A few players entered the game, and it had barely been a day, so there was naturally no camaraderie to speak of with Lu Qingjia.
Moreover, the fact that so many of them had seen a few stunning beauties in an obviously uninhabited apartment without any suspicion indicated that the dungeon they were facing was likely to involve extremely tricky entities.
They definitely needed to check it out, at the very least to confirm whether that pretty boy was dead, which would help them deduce other clues.
But before heading up, each player took some time to prepare as best as they could.
Using a joking excuse to send the director’s assistant away, they formed a temporary alliance, sharing a bit of their backgrounds to ensure better distribution of combat power.
During this time, they haggled a few times, and by the time they set off, anyone else would probably have been long gone.
They tiptoed to the fifth floor, stopping at the door of room 503. A player with good hearing crouched by the door, carefully listening for any sounds, then shook his head at the others.
The last person stepped out, gathering all their strength, each holding a protective talisman or item, and kicked the door open.
What awaited them was not any of the scenarios they had imagined.
It wasn’t the pretty boy lying dead in a pool of blood, nor were there female ghosts revealing their true forms with menacing looks, and certainly not an empty, silent room.
In fact, they would have preferred any of those situations.
Because they saw that the pretty boy was now surrounded by several beautiful women, all eagerly flattering him and laughing joyfully.
One of the beauties stood a bit further away, using a lamp as a makeshift light source, while the pretty boy was taking pictures of her with a camera that seemed to have come from nowhere.
The other beauties were fanning him, giving massages, and handing him chairs, serving him like a king—simply a paradise for men—
What the hell!
If the beauties looked like the ones they had seen in the hallway earlier, they might have doubted their assumptions, thinking they were either ghosts or living people.
Perhaps there had been a mix-up with the crew, or the dungeon had a more complex plot, or even that these beauties had somehow learned about the crew starting work and sneaked in to seize an opportunity.
But these beauties were all covered in blood, with fatal wounds that were gaping and deep, either on their necks, chests, or heads, all showing bone-deep injuries.
Although the beauties were wearing revealing lace nightgowns that showcased their alluring figures, who could still appreciate such a bloody scene?
No, there was one idiot who could.
At first, everyone thought that the pretty boy, surnamed Lu, had also fallen under the beauties’ spell, completely focused on flirting and oblivious to what he was facing.
But when they heard him taking pictures, he kept saying, “Great pose, expression, make it even more tragic.”
“Hmm, yes! Good, try again, your death pose is beautiful. Think about what you regret the most before you die, channel that sadness, yes, that’s the look. Let’s take a few more.”
The players were dumbfounded; could he be some kind of pervert?
And then he even complained about them. A beauty with a cut on her neck turned her head, and the players tensed up, ready to defend themselves.
But she had no intention of attacking; she merely complained, “Could you close the door behind you? You’re really annoying, kicking the door at this hour? Are you looking for trouble?”
“No, no, no, we wouldn’t dare.” The players quickly closed the door, standing in the hallway, questioning their lives.
The situation inside was a result of events that had unfolded half an hour earlier.
When Lu Qingjia heard that a beauty had returned to 503, he immediately visited the room, but he was invited in after knocking normally.
“Knock! Knock! Knock!” He knocked three times, neither hurried nor slow. When there was no response, he didn’t rush to knock again, as if he had all the patience in the world to wait for the people inside to get ready.
After a while, the door slowly creaked open.
It was an old wooden door, still quite sturdy, though the brown paint was already peeling. The room was dark, with no lights on, and the doorway seemed ominous, as if it had a terrifying pull.
Lu Qingjia said, “Good evening, sorry to intrude.”
After saying that, he stepped inside. Although it was dark, he skillfully avoided the furniture.
Once inside, he said, “Could you turn on the lights? After all, it’s not appropriate for a man to visit a girls’ dormitory in the dark at night.”
Suddenly, the room lit up, and five beauties stood in a row facing Lu Qingjia, expressionless, looking at him. Compared to the lively descriptions from the thin guys earlier, they now seemed a bit lifeless.
When they saw Lu Qingjia’s face, they realized he wasn’t anyone they had encountered before. Perhaps it was his good looks or his polite demeanor throughout.
The young beauties didn’t act rashly, but their attitude was still far from friendly.
