Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Time seemed to stand still for a moment.

In the suddenly illuminated room, the staff on one side and the guests on the other exchanged glances under the light.

It resembled a slow-motion scene from a renowned painting.

The comments in the live chat paused briefly for two seconds, then increased tenfold.

"Hahahaha, the staff and director must be totally confused right now."

"Director, didn’t you talk to Zhang Shanfeng? Hahaha, Su Xingyao’s bag has secret compartments!"

"A second ago I was scared, now I’m laughing so hard I’m wheezing—this is pure comedy!"

"Why would a guest bring their own flashlight to a variety show? Hahaha, Su Xingyao is just too adorable."

"Hahaha, I’m dying to know where Su Xingyao got that light."

The audience wasn’t the only one curious.

The chief director, glued to the monitor, was equally desperate to find out.

Where on earth did that light come from?!

"Get that light away from Su Xingyao, now!!"

As the director panicked, the staff member playing the ghost was still clueless about what was going on, still holding onto the blower, relentlessly blasting cold air into Luo Yiyuan’s face.

Meanwhile, Luo Yiyuan, who had been terrified out of his mind, immediately got up from the ground after seeing everything clearly under the light, dramatically rolled up his sleeves, and charged at the blower.

"Alright!! I knew this creepy cold wind was suspicious!! So it was you guys deliberately scaring me!"

The frightened Luo Yiyuan yanked the blower’s plug out.

And as if that wasn’t enough, he hurled the plug onto the ground.

With the power cut, the eerie wind vanished instantly.

After taking care of the blower, Luo Yiyuan zeroed in on the staff member’s wig.

"Dude, this thing is creepy—why don’t you hand it over?"

After saying that, he immediately plopped the staff member’s wig onto his own head, and even snagged one for Su Xingyao, leaving the staff member wigless.

The director, watching from the monitor, was speechless: ??????

They even stole the wigs??

What kind of legends are Su Xingyao and Luo Yiyuan!!

One comes prepared with his own light...

The other seizes NPC props...

This is only the first episode...

How are we supposed to keep filming like this?!!

"Take it all away!! Confiscate everything right now!!!"

While the director was sucking on an oxygen mask and roaring in frustration, Su Xingyao had already observed everything around him clearly.

At that moment, a familiar mechanical voice came through the earpiece.

"Please return the props in your hands to the staff immediately, Su Xingyao and Luo Yiyuan!"

The mechanical voice was used to give instructions to all guests, so this message was synchronized in everyone's earpieces.

Gu Feiyang, who had just removed his blindfold, was shocked, "What props did they take?"

Xie Jin, still trying to find a way out, asked, "What? They got props so quickly?"

Wu Ningning, who was terrified by the NPC and huddled in a corner, exclaimed, "Ahhh, where is Xingyao? I want to find him too."

Upon hearing the warning in his earpiece, Su Xingyao immediately had staff confiscate his hand lamp.

After taking the hand lamp, the staff member even checked his bag suspiciously, afraid he might have hidden something else strange inside.

"Hey, hey!! Don't take it away! You didn't say we couldn't bring props!!"

Luo Yiyuan, who was afraid of ghosts, looked on helplessly as the lamp was confiscated. As darkness returned, he wanted to retrieve the lamp but timidly hid behind Su Xingyao.

Su Xingyao stayed much calmer.

The earlier interruption had already eased the fear the room had instilled in him.

So, based on the layout he saw when the light was on, he quickly led Luo Yiyuan to the room's exit.

With a soft click, the door opened, and Su Xingyao stepped outside.

Outside the house was a quiet, empty street.

There were no streetlights, only a faint crescent moon in the sky casting a faint light.

The production team had invested heavily in the set.

Not only did they create the effect of day and night, but they also carefully designed a moon.

As Su Xingyao walked down the street, a faint shadow cast by the moon was visible on the ground.

Luo Yiyuan, still upset about the staff taking the lamp, now stood on the empty street, his expression unexpectedly calm.

Unlike his earlier terrified self, he even asked Su Xingyao, "Su Su, are you still afraid of the dark?"

Su Xingyao pointed to the moon in the sky and shook his head, "With the light, I'm not afraid."

Luo Yiyuan also patted himself confidently, "I don't seem to be afraid anymore... Now that I know it's all just people acting, it doesn't seem so scary now."

