion was still fresh in his mind. After thinking for a moment, Director Li said, "Good point. He Li, get out first."
Then he looked around, his gaze settling on the nearest stagehand-
"Li Qing, go check it over. See if there's anything wrong with the props."
Before you continue