One of the short-haired beauties sneered, “If you’re so serious, you shouldn’t be visiting a girls’ dormitory at this hour.”
Lu Qingjia smiled, “I like men.”
The group was momentarily taken aback, and two of them even showed a hint of regret, earning a glare from the others.
The short-haired girl continued, “Then what brings you here in the middle of the night?”
Lu Qingjia replied, “Well, as you know, we are the crew that just moved in today. I’m the producer of the crew.”
The beauties, who had also been in the industry, understood the current market. Unless it was a renowned director, the person with the most authority in a crew was usually the producer.
Given the shabby nature of this makeshift crew, combined with Lu Qingjia’s obviously rich and handsome appearance, they figured his situation was likely as he described.
For a moment, their guard relaxed, only to hear him say, “I’m not very satisfied with the casting and the weight of the roles in the crew.”
“You ladies happen to meet my expectations perfectly—young, beautiful, and tragically dead ghosts, with some acting experience. Simply perfect.”
Upon hearing this, the beauties’ expressions changed, and they all revealed sinister smiles: “You know?”
The perfect fantasy gradually peeled away, revealing its bloody and sinister nature.
One of the curly-haired girls said, “So, do you still think we’re beautiful?”
Lu Qingjia nodded, “Your wounds are beautiful, like rose juice spilled near your collarbone, and the impact of the blood on your body is something the living cannot present.”
“Of course, you all are the same. Even you, the lady with the long black hair, you don’t need to lower your head to hide the wound on your head; it doesn’t detract from your beauty. On the contrary, the blood-soaked hair gives you a kind of post-bath sensuality.”
The beauty being pointed out repeatedly emphasized her vigilance, but the sincere compliments from the handsome and elegant man still made their hearts race, their cheeks flushing.
To be honest, they had been on the fringes of the industry in life, living in such a rundown place due to poverty, and were used to the sticky, disgusting, lustful gazes of men. They weren’t unfamiliar with good-looking men.
However, most of them were just pretty faces, spoiled by women, inherently vain and vulgar, lacking depth, often treating women as mere playthings.
They had never received genuine praise from truly excellent men, devoid of ulterior motives.
The five beautiful ghostly figures felt their hearts flutter. The short-haired girl, who seemed the most assertive, was the first to react.
Clearing her throat several times, she signaled her sisters to tone it down, but she couldn’t maintain her initial coldness towards Lu Qingjia.
The short-haired beauty said somewhat proudly, “Men’s words are deceiving, but you don’t seem like a bad person, so I won’t cause you trouble from now on.”
“Don’t think about filming anymore; if you want to be safe, just go find another place tomorrow.”
Lu Qingjia shook his head, “It wouldn’t make sense to not film here; it’s significant for both you and me.”
“What do you mean?” the short-haired girl asked.
Lu Qingjia sighed, “What I’m about to say is a bit long; can I sit down?”
The five girls were not unwilling to chat with a handsome guy for a while. Before the short-haired girl could speak, the curly-haired girl who had been complimented and the one with long black hair quickly pulled over a chair and brought a glass of water, their movements so swift that the short-haired girl had no chance to speak.
She glared at the two, but ultimately sat down on the couch in the living room with the other four, facing Lu Qingjia.
After taking a sip of water, Lu Qingjia suddenly dropped a bombshell—
“The murderer who killed you hasn’t been caught yet, has he?” The expressions of the girls changed.
Lu Qingjia continued, “When we came in this morning, the residents we encountered behaved strangely, so I looked up some news from recent years.”
“I found out that two years ago, a shocking murder case occurred in this apartment building, where five female roommates were the victims. It shocked the entire nation, but the case remains unsolved to this day.”
The girls’ faces showed resentment and sadness, and the short-haired girl murmured, “They still haven’t caught the person?”
She then let out a bitter laugh, “Of course, we don’t even know who that person is; how would the police find him?”
This residential area had no surveillance, and it was a mixed bag of people. If they couldn’t investigate the victims’ social networks, the difficulty of solving the case was evident.
But Lu Qingjia said, “Don’t worry, I know who the murderer is.”
The girls widened their eyes in unison, filled with anticipation, feeling that this handsome guy always dropped bombs without warning. How many times had he done this already?
The short-haired girl asked urgently, “Who?”
Lu Qingjia gestured for her to calm down: “You know there was another incident of a woman being tortured to death here, right?”
