Chapter 3 The Little Devil (3) It seemed like someone was standing beside his legs. ...
【Lu Lu!】
[Ahhh, so the celebrity's new target is Lu Lu?! I'm getting out of here!]
[No need to fear, he is about to face a lucky 100-year-old, carefree, and blessed swordsman—a child kidnapped from a shonen or romance manga, a legendary figure who can escape death no matter who dies—the true protagonist of a fantastical tale. Respectfully presented!]
[This is hilarious! That angel dog who saved the God of Knives' life in his past life is here!]
Xie Tan, who was completing the comic, naturally recognized who this was: Lu Jinzhao, who was jokingly referred to as the "protagonist of the strange tales".
Unlike other genres of comics, horror comics, such as "Strange Tales," are not long works that revolve around a single protagonist and unfold a storyline. Instead, they are collections of relatively independent episodic stories.
Each story segment has its own protagonist, conforming to classic narratives.
But the clever thing about "Strange Tales" is that all the episodic stories take place within the same worldview.
The stories are not entirely unrelated.
For example, most of the stories take place in Diqiu City, where Xie Tan is currently located. This place is a place where a small ghost appears every three days and a big ghost appears every five days. It is a place of outstanding people and talents.
The protagonist of this story segment may be a childhood friend of a supporting character in another story segment, and the person behind two stories may be the same person or from the same organization.
When certain characters and elements appear repeatedly, they leave an impression and build popularity.
Some characters or themes even have their own series.
That's good, since the world of comics really exists.
While protagonists in other genres are often said to have a "protagonist halo," horror stories are quite the opposite.
They are often ordinary people close to reality, who may be just unlucky, or they may do something stupid or foolish, or they may have a past or original sin.
The story begins with a countdown to their lives, and they are left until the end only to suffer the longest and die the most horribly.
Xie Tanyuan called it the "halo of death".
However, Lu Jinzhao, the IP character who appears most frequently in "Strange Tales", is different.
Although he has never been the protagonist of a single story, he frequently appears in various stories.
Because all the stories take place within the same universe, readers have long speculated that there is a hidden main storyline in "Strange Tales," and the return of the new series confirms this.
The fact that readers jokingly say that Lu Jinzhao, who has been passing through ghost stories all over the world, is the protagonist of the hidden main storyline may actually be true.
As the forum says, he is sunny, cheerful, and helpful. Logically speaking, he shouldn't live long, but in the horror comics where any life can die at any time, he survives time and time again.
A style completely opposite to horror comics, featuring a hidden protagonist unaffected by the aura of death.
The stark contrast makes Lu Jinzhao the most popular character.
This is a very good opportunity for Xie Tan to boost his popularity.
Xie Tan needs to be connected to him in the story to leave a more lasting impression on the readers.
But there's no rush, it's not the right time yet.
When Xie Tan browsed the forum, aside from marveling at his good looks and lamenting his early death, there wasn't much discussion about him.
Updates are infrequent, and discussions are limited, mostly consisting of atmosphere groups expressing their enthusiasm for the new series, new story, and the appearance of Lu Jinzhao.
Xie Tan picked through the scattered plot analyses.
[43L - My Cabinet Moved: The long-awaited main story series is finally here! But it's the beginning, and there's not much plot yet, so let's talk about the talisman in the first episode.]
The image is of a fetus in the womb, clearly pointing to a ghost. It must have been posted by someone sent by a celebrity to target the wrong person.
But its functionality extends beyond that.
[44L - My cabinet moved: Other series have had stories about "doors", and there is a saying that "doors are barriers". Crossing a door means entering another space, so doors can play a certain "isolation" role.]
In many stories, when a ghost wants to enter the space where its target is, it will make noise, scratch at the door, knock on the door, knock on the wall, or disguise itself as someone else to lure the target into opening the door and breaking the barrier.
The original poster believes that after the imp increases its magical power, the talisman may also have the effect of "breaking through the barrier".
In other words, the little devil can directly follow Lu Lu into her home.
This is terrifying! Run, Lu Lu!
Breaking through the barrier is indeed possible.
When Xie Tan was kidnapped, only Alien Huang was present; no one else was there. Celebrities, in order to clear themselves of any wrongdoing, may have given Alien Huang complete freedom to do what he did.
He yawned silently; he was still so sleepy.
