Meng Tian was dead. She had been electrocuted.
Although danger had plagued the production ever since filming began, when a lead actress actually died, everyone felt as though they were dreaming.
A nightmare.
At that moment, at one in the morning, the director and all the actors sat in the hotel conference room without saying a word.
The findings of the accident investigation had just reached the crew.
The crew had prepared a dummy electrical outlet in advance, one that was not connected to the power.
But that morning, other electrical problems had cropped up in the apartment where they were filming. When an electrician came to make repairs, he mistook the dummy plug for part of the faulty circuit and "fixed" it along with everything else.
As for the voltage tester... it happened to break at precisely that moment. And so everyone had watched Meng Tian walk beneath the water heater whose power cable had deliberately been loosened.
The assistant director lowered his voice. "There are reporters everywhere outside now. Meng Tian was too famous. We can't cover this up..."
Bang-
Gong Yao slammed his water glass onto the table and stared at the assistant director in disbelief. "Cover it up? So many people have died, and you're still thinking about how to cover it up?"
The director looked at him darkly. "What else are we supposed to do? Do you know how much we'll lose if we can't keep filming this movie? Do you know how much these scandals will affect us... affect you?"
"Exactly, Mr. Gong Yao. Not everyone has fame and fortune like you. You should know that if minor actors like us get mixed up in someone's death, our careers are over!"
That came from Bai Cha's assistant.
Bai Cha himself remained expressionless, as though neither a human life nor a stain on his own reputation could stir him in the slightest.
None of the actors spoke. They waited for their assistants or managers to negotiate for them.
An Ya watched the bustling crowd outside the window, a look of indifference in her impeccably made-up eyes.
Tao Lele anxiously picked at his fingers, looking from Gong Yao to the director and back, clearly unable to make up his mind.
Yu Xiaohe's mind, meanwhile, had gone completely blank.
When Meng Tian died, she had been standing on the box opposite the bathtub.
Witnessing someone die, while being only a step away from death herself, was enough to push an ordinary person to the brink of a breakdown.
On set, she had been almost scared out of her wits. Only when she saw Li Qing had she inexplicably calmed down, following him around in a daze.
Li Qing sat quietly beside Yu Xiaohe, like a ghost who did not exist. Almost no one noticed him.
In the next seat over, the King of Hell sat upright in a chair like a human, casually swinging a glowing white shadow back and forth-
-allowing Meng Tian, in ghost form, to listen in on the argument as well.
It was not until four in the morning, after Tao Lele had spent more than half an hour coaxing and pestering the movie's biggest investor-his father-that the investor finally made the call to suspend filming.
Everyone parted on bad terms.
They all hurried to pack their things and leave the hotel, as though staying a second longer would let the bad luck rub off on them.
Li Qing stood at the lounge entrance, watching the crew leave one after another.
An Ya's and Tao Lele's cars had already left.
Next, Bai Cha emerged, fully covered up.
His steps faltered when he saw Li Qing.
Li Qing met the eyes behind his sunglasses for a second, then spoke first. "Leaving already? I thought you'd stay."
Bai Cha sneered. "Stay for what? I've been dreaming of getting out of this godforsaken place!"
"Then why didn't you leave after you finished filming your scenes?"
Bai Cha did not answer. The sound of a suitcase came from behind him. He glanced back, looked at Li Qing again, pulled up his mask, and hurried away.
Gong Yao and Yu Xiaohe came next.
Yu Xiaohe was still very pale. Seeing Li Qing, she visibly froze and started toward him, only for her assistant to stop her.
As though he had not noticed the assistant's wariness, Li Qing asked Yu Xiaohe, "Feeling better?"
Yu Xiaohe nodded. "Chen said she's booked me an appointment with a therapist."
Gong Yao asked with concern, "Would you like me to go with you?"
Both their assistants were startled. "Mr. Gong Yao, that won't be necessary!"
Yu Xiaohe also took a step back. Rather than welcoming Gong Yao's gentle manner, she seemed desperate to avoid it and immediately shook her head.
"I'm leaving," she said softly, looking up at Li Qing. "About that matter... I haven't made up my mind yet. Maybe next time, if there is a next time..."
Li Qing nodded and softly said, "All right."
Only then did Yu Xiaohe finally breathe a sigh of relief and leave with her assistant.
Li Qing turned to Gong Yao, who had not left with them.
Gong Yao braced a hand against the doorframe and looked down at him.
With everything that had happened on set, Gong Yao's usual smile was gone. He asked seriously, "Are you going home too? Want me to drive you to the airport?"
Li Qing shook his head. "No, thank you."
"..." Gong Yao was silent for a while. Only when his assistant urged him from behind did he speak again. "What Yu Xiaohe just said..."
"It's a secret." Li Qing had no intention of telling Gong Yao about Yu Xiaohe's past.
"Oh," Gong Yao said, lowering his eyes. Then he forced a relaxed expression onto his face. "All right. Whatever it is, I wish you success. I'm off!"
As Gong Yao walked out of the hotel, the last actor was gone.
Li Qing looked in the direction Gong Yao had left, then at the feeds from the five remaining livestreams, and found himself at a rare loss.
At some point, the King of Hell had appeared beside him, "standing" shoulder to shoulder with him.
Li Qing asked, "Do you have any more targets to meet after this?"
The King of Hell said blankly, "I don't know either."
Li Qing: "..."
This was the first time he had seen all the players leave halfway through a dungeon instance.
Li Qing checked the dungeon instance information again:
[Dungeon instance name: B0021-The King of Hell Is Here] [Dungeon instance status: In progress (8/14)] [Player clearance condition: Complete the 14-day film shoot.] [Participating players: (6/6)]
...The data looked perfectly normal.
In that case, the dungeon instance must have some way of bringing the players back to finish filming.
At that thought, Li Qing felt a little more reassured.
Unlike the other players, Li Qing did not have an identity assigned by the dungeon instance.
To put it plainly, he was an outsider through and through, with nowhere to return to. So he simply stayed at the hotel, ready to resume work at any time.
As for the remaining wait...
It was a rare stretch of leisure outside work.
Li Qing tried every restaurant downstairs in turn. For the first time, he felt that fieldwork was truly wonderful.
There were also other things to pass the time, such as Gong Yao's movies in this world.
After his experience with filming, Li Qing could more or less understand why Zhang Qin and Miaomiao were so enthusiastic about video entertainment.
It really was rather interesting.
Just as Gong Yao had said, he had starred in many idol dramas. Accustomed to all kinds of bloody scenes, Li Qing put on an idol drama for a change of pace, only to feel as though his CPU had overloaded.
Wait, why was the male lead acting like that? Why was the female lead acting like this? Did neither of them have a mouth?
And Gong Yao as the male lead... although he looked exactly like the Gong Yao Li Qing knew, Li Qing could not shake the feeling that they were two different people.
It seemed that the dungeon instance's simulation of the players' pasts could only imitate their appearances and some of their habits.
No wonder Yu Xiaohe was so conflicted.
Just as Li Qing was studying an idol drama with an expressionless face while rapidly eating his third plate of dessert, an urgent message came rushing into his system.
[[Critical] Urgent!!!!!]
Li Qing: "?"
He opened the message.
[Manual monitoring has detected an emergency in dungeon instance B0021 (The King of Hell Is Here). Players have moved beyond the scope of the dungeon instance's script. Administrator S-A9B08F013, please assist immediately in resolving the dungeon instance's issue and bringing the plot back on track!]
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