Death Knocks on Hell’s Door Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Movie

Fan Wujiu stared at the array of matching outfits, struggling to tell the difference between “couple” and “brother” styles. He then opened a search engine and typed in, “What can couples do together?” Instantly, countless answers popped up. Most of them suggested the usual options such as eating, shopping, watching movies, and exchanging gifts.

After thinking it over, Fan Wujiu decided that watching a movie was a good choice. When they were young, he and Xie Bian often held hands going to the town to watch shadow puppetry after studying and practicing martial arts. This was one of the favorite pastimes of children. During the Republican era, the opera scene boomed. When a stage was set up, the performers would sing in their high-pitched operatic tones, and the audience would clap and cheer. He and Lao Bai would often hide their forms and mingle in the crowd, listening to the performance. As the saying goes, “Once the play starts, people come from all directions to listen. One side is human, and seven sides are ghosts and gods.” While this was a popular saying, and not entirely accurate, it wasn’t far off. After all, even they, as ghosts and gods, needed entertainment, or they’d surely be driven mad by their work.

As the population grew and the country fell into chaos, countless souls perished. King Yan hired many temporary assistants to ease the workload. After hundreds of years of constant work, the Black and White Impermanence relaxed for a while, taking a century-long break as retaliation. When they emerged, they found themselves in the rapidly advancing 21st century. Modern entertainment had become vast and varied. Fan Wujiu got addicted in video games, while Xie Bian stayed home watching TV series. Neither of them had ever properly entered a modern cinema to watch a movie.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Fan Wujiu determinedly began searching online for recently released films, planning to book a pair of tickets for him and Lao Bai to go watch a movie together in the afternoon. The seats had to be the “couple seats.”

Of course, they could simply use their invisible, ghostly forms to enter the cinema and watch movies for free. But that would eliminate the romantic atmosphere that couples share.

As for which movie to pick, Fan Wujiu had given it careful thought and consulted many opinions. The general consensus online was that couples should watch a romantic movie, as the intimate atmosphere could lead to kisses in the darkness of the theater. But there were also suggestions that a horror movie would work better. When a girlfriend got scared, she would naturally hide in her boyfriend’s arms.

Fan Wujiu lingered over the romance films for a long while, but in the end, he reluctantly chose a horror movie.

In Fan Wujiu’s mind, he could use the guise of a boyfriend to accompany Xie Bian to meals, shopping, movies, gift-exchanging, and everything that couples in the human world typically did. During the duration of the golden arrow’s effect, he would provide Xie Bian with the perfect romantic experience.

However, this did not include kissing or sleeping together. After all, they were only experiencing a temporary romance, and once the golden arrow expired, everything would return to normal. Most things could be explained away by pretending it was all part of an act, but these two things were off-limits. Once they crossed that line, there would be no going back.

The kiss last night had been an accident, something that could be explained away as a misunderstanding. But from here on out, he couldn’t let himself have such thoughts or actions. Even if Xie Bian wanted it, he would find a way to avoid it.

Xie Bian might not be fully sober, but Fan Wujiu was.

He would never take advantage of Xie Bian while he was disoriented. How was that any different from assault?

Although the taste of that kiss was undeniably wonderful, making him reminisce endlessly…… he could not be so beastly as to take advantage of his brother in that way.

A hug was already enough. Really. He could only think of that much, nothing more.

After choosing the theme, Fan Wujiu saw that there were two horror films released around the same time. One was domestic and one was foreign. Without a second thought, he picked the Chinese horror film titled Haunted House. He was afraid that if they watched the foreign film, King Yan would find out. His Majesty might coldly toss a thousand domestic horror films his way and order, “How can our Chinese ghosts and demons not be as scary as Western monsters? You’re boosting their morale and diminishing our own. Watch these thousand domestic films and write a 10000-word review for each.”

“……” Fan Wujiu shuddered. Now, that was a real-life horror movie.

After selecting the film and purchasing the tickets online, Fan Wujiu went to tell Xie Bian about the afternoon’s plans.

Xie Bian, still under the influence of the golden arrow, expressed 120,000% anticipation for this.

The movie was set to start at 3 PM and end at 5 PM. Fan Wujiu and Xie Bian arrived at the cinema at 2:30. Since ticketing hadn’t started yet, they sat on the sofa in the waiting area, playing with their phones.

Since they were out in public, Xie Bian had returned to his short, fresh haircut and modern outfit. The combination of a white T-shirt and jeans made him look youthful and lively. Fan Wujiu, dressed in a similar style but different colors, looked just as handsome, making them an ideal pair as they sat together.

The cinema was very crowded on the weekend, and they attracted a lot of attention. After all, good-looking men like them weren’t an everyday sight, especially not two together. The one in the white shirt, in particular, looked fragile and exquisite, like a delicate porcelain doll, evoking an instinctual desire to protect him.

Fan Wujiu bought a large bucket of popcorn and two cups of milk tea. He placed the popcorn on the table and handed one cup of milk tea to Xie Bian. “You mentioned wanting milk tea this morning, so I got it for you.”

Xie Bian, with his earphones in, was watching a fantasy series on his phone, not once taking his eyes off the screen. His face had an ethereal, otherworldly quality, but in many ways, he was quite grounded. After all, even gods weren’t entirely removed from the mundane world.

Seeing that Xie Bian wasn’t reaching for the tea, Fan Wujiu leaned over and brought the straw to his lips. “Take a sip.”

Xie Bian naturally opened his mouth and took the straw in, drawing the milk tea up. The pearls slid down his throat with each swallow.

