Chapter 15
"Bullshit!" Li, the group leader in charge of managing the extras, roared, his face flushed red, waving a list in his hand. "The list is right here! Only four people signed in! Xiao Cui, Chun Tao, Hong Xing, and Lü Liu! It's written in black and white! Not one more! Tell me, where did the fifth one come from?!"
"Then...who is that person in the video?!" A young female production assistant asked, her voice trembling with tears, pointing to the frozen image on the screen.
Lu Xiao and Zhuo Hua approached. When the crowd saw them, it was as if they had found their backbone (or rather, Zhuo Hua's very presence carried an invisible deterrent), and they subconsciously made way for them.
Zhuohua's gaze remained calmly fixed on the monitor screen.
The scene depicts a garden scene filmed in the afternoon. The female lead, Lin Weiwei, is admiring the flowers with several maids. The camera slowly pans across the scene. The girls, dressed in matching pink maid outfits, are in various poses, some with their heads bowed, others smiling gently.
With trembling hands, cameraman Lao Wang used the mouse to replay, zoom in, and freeze the footage frame by frame.
One, two, three, four... five!
At the very edge of the screen, near a cluster of lush roses, the fifth figure in a pink maid's outfit clearly appears on the screen!
Her posture was somewhat stiff, her head was lowered, and her long, black hair fell down, obscuring her profile.
"Look! That's her!" Old Wang pointed at the figure from behind, his voice strained. "I thought there was one extra at first! But the camera was moving too fast, so I thought I was seeing things! I only saw it clearly when we reviewed the footage just now!"
The director's face turned ashen. Pointing at the list, he shouted, "There are only four names on the list! The on-site count also shows four! Fatty Li! Did you take a kickback and report an extra person?!"
"Director! I swear to God!"
Fatty Li was almost in tears. "I really only arranged four! The pay has all been paid! Just four! If you don't believe me, ask them yourselves!" He pointed to the four pale-faced, still-shaken extras standing next to him.
The four girls nodded frantically, and one of the bolder ones said in a tearful voice, "Director, it really is just the four of us! We...we didn't see anyone else!" As she spoke, she glanced at the extra figure on the monitor with a look of fear in her eyes, and her body trembled slightly.
"Then...who is this?!" The assistant director's voice changed as he pointed at the strange fifth person on the screen.
Everyone fell silent. A chilling coldness crept up everyone's spine.
Four were counted on site, four names were on the list, and four actors were paid. But the camera footage clearly showed five!
The extra "maid" never showed her face; there was only a back view of her with her head down and her long hair covering her profile, standing quietly by the flower bushes, like a silent, cold ghost.
"Replay! Replay it again! See if we can get a clear shot of their faces!" The director tried to remain calm, but the tremor in his voice betrayed him.
Old Wang's hands trembled as he operated the controls. The video played in slow motion, frame by frame. The camera panned across the scene, clearly showing the faces of the four maids. But when the camera moved to the position of the fifth "maid"...
Her head was always bowed! Her long hair was like a black curtain, completely obscuring her face! No matter which angle the camera panned from, all that could be seen was the top of her jet-black hair and a small section of her pale, bloodless neck! It was as if she... didn't have a face at all!
When the camera completely moved away from her location, and then switched shots the next second, that spot was... completely empty! The "maid" seemed to have appeared out of thin air and then vanished just as suddenly!
"Ah—!" The timid female stagehand finally couldn't hold back any longer and let out a short scream, covering her mouth as tears instantly welled up in her eyes.
An indescribable, bone-deep fear, like a chilling poisonous fog, instantly filled the entire courtyard. Everyone felt a chill run from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads! Several young female extras huddled together, trembling.
It's haunted!
The film set... is really haunted!
The director's face was deathly pale, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word. The assistant director's hand holding the walkie-talkie was shaking. The cameraman, Old Wang, slumped in his chair, his eyes glazed over.
Lu Xiao also felt a chill creep over him and instinctively took a step closer to Zhuo Hua. He thought of Zhou Yuchen, the blue light that night, and Zhuo Hua's words about "protection." Seeing the bizarre scene before him, the unease and fear in his heart instantly magnified several times over!
Zhuohua's gaze remained calmly fixed on the frozen image of the bowed back on the monitor screen. In her eyes, there was no fear, only a faint...understanding and coldness.
The faint divine power that was slowly flowing through her meridians seemed to sense something and silently accelerated its operation.
A chilling fear, like tangible vines, coiled around the hearts of everyone in the courtyard. The frozen image of that drooping back on the monitor screen was like a poisoned needle, piercing their very nerves.
The fifth "maid" was nowhere to be found; she vanished without a trace, leaving only a pale, eerily pale profile obscured by long hair.
