With the lights on, everyone was examining the furnishings and puzzles in the room, so no one noticed what was happening over here.
Si Yan completely ignored the camera pointed at him, nestling in Jiang Nuo's arms in a tight embrace before lifting his gaze to meet Jiang Nuo's eyes.
His lips curved upward, delight showing on his exquisite, handsome face.
"The candy was very sweet."
The words were spoken almost against his ear.
Jiang Nuo stroked his ear gently, placing his other hand against his neck to check. Only after confirming there would be no major problems did he relax.
"All right, get up."
"...Oh."
Si Yan's expression drooped. He straightened, looking weak again, and sank back into dejection.
Jiang Nuo: "..."
What, was he some kind of addictive drug?
And this man kept shooting him pitiful glances, moisture shimmering in his phoenix eyes, his long lashes trembling slightly as though he were secretly flirting.
He turned to examine the room, deliberately ignoring that gaze.
"It's so big in here, and the furnishings are really simple. It feels like someone really impressive lived here."
Yang Xiaoxiao marveled, looking up and around. Suddenly, surprise filled her eyes, and she pointed toward the dark corner at the very back.
"Brother Jiang! There's a... memorial portrait over there?!"
Everyone looked over at her cry.
There were two lights in this room. In theory, they should have illuminated every corner, yet a dark corner had formed right where their light overlapped.
A memorial portrait hung there.
It never saw sunlight, shrouded in utter gloom.
Jiang Nuo gazed at the black-and-white framed portrait from a distance, studying the old man inside it.
This texture... was a little strange.
He walked toward the dark corner, then suddenly stepped on something. Moving his foot aside, he looked down and raised an eyebrow slightly.
A copper coin.
When he looked up again, he found that the copper coin lay precisely where the old man in the portrait was looking, without the slightest deviation.
Jiang Nuo stamped his foot to feel beneath it, then beckoned to the others behind him.
"Hey, friends, try prying up this tile."
"I'll do it!"
Chu Xiu rushed over with a swish of her twin ponytails and rolled up her cute puff sleeves. Her arms were actually firmly muscled and looked very strong.
She crouched halfway down, found leverage with both palms, and heaved upward.
Lin Yu and Yang Xiaoxiao helped from beside her, but made very little difference. Tian Dong still looked dazed, wishing he could stand a hundred thousand miles away from Jiang Nuo.
As for Si Yan...
He glanced at the others straining away, lowered his gaze to his own thin arms and legs, and decisively gave up.
He couldn't endure that kind of hardship.
He stepped forward to examine the memorial portrait with Jiang Nuo.
"What are you looking at?" he asked.
Jiang Nuo rubbed his chin and replied, "Don't you think this thing's texture looks unlike ordinary cloth or paper?"
Si Yan could see no difference, but he could see the black energy lingering over it. He blinked, thought for a moment, and ventured a bold guess.
"Could it be human skin?"
"Yes, it looks very much like human skin."
Jiang Nuo agreed, narrowing his eyes leisurely at Si Yan. "You know quite a lot, Best Actor Si."
There it was again-that sense of a hidden probe.
Si Yan's lips turned down slightly, a hint of red showing in their cold pallor. He still looked weak.
"You said it wasn't ordinary, and this place is so frightening. That was all I could think of."
He reached out, took Jiang Nuo's hand, and shook it gently.
"You're always testing me."
He was unhappy.
Jiang Nuo curled his lips, the corners of his eyes curving as he lifted his free hand to Si Yan's cheek and rubbed it gently in reassurance.
"Aw, don't be upset. I was only asking a couple of questions."
He rather enjoyed seeing Si Yan show weakness like this.
So sweet and so beautiful, like a porcelain doll.
The two camera operators silently exchanged a glance.
Burp.
I can't take it anymore... (ventilator) so sweet... collapses
This is an imperial banquet! This servant wouldn't dare eat it! (Devours it!)
Why, why?! Why is Si Yan such a delicate little doll around Jiang Nuo?! Where's his top energy?!