After enduring a week of hardship, I was suddenly transported to another world, and it was a horror comic. I spent the night sleeping on a hard stone slab while holding a little ghost. Now all I want to do is go home and sleep.
But when asked where the original owner's home was, the cat fell silent.
Xie Tan, who had asked casually, paused for a moment: "Even though he's dressed as cannon fodder, he's still a real person in the comic book world. He doesn't even have a home?"
The cat explained, "Actually, you didn't replace some cannon fodder native. It's just that the comic needed such a character, and you, who came from another time, are perfect for it, meow."
This body is Xie Tan's own body. He did not have a soul transmigration, nor did he exchange bodies with any other body that shares the same name and appearance.
He is a blank space in the world of comics.
"So there's no reason why I'm lying there?"
Xie Tan originally guessed that the original owner might have gone to the same school as the celebrity, or that the celebrity's photos on social media had been seen by the celebrity, making the owner a target of the celebrity.
According to the original plot of the comic, this character would not live past two pages, and his name and identity were not worth mentioning; he would only appear on screen.
Although they have temporarily escaped the initial death crisis, they are far from safe.
The cell phone, keys, and inhibitors were all with him when he died suddenly. They traveled through time with him and originally belonged to him, so they couldn't provide any information about the original owner.
He originally intended to learn about the original owner of the body through their home, so as to find a way to get closer to the character and find a sense of presence in the plot.
If he were in the same school as Yuan Luhang, things would be much easier.
But now, let alone school, he's practically an unregistered resident in this other world.
Xie Tan said listlessly, "I'd better go lie down at the stone table."
The cat anxiously spun around again: "No, baby—ta-da! Time for the magic touch! Quick, check out the third section, meow!"
Xie Tan clicked on the third section, "Chekhov's Shot".
Chekhov's Gun is a narrative principle proposed by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov: if a gun is shown in the first act, then that gun will inevitably be fired in the second or third act.
In other words, any element that appears in the story will inevitably play a role in the subsequent plot.
The section is divided into two halves. The left frame is for taking photos or selecting photos from the album, while the right frame is the comic book catalog, which currently only contains the first chapter of the new series.
Once you click on the first chapter, you can select any page and circle it at will.
Between the two frames is the image of the pen-wielder's black pen, intersecting with a gun in an X shape.
"You can use Chekhov's Gun to connect the objects in the photo with a circled element in the comic to change the properties of things, but not everything can be changed."
"The attributes of an item need to be manipulated; without 'blank' spaces, they cannot be changed. And the changes to the attributes also need to have an effect in the story, meow."
"And you are the blank space in the comic book world, meow."
"The more something belongs to you, the more room there is for modification and improvement, meow meow."
Xie Tan's mind stirred; the house key that had accompanied him through the time travel was definitely something that belonged entirely to him.
The first episode ends with a shot of Lu Jinzhao's apartment building hallway, an old-style residential complex with stairs and two apartments per floor.
In previous installments, Lu Jinzhao mentioned that his neighbor's house had been vacant for many years, and he had never seen anyone go in or out.
In one of the episodes, the downstairs neighbor's house was haunted, and there were sounds of banging on the wall. He mistakenly thought it was the neighbor's house.
Is there any address that makes you stand out more than living across the street from the hidden protagonist?
Cat affirmed his actions, and Xie Tan, who lived across from Lu Jinzhao's house, clicked on the intersection of the pen and the gun.
But I received a harsh pop-up message: [Insufficient viewership! Please leave a deeper impression on the audience!]
The cat froze and vanished on the spot.
On the way here, it told its host that the journey had consumed too much energy, so it couldn't stay by his side all the time and would sometimes fall into a deep sleep to recover its power.
But now he's clearly hiding because he feels guilty.
Xie Tan: "..."
It seems we need to take the initiative.
At 8 PM, there was a brand event at the mall, and celebrity Yuan Luhang was there, making it very crowded.
But the music theater just two streets away is desolate, like two different worlds.
The building was abandoned, it was far from the streetlights, the streetlights were dimmer, and they broke down every few days.
The fountains, however, entertained themselves, their waters surging, while the planted willows stood in a somber row. As darkness fell, everything here turned into shadows, like a summons from another world.
However, a few people were strolling along the track, where there were vending machines.
Yuan Luhang came up from the underground parking lot and walked through a short, dark corridor in the theater.