"A ghost...it really is a ghost..." A prop master's teeth chattered, his voice barely audible, yet like a pebble thrown into stagnant water, it stirred up even greater ripples of panic. Several timid young extras had already huddled together, sobbing softly.
The director's face was paler than his costume, the assistant director's hand holding the walkie-talkie was shaking like he had Parkinson's, and the cameraman, Lao Wang, was slumped in his chair with a vacant look in his eyes.
Lu Xiao felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. He subconsciously took another half step closer to Zhuo Hua, almost touching her arm. His glassy eyes were filled with unease and fear as he instinctively sought the only source of security nearby.
Zhuohua's gaze remained calm. She didn't even look at the chilling screen again, but simply turned her head slightly to the pale-faced, bewildered director beside her, and asked in her usual flat tone:
"Want to take a look?"
The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a thunderclap, instantly shattering the deathly silence of the courtyard!
The director suddenly jolted awake and looked at Zhuohua in astonishment: "What...what are you looking at?" His voice was trembling uncontrollably.
“Look at ‘her’.” Zhuohua raised her chin and pointed to the eerie figure on the monitor screen.
Look?! How?! Look with the naked eye at that "thing" that doesn't exist at all, that only appears in the camera?! The director felt a chill run up his spine, and his scalp tingled! He opened his mouth, making a "hoarse" sound in his throat, but couldn't utter a single word.
The producer was a slightly overweight middle-aged man who was usually very shrewd, but he was also quite frightened at this moment. However, when he looked at Zhuo Hua's calm and almost indifferent expression, and then thought of the unbelievable "lightness skill" rescue in the pool on set, as well as Zhou Yuchen's sudden "honesty", a bold and absurd idea suddenly popped into his head!
He swallowed hard, forcibly suppressing his fear, and asked in a dry voice, "Miss Zhuo... Miss Zhuohua, do you... do you have a way?"
Zhuohua didn't answer, but merely glanced at him indifferently. Her gaze was calm and expressionless, yet it carried an invisible pressure.
The producer gritted his teeth and looked at the director: "Old Zhang! Trust... trust Miss Zhuohua this once!"
He then looked at the cameraman, Lao Wang, and the head of the post-production team, "Lao Wang, Lao Li, you two come too! Take a look with your own eyes! Is it a machine malfunction, or..." He didn't dare to say the last word.
The director, nudged by the producer, seemed to grasp at a last straw, nodding tremblingly, "Good...good! Look! Look!"
Old Wang and Old Li exchanged a glance, both seeing extreme fear and a hint of desperate resolve in each other's eyes. Old Wang had personally witnessed the "fifth person" in the footage, and Old Li was in charge of the footage; both of them knew in their hearts that this was definitely not a simple machine malfunction!
Zhuohua said no more and turned to walk towards a makeshift canvas tent piled with miscellaneous items. The tent was dark and stuffy, and usually no one went inside except to store props and other odds and ends.
The director, producer, cinematographer Lao Wang, and post-production engineer Lao Li supported each other, following behind Zhuo Hua with trepidation.
Lu Xiao hesitated for a moment, then followed. He didn't want to leave Zhuo Hua's side.
Zhuohua lifted the heavy curtain of the tent, and a wave of dust and musty smell hit her. Inside, various set pieces and old prop boxes were piled up, and the light was extremely dim. She casually pulled the curtain down, blocking out the faint light from outside and the countless apprehensive and inquisitive gazes.
The tent was instantly plunged into near-absolute darkness and deathly silence. Only the heavy, suppressed breathing of a few people echoed in the cramped space, amplifying their inner fear.
"Stand still." Zhuohua's voice rang out in the darkness, still without any emotion.
The four of them (including Lu Xiao) instinctively held their breath, stood frozen in place, their hearts pounding so hard they felt like they were about to jump out of their throats.
In the darkness, no one saw Zhuohua's movements. She simply stood there quietly, her eyes slightly closed.
Buzz—!
An extremely subtle yet vast power, as boundless as the starry sea, silently rippled outwards from her center! That power was not an attack, but a profound "opening" that touched upon the true nature of the world.
Zhuohua opened her eyes again.
In the darkness, two faint yet pure ice-blue flames seemed to silently ignite in the depths of her eyes! These were no ordinary flames, but rather divine power condensed into "heavenly eyes" that pierced through illusion!
In her view at this moment, everything inside the tent shed its earthly disguise and revealed a different kind of reality!
The stacked prop boxes exuded an old, mixed atmosphere of the past; fine dust and microorganisms floated in the air, like a slowly flowing galaxy; and the four directors and Lu Xiao standing in front of her were enveloped in warm white halos representing vitality, some strong and some weak, like five candles flickering in the wind.
Her gaze pierced through the tent's simple canvas walls, landing on the brightly lit but panic-stricken film set outside.
It was like lifting a hazy veil!
The "other side" of the world slowly unfolded before her eyes!
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