"Just go over there. You'll know once you do."
Jiang Nuo offered no explanation. He let go and gave him a nudge, his tone quite reasonable.
His instincts told him this was nothing good.
But Si Yan obediently went over anyway. As soon as he reached the doorframe, he felt an intense, chilling yin energy wash over him. He shivered from the cold, thinking Jiang Nuo was playing a prank on him.
He was just about to give him a reproachful look when he sensed another presence.
He lowered his eyes slightly and focused on sensing it.
"What are you two... doing?"
Chu Xiu asked hesitantly.
It really felt as if they were doing something important!
Lin Yu said disapprovingly, "Jiang Nuo, you're not making Si Yan do something dangerous, are you?"
He actually looked a little anxious.
Jiang Nuo gave him a strange look. "You really do like meddling in other people's business."
As if something had occurred to him, a glint of interest crossed his eyes. "I've met someone like you before."
Lin Yu frowned, not understanding what he meant.
Yang Xiaoxiao eagerly chimed in, "And then what happened, Brother Jiang?"
"Then his excessive kindness and warmheartedness got him killed."
Jiang Nuo spread his hands and swayed them. "He ended up in pieces that looked pretty much like noodles."
His tone was utterly calm.
Everyone: "..."
What a psycho! He really could lie without missing a beat!
Ugh, is this guy sick in the head? If something that gruesome had happened, it would've been reported ages ago.
But... since when had Jiang Nuo's acting... gotten this good?
Lin Yu also assumed Jiang Nuo was trying to scare him. He curved his lips into a gentle smile, then looked away dejectedly.
His worried gaze, however, remained fixed on Si Yan.
Si Yan opened his eyes just then. Without even looking at Lin Yu, who had already come up beside him, he hurried straight toward Jiang Nuo, his voice full of grievance.
"I'm so cold."
Jiang Nuo let him hold his arm. "Well? What did you sense?"
"There are... two inexplicable chilly presences fighting in this room."
Mindful of the others present and unable to expose his secret, Si Yan kept his explanation vague.
He was supposed to know nothing in the first place, anyway.
"Just as I thought."
Through their joined hands, Jiang Nuo drew some spiritual energy over. "Thanks for your hard work, Comrade Si Yan."
Comrade Si Yan pressed his lips together and moved closer to the source of warmth, the tips of his ears reddening further.
Lin Yu, who had been completely ignored: "..."
He clenched his fists, but kept a gentle smile on his face, maintaining perfect control over his expression.
Yang Xiaoxiao, the expert clue-finder, raised her hand again.
"There's a clue here."
She pointed at the wooden box suspended from a ceiling beam. "But it's too high. I can't reach it."
Lin Yu looked around the room and picked up a stand that resembled a candlestick. "Let me do it. Xiaoxiao, stand back. It'll be dangerous when it falls."
Such a gentleman. The bullet comments erupted in another wave of excitement.
Yang Xiaoxiao promptly ducked behind Jiang Nuo and Si Yan.
Tian Dong looked woodenly at the box, then turned toward Jiang Nuo, no longer able to conceal the venom in his eyes.
Lin Yu opened the wooden box. Sure enough, it contained clues planted by the production team.
"There's a medical record, along with correspondence between the father and a distant relative."
Everyone gathered around to look. They discovered that the father had contracted a strange illness, one with almost no precedent at the time, and therefore no medicine that could cure it.
His body had rapidly wasted away, his cheeks had become deeply sunken, his entire body was frighteningly cold, and he had turned an ashen gray.
Like a corpse that could still breathe.
Unwilling to become a walking corpse, the father had contacted a distant relative, who told him of a peculiar method.
Dietary nourishment.
But this diet required his children's... hearts and brain matter.
Reading this, Yang Xiaoxiao exclaimed, "Oh my God!"
"How vicious."
Tian Dong gritted his teeth, using this to vent.
A strange illness...
Jiang Nuo stared at that description for a long moment. It seemed more like possession by a resentful yin spirit that had siphoned away most of his yang energy, turning him into a half-yin corpse.
As for a strange illness that could only be treated by eating people, that was unheard of.
Si Yan suddenly ducked behind Jiang Nuo, staring warily at the wall behind Tian Dong.
His movement made everyone turn to look.
But as Tian Dong prepared to turn, something seized his shoulders and hoisted him into the air.
Only then did everyone clearly see what had appeared from behind the wall.
A vengeful ghost wearing a Zhongshan suit.
He was emaciated, his cheeks deeply sunken. His form was unstable, flickering in and out of sight, but the gaze he fixed on Tian Dong was filled with utter resentment, and sinister yin energy radiated from him.
Someone in the bullet comments immediately recognized him.
I did my research!! This is what the family's father looked like in the pictures online!
Aaaaaah, so it's real, right!!!! Jiang Nuo, hurry up and save him!
Lol. When something happens, it's "Jiang Nuo, save him." When nothing's happening, it's "Jiang Nuo, go die." You people are hilarious... ＾ｖ＾
"Pitiful... is he pitiful?"
The vengeful ghost's fingers were about to pierce Tian Dong's shoulders. They could even faintly hear the corrosive hiss of yin energy eating through his skin.
"Is he pitiful? Huh?"
Tian Dong was in agony and had no idea what the ghost was talking about. Through his daze, he saw the others watching coldly from the sidelines, and his resentment reached its peak.
With strength that came from who knew where, he raised a hand and pointed at Jiang Nuo, practically roaring.
"Aren't you... an evil ghost?! Go kill him! Go kill him!"
Why did they all have to hurt him?! Why?!
Everyone heard those words.
His cameraman did not dare approach at all and could only hide beside Jiang Nuo, trembling. After what Tian Dong had said, he did not dare ask Jiang Nuo for help either.
Cursing inwardly, the cameraman kept his mouth shut.
Horrified by the sight, Lin Yu turned to Jiang Nuo and said urgently, "Jiang Nuo! Aren't you going to save him?!"
Jiang Nuo yawned, amused. "He wants to make me his scapegoat. I'm not saving him."
He said it with complete confidence.
Si Yan nodded in firm agreement, watching the agonized Tian Dong with cold eyes.
Off camera, Chen Xianyu was practically frantic.
How could this troublemaker be so petty?!
That was a human life!
If Tian Dong really died in there, he wouldn't escape responsibility either! The whole production team would be in trouble!
Thinking of Shi Lezhi, who was still unconscious in the hospital, he slapped his bald head and felt utterly terrible.
He was even beginning to wonder whether they should really keep making this show.
One life per episode. Who could take that...?
Seeing that the ghost was about to pierce right through Tian Dong's shoulders, Jiang Nuo remembered they were still livestreaming. He had better avoid having someone call the police again and getting charged with refusing to save someone in mortal danger.
Only then did Jiang Nuo amble forward. Studying the ghost's appearance, he said lightly, "You were afflicted with yin energy while alive. Presumably, a lesser ghost was feeding on your vital essence, leaving you deficient in yang energy. It wasn't a strange illness."
"So the dietary nourishment was a lie, and so was the claim that you maliciously harmed your children. It was all just rumor."
After he finished, the ghost really did slowly release Tian Dong, letting him fall, and turned toward Jiang Nuo.
"The truth... find the truth."
Jiang Nuo lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then nodded just before the ghost's patience ran out.
"All right. I'll help you find the truth."
Only then was the ghost satisfied, gradually disappearing back into the wall.