Lakeside Ghost Story 18

With a bang, the gun went off. Blood sprayed across the grass as Ma Yuan'an's corpse toppled stiffly to the ground, leaving everyone present except Zhuo Yu staring wide-eyed in shock.

The old man who had wreaked havoc in films and lured dozens of people to their deaths, one of the Soul Hunt Guild's finest, now lay on the green grass without so much as an explanation. Remorse and despair still lingered in his vacant eyes, while blood steadily spilled from his mouth.

Ma Yuan'an had put a gun in his mouth and killed himself.

What on earth had happened?!

The exorcists could hardly believe their eyes. They had been too far away to hear what Zhuo Yu had said to their captain, but how had their captain suddenly...

[Actor Ma Yuan'an has died. Cause of death: suicide.]

Zhuo Yu burst out laughing at the System announcement, the inky darkness in his eyes fading. "What kind of exorcist has his faith shaken by a few words from me and would rather kill himself, go to hell, and atone for his sins? I thought this game would be more interesting. What a disappointment."

Zhou Wu stared at Zhuo Yu in disbelief as he slowly backed away.

"Dear Mr. Zhou, I've discovered a secret." Zhuo Yu stopped laughing and fixed him with a hawk's gaze. "There is a connection between a character and an actor. I used the conflict between that priest's character and the actor's personality to give him cognitive dissonance, then used the character to kill him."

"That guy was probably forced into the role, but you're different." Zhuo Yu's words stabbed into Zhou Wu's heart like knives. "So, should you learn a thing or two from the priest and repent for the way you used to bully the weak?"

Zhou Wu's face went deathly pale. It was as though someone had exposed the memory he had buried deepest.

Back in college, relying on his strong build, he had often bullied and ostracized his roommate. After an argument, he had even beaten the other man badly enough to put him in the hospital. His family had a little money and quickly settled the matter, but that roommate developed psychological problems and dropped out of school, wasting the best years of his life.

Zhou Wu had thought nothing of it at the time. Only years later did he learn that the roommate, unable to bear the torment any longer, had killed himself at home by burning charcoal.

The roommate's family kept making scenes at the school and at Zhou Wu's house. All they got from Zhou Wu was, "He couldn't handle it. What does his death have to do with me?"

To Zhou Wu, anyone without strength deserved to be bullied.

But after coming to the Studios, he discovered that he, too, could become one of the weak. Only after being placed beneath someone else's contemptuous gaze did he understand how his former roommate must have felt.

He had repented, though not very sincerely. At the moment, Zhou Wu was more afraid that he would be the next one to take a bullet.

"How do you know that? No, something's wrong... You're not Zhuo Yu... Who are you?!"

Zhuo Yu smiled. "Oh? It sounds like you know me very well. Is it possible that the person you knew from the very beginning was never Zhuo Yu?"

Zhou Wu shook like a leaf. He understood now. This man had begun disguising himself the moment he entered the Studios. Behind that gentle, amiable face, he had been thinking about how to devour people alive. This guy was insane!!!

Zhou Wu turned and ran. The exorcists hidden in the bushes could no longer hold back either. They charged out one after another, determined to avenge their boss.

But Zhuo Yu's game was already over.

A masked man as huge as a small mountain appeared. His crocodile face was as terrifying as some demon god's, and the massive axe in his hand looked like a weightless toy. He hurled it with a single swing, cutting down the exorcist in front. The force of the blow sent the man flying more than five meters with the axe.

Gritting his teeth, the man pulled a healing spray he had exchanged for with Flame Points from his grid space. Before he had bled out, while he could still move, he saved his own life. But now he could not even get back up and could only lie sprawled on the grass, gasping for breath.

"Second Brother!" The other two exorcists ground their teeth in rage. They could not get too close to the Boss, so they decided to lure him away.

Holy water might not work on Zhuo Yu, but that did not mean it would not work on the Boss!

The two men taunted the Boss without restraint, calling him a stupid oaf with less intelligence than a three-year-old. The Boss ignored every word as though it had gone in one ear and out the other, until they mentioned Zhuo Yu.

"That cripple you call your lover? I'll rape him first, then kill him!" the sleazy, short exorcist shouted. He had no qualms about viewers watching the film, spouting obscene, filthy words as though they were perfectly justified.

Very soon, the exorcists noticed that the Boss's gaze had changed.

"Wow." Zhuo Yu clapped and smiled. "I've never seen anyone take the initiative to seek death before."

"Run!"

The two men raced toward the lakeshore. A great deal of holy water had been buried there. As long as the Boss was weakened by the holy water, they would have a chance to fight him!

As a guild that had long hunted film bosses, they naturally possessed more Flame Points than ordinary players could ever hope to earn. They had exchanged them for plenty of useful skills and life-saving items. Ma Yuan'an had actually been the strongest among them. His puppet dolls could often fight film monsters to a standstill, but before he even had a chance to use them, Zhuo Yu had tricked him to his death.

