Directly opposite the health center's entrance was the registration area, with five glass windows labeled in red lettering for emergency care, regular registration, and so on. But the interior was dim, and beyond the windows was pitch-black, making it impossible to see inside.
No one wanted to investigate voluntarily, either... Anyone with half a brain could tell these were traps deliberately designed by the production team, with little mechanisms inside guaranteed to scare them.
The production team rather cruelly announced through the guests' earpieces and the voice-over, "Your first mission in exploring Lotus Town Health Center: successfully register at Lotus Town Health Center and obtain a registration slip."
Everyone: "..."
Since the director had spoken, the guests naturally had to play along.
Sha Chuan, who had been enthusiastic all along, volunteered to investigate, intending to establish a steady, reliable persona on the show and gain a wave of fans.
He was a little disgusted by the ash-covered window counter, but still pretended not to care and said enthusiastically, "Let me scout ahead for everyone!"
At that, Mu Xingchen immediately cupped his hands in salute. "Much appreciated, brother!"
A string of compliments for him naturally floated across the scrolling comments.
Holding his glow stick, Sha Chuan approached the pitch-black window. The camera operator followed, wanting to see how this unmanned window would process their registrations.
The area illuminated by the glow stick was pitifully small. Left with no other choice, Sha Chuan could only steel himself and stick it through the window.
The faint blue glow lit up the space beyond the window. Sha Chuan vaguely spotted a registration slip secured in midair inside and rejoiced. "That took no effort at all!"
Then he thought the production team's design was rather too simple.
He reached for the registration slip and tugged, but it would not come free.
Was it stuck?
Sha Chuan wondered impatiently, bending down to examine exactly how the thing inside was constructed. The camera lens followed his movements and pointed into the window.
He yanked hard, tearing the registration slip free, and unexpectedly found himself staring into a pair of swollen, bloodshot eyes filled with venom behind it.
That registration slip had actually been held in the mouth of a deathly pale ghostly face.
"Aah!!!!!!" Every hair on Sha Chuan's body stood on end, and he scrambled backward into the group.
The cameraman was startled too. The shot shook violently, and he backed away from the window, his heart still pounding.
"Wh-what is that?!" Sha Chuan shrieked.
Qi Gu stepped forward with an egg-yolk-flavored Long Nose King stick between his teeth. Crunching away, he bent into the same position as Sha Chuan and glanced inside, then said calmly, "Just a plastic dummy. Nothing else."
Thinking Qi Gu was deliberately embarrassing him, Sha Chuan forced himself forward on legs trembling like twisted ropes.
On closer inspection, it really was just a plastic dummy.
Sha Chuan's expression immediately soured. He felt he had made a complete fool of himself.
His resentment toward Qi Gu deepened as well. He felt Qi Gu must have deliberately acted calm to make his panic look worse.
[Holy shit, that prop! It's way too detailed. I seriously almost thought it was a real person!]
[Why do I feel like it is a real person... Those bloodshot eyes look too realistic.]
[Aaaaaah, I was sneaking a look during our weekly meeting and got so scared I threw my phone onto my desk... Thank god the company boss is my dad, or I'd be fired right now.]
[Qi Gu's pretty brave, huh? He's still so calm after that.]
[He's obviously pretending. He has to build that mystic persona, after all.]
[Why is he still eating? Does he seriously think he's here on vacation?]
[Just quietly saying, being able to eat in this setting, and enjoy it so much too, is an absolutely incredible level of chill.]
In the tent outside the health center, Song An knew there was something set up inside the window, but still got a little fright. He could not help saying to the props technician beside him, "Old Ke, where did you buy that dummy? It looks so real. If you went over budget, just tell me. I'll figure something out."
When the props technician Old Ke failed to answer for a long while, Song An turned around and saw that his face was deathly pale. "...Th-this place really does seem off. I personally arranged the pose of the dummy in the middle window. I remember perfectly well that I didn't bend it over with its face pointing straight at the window!"
Song An was startled too, but quickly reassured him. "Maybe someone else thought the placement was wrong and adjusted it. Didn't you take leave to go home yesterday?"
"Right, right. Someone else must have changed it themselves. I'll have to give them a proper talking-to later. Don't they know you can scare someone to death like that?" A little color finally returned to Old Ke's face.
The show continued. With Sha Chuan's example to warn them, nobody obediently looked inside anymore. They simply reached in and felt around, considering the job done once they grabbed a registration slip.
The other three finished, leaving only Vivian and Lin Hanzhi.
Wearing a long silk slip dress, Vivian stood to one side with her arms folded, looking rather unhappy.
Seeing her posture, Sha Chuan assumed she was cold.
Eager to curry favor with the wealthy woman, Sha Chuan scanned the room before his gaze settled on Lin Hanzhi, the only person wearing a long coat. He said warmly, "Hanzhi, Vivian seems a little cold. Could you lend her your coat for a while?"
"Sorry, I'm in poor health. I can't lend it to her." As Lin Hanzhi spoke, he coughed several more times in succession, looking so frail that he might cough himself unconscious at any moment.
Sha Chuan refused to give up. "You're a grown man. Surely your health is better than a woman's?"
Vivian came from a privileged background, and there was no shortage of people eager to please her.
But this was her first time meeting someone like Sha Chuan, who wanted to win her favor through someone else's generosity. As his words grew increasingly unreasonable, Vivian raised her voice a little and said sternly, "There's really no need. I'm not cold at all. I'm just a little scared of whatever's in there."
Rebuffed, Sha Chuan awkwardly cursed Vivian inwardly for being an ungrateful old woman, though his face remained wreathed in smiles.
Reading Vivian's face, Qi Gu said naturally, "Those things can't hurt a kind person like you, protected by great merit. If you're still worried, why not have a candy to help you relax?"
He had always respected people like her, and as he spoke, he offered Vivian a fruit candy.
Vivian did not believe someone as young as Qi Gu could truly be a master, but his words still put her somewhat at ease.
She took the candy and tore open the wrapper, then popped the plainly packaged, slightly melted candy into her mouth without the slightest distaste. Sweetness spread across her tongue, and it really did ease some of her anxiety.
"Then I'll give it a try."
As she spoke, she really did walk forward.
Sha Chuan's ingratiating offer of "Then I'll get it for you, Vivian" caught in his throat. Before he could say it, he could only swallow it back down reluctantly.
[Qi Gu's pretty emotionally intelligent.]
[He's just sucking up to a rich woman. Suddenly he's not acting all cold anymore.]
[Can you stop acting like Qi Gu's the only one trying to please Vivian? That guy called Sha Chuan is obviously much more eager.]
[Our Sha Chuan is being polite and taking the initiative to look after the ladies present, okay?]
[What if Qi Gu's just telling the truth? Vivian donates to charity all the time, giving millions or even tens of millions at a time. I believe him when he says she has merit.]
[Plenty of face-reading masters online have analyzed Vivian's face before, and they said pretty much the same things as Qi Gu. Maybe he saw those videos.]
[That makes sense. If Qi Gu really had any mystical abilities, how did he fail to predict his career would flop so hard it stuck to the pan?]
[My grandpa never tells his own fortune either. He says no matter how good a fortune-teller is, they can't accurately read their own fate, so there's no point trying.]
Sure enough, Vivian retrieved her registration slip without a hitch. Nothing happened from beginning to end.
Patting her chest, she let out a long sigh of relief, her face showing how thankful she was.
Only Lin Hanzhi remained. His already pale, fragile face looked even paler in the faint light. He raised his eyes to Qi Gu. "Master Qi, I'm a little scared of these things. Could I hold your hand while I complete this mission?"
Before you continue