Chapter 11

Following Ke Xingzhou's gaze, the practice room was located at the furthest corner of the entire filming base. Next to it was the outer wall of the film and television base, with thick, lush climbing vines covering the wall, blocking all light from entering.

It was unclear whether it was because it was so late or if the area hadn't been maintained in a long time, but even though all the lights in the corridor were on, everything in sight seemed gray and dim.

An He Guang hadn't thought much of it at first, but upon noticing Ke Xingzhou's every move and observing the surroundings, it felt as though a cold wind had swept through him.

However, he quickly shook his head, dismissing the strange thought from his mind.

He didn’t believe Ke Xingzhou really had the ability to predict the future. Besides, this filming base had been used for so many programs; if something unusual were happening, there was no way no rumors would have spread.

The Wanli Group was just beginning to enter the entertainment industry and wouldn’t jeopardize its reputation.

Despite saying that, when he thought about the unlucky events he’d experienced after meeting Ke Xingzhou that day, An He Guang wasn’t entirely certain.

The staff completely ignored the odd look on his face. After leading them to the door, they repeatedly apologized. "The production team has already sent someone to clean it up urgently, but since it was a temporary arrangement, the conditions might not be as good as other practice rooms. We're truly sorry for the inconvenience!"

"It’s just an accident. You’ve all worked hard too," Ke Yuanbai said gently.

In front of the live cameras, even though the contestants weren’t happy, they didn’t speak up, and they all echoed his words.

After seeing the staff leave, the group pushed the door open and entered.

The moment the door opened, the cold feeling became even more intense. An He Guang’s footsteps paused, and he hesitated for a moment.

Ke Yuanbai noticed his movement and saw that An He Guang’s gaze kept drifting towards Ke Xingzhou. He thought that perhaps Ke Xingzhou’s previous words had made An He Guang uneasy, which made his expression darken slightly.

"He was just joking. Don’t take it to heart," Ke Yuanbai said apologetically. "How could there really be ghosts in this world?"

"..." An He Guang’s face turned red. He wanted to refute that it wasn’t because of Ke Xingzhou, but just then, the group who had entered before them gasped in surprise.

Looking past their shoulders, both Ke Yuanbai and An He Guang were stunned.

The staff had said the room had been cleaned temporarily, and they expected it to be rudimentary. But it was nothing like they had imagined—

Inside the door was a huge tiered theater. The red velvet chair backs reflected the faint stage lights, forming a dark red ocean. On the second floor, there were private booths separated by European Roman columns. The light and shadow moving across the space gave the impression that someone might be waiting for a performance to start above.

The moment they stepped in, the spotlight above suddenly lit up, enveloping the group at the door.

"I can't believe it! The production team is so tight-lipped! This was cleaned up just for us?"

"How could this be worse than any other practice room? It’s like they specifically set up a stage for us!"

"Could this be the stage for the first episode’s rehearsal? Did they bring it out for us to use first?"The contestants, who had been feeling down earlier, suddenly became excited, with some of them unable to contain their excitement and directly rushing towards the stage.

An He Guang scanned the entire theater, feeling a little excited as well, but for some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

Ever since stepping into this room, he felt a chill running down his back.

Instinctively, he turned around, wanting to see Ke Xingzhou’s reaction. To his surprise, Ke Xingzhou had stopped calculating and walked past him, heading straight into the theater.

Was this… resolved?

An He Guang secretly let out a sigh of relief, only to immediately realize what he was thinking, and his expression stiffened for a moment.

Just then, the large door behind them inexplicably closed by itself with a loud "bang," startling him and causing him to jump three feet into the air. He instinctively swore.

The others ahead turned to look at him. An He Guang, feeling embarrassed, scowled and snorted, "What kind of place is this!"

The others quickly made their way through the long corridor and arrived at the stage, even more surprised to find that the place was in perfect condition, not run down at all. It even seemed like it had recently been waxed, and the wooden floorboards gleamed with a beautiful color.

Someone muttered quietly, "Was this really a temporary setup? Did that person bring us to the wrong place? It feels like this was specially prepared for us."

"Seems like it. But it’s probably normal—our team has Young Master An and Young Master Ke. Even if the previous practice room couldn’t be used, they wouldn’t give us something too bad, right?"

Everyone glanced at An He Guang and Ke Yuanbai, and suddenly the situation seemed reasonable.

However, the downside of the stage as a practice room was obvious—it lacked mirrors, so they couldn’t check if their dance moves were correct.

After discussing, the group spread out to explore the stage, with An He Guang, as the dancer, staying in place to watch videos and practice his moves.

Not long after, someone suddenly shouted, "Quick, look what I found! A lift platform!"

Everyone followed the sound and, sure enough, discovered a square pit about two meters deep on the side of the stage.

The stage lights were too dim for them to see who was at the bottom, but the person below accurately called out the names of those above: "He Guang, Yuanbai! Come down, let’s play!"

Ke Yuanbai, not suspecting anything, nodded and followed the person’s directions.

An He Guang gritted his teeth and followed as well.

When they got below, it was pitch dark. An He Guang turned on his phone’s rear flash, barely managing to make out the path.

Strangely, the rear flash, which usually illuminated a large area, could only light up a small part of the space here. The beam of light stretched forward in a straight line, almost without any dispersion, similar to the spotlight effect that had just been cast on them.

