Moonlit: Thank you, Sagey, for the ko-fi~
Cruise ship, first floor—Office.
Su Weisheng and You Sui were flipping through the just-collected custom scripts written by the actors. Xie Wei and Song Qing had chosen the “cave group”, while Su Anyao had taken Zhi Yu to the small house in the peach grove. The remaining three stayed on the ship to develop the storyline from there.
Jiang Yimian was still a little hesitant. “Great-grandfather, isn’t this method of not setting a fixed script, just letting the actors perform freely with high autonomy, a bit too reckless? I’m afraid they might not act seriously and end up spending all their time just relaxing and vacationing.”
“They won’t. High autonomy doesn’t mean there’s no script,” Su Weisheng said calmly. “The scriptwriters have already gone ashore. They’ll be writing based on the character settings and backgrounds given by the actors. It’s just that they’re not suitable to appear in front of the actors.”
Jiang Yimian thought for a moment, then nodded in sudden realization. “I get it now!”
Great-grandfather wasn’t letting the scriptwriters appear because he wanted to guide the actors into mistakenly thinking there was no script and that they had complete freedom to perform. That way, the plot would unfold more naturally. But in reality, the staff would be guiding them from the shadows, subtly steering the actors to follow the storyline.
If that was the case, then his role was already very clear.
Jiang Yimian patted his chest and promised with high morale, “Don’t worry, Great-grandfather. I’ll handle the visible scriptwriting duties and communicate with the actors, making them believe I’m the only scriptwriter in the production team so that they’ll lower their guard!”
Su Weisheng nodded at him approvingly. Not bad—he understood the assignment.
You Sui hadn’t joined in the conversation. He was lightly toying with the white jade fan beside Su Weisheng’s hand, and glanced thoughtfully out the window. “All the actors and staff are now in place.”
Su Weisheng met his gaze in silent understanding. His brows lifted with interest, and he said unhurriedly, “Since that’s the case, Director, we can begin filming as planned. I trust our actors will give it their all. What do you think?”
You Sui curled his lips, the jade fan twirling deftly in his palm. He looked at Su Weisheng with a smiling expression and said, “I don’t have high hopes for these young actors, but I trust my producer’s decisions completely.”
The jade fan was casually hung on the wall. A gentle breeze stirred it, making it sway lightly, and a soft, mellow sound spread through the air, “Dong——”
“3, 2, 1, filming begins.”
*
Su Ran had a dream.
He dreamed that he was trapped in an elevator. There were clearly only three people inside, yet the elevator kept blaring terrifying overload warnings. He wanted to get out, but the doors were tightly shut and wouldn’t open at all. Everything around him was pitch black, and an eerie sense of being secretly watched lingered in his heart like a shadow.
His chest tightened in fear, and he abruptly opened his eyes, sitting up in bed with a jolt. He panted heavily, still shaken, and only after scanning his surroundings did he realize he was lying in a cruise ship’s guest cabin.
A cool breeze brushed across his sweat-drenched forehead, the chill soothing his nerves and gradually easing the tension.
So it was just a dream?
No—wait. If it was really a dream, then he should’ve woken up on the first floor. Why was he lying in a guest room?
Doubt and suspicion flooded Su Ran’s mind. He grabbed the phone from the bedside table and was about to head out when he felt a faint vibration in his palm. Looking down, he saw a long message on the WeChat work group chat:
«Seaside Island» filming has officially begun. Actors, please follow the rules below to avoid elimination:
- During filming, do not mention real-life topics unrelated to the story to avoid breaking immersion.
- Actors must follow their assigned backstory. Every action must relate to your personal objective.
- Out-of-character behavior is strictly forbidden. All speech and body language must align with your established persona.
- ……
- ……
- ……
As he read through the rules one by one, Su Ran’s emotions gradually calmed down, completely dispelling the initial panic and confusion. Suddenly, he thought of something. If filming had officially started, then the accident in the elevator was very likely just the crew deliberately creating a spooky scene to help them get into character.
Ha, such small tricks were easy for him to see through!
So next, they would definitely have prepared more little gimmicks to scare the actors. But it didn’t matter—he had already cracked their plan in advance. From now on, there was nothing to fear; he could counter every move and even turn the tables on them!
At this thought, his top-tier confidence soared. He felt that his condition was excellent and that he had already learned to apply Su Weisheng’s way of thinking to handle difficulties. That meant he was at least 70% into character!
