The guests, who had been waiting in place, afraid to wander off, and everyone watching the livestream could only watch as the two emerged hand in hand.
Jiang Nuo looked delighted, with an inexplicably satiated air.
Si Yan still had his head slightly lowered. Though his expression was cold, the tips of his ears were noticeably red. There was no telling how his wound was doing.
Yang Xiaoxiao: "...Wow."
One Ink fan heading for the rooftop!
I need to go downstairs. Not taking the elevator or the stairs...
Yet however unwilling the Ink fans were, they could do nothing to stop Si Yan from wanting to get close to Jiang Nuo.
This was Si Yan, who never allowed anyone to promote a CP with him! Where was that aloof, untouchable dignity of yours? Why did you turn so... bashful whenever you saw Jiang Nuo?!
I finally understand why Jiang Nuo called Si Yan cute...
I'm falling apart... Si Yan's iron tree finally blooms, and it blooms for someone the whole internet hates. Ink fans' lives matter too!
Si Yan's manager, who had been closely following developments, also fell silent.
Could Si Yan have ignored that wretched constitution of his and wanted to join this variety show for the first time ever because of this celebrity?
After all, with how familiar they were, they hardly seemed like people who had just met.
"Go dig up everything on Jiang Nuo and email it to me."
"Yes, Sister Hong."
The assistant immediately got to work.
With his good mood restored, Jiang Nuo continued leading the guests along the winding way.
As they walked, another red-brick wall suddenly appeared ahead.
Even stranger, a wedding couplet was pasted on it.
Yun Kang knew calligraphy and went forward to decipher the traditional characters.
"Colorful phoenixes and red candles unite two hearts; a fine couple newly joined forms a blessed bond."
It was indeed a festive blessing.
But when he saw the horizontal inscription, Yun Kang's voice trembled.
"No peaceful end."
If it was meant to celebrate a newlywed couple, why choose such a phrase for the horizontal inscription?
The black characters on red paper looked especially chilling now.
Terrified there might be another corpse inside, no one dared act rashly this time. They all looked at Jiang Nuo.
"There's no corpse inside this time. Just go straight through."
Knowing they would hesitate, Jiang Nuo was about to demonstrate. He tried to let go, only for the grip on his hand to tighten.
The temperature here was dropping further. Si Yan looked listless, but stubbornly refused to let go, drawing what warmth he could from Jiang Nuo.
"Together."
Jiang Nuo raised an eyebrow but did not refuse, taking him by the hand and continuing forward.
Just as they were about to collide with the red-brick wall, its surface suddenly rippled. They passed straight through and vanished from the passage.
"That's amazing!"
Yang Xiaoxiao exclaimed, "Let's hurry and get out too!"
She did not want to spend another moment in this eerie, terrifying place!
Everyone rushed forward.
The cameras recorded them entering the passage through a hidden door in a front-courtyard room, yet this time they emerged from a painting in the back-courtyard pavilion.
In particular, the camera operator who had followed Jiang Nuo and Si Yan out first captured the guests running out of the painting with perfect clarity.
Covering my ears! I'm not listening! There are no ghosts in this world! It's all fake!
This variety show's effects are this realistic???
Ha, this must all be to promote Jiang Nuo, right? How much did you get paid, director?
Where some disbelieved, others firmly believed.
But none of the scenes so far have had any flaws... And Shi Lezhi too... Can domestic technology really make things this realistic? This is live!
The production team has no decency. They're even exploiting the ex-girlfriend Shi Lezhi murdered!
"Are we out?!"
Yang Xiaoxiao was overjoyed. "Can we stop filming now?!"
Heaven knew why she had been blind enough to agree to film this!
"Nope."
Jiang Nuo lounged in a rocking chair in the pavilion, enjoyment written all over his handsome face. Still holding Si Yan's hand beside him, he looked every bit like a young emperor lost in beautiful company.
He wagged his index finger, signaling for everyone to look at the painting.
"The mission isn't finished yet."
"Holy shit!"
Tian Dong, who was closest to the painting, turned around and saw it, then staggered back in fright.
They had all been captured in the painting!
Every guest and camera operator, along with the bridal ghost, appeared in it, depicting what had happened in the cavern.
It was lifelike.
The bridal ghost stood in the very center, her head slightly lowered, as though she might charge out at any moment.
Everyone kept backing away, only recovering a little once they were several meters from the painting.
From the moment they entered the yin door, they had stepped into this old mansion's yin grounds. Only by fulfilling the wish of the malicious ghost now controlling the mansion could they perhaps leave safely.
As Jiang Nuo thought this, he withdrew his hand and habitually rubbed his left eyelid, pondering why the malicious bride ghost had repeatedly sent a puppet to test them.
"What the hell is all this?!"
Under one blow after another, Tian Dong was unexpectedly the first to break down.
He tugged irritably at his hair and ordered his camera operator to turn off the camera and stop filming, his tone furious and despairing.
"What the fuck kind of show is this?! Do you all want us to die in there?! Didn't the director say our lives wouldn't be in danger?!"
But the camera operators had already come this far and experienced all those dangerous scenes. Why would they abandon filming now?
Everything Tian Dong said was recorded, making the viewers even more certain that these did not seem to be the show's originally planned challenges.
After all, everyone knew Tian Dong was not that good an actor.
Director Chen Xianyu rubbed his bald head again in melancholy.
I don't want this either! Who the hell knows what's going on! The cameras are clearly still recording, but we can't find anyone anywhere!
Had they not handled public relations in advance, the show would probably have been overwhelmed by backlash by now.
All their hopes now rested on Jiang Nuo.
"Jiang Nuo, what exactly is going on?"
Yun Kang patted Tian Dong's shoulder to keep him calm, while looking toward Jiang Nuo in genuine bewilderment, hoping for an explanation.
Every eye turned toward Jiang Nuo, awaiting his answer.
Jiang Nuo came back to himself and glanced at the distraught Tian Dong.
"Because you took the red bridal veil."
"What...?" Tian Dong froze. Why was he bringing that up again?
"The red bridal veil is the source of the bridal ghost's resentment. I warned you. You wouldn't listen."
Jiang Nuo pointed at the half-dead Shi Lezhi. "And he happened to be opening the door then. The resentment made the room's yin door larger than its yang door."
"So we entered the yin mansion."
"Impossible! You're lying! That's bullshit!"
How could Tian Dong accept that he had caused all of this?
Yun Kang looked as though he were listening to incomprehensible gibberish. "R-really?"
"No."
Jiang Nuo answered immediately. Having finally found where he needed to go, he smiled and stood, holding Si Yan's hand.
"I was joking."
He passed the guests and headed straight toward the small courtyard to the east.
"I knew it... It definitely wasn't me!"
Tian Dong let out a tremendous sigh of relief, pointing furiously at Jiang Nuo's retreating back. "He's been spouting mystical nonsense ever since he came in! I think he's the one behind all this!"
Yang Xiaoxiao and Xu Jing exchanged a look, both feeling that everything Jiang Nuo had said was true.
The two hurried after Jiang Nuo, afraid that falling one step behind would cost them their lives in this strange place.
The sight in the eastern courtyard once again struck everyone as inconceivable.