The bottom of the stage clearly hadn’t been cleaned much, with floating lint and dust everywhere.

An He Guang, who had a slight obsession with cleanliness, held his breath at the sight, and his face darkened.

He extended his phone forward to see who had called them down, but the other person had already happily pressed the lift’s switch: "Quick, quick! Get on and try it out! I can’t wait!"

The lift immediately started rumbling.

Originally, the lift shaft was quiet, and they couldn’t hear much from above, but now it was impossible to hear anything clearly.

An He Guang and Ke Yuanbai didn’t have time to think any further and hurriedly jumped onto the lift platform.

Standing on the lift, as the ground moved away, An He Guang’s mind suddenly recalled Ke Xingzhou’s earlier words, "When there’s emptiness beneath your feet, there will definitely be danger." His heart skipped a beat.But by the time he thought about jumping down, it was already too late. The lift platform was about to reach the stage, and the gap left was too small for him to jump down.

Unless he slid down along the edge.

But that would be too dangerous.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard a "slap" sound, and a hand grabbed the edge of the lift platform.

The voice of the person from just now sounded very close: "Wait for me!"

An He Guang’s scalp tingled, and he almost went crazy. "Are you out of your mind?! Let go, or you'll die!"

However, his warning had no effect. Instead, he soon saw the top of the person’s head.

"Why didn’t you take me? I want to play too!"

An He Guang couldn’t care to scold the person. He quickly dropped his phone, grabbed the person’s hand, and tried to pull them up.

The hand felt cold, but he didn’t think much of it; after all, it was the middle of winter, and there was no heating down there.

His girlfriend’s hands and feet were much colder than this, and she had long since gotten used to it.

Fortunately, he had been working out for years and had great strength. He pushed his feet against the lift platform’s railing and pulled the person up with one strong effort.

At the same time, the edge of the lift platform finally aligned with the stage.

An He Guang suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, realizing what had just happened, and couldn’t help but complain, "Ke Yuanbai, what the hell are you doing? You didn’t even lend a hand!"

If it weren’t for his strength, there might have been a fatal accident just now!

He was already irritated by his disobedient teammate and was about to shout at them when suddenly, Ke Yuanbai’s voice came from far away: "An He Guang, did you call me?"

An He Guang froze for a moment.

He was confused. Wasn’t Ke Yuanbai supposed to be coming down with him? The lift had just reached the top, when had he gotten so far away?

It was only then that he realized how unusually dark the surroundings were. The stage lights seemed even dimmer than before. He had to pick up his phone and shine the light to the side, but didn’t find Ke Yuanbai’s figure.

Where Ke Yuanbai had been standing earlier was now empty.

Just as he was feeling dazed, Ke Yuanbai’s voice again came from far away: "An He Guang? What are you doing?"

"..."

An He Guang suddenly realized what was going on, and a shiver ran down his spine. His scalp tingled.

—He had already been pulled up, so why was it still so quiet around him?

He stiffened, slowly turned his head to look in the other direction.

The teammate he had just pulled up was now only half of their body, lying by his feet, with their internal organs and intestines spilling from their severed abdomen, staining a large portion of the stage in red.

Their skin was pale, devoid of any color, but they were still moving.A strange young face lifted, and on the face, covered in blood from all seven orifices, a smile appeared, one that was hard to tell whether it was excitement or resentment. With anticipation, the figure asked him: "Can you take me along to play?"

An He Guang’s forehead exploded with shock: "Aaaahhh! There’s a ghost!!!"

An He Guang was taken away by the medical staff.

Ke Yuanbai explained the situation to the staff at the door, while the other contestants exchanged glances, feeling a chill run down their spines.

They had just briefly checked the stage situation and hurried to watch videos to practice their dance moves when suddenly, An He Guang’s expression darkened, and he left the group.

They thought he was going to the bathroom, so they didn’t stop him. But then, unexpectedly, An He Guang ran over to the lift platform and, with a sudden leap, almost jumped into it, scaring them half to death—

Although the lift platform was only two meters deep, jumping in headfirst would still result in death!

Luckily, Ke Xingzhou, who had been slacking off nearby, managed to stop him in time.

After being stopped, An He Guang kept mumbling. One moment he was smiling and asking to play, the next his face was filled with terror as he screamed in fear. Just watching him was enough to give anyone a heart attack.

The problem was, he didn’t let anyone touch him. Whenever someone came close, he screamed and struggled violently. It was harder to hold him down than a pig on New Year’s Eve.

Thinking back to that moment, the others exchanged complex expressions and glanced at Ke Xingzhou’s slender arms and legs with subtle, cautious looks.

When the doctor arrived, An He Guang still hadn’t calmed down. Several medical staff members tried to hold him down but couldn’t manage it. In the end, Ke Xingzhou casually waved his hand, and no one knew what method he used, but An He Guang was knocked out cold.

Even when An He Guang wasn’t asleep, Ke Xingzhou was able to hold him down with just one hand.

Remembering their repeated provocations toward Ke Xingzhou, the others couldn’t help but swallow nervously, huddling together in fear.

Ke Xingzhou watched as An He Guang was taken away by the doctor. As he turned around, he saw the terrified faces of his teammates.

He was somewhat confused but didn’t care too much. He took out his phone, opened the payment page, and smilingly asked, “The calming charm just now was 1000 yuan. Who’s going to pay for it?”