I vaguely remember Si Yan being called the entertainment industry's most beautiful top... oh my god.
Aaaah?! Did none of you notice what Jiang Nuo said?! The paper in that memorial portrait is human skin! That's terrifying!
Taking down the frame, Jiang Nuo studied the old man in the photograph again. Just then, Yang Xiaoxiao exclaimed behind him.
"Xiuxiu, you're amazing!"
Jiang Nuo looked over and suddenly cried sharply, "Don't touch anything inside!"
But it was too late. Chu Xiu had already instinctively reached in and picked up the photograph from the hidden compartment.
Startled by Jiang Nuo's words, she stiffly raised her head. "I... I... can't move."
The moment she finished speaking, she jerked her head up and glared, her pupils abruptly turning red. Her face twisted hideously, and she rose onto her tiptoes, her body hanging suspended.
She threatened Jiang Nuo.
"Get out! Get out of here..."
Her voice had actually become that of a decrepit old man!
Yang Xiaoxiao stumbled backward in fright. Even with no knowledge of spirits or ghosts, she knew this might be possession.
Lin Yu hurried aside as well, astonishment in his eyes.
Everything that had happened today had truly overturned his understanding.
Jiang Nuo's expression cooled slightly, his voice slow. "You're the one who needs to get out of her body."
With that, he moved in a flash.
A talisman appeared between his fingertips. A vajra was drawn on it, surrounded by burning flames, but there was no Three Pure Ones emblem.
Within a few exchanges, the talisman was pressed between Chu Xiu's brows. Jiang Nuo held two fingers above that spot and pressed his other hand against her shoulder, stabilizing her three yang energies.
"Vajra, destroy evil! All ghosts, scatter!"
Chu Xiu's raised hands gradually dropped, and her heels settled firmly on the floor. A ghost drifted out through the crown of her head-the very old man from the framed portrait.
He wore a tattered Zhongshan suit, with a large hole over his heart and half his face rotted away. Resentment radiated from his clouded eyes as his body hung suspended, his arms raised, and he floated upward.
He stared coldly at everyone below, seeming ready to swoop down at any moment.
"Get out!"
At that moment, several people watching the livestream took screenshots and sent pictures of the talisman to a group chat, where a heated discussion broke out.
Jiang Nuo picked up the photograph. This was the real memorial portrait, while the one on the wall... was probably stitched together from this old man's corpse.
What kind of bitter blood feud was this?
"A grandfather's resentment. Supposedly, the grandfather deliberately sought out a folk remedy: pour hot water over the head and peel off the scalp intact, then wrap the heart in human skin and eat it raw to cure a strange illness. The poor child died just like that at the hands of his own family."
Tian Dong suddenly read out a passage. The cardstock in his hand was clearly a clue planted by the production team.
Alarm stirred in Jiang Nuo's heart. He whipped his head around and snapped, "Do you never learn?!"
"What...?! Aaaah-"
Tian Dong turned, only to be hoisted up by black energy and left hanging in midair, his entire body rigid.
Slowly turning his head, he found himself facing the old man's vicious ghostly face.
"Save me!! Aaaah, save me!"
Jiang Nuo darted forward, pushing off to leap upward. A red cord shot from his sleeve, flashing with a biting cold gleam as it flew straight toward the old ghost.
The old ghost had wised up and grabbed Tian Dong to shield himself. The red cord lashed Tian Dong twice, and he howled in agony as though burned by fire.
Jiang Nuo raised his hand to control it, his fingers trembling, while his other hand pinched a talisman and flung it out. Guided by the red cord, it flew unerringly toward the old ghost.
This time, the old ghost had nowhere to dodge. He tossed Tian Dong aside and met it head-on, his sinister ghost energy trying to tear the talisman apart.
"Refining fire, burn the body! Destroy the wandering ghost!"
At the crucial moment, Jiang Nuo recited the incantation, and the talisman stuck firmly between the old ghost's brows.
"Hhh..."