Chapter 152.1 The Horror Club
The palm lines were rough, but judging from its size, it belonged to a child.
The curator let out a startled scream. Soon, he had trouble breathing, as another hand blocked most of the noise by covering his mouth. The soundproofed metal door kept the remaining screams in a separate space effectively.
Wen Shi slowly sat up on the hospital bed.
The curator couldn’t spot the ghost child, proving it wasn’t an ordinary monster. His interest in the young man was entirely reflected in a single character, “寿,” which meant longevity.
When compared to the Thrill Tower Amusement Park, the Celebrity Museum became a dead giveaway with the ghost child’s cheating device.
After getting out of bed, Wen Shi grabbed the curator’s collar and forcefully pushed him into the cabin. The ghost child had a tight grip on the curator’s limbs, leaving only half of his body struggling like a stranded fish.
“Choose between two?” Wen Shi asked playfully.
There were two green buttons on the wall, with one tucked behind the cabinet. He pressed it without thinking.
The machine immediately started running. The internal condition of the circular magnet couldn’t be seen clearly, but judging by the occasional muffled groans that escaped, it was evident that someone inside was undergoing painful torment.
Wen Shi stood by the machine and asked in a matter-of-fact tone, “How much do you know about the demon?” As he said this, he gestured to the ghost child and the curator got a brief moment of freedom to breathe.
“You only get one chance. If you provide me with satisfactory information, I’ll pause the machine.”
The curator’s face was coated in plaster, while an untraceable fluid steadily poured into his pores. The suffocating sensation left his brain in chaos.
He asked in a muffled voice, “What demon?”
Wen Shi turned around abruptly, deliberately making his footsteps heavier, as if he was about to leave.
The curator immediately became anxious, struggling to speak.
“…Over a decade ago, I found that as I aged, my hands couldn’t steady a knife anymore. I prayed to a demon, asking it to give me a young body. I was willing to sacrifice anything for this.”
The curator had a fit of severe coughing, but he continued in a hoarse voice, “The demon advised me to be more conservative, to maintain a state of being around fifty or sixty. This way, I could handle a knife steadily and wouldn’t have to give up my entire soul. The only condition was that I had to be responsible for making and selling those shrines.”
If it weren’t for Wen Shi’s deep understanding of how the demon operated, based solely on the description, one might think the demon was understanding and accommodating.
He walked back and finally asked, “Where did you hear about this demon?”
To worship something, one must first know it existed.
“By watching a movie,” the curator stretched his arm, trying to push aside the cover and choked with pain. “There’s a movie called ‘Across the Plum Blossoms.’ The lead actress worships a demon and makes her wish come true. After watching it, I got the idea to try worshiping as well.”
As the machine finally stopped running, the horrifying plaster inside vanished without a trace.
Wen Shi stood silently in place. Though it sounded far-fetched, in a life-threatening situation, the curator couldn’t muster the energy to fabricate such a lie.
The ghost child crawled out of the machine, looking as if seeking praise.
Because his body had shrunk significantly in the fire, his head seemed disproportionately large. “Mom, did I do well?”
“You did very well.”
The ghost child pushed his luck. “Mom, can you reward me by making your arm into a specimen?”
Wen Shi listened, a faint smile in his eyes. “You want this arm?”
The ghost child and the others rushed towards him, collectively nodding vigorously.
Wen Shi’s smile became even gentler. “Alright, if by tomorrow, you all haven’t changed your minds, I’ll consider it a gift.”
The ghost child tilted his face up, as if trying to catch the warmth in Wen Shi’s eyes. Mom was so generous, and they loved each other so much!
On the other side, the curator crawled out of the machine. His skin had sagged, as if a decade had passed in moments. He gasped for breath, unable to spot the ghost child, but the words Wen Shi had said haunted his ears, sending shivers of fear down his spine.
The metal door opened once again.
Wen Shi walked out confidently, with the curator following behind him, weakly calling out, “Next.”
Wen Shi, who was leading the way, turned back. The curator’s thin lips quivered slightly as he raised his hand, swearing not to cause trouble again.
Causing trouble didn’t matter.
Wen Shi thought to himself in a good mood. After all, the next one going in was Xiao Hua.
Under normal circumstances, each person wouldn’t spend more than five minutes inside. Xiao Hua had been in for six minutes. When she came out and saw Wen Shi looking at her, she said, “I gave that old man a hard time.”
A genuinely rough attack.
Originally, she wanted to finish him off directly, but considering the presence of other NPCs, she reluctantly held back.
Wen Shi was hardly taken aback by the curator’s stubborn refusal to repent even in death. Just as the curator was eager to reclaim his lost lifespan after suffering in the machine, he found himself facing nothing but another tough opponent.
“I believe he’s learned to behave now.” Wen Shi shrugged.
After a minute, the curator stepped out, struggling to put on a thick robe. He weakly apologized to the City Lord, “My old illness flared up. The remaining data measurements might be delayed.”