After saying this, he took out the wig from his bag and placed it back on his head, "Wig for protection."

"??? Wasn't the wig confiscated by the staff? How did Luo Yiyuan also pick up Su Xingyao's habit of hiding things!"

"As we all know, the skill of hiding things is contagious."

"Wow, Luo Yiyuan isn't afraid of ghosts anymore? Did Su Xingyao's lamp cure him? Hahaha."

"The duo of Su Xingyao and Luo Yiyuan, who are afraid of the dark and ghosts, really makes me laugh."

Just as Luo Yiyuan finished putting on his wig, he immediately heard another scream.

So, right after he said he wasn't afraid of ghosts, he instantly grabbed Su Xingyao's arm like a child, hiding behind him and trembling.

"Hahaha, what happened to the wig that was supposed to protect you from ghosts?"

The one who screamed was Wu Ningning.

In the dim moonlight, Su Xingyao spotted her at a glance.

Wu Ningning, running down the street, also saw Su Xingyao and hurried over to him.

"Su Su, Su Su, I just saw a bunch of dolls over there..."

Wu Ningning, pale from fear, pointed to the street ahead, her voice trembling, "They looked like they were moving!"

Su Xingyao looked where Wu Ningning pointed.

"Moving dolls?"

After hearing her, he glanced back at the room they just left.

When the light was on earlier, he had seen many mannequins placed in that room.

As Su Xingyao thought about how the mannequins fit into this episode's theme, Wu Ningning suddenly stepped back, pointing at Luo Yiyuan behind Su Xingyao with a pale face, "Su Su... there's... there's a ghost attached to your back!"

Hearing this, Luo Yiyuan got so scared he ran in front of Su Xingyao.

Wu Ningning, thinking he was going to chase her instead, quickly jumped behind Su Xingyao in fear.

The two of them kept switching places like they were playing hide-and-seek, screaming the whole time.

Finally, Su Xingyao calmly pulled out a tiny Kuromi night light from his sleeve, lit it up in his palm, and placed it in front of Luo Yiyuan, lifting his wig.

The hide-and-seek game only stopped after they saw Luo Yiyuan's face clearly under the night light.

"It's not a ghost, it's just Luo Yiyuan."

After recognizing him, Wu Ningning angrily clenched her fist and punched Luo Yiyuan's shoulder.

"Why are you dressed like this at night! You scared me to death!!"

After calming down, her eyes sparkled as she looked at the night light in Su Xingyao's hand.

"This night light is adorable!"

Seeing that Wu Ningning liked it, Su Xingyao directly gave the night light to her.

"Here, take it. It doesn't light up much, but it can come in handy in a pinch."

Wu Ningning, who loved Kuromi, happily took the night light from Su Xingyao.

The director, who had just taken a sip of water in front of the monitor: ????

In just a few seconds, where did another night light come from??

The director looked confusedly at the staff member who had just taken Su Xingyao's hand light.

He quickly waved his hands with an innocent expression.

"Director, I really did completely empty his bag just now!"

To prove his innocence, he immediately dumped everything he had confiscated from Su Xingyao in front of the director.

Mini lights, searchlights, pet lights, keychain lights, ASMR sleep guide lights, and more...

"How on earth did he bring glow sticks with him!!!"

The director, utterly confused by how Su Xingyao could carry so many lights, scratched his already thinning hair.

His head hurt, and he felt like his brain couldn't keep up with Su Xingyao.

While the director was still wondering where Su Xingyao had gotten so many strange lights, Su Xingyao himself was leading two followers who were afraid of ghosts to the place Wu Ningning had mentioned, where she had encountered the dolls.

However, upon arriving, they didn't see any dolls but unexpectedly encountered Gu Feiyang and Xie Jin.

Xie Jin brought some good news.

She waved a letter in her hand, "I just accidentally found this on the table. It should be a clue of some sort."

"But I can't really see it clearly."

She had already opened the envelope.

But due to the poor lighting, she had tried for a while and still couldn't make out what was written on it.

Seeing that Xie Jin had a clue, everyone crowded around.

Wu Ningning excitedly placed the Kuromi light in her palm and tapped her head lightly with her finger.

Immediately, a light lit up around her palm.