They nodded, “At that time, we were still too weak to even touch anything.”
Lu Qingjia nodded, “It’s not your fault. I just want to say that the major cases available online are only these two, but this apartment building has been around for decades, and it has certainly witnessed many lives and deaths.”
“Every day, there are so many deaths happening across the country, but not every case gets reported. During dinner, I asked the restaurant owner and learned that in the past two years, there have been two suicides and one drug overdose death here, all after your murder case.”
“So this place has become notorious as a haunted house, and the remaining residents have moved out. After that, several supernatural events occurred, and the building and its surroundings became completely deserted.”
“Yes, that was us.” The female ghosts admitted, “After we died, whether we wanted to or not, our resentment was too great, and it significantly affected the energy here. Anyone who moved in would end up unlucky, and it wouldn’t be surprising if those with weak fortunes lost their lives, which is why people have been scared away.”
Lu Qingjia looked at them and smiled gently, “As I suspected, you are all kind-hearted girls. Even as vengeful spirits, you haven’t harmed the innocent. Clearly, the lives of the living could serve as nourishment, yet you chose to be kind in the face of profit. That’s something most living people cannot do.”
The room full of beauties felt their hearts flutter at his praise, secretly regretting why he liked men.
No, liking men wasn’t a problem; ghosts, strictly speaking, had no gender, just the cognitive inertia and obsessions from their living days.
If they really let go, forcibly changing gender wouldn’t be—
Seeing the thoughts becoming increasingly dangerous, the short-haired girl coughed a couple of times, steering the conversation back: “But what does this have to do with our case?”
Lu Qingjia said, “Have you noticed the rooms assigned to us actors by the director?”
The female ghosts suddenly reacted: “Right, the one with the sharp features is living in the room where the drug overdose happened.”
“That one who looks a bit shrewd is in the room of the gambler who committed suicide with his wife and children due to gambling debts.”
“And another is in the room of that tortured woman.” After saying this, they looked at Lu Qingjia: “I remember the room of the elderly couple who committed suicide after being scammed was also renovated; it wouldn’t be you, would it?”
Lu Qingjia nodded.
The short-haired girl frowned, “What a coincidence, aside from our room, the other rooms where people died just happen to be occupied.”
Lu Qingjia smiled, “There’s an even bigger coincidence,” and handed his script to the female ghosts.
The short-haired girl took it, and the others leaned in to look, only to see the first two character settings and their expressions changed—
“Is the director trying to kill you? Although we try to suppress our resentment and not harm others, the pain of vengeful spirits is not something that can be poked at. If you follow the script, the ghosts of those elderly couples will definitely lose their sanity.”
And once a vengeful spirit loses its sanity and is bent on killing someone, it becomes a matter of life and death.
Lu Qingjia said, “Not just that; aside from me, the others have scripts for a gambler, a lecher, a sexual deviant, and a drug addict. What do you think? Doesn’t it seem too coincidental?”
If we deduce based on Lu Qingjia’s script model, the other characters are also roles that would completely trigger the resentment or desires of the vengeful spirits through certain actions. At that point, if things got out of control, everyone would face the threat of being hunted by the vengeful spirits.
The director’s intentions were not hard to see; in fact, the flaws in this dungeon were even more numerous than the last one, making it easy to restore the current situation the players were facing.
Otherwise, the task wouldn’t just be to complete the movie; knowing these clues would be too easy. The challenge lay in making the players dive into the trap despite knowing it was a trap.
Since the young female ghosts had never killed anyone even after becoming ghosts, it was enough to show their kind hearts. Upon hearing that the director of this crew clearly wanted to use the lives of the living to achieve his own goals, they immediately became angry.
“We should kill him!” said the curly-haired girl. “We just don’t harm the innocent; it doesn’t mean we won’t kill.”
As a victim, Lu Qingjia didn’t share that outrage. He pressed his palm down to signal them to calm down: “Since I’m sitting here discussing this with you, it means I’m fully aware of the director’s plans.”
“But even so, I still want to complete this movie because it’s important to me. There’s no need to dwell on this issue.”
“What I want to say is, don’t you find it strange that everyone is living in rooms corresponding to their character settings, yet one person is different?”
“The one with the lecher script should have been assigned to this room.”
