Si Yan finally turned his gaze back to his face and stared for a few seconds without arguing.
An award-winning actor was bound to care about saving face. Jiang Nuo could totally understand.
He patted Si Yan on the shoulder. "It's okay. I can protect you."
And collect a little spiritual energy as a protection fee while he was at it!
Si Yan glanced sideways at the hand on his shoulder, then followed the arm up to Jiang Nuo's face and nodded with an inexplicable docility.
"Mm."
Having snagged some spiritual energy, Jiang Nuo was very satisfied and narrowed his eyes in pleasure, though the amount he could absorb right now was very small.
He did at least remember the cameras and soon withdrew his hand.
The warmth on his shoulder, something he had not felt in so long, left Si Yan dazed for quite a while.
Meanwhile, in the live comments.
[Wait... can someone tell me, are these two close???]
[Si Yan, what are you doing!! I won't allow you to be friends with that lunatic Jiang Nuo!]
[This is ridiculous, but looking at Jiang Nuo's face... fine, Si Yan, as long as you're happy.]
[The point is, Jiang Nuo said Si Yan was scared, and he actually admitted it! Si Yan, you watch horror movies on livestream without batting an eye!]
"Found it! The key to the door is here!"
The guests had rummaged around the room, clearly inexperienced on their first time on a variety show like this. In the end, it was the young woman, Yang Xiaoxiao, who found the key, hidden inside the lining of one of the old paintings.
Delighted, she was about to unlock the door when Shi Lezhi casually took it from her.
"I'll open it. Who knows, there might be something scary behind the door."
"Okay, okay, you're right."
Yang Xiaoxiao suspected nothing. Holding her candle, she clung to Xu Jing's arm again. She really was scared!
"This must be some kind of clue. Otherwise, how could it be so well preserved in such a dirty cabinet?"
Tian Dong took out the red bridal veil he had found in the cabinet and shook it. There was not a speck of dust.
He immediately decided it must have something to do with the later stages.
Such intense resentment.
Jiang Nuo's brow twitched, and he immediately turned to Shi Lezhi, who was opening the door.
Sure enough, the yin gate, originally less prominent than the yang gate, instantly expanded, pushing the yang gate out of its place.
As the lock turned, the yin gate opened, and the yang gate vanished completely.
"Well, well."
Jiang Nuo marveled, "Nicely done."
Yun Kang gave Jiang Nuo a strange look, instinctively feeling that he was not praising Shi Lezhi for opening the door.
"Are you really taking that veil with you?" Jiang Nuo looked at Tian Dong with a faint, ambiguous smile, as though reminding him of something.
"Of course I am! What if it's useful?"
Tian Dong paid him no attention at all. He still remembered their old grudges.
Everyone continued farther inside. The moment they entered the next room, they felt an unusual chill, even across their shoulders, as though the temperature had dropped considerably.
Stranger still were the candles in everyone's hands.
There was clearly no wind in the room, yet the flames kept dancing, as though something were blowing on them.
They continued examining the room by candlelight.
"That's weird. Why does this red veil look brighter?"
Puzzled, Tian Dong looked it over several more times and only gave up when he could find nothing unusual.
"Si Yan, do you know why?"
He asked Si Yan, who stood nearby, completely ignoring Jiang Nuo between them. This was a livestream, after all, and sharing the frame with Si Yan would get people talking!
Si Yan glanced at the red veil in his hand and silently edged another half step toward Jiang Nuo.
Jiang Nuo had been looking up, examining the room. Drawn by that movement, he saw Tian Dong holding a red veil toward Si Yan, his gaze eager.
He drew a deep breath, his eyes flitting between Si Yan and Tian Dong with a hunger for gossip.
Si Yan kept feeling that this man was thinking something very strange and preemptively explained, "He's scaring me."
Oh, so that was it.
Jiang Nuo shielded Si Yan behind him and took the opportunity to offer Tian Dong a friendly rebuke.
"Si Yan's already this scared. Why are you still frightening him?"
Tian Dong: "..." What exactly was scary about me! That's slander!
"I wasn't trying to scare Si Yan. You've misunderstood."
He forced a smile and stopped asking for trouble.
Sob, sob, sob...
Sob, sob...
Tian Dong abruptly raised his head and looked left and right, his voice tightening with fear.
"What's that sound?"
He spoke rather loudly, drawing everyone's attention.
Yun Kang said, "Tian Dong, what did you say? What sound?"
"Didn't you hear it?"
Tian Dong dug at his ear and tilted his head, listening carefully.
Sob, sob, sob...
"It's a woman crying! Could it be a clue the production team set up?"
As though seeking agreement, he looked at each of their faces, only to find blank confusion.
"What do you mean..." Tian Dong's smile froze on his face. "Are you trying to scare me on purpose?"
"But I really didn't hear anything. You're the one who needs to stop scaring us..."
Yang Xiaoxiao was utterly unnerved. Her candle-holding hand began to tremble, and, afraid she would shake the flame out, she could only take out her phone for light.
The scene had the live comments on edge, too.
What does this mean? What's Tian Dong doing?
What the hell is Tian Dong playing at? If someone were really crying, we'd hear it too...
Could Tian Dong be so scared he's hallucinating?
Just then, something suddenly happened.
"Ah!"
Xu Jing, standing beside the bed, suddenly screamed. The others immediately turned toward the sound.
The dust-covered curtains around the bed became clean in an instant, stirring as though a breeze were blowing.
In the dim room, the curtains drifted, and two rows of candles beside the bed flared to life. Their view was no longer obstructed, but no one felt the slightest joy.
Because a figure had appeared behind the curtains.
A graceful form, a lovely silhouette, eerily still.
"Sob, sob, sob..."
This time, everyone heard the crying.
"Oh my god... is that an NPC? How did they pop out like that?"
Yang Xiaoxiao's voice trembled, her words quavering.
Jiang Nuo helpfully reminded him, "Hold on to that veil. Don't drop it."
His nerves stretched to the limit, Tian Dong also knew something was wrong, but subconsciously, he still felt it was all a production-team trick.
He tried shaking the red veil, but instead of listening to Jiang Nuo, he set it on the table with trembling hands and stopped holding it.
Sure enough, the crying stopped instantly.
A faint sigh receded into the distance, and the shadow behind the curtains vanished too.
But a pair of embroidered shoes had appeared beside the bed.
Candlelight flickered in the dim room as everyone watched the embroidered shoes appear before their eyes, their toes pointing toward the bed, mandarin ducks embroidered on their dark red uppers.
Gulp.
Tian Dong swallowed, the sound especially clear in the deathly silent room.
"Is... is this a mechanism too?"
Yun Kang's face twitched. He was so nervous his stomach hurt a little. "I don't know."
Jiang Nuo said, "We're done for."
Mischief glinted in his eyes, as though he had foreseen something.
Si Yan glanced at the wall behind the curtains, then looked at Jiang Nuo and silently edged closer to him again.