The light wasn't too strong, but it was plenty to illuminate the words on the letter.

Xie Jin noticed the light and was completely astonished.

"Ningning, how on earth did you bring a light? That's so smart!"

Wu Ningning, while holding the light over the letter, looked at Su Xingyao with admiration and explained, "I didn't bring it. Xingyao gave it to me."

Wu Ningning gasped in surprise!

Under the light of the tiny lamp, the five of them finally saw the contents clearly.

It was an invitation letter from a self-proclaimed curator of Doll Town, addressed to someone named Xiao Xi.

"Dear Xiao Xi, I am..."

Xie Jin read it out loud to the other guests.

"Welcome to Doll Town, where you can do anything you want. The Doll God will bless you and grant you all your wishes."

After Xie Jin finished reading the last sentence, there was a beep in everyone's earpieces.

Then, the familiar prompt tone played.

"Congratulations to all players for discovering this episode's theme—Doll Town."

After introducing the theme, the mechanical voice provided additional background information.

"After accepting the curator's invitation, Xiao Xi arrived at Doll Town. However, on the very first day in the town, he mysteriously disappeared."

"As his friends, please do your best to find clues about him and help him leave the town."

"Next, please explore the town first to learn about Xiao Xi's personal information."

As the mechanical voice concluded, the guests' faces lit up instantly.

The streets, which were pitch-dark, suddenly brightened into daylight.

And the moon had already been replaced by the rising sun.

Finally, it was daytime, and the guests sighed in relief.

Even more magical, the once empty streets were now bustling with life.

People dressed in various styles appeared on the streets.

The people wore outfits just as varied as theirs, blending ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign styles. Curious, Luo Yiyuan stopped a passerby and asked, "Why are your clothes so strange?"

The other person smiled and straightened his clothes, "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Our Doll Town has always had this custom: when going out, one must dress in a unique and unconventional way."

Upon hearing this, Luo Yiyuan gave a thumbs up to the other person, "Cool!"

After hearing this, he turned to Su Xingyao and asked, "Where should we go now?"

The show's team gave them few clues, leaving everyone puzzled.

Su Xingyao looked at the invitation in Xie Jin's hand and pointed his finger at the inviter's column.

"Let's head to the curator first. He invited Xiao Xi, so he might have some leads."

Su Xingyao's suggestion was unanimously agreed upon by everyone.

After searching for a map in the town for a long time, they finally found the Doll Museum.

Upon entering, they were all taken aback by the sheer number of dolls in the museum.

The museum's display cases were crammed with all sorts of dolls. The moment they stepped in, it felt like every doll's eyes were fixed on them.

Luo Yiyuan got goosebumps all over from the dolls' stares.

Yet, more than the odd dolls, the curator made a lasting impression.

The curator was a girl who appeared to be just ten.

Sadly, the young curator was mute, offering only smiles.

Gu Feiyang stepped forward to explain why they were there.

Her expression stayed neutral, but she kindly handed over Xiao Xi's diary, photos, and phone to the group.

After providing the clues, the curator gestured to the door's clock, signaling closing time.

So, they headed out to the museum's front square.

Upon unpacking these clues, unfortunately, the diary and photos inside were inexplicably torn to pieces.

Even the phone was completely out of battery.

At the same time, the mechanical voice sounded again.

"This rescue mission spans two days and three nights. Night will fall in half an hour. Players, please hurry up."

With time running short, the five of them had to split the tasks.

Wu Ningning and Xie Jin took on the task of piecing together the diary.

Su Xingyao and Gu Feiyang worked together to reassemble the photos.

Luo Yiyuan went off to find a charging cable and adapter to power up the phone.

As Su Xingyao pieced together the photos, he noticed that the ones "torn" by the production team were quite intriguing—each piece was neatly fragmented, much like a jigsaw puzzle.

However, since many photos were mixed together, the task proved to be quite challenging.

Gu Feiyang was daunted by the sight of the puzzle.

Su Xingyao, however, calmly crouched on the ground, starting from the edges and methodically piecing it together. He had it all put together in just under twenty minutes.

The production team was taken aback by the time he took.

Originally, they had estimated that each person would need twenty to thirty minutes to complete two photos.

To their surprise, Su Xingyao alone completed the puzzle in under twenty minutes.

