What did he need strength for? Fighting ghosts?

In broad daylight, there were naturally no lights on in the single-story house. The poorly ventilated space was dim.

The furnishings inside were indistinct. Only the motionless metal cabinet stood out, the eeriness seeping from its mottled colors enough to send chills down one's spine.

The older woman froze at the question and turned to look back, her deep wrinkles bunching together. She seemed equally bewildered.

"Huh, I just told my old man last night not to move that metal cabinet. How come it's somewhere else today?"

"If you hadn't said anything, I really wouldn't have noticed."

Jian Ran's pupils contracted slightly. "Ma'am, that thing's awfully old. Why are you still keeping it at home?"

Before he finished speaking, Yu Fengyi squeezed over. "That metal cabinet-could it be the one you just described, the one that woman was locked in?"

The older woman bristled at that. "Young man, how can you say that?! This was part of my mother's dowry. How could it be something so unlucky?"

"Go, go, go. Get out of here."

"You're not welcome here!"

Her temper flared, and she picked up a broom to drive them out.

Yu Fengyi had never seen a rural woman turn on someone like this. He opened his mouth to explain, only to get a mouthful of dust.

There was no way to stay under these circumstances. Jian Ran pressed his lips together, said nothing more, and headed out of the yard.

Lu Yanting followed close behind.

The three of them and the camera had barely reached the other side of the yard when they heard the copper gate slam shut.

Yu Fengyi's eyebrow twitched. "What a temper. One spark and she blows up? All I did was ask one extra question."

Jian Ran glared at him. "You really are cut from the same cloth as Ji Yuanming."

"Who are you insulting?!" Ji Yuanming, who had waited so long he was practically sizzling in the sun, demanded indignantly.

Yu Fengyi's face fell at once. "Being cut from the same cloth as me is an insult to you? Why don't you look in a mirror and see what you're like?"

"Pah! Whatever I'm like, I'm still better than you!" Already irritated by the wait, Ji Yuanming was naturally eager when someone came looking for an argument.

And so, before their newly formed alliance had even established a firm foundation, it began to totter.

Big names bickering was a rare sight. Naturally, the camera wouldn't miss any opportunity to boost traffic and swiftly turned toward them.

It took no notice at all that the other two guests had already set off, walking side by side toward the Mountain Villa.

As the clamor gradually faded, a pair of eyes appeared through a gap in the fence, staring fixedly in the direction they had left.

After walking with Jian Ran for a while, Lu Yanting abruptly spoke, his voice low. "Do you think that woman was credible?"

At his words, Jian Ran curled his lips and looked over with sly eyes. "What, Emperor Lu, you think that story was made up?"

"Not entirely." Lu Yanting met his gaze without the slightest hesitation, his eyes pitch-black. "Half true, half false."

His gaze was so searing that Jian Ran actually felt a little embarrassed. He turned his face away awkwardly and cleared his throat twice. "Then why do you think he lied to us?"

"I don't know." Lu Yanting lowered his gaze, fixing it on the collarbone half-visible beneath Jian Ran's shirt, where a red mole glowed vividly. "Perhaps we could ask Li Zongsheng."

"That guy's a total coward." Jian Ran scoffed. "The moment she came out, he vanished."

Suddenly, his expression turned cautious and serious, and he said, enunciating every word, "But there's one thing we can be sure of."

"That bastard really is a scumbag!"

Lu Yanting: "..."

Before sunset, the four of them and the camera returned to the Mountain Villa.

Seeing Jian Ran enter the foyer, Li Yuan hurried over. "Jian Ran, how did it go? Find anything? Did you do any promotion?"

"Ask President Yu whether we found anything." Jian Ran curled his lip and spoke sarcastically, then stepped around Li Yuan, strode to the sofa, and promptly sprawled limply across it.

Du Yunmeng seized her chance to run over and lowered her voice. "Jian Ran, I hurried and transferred the money while there was a signal."

"Did you see it? Could you accept it?"

The instant Jian Ran heard "transferred the money," his eyes lit up. All the resentment he had accumulated vanished, and he hurriedly pulled out his phone. "Oh, when was that? I didn't even notice."

As he spoke, his fingers swiftly opened WeChat, and he accepted the payment with a beaming smile. "Just wait. I'll definitely have it drawn for you before the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month."

"Okay!" Du Yunmeng replied obediently.

Yang Ruoxi caught sight of this from the kitchen and snorted. "Look at that bootlicker. If she's that scared, she shouldn't have come in the first place!"

"Don't you think?"

She directed the question at Shen Jiafei.

He shrank back, squeezing his voice out of his throat. "Honestly, I'd like to ask Jian Ran to draw one for me too, just in case..."

Before their whispered conversation ended, it suddenly went dark outside.

Screams instantly rang through the Mountain Villa.

Apart from the busy staff, Yang Ruoxi screamed the loudest.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck-"

"What's happening?!"

Although the lights soon came on in the Mountain Villa, they did nothing to dispel the terror.

After all, it was only four thirty in the afternoon, and the sun hadn't fully set, yet beyond the windows lay pitch darkness, as though a curtain had shrouded everything. Nothing could be seen.

Li Yuan immediately recalled Jian Ran's "prophecy" before he left that morning-if they didn't leave now, they might not be able to leave at all.

Had... had they really been sealed in?!

Once the lights came on, the screams stopped abruptly.

The Mountain Villa's lobby was spacious and open, yet every tense breath could be heard clearly.

Only Jian Ran slowly stood up. "What are you standing around for?"

"Aren't we having dinner?"

"Let's eat, let's eat."

"We need full stomachs to have any strength."

Yang Ruoxi badly wanted to snap, "At a time like this, you're still thinking about eating?"

But when she heard the latter part, her legs involuntarily went weak again.

What did he need strength for?

Fighting ghosts?

But the fear that gripped her left her unable to make another sound.

Li Yuan had already started trying to contact the director. His phone showed full reception, but his calls wouldn't go through at all.

"The livestream! Right! We're still livestreaming!" He ran over to the cameraman, agitated, seemingly finally realizing the severity of the situation. "Does the livestream have a signal?"

"Why don't we ask..."

The fans for help?

Before Li Yuan could even finish, an eerie sobbing came from upstairs.

Intermittent at first, it gradually grew clearer, teasing every fragile nerve.

"I waited for you to marry me? I waited so long? Why didn't you come?"

The woman sobbed, her desolate, miserable voice so piercing it seemed capable of passing through flesh and bone to strike the heart directly.

Before anyone could react, the sobbing voice turned shrill and crazed.

"You all want to hurt me!"

"Every last one of you wants to hurt me!"

"Die!"

"All of you, die!"

"None of you are getting away-"

Before that eardrum-piercing voice faded, the bright light bulbs in the lobby shattered.

Sparks flew in all directions, falling in an instant.

Before their surroundings plunged into darkness, a figure leaped into the air, tracing a beautiful arc that the camera caught perfectly.

A familiar, elegant, restrained voice rang out at the same time.

"Turn that fucking camera off!"