It was also dark outside the glass door. Fine water droplets clung to the door, distorting the view outside. Willow branches tangled and waved like ghostly hands.
Is it raining?
He pushed open the hidden door, and the wind blew the drizzle into his face.
The "thump" sound was particularly noticeable in the silence.
He was startled and immediately looked to his left.
Three or four meters away in front of the vending machine, there was a person dressed in all black, bending over, using a plastic round fan to shield his head from the rain with one hand, and reaching into the dispenser with the other hand to take a drink.
Noticing his gaze, the man in black slightly raised his head and stood up straight.
The hood covered two-thirds of his face, and the remaining third was also in shadow, but Yuan Luhang knew that the other person was looking at him.
She watched him in silence.
On a rainy night, amidst a fountain, tree shadows, and flickering streetlights, the theater was desolate when suddenly a person appeared, his face obscured, staring at him silently.
Yuan Luhang felt a chill run down his spine.
This place looks perfect for dumping a body; it's unlikely he stumbled upon some fugitive murderer...
His face turned pale, and the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. He was internally screaming, "Why hasn't my assistant's car arrived yet?!"
He wanted to run away, but then he thought that if it was a misunderstanding, it would be too embarrassing.
The thought of his hasty retreat filled him with shame and anger, and he stared intently at the man in black opposite him.
Yuan Luhang suddenly noticed that his face was printed on the fancy fan in the other person's hand.
There are also fan-designed fonts, elements related to him, dopamine-inspired color schemes, and a small bow tied to the fan handle.
His support fan.
He has an event today, and there are many fans handing out support items around the mall.
The cute fan clashes drastically with the image of a killer dressed in all black on a rainy night, instantly diminishing the eerie atmosphere.
So you're a fan?
Yuan Luhang's heart suddenly sank: "Is it a fan? They've gone to a lot of trouble to support me. Why are you still running outside in the rain? Go home quickly."
It was raining, and he didn't want to get wet, so he could only continue waiting under the eaves.
Fearing this person might gossip online, he maintained his professional smile and made a shushing gesture: "Don't worry about me, my assistant will be here to pick me up soon. It's a personal trip, please keep it a secret~"
The man in black still didn't answer. Yuan Luhang was annoyed and was about to say something when he suddenly realized that the other man wasn't looking at him, but rather at... his legs?
It looked like someone was standing next to his legs.
Yuan Luhang's heart skipped a beat, and he was about to lower his head when he heard the man in black suddenly speak: "Want a drink?"
The male voice is rather cold, like the moon's reflection in water, drawing people to touch it unconsciously, only to drown in it.
Yuan Luhang looked again and found that the man in black was still looking at him; it was just an illusion.
"I'm so sorry, you've already gone to so much trouble for me."
The man in black had already clicked on the vending machine's product page again, so Yuan Luhang changed his tune, adding a touch of sob story: "Then I'll just have an energy drink. I'll probably be working all night tonight, so I need to replenish my energy..."
The vending machine started humming as the man in black ignored Yuan Luhang's words and silently left in the drizzle.
With a thud, the shipment was dispatched, and the figure had already disappeared around the corner of the theater.
The assistant's car headlights appeared from another direction, speeding towards them.
Yuan Luhang breathed a sigh of relief, stopped pretending, his features scrunched up, and he snorted unhappily.
It was terrifying in the middle of the night!
What a weirdo, refusing to listen to anyone. Just ignore him completely! Is it worth a drink for him?
He ran towards the car, and the vending machine behind him made another "thump".
He was startled and instinctively turned around.
The assistant opened the car door, quickly held an umbrella for him, and put a coat on him. Noticing his gaze, she assumed he had bought a drink: "Get in the car and wipe yourself down, I'll go get it."
Yuan Luhang pursed his lips, hummed in agreement, and got into the warm car. He had recovered his senses and was cursing them for being slow while wiping his head.
He caught a glimpse of his assistant getting into the car, seemingly carrying two cans of drinks.
Two cans? What strange person would be so kind? Yuan Luhang felt uneasy.
Only when it was handed to him did he realize that it wasn't the energy drink he wanted, but two cans of children's milk.
He'd been tricked! Frustrated, he tossed the drink aside: "What kind of kid-friendly stuff is this… Drive!"
A note from the author:
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