With their greatest trump card gone, the exorcists could only pray that the holy water would be strong enough!

With a soft snap, the Boss finally struck the transparent fishing line. The bottles of holy water exploded, glass shards and liquid showering the man from head to toe. Holy water dripped from even that crocodile head, but...

It did nothing at all.

That meant the Boss was not a ghostly entity, but a genuine human being.

"That's impossible!!" The exorcists' eyes nearly split with fury, and they ran even faster.

If Zhuo Yu was human, that was understandable. But the Boss looked nothing like a human. He was a monster! How could the Boss possibly be human? He had lived for over fifty years without aging!

The Boss paused. He looked at the glass fragments and gleaming liquid scattered over the ground, and an intense surge of anger rose in his heart. This was holy water from the church. So these intruders had just wanted to use it to kill Zhuo Yu?!

They had seen that Zhuo Yu was human and would not be hurt by it, so they had come out to negotiate in that hypocritical fashion.

If Zhuo Yu truly had been a spirit rather than a reincarnation...

Unbearable... Unforgivable!

Night came early at Golden Lake. The exorcists had reached their destination in the afternoon, but now crows had gathered in flocks on the branches, crying mournfully. The setting sun had slipped behind the mountains, and a huge full moon was about to rise into the sky.

Zhuo Yu picked up Ma Yuan'an's handgun and slowly approached the exorcist Asha had felled.

"Let's play a game too." Zhuo Yu blinked his beautiful almond-shaped eyes. "Let's see whether you can last longer than that old man."

The exorcist twitched. In the end, he still fell for it.

Inside the cabin, Liu Jingyun trembled as she looked at the two formidable figures outside.

Zhuo Yu... Zhuo Yu had talked an actor to death. He might even be about to mentally control another one. As both an actor and a survivor, she should make a decisive break and drive away now. Before the Boss returned, while the utterly deranged Zhuo Yu had no time to deal with her, she should hurry to Springwater Town and take shelter there.

Compared with curses or drowned revenants, Zhuo Yu was plainly more terrifying.

But memories of solving puzzles and adventuring with Zhuo Yu came flooding back, along with his praise and wholehearted approval. She believed Zhuo Yu harbored absolutely no ill will toward her. Besides, those exorcists had not looked like good people at all.

Combined with her refusal to give up on survival so easily, she knew she was facing a major choice.

Should she run, or choose Zhuo Yu's side?

Outside the cabin, Zhuo Yu used the skill boosted by his character to deeply hypnotize the exorcist and coax a great deal of intelligence from him.

"The Soul Hunt Guild? I didn't expect to provoke a guild in my very first film." Zhuo Yu propped up his chin. "How exciting. I like it."

He turned to look at Liu Jingyun standing in the doorway and said lightly, "Have you made your choice?"

Liu Jingyun startled. Had he already seen through everything she had been thinking?

But she did not take a single step away or show any intention of fleeing. Instead, she nodded firmly. "Since I met you, it means fate made the choice for me from the very beginning."

"A clever girl." Zhuo Yu looked at her approvingly. "Do you want to join my guild?"

"A guild?"

"Those useless fools came from the Actors' Guild. You can think of it as a team actors form of their own accord."

"I want to join!" Liu Jingyun answered at once.

She was no fool. She knew Zhuo Yu's future was limitless, and he was extending an olive branch to her now.

She did not know what about her had caught his eye, but as a woman with a frail build and unremarkable looks, she had to rely on a team's strength to protect herself. When she first entered the film, no one had thought highly of her. Zhou Wu had even abandoned her on the road. No one would acknowledge her abilities. No matter how outstanding she was in the real world, in these actors' eyes, she was only "a woman who might hold everyone back."

That was reality. There was no gentlemanly courtesy in the Studios, only more brutal slaughter.

But Zhuo Yu had given her a way out.

She would seize every opportunity to climb higher. This weak girl would become a capable powerhouse, find a way to escape the Studios, and never again let anyone abandon her or look down on her!

"Very good." Zhuo Yu clapped softly and smiled. In these horror Studios, even the strongest individual would inevitably find themselves stretched thin. Much less him, a man with impaired mobility. To weave his future, he first needed to build a team.

At that moment, the System appeared with a timely reminder.

[Actors' Guild: After successfully surviving one film, actors gain the authority to form teams. Actors may send invitations to one another. When membership reaches two, a team is automatically formed and the guild system is unlocked.]

If actors as incapable as these could form a guild called Soul Hunt, Zhuo Yu thought, why couldn't he create one too?

Liu Jingyun would be his first member.

The cries of owls and crows grew ever more piercing, as though they would tear through the night sky. This meant Golden Lake had entered the night completely.

The fourth night of the seven days of suffering had arrived.

--The Night of Flaying.