With no response in sight, the curator lifted his head and met a pair of lifeless eyes. Panic inexplicably welled up inside him.
Just as his heart pounded like a bell, the City Lord finally nodded.
The curator felt a great sense of relief.
Without accompanying the City Lord downstairs, the curator stood by the window on the third floor. He watched as Wen Shi and Xiao Hua got into the car below. Only then did he breathe a long sigh of relief.
When he turned around, a shrine appeared on the floor, with a statue inside gazing at him.
What had clearly been in a display case on the ground floor now awkwardly stood behind him. The curator shivered all over and was about to speak when the black mist that floated above the statue’s top reached his eyes.
“I didn’t mean to betray you… it was the bodyguard, he forced me to talk! You can kill him to silence him…”
Before he could finish his defense, the plaster mixture in the plastic bucket defied gravity and rushed towards him. It formed a cascade, blocking his way to the stairs. It encircled every inch of his skin in an eerie manner, then dried up and solidified.
With the curator gone, the grand hall on the third floor was now utterly devoid of life. Near the staircase, there was a sculpture with a strong artistic feel: leaning forward, arms extended, frozen in the posture of fleeing.
“I won’t kill him…” the deceased curator couldn’t hear the demon’s final whisper, “because we’re cut from the same cloth.”
The black mist retracted back into the statue, and the entire space fell completely silent.
On Wen Shi’s side, the car had been on the road for ten minutes. He looked meaningfully at Black-Clad Man and said, “The City Lord is in great shape. He goes straight to the movies without lunch.”
Black-Clad Man replied coldly, “Focus on your job.”
With Black-Clad Man making conversation inconvenient, Wen Shi and Xiao Hua secretly exchanged messages using their phones to discuss what had happened earlier.
Xiao Hua: “There’s one question. When the curator came out, he looked much older. It means the machine takes away a lot of lifespan each time it runs. If he only wanted to maintain his current state, he shouldn’t need that much lifespan. So, where do the remaining lifespans go?”
Wen Shi found it strange too. He glanced through the windshield at the car where the City Lord was and grew more suspicious.
They had encountered a place called the Royal Cinema in Sunset Town last time, and there was one in the Golden City too.
This was where the City Lord would be watching the movie later. The interior was extravagantly adorned, and from the exterior, there was no hint of anything unsettling.
The cinema had a total of seven halls, with the last one being a private theater where one could freely choose what to watch. They could replay any previously shown movies. Wen Shi wanted to see “Across the Plum Blossoms,” but unfortunately, he had to accompany someone to the premiere.
The City Lord arrived nearly an hour early, and the staff hurriedly welcomed him.
As an administrator of the Golden City, the City Lord had absolute privileges. Although there had never been a precedent for changing the premiere time, the owner had already started communicating with the production crew and the lucky audience members to discuss the possibility of an early start.
The premiere was scheduled to be held in Hall Four, with exaggerated promotional posters hanging at the entrance.
Wen Shi took a closer look: “Across the Plum Blossoms 5.” In the poster, the lead actors gazed deeply into each other’s eyes against the backdrop of the Golden Plum Casino. Wen Shi practically used a magnifying glass to study the poster. Finally, amidst the bustling casino scene, he discovered a subtle shrine pattern. It was quite inconspicuous and easy to overlook if one wasn’t careful.
Others didn’t pay much attention when they saw him staring at the poster. Golden Plum was the biggest casino in the Golden City, and there were countless movies about it, with “Golden Plum Chronicles” being the most famous. It had several successful box office hits.
Thanks to the owner’s proactive efforts, the premiere was successfully rescheduled.
They had barely been inside when the lucky audience members selected by the theater started arriving one after another. Shortly after, the cast and crew also arrived.
The City Lord took a seat in the front row, while the bodyguards stood at the side staircases, allowing them to observe the people coming and going.
The audience covered a wide range of age groups, and Wen Shi didn’t spot any suspicious individuals among them. The actors all seemed normal. The director stood on the stage, expressing gratitude to the City Lord. His excitement and pride were clearly visible on his face.
Xiao Hua whispered, “Keep your guard up during the movie.”
Wen Shi nodded. If the audiencd were fine, the trap was likely hidden within the big screen.
The main interactions were scheduled for after the movie ended. The director briefly spoke, and then the team took their seats in the first two rows.
All the surrounding lights went out in an instant, and the screen began to emit a faint glow. Wen Shi held his breath and focused along with the rest of the audience on the screen.
The “Golden Plum Chronicles” series was a pure commercial venture with a straightforward plot and no major twists. It followed the typical formula of building suspense before revealing the genius protagonist, who got expelled from school due to being ensnared in a gambling scheme. The rest of the story hadn’t unfolded yet, but anyone could predict where it was heading.
Forty minutes into the movie, Wen Shi’s lazy gaze suddenly sharpened.
“Please bless A’Yao for victory tomorrow…”
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