After all, the young beauties had been brutally murdered, and the first suspects were none other than those few. The police’s investigation results also leaned towards the idea that the murderer had intended to break in to assault them but was met with strong resistance, leading to chaos where he killed one with a knife he had on him, and in a panic, he killed everyone to cover up his crime.
Looking at the expressions of the female ghosts, it seemed that was indeed the case.
Lu Qingjia said, “See, this clearly indicates that the lecher character is set up as a sacrifice for you. So why is he the only exception? Think back to who the actor with the lecher script is currently living with?”
“When we were alive, a woman lived there, right? She didn’t work much but often brought different men back to stay. She lived there for quite a while, and we can’t remember how many different ones she brought back.”
“But she didn’t die; she moved out as soon as our incident happened.”
“What a coincidence, our crew’s only female actor is playing a role similar to that woman.” Lu Qingjia continued, “Based on the director’s preparations for this movie, it’s clear he knows a lot about this place.”
“Your rooms have also been renovated, but when I saw you just now taking things, it was almost instinctive, indicating that the layout of the rooms is very similar to how they were when you were alive.”
“How could a man who is not from this area and only came to this city this year know so many details? Some things can be learned through inquiries, but some things are impossible to know.”
When Lu Qingjia signed the contract with Director An, he had taken advantage of that convenience to learn a lot about Director An’s personal information.
“Furthermore, since he knows the actors are meant to be sacrifices, why is he so confident that the vengeful spirits won’t harm the innocent, and why would he dare to live here?”
“Gathering all these questions brings us back to the starting point: why is the actor with the lecher script not living in your room to simply provoke your murderous intent, but instead appears as a temporary boyfriend of a promiscuous woman?”
“In a movie with only a few actors, isn’t such a role too redundant? And shouldn’t he not be given special accommodation? If I’m not mistaken, the decor of his room should lean towards a feminine style, so it should be occupied by the female lead. Why is it him?”
“Following this line of thought, along with the director’s inexplicable knowledge of this place, it’s clear who the murderer of you is—”
The atmosphere in the room became tense, and the female ghosts hadn’t expected that such a long-standing case would be unraveled by him so easily.
Even Lu Qingjia added, “Of course, this is just one line of thought; I can’t guarantee it’s completely correct, but I think it’s worth a try.”
“No wonder that person seems familiar, but we don’t know him.” The female ghosts stood up suddenly. After several impulsive moments, they had completely trusted Lu Qingjia and asked him, “No, can’t we just go find that director and force him to reveal the murderer?”
Lu Qingjia shrugged, “If you’re eager for revenge, it’s not impossible, but the testimony extracted from a ghost doesn’t hold legal weight. After so long, the murderer might no longer be in this city, or he might have already prepared an alibi for that night.”
“If the murderer hasn’t been punished, wouldn’t that be meaningless? So I suggest you don’t rush; let’s fish for a big catch.”
Saying this, he pulled out a camera from somewhere: “And as I mentioned earlier, I really do want you to be the female leads in the movie; this time, we’ll write the script ourselves.”
“How about it? You’ve never been the lead in a movie before, right? It’s a dream come true. I promise that after this movie is finished, your names will definitely be at the top of the credits.”
The female ghosts pondered for a moment, stirred by Lu Qingjia’s encouragement. If it weren’t for their simple dreams crashing against the wall, with their beauty, they wouldn’t have to live in such a rundown place and suffer like this.
Lu Qingjia said, “If you’re willing, we can take character posters right now. I’m quite confident in my photography skills.”
“I’ll go first!” the girl with long black hair immediately said.
The others scolded her for being cunning and eagerly joined in one after another.
This was the result the players saw after kicking the door.
After being kicked out by the female ghosts, the players sat dumbfounded in the hallway, waiting for a while.
They didn’t know how long it took before they heard the door creak open. The beauties had returned to their normal appearances, warmly sending the pretty boy out, sweetly wishing him goodnight.
The once tragically dead vengeful spirits had indeed not harmed anyone at all; after filming a scene, they let him go.
Was this the vengeful spirits they knew from the dungeon? Was being good-looking really enough to do as one pleased?
The players couldn’t sit still anymore. Seeing Lu Qingjia come out, they all rushed over—
“Dude, what’s going on? How did you manage to handle those female ghosts? Special props? Or have you revealed your abilities?”