While Su Xingyao's puzzle was challenging, the diary, torn into larger pieces, was much easier to assemble.

By the time Su Xingyao wrapped up his task, the diary was also pieced together.

The diary didn’t yield any obvious clues.

It simply chronicled Xiao Xi's daily trivialities, using various papers and pens.

Summarizing the entries, everyone learned that Xiao Xi was actually an orphan who had spent her life in an orphanage. This marked her first venture far from home.

Prior to this, her life had revolved solely between the orphanage and school, where she excelled academically and had a passion for mathematics.

Next, everyone turned their attention to the photos Su Xingyao had reassembled.

The details in them were even more cryptic.

The first photo depicted a fierce blaze.

The other captured the remnants of a burnt-down house.

Before anyone could decipher their significance, Luo Yiyuan returned, having successfully charged the phone.

"You wouldn’t believe it, even charging required solving a puzzle…"

While explaining how difficult it was to charge the phone, Luo Yiyuan turned it on.

After a brief wait, Xiao Xi's phone lit up.

The lock screen wallpaper revealed a hand-drawn golden five-pointed star enclosing three small white flowers.

After powering on the phone, Luo Yiyuan quickly pressed it twice, then frowned.

"Charging didn’t help; the phone still needs a password..."

No sooner had he spoken than a new prompt sounded in the earpiece.

"Only three minutes left until nightfall. Please decode the existing clues as soon as possible, otherwise the clues will be invalidated."

As the announcement played, the program team dimmed the lights slightly.

The sun, which had been high in the sky, now began to "set."

At this, the guests were instantly stunned.

"Clues can just be invalidated like that?"

"Why didn’t you tell us sooner!"

"How am I supposed to find clues in just three minutes..."

With time running out, the guests hesitated no longer and frantically began trying passwords.

"Try the birthday! Use the birthday!"

Gu Feiyang suggested the most commonly used unlock password.

Wu Ningning, who had just been assembling the diary, clearly had the same idea. She quickly flipped through the diary and called out the other person's birthday.

"020409"

Luo Yiyuan didn’t waste a second and immediately entered the numbers.

The password was incorrect.

Gu Feiyang let out a frustrated sigh. "The birthday didn’t work... what else can we try?"

Luo Yiyuan hurriedly asked, "Does the diary have any other numbers?"

Xie Jin shook her head in resignation. "No."

Wu Ningning paced back and forth anxiously. "Then do we have to go find clues..."

So the four of them frantically searched the museum again.

After all, knowing how the program team operates, they must have hidden the password somewhere nearby.

While the guests were searching aimlessly, Wu Ningning, with a stroke of luck, quickly found a map on a bench.

Everyone quickly examined it and discovered that the map had several coordinates plotted, followed by twenty-six letters.

Looking closer, twelve of the letters were faintly circled, and at the end, irregular arrows pointing up, down, left, and right were drawn.

Seeing this, the guests felt their heads spinning.

Luo Yiyuan couldn’t resist complaining, "Director, do you think our IQ is very high..."

The director remained silent, but a sixty-second countdown began instead.

As the countdown started, the guests stopped complaining and focused on studying the map.

However, after looking for a long time, he realized he couldn't find any pattern at all, so he started guessing randomly.

He entered the password three more times, but all were wrong.

The guests were pretty discouraged.

Since the phone only allowed five password attempts, if he made one more mistake, the phone would be locked, and their clue would be invalidated.

"Ten seconds left on the countdown, what do we do, what do we do..."

In the chaos, Luo Yiyuan saw Su Xingyao walk up to him and said calmly, "Try 548834."

Now there was just one chance left, and Luo Yiyuan was hesitant to try it.

After all, these numbers didn't seem to make any sense.

He turned to Su Xingyao, confused, "Su Su, where did you get this number? Are you sure?"

Su Xingyao glanced at his phone and smiled lightly, "We’ve only got ten seconds left, might as well try."

The countdown buzzed in their earpieces.

Seeing that no one else could come up with a better number, Luo Yiyuan figured he had nothing to lose and pressed the number Su Xingyao suggested.

Two seconds after the countdown, the sky darkened.

As darkness fell again, Luo Yiyuan noticed that the pattern on his phone had changed.

He waved the phone excitedly at the group.

"It's unlocked!"