*
After the ship ran aground, it was stranded on the shore. The six stranded tourists scattered with different intentions—some headed deep into the island’s caves, others walked toward the confusing peach grove. The popular singer Su Ran and his two friends, Qin Xiaohe and Tong Wei, chose to stay on the signal-less cruise ship to wait for rescue.
It was already late at night. After searching the entire ship, the trio still couldn’t find any trace of the others, as if the vast vessel only had them three left along with the ever-burning lights.
Tong Wei was baffled. “Where is everyone else? The captain, the crew, the cooks—they’ve all disappeared. Even if they escaped for their lives, there’d be some sign, right?”
Qin Xiaohe, exhausted, slumped onto the deck. His expression was dim and unclear under the night sky, but his heavy voice came through restrained: “Do you know? Three years ago, this same ship had a similar accident. After disappearing for a while, it reappeared in public view. But everyone inside had vanished without a trace.”
Su Ran responded, “I know. Your goddess is among them. You came here looking for her whereabouts.”
Qin Xiaohe was really dedicated—not only did he come to the island to film hoping to impress his goddess, he even wrote her into his script.
Hearing the word “goddess”, Qin Xiaohe’s expression twisted slightly, then he corrected with emphasis, “Not goddess, fiancée. We’re about to get married!”
The other two looked at him with pitying eyes.
Qin Xiaohe nearly lost his cool over the teasing, but luckily, his facial expression was unclear in the night. He bit his cheek and forced himself to pull his emotions back on track. “Anyway, it seems we might have encountered the same kind of eerie loop this time.”
Seeing him open the topic, Tong Wei thought for a moment, then mysteriously shared with everyone, “Actually, before coming, I’d heard stories about this cruise ship. They say it hides a mysterious treasure. There was a wealthy cancer patient who got a miraculous cure here, and a penniless beggar who found a chance to get rich overnight. But most people just disappeared without a trace on this ship…”
The few exchanged glances. Clearly, they had all come, more or less, because of that legend.
After a while, someone sighed deeply and said softly, “Too bad, we might be the latter now.”
Su Ran paused briefly and said, “No need to lose hope just yet. Things might still turn around. But first, we need to find some food to fill our stomachs. Only then will we have the energy to do anything.”
His calmness seemed to give the other two a sense of reassurance, and their moods slowly settled down. After wandering around for a while, they quickly found the dining hall and froze when they saw the tables laden with luxurious buffet dishes.
“So much delicious food?” Qin Xiaohe exclaimed in surprise.
Tong Wei stepped forward, picked up a piece of steak, and inspected it. “It’s completely cold now, but still edible. Should be the delicacies the chefs prepared for guests before they disappeared.”
Qin Xiaohe exclaimed excitedly, “Then this food will last us a long time!”
The group was already starving, and the aroma of the delicious food made them involuntarily swallow hard. They eagerly picked up their knives and forks, ready to eat.
Only Su Ran didn’t move. He stared solemnly at the feast on the table and said calmly, “To be cautious, I advise you not to eat the food prepared on the cruise ship.”
“Why?” The two looked at him in confusion.
Su Ran’s eyes carried the weight of experience. “From my rich experience, there must be a trap in this food. But if you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to try it yourselves.”
He was already prepared to watch these two stubborn guys insist on risking it, since he used to be just like that—always falling into traps before crying and admitting that Great-grandfather was right.
This was the inevitable process of a stubborn fool growing up; he wouldn’t interfere too much.
The next moment, the two thought for a while, then slowly nodded. “You’re right. According to common patterns, these might not be steaks or lamb chops at all—they could all be just some kind of meat slab!” Saying this, they put down the knives, forks, and steaks without hesitation, even wiping their hands to show their firm resolve.
Su Ran: …?
Damn, you guys give up so easily after just one warning? No stubbornness at all? Su Ran, who was usually hard-headed, started to question life itself. Do normal people take advice this well?
“Ran, what do we do now?” they asked.
As the team’s core, Su Ran quickly adjusted into leader mode. Clearing his throat, he raised his chin and commanded, “From now until rescue arrives, we have to prepare for a long-term fight. That means we must learn to be self-sufficient. Let’s go. Let’s catch fish in the shallow waters. Being self-sufficient is the safest!”
*
Crew, backstage.
Su Weisheng and the others were watching every move of the actors through hidden cameras.