Holding the milk tea up for him, Fan Wujiu found the sight so cute and tempting that he couldn’t help but smile. Watching Xie Bian quietly for a while, he suddenly felt a little thirsty himself and quickly grabbed the other cup of milk tea to wet his throat.

The scene didn’t go unnoticed. Many of the passersby in the lobby, who had been watching the two handsome men, directly shipped them to death.

Xie Bian hadn’t finished watching the episode of the series yet when the announcement began, reminding the audience to get their tickets checked.

Fan Wujiu stood up and said, “Let’s go.”

Xie Bian pulled out his earphones, turned off his phone, and finally lifted his exquisite face, following Fan Wujiu to the ticket line.

In front of them was a couple. The girl nervously asked, “What if the movie is really scary? I’m afraid of ghosts…… I don’t know if I can watch it.”

The boy comforted her, “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll protect you.”

Xie Bian turned to ask, “What movie are we watching?”

Fan Wujiu had taken care of everything, from choosing and purchasing the tickets to picking them up. Xie Bian only knew they were going to the cinema in the afternoon, but he hadn’t been told which movie they were watching.

“Haunted House,” Fan Wujiu replied.

Xie Bian frowned slightly. “A horror film?”

Fan Wujiu nodded. “Yes.”

Xie Bian fell silent.

Seeing his unease, Fan Wujiu quickly mimicked the boy from earlier and offered reassurance, “If you’re scared, you can hold onto me.”

After thinking for a moment, Xie Bian said, “Even if I’m not scared, I can still hold onto you.”

Fan Wujiu: “……”

Damn, he’d been misled by the online reviews. He’d been so focused on the idea that Lao Bai would be frightened and rush into his arms, that he completely forgot Lao Bai would never be scared of ghosts.

After spending so much time capturing souls, he had forgotten that their real job was to deal with ghosts every day. Lao Bai afraid of ghosts? It should be the ghosts that were afraid of him.

Fan Wujiu sighed in defeat. “I think I picked the wrong theme.” He was very frustrated that the first date was ruined.

Xie Bian turned around to comfort him. “Your choice of movie is quite creative. I’m really interested.”

A ghost envoy watching a horror film? It was likely because he’d seen so many real ghosts that he wanted to experience the fake ones.

Fan Wujiu: “……”

No matter how much he regretted it, the tickets were already bought, and they were going to watch the movie.

As the lights in the theater dimmed and the eerie sound effects kicked in, the atmosphere did get a little unsettling.

The movie itself was pretty dull. It told the story of five tourists who accidentally entered a haunted house and couldn’t escape. No. 1, 2 and 3 were killed one by one after getting separated. No. 4 and 5 were driven mad by illusions and ended up killing each other.

Despite the plot holes, the ghostly makeup was terrifying, and the characters’ deaths were gruesome. The sound effects were chilling, and the atmosphere in the pitch-black theater was incredibly immersive. Screams echoed throughout the cinema, and there were even soft sobs from some of the girls.

Even tough men could be genuinely scared, but they refused to cry out of pride.

Among the panicked crowd, only the two in the middle remained as calm as ever.

When the ghostly woman’s bloodied and disfigured face suddenly appeared on the big screen, others screamed in terror, but Xie Bian kept eating his popcorn, even grabbing a couple more when he saw the ghost’s appearance.

When a tourist was gruesomely shredded by a high-speed rotating fan and their body was gruesomely mangled, the others were retching, but Xie Bian remained expressionless and took a sip of his milk tea.

After several terrifying scenes, Xie Bian showed no reaction at all.

In the underworld, there were countless ghosts with bizarre and terrifying appearances. Just picking any random one could easily outdo the ghost in the movie. Those ghosts still had to address them as “Seventh Master” and “Eighth Master.” It was no wonder they wouldn’t have any adverse reaction to a movie scene.

As Xie Bian was halfway through his popcorn, he suddenly remembered what Fan Wujiu had said when they were checking tickets: “If you’re scared, you can hold onto me.”

Fan Wujiu must have chosen this movie with that very thought in mind, hoping to find a reason to be hugged by him.

If he didn’t at least pretend to be scared, wouldn’t that be embarrassing for Fan Wujiu?

Xie Bian prided himself on being a considerate boyfriend. He would never disappoint his partner.

So, at a point when the movie was completely normal and the audience was calm, Xie Bian suddenly threw himself weakly into Fan Wujiu’s arms, burying his head in his chest and calmly saying, “Ah, I’m so scared.”

Fan Wujiu, who was in the middle of popping a piece of popcorn into his mouth: “……”

He was so startled that the popcorn fell from his hand.

Fan Wujiu glanced at the big screen. The scene currently playing was of the surviving tourists huddled together in a room, discussing their strategy. Even a three-year-old wouldn’t be scared by this.

Lao Bai, what are you afraid of?

Fan Wujiu was completely certain that Xie Bian hadn’t gotten any of the horror elements in the movie, to the point where his timing in pretending to be scared was so messed up.

But, being the considerate person he was, of course he wouldn’t expose him.

When his beloved threw himself into his arms, how could he refuse?

Xiao Bai just wanted an excuse to act cute with his boyfriend. How adorable.

Fan Wujiu gently patted Xie Bian’s back and comforted him in a soft voice, “Don’t be scared, Xiao Bai, I’m here.”

The boy sitting next to them glanced over at them, unable to find the right words.

He had already noticed these two men who remained calm while everyone else was screaming in fear. The one in white even managed to eat without batting an eye. He had thought this guy was pretty brave.

Now, it looked like he was just a bit slower than everyone else in catching on.

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