Seeing Su Ran and his group refuse to eat the restaurant’s food and instead head down the dock in a big group to catch fish, Jiang Yimian immediately grew restless. “Great-grandfather, setting traps in the feast was too obvious. Ran and the others definitely won’t fall for it! So what do we do next? How do we push the story forward?”
Su Weisheng gave him a strange look and asked, “Who set a trap at the dining table?”
Jiang Yimian froze. “There’s no trap in the restaurant?”
You Sui smiled faintly, resting his chin on his hand, and added, “Nope, it’s just a pure welcome feast for the actors on their first day. You’re the ones with a petty mind, suspecting the crew’s good intentions.”
Jiang Yimian was dumbfounded: “…Isn’t it possible that you two pranksters have played us so much that we all got paranoid and developed a persecution complex? Poor top star finally thinks things through, only to be outsmarted by the reverse trick.”
Everyone looked on with pity at the three, who were still eagerly fishing in the water despite being wet and miserable. They had no idea what they were missing.
On screen, the three had been busy half the night, finally catching six of the slowest little fish swimming in the shallow water. Excited, they danced and shouted about roasting fish, clearly feeling a sense of accomplishment.
Tong Wei was building the fire, Qin Xiaohe skewered the small fish and grilled them over the flames, while Su Ran nearby found a few coconuts. The three then sat around the campfire, eagerly waiting for their meal.
“Not gonna lie, these little fish look pretty fat with big bellies,” Tong Wei remarked.
Qin Xiaohe was even more proud. “Thanks to Ran’s cleverness, we successfully avoided the trap. Heh heh, we grill and eat our own fish—let them enjoy their traps themselves!”
Su Ran’s lips twitched upward uncontrollably at the praise, but he insisted on keeping his character. He cleared his throat seriously twice and said lightly, “Child’s play tricks. If someone on this cruise ship really wanted to cause trouble, and all they could come up with were such low-level traps, I’d be very disappointed.”
Qin Xiaohe eagerly handed over a grilled fish, flattering, “Ran, eat the fish!”
Su Ran took a bite, then slowly furrowed his brow. “Why does it taste so awful? All bitter.”
The others took a bite as well, showing the same subtle expression of something hard to swallow.
Tong Wei hesitated a moment and reminded, “Uh… shouldn’t the fish have been gutted and scaled before grilling?”
The three kitchen amateurs looked at each other awkwardly, the atmosphere a bit tense.
Qin Xiaohe forced a smile and tried to smooth things over, “No worries, no worries, we can gut it now. It’s not too late. If it doesn’t work, we’ll just grill a couple more later!” Saying that, he took out a fruit knife and cut open the fish he had just bitten.
He cut twice, then suddenly felt something was wrong and let out a confused “Eh.” The other two instinctively followed his gaze toward the fish’s belly.
Inside the swollen little fish’s belly was a severed finger, faintly adorned with a delicate pinky ring.
Su Ran snatched the fruit knife and cut open his own fish. Lowering his head, he locked eyes with the half-cooked eyeball inside the fish’s belly.
Their smiles froze.
Whether from shock or something wrong with the fish itself, their minds suddenly grew hazy, even faintly hallucinating a scene of a woman being dismembered and thrown into the sea, while the little fish swarmed to devour the body parts.
And some of those fish that had eaten the flesh were now inside their own stomachs.
“We’ll grill the fish ourselves and be self-sufficient. The traps on the ship can be left for those causing trouble to enjoy themselves!”
The bold words still echoed in their ears.
The next moment, Qin Xiaohe, who was most affected by the hallucination, quivered at the corner of his mouth, cupped the severed finger in his hand, and suddenly burst into tears, crying out, “Goddess! Goddess! This finger belongs to my goddess! I ate my goddess… Ugh!”
Tong Wei, already on the verge of collapse, immediately lost control and vomited loudly, “Ugh ugh ugh—Shut up—ugh—”
Su Ran’s expression grew extremely ugly. His hands gripped the stones on the beach so tightly that the veins on the backs of his hands bulged. His face turned an iron-blue shade with red, and he bit his lip hard to stop himself from vomiting along with those two embarrassing fools.
They could vomit, but he couldn’t.
Right now, he was holding onto the wise, mature, and steady leader persona of Little Great-grandfather. He could not break character…
His stomach was violently churning, the fish meat relentlessly climbing up his throat.
Ugh—
No, he couldn’t throw up!
Su Ran closed his eyes in agony, forcing himself to uphold his persona, mentally coaching himself: Calm down! Calm down! It’s fake… It’s all fake…
