Jing Jiujiu silently turned off "Tom and Jerry" and said, "I'm going to sleep now."
He turned to burrow into the blankets, only to realize there were no blankets in his bedroom.
The blankets belonged to Bai Yuhuai, who had brought them himself.
Bai Yuhuai responded with a "Alright, you sleep then," and stood up holding the dinner tray.
Jing Jiujiu, however, slid off the bed again and followed behind Bai Yuhuai. Bai Yuhuai didn't say anything more, didn't ask what he was doing, just silently allowed the young man to follow him back to his room.
Upon seeing the blankets, Jing Jiujiu finally crawled in and closed his eyes to sleep.
But how could a ghost truly fall asleep?
Bai Yuhuai sat nearby, clearly able to see Jing Jiujiu's gently trembling eyelashes.
Yet he stubbornly kept his eyes closed.
Perhaps this was his way of painfully digesting Bai Yuhuai's words.
Jing Jiujiu's sleep was exceptionally long this time.
The MCs, for once, regained a night of peace and finally got a good night's sleep, preventing them from dying of exhaustion during the show's filming.
But early the next morning, when Kong Xiangqi woke up, she stared blankly at the ceiling and said, "Why do I feel like the chandelier in my room has changed?"
"You're imagining things," Yu Shaoguang, having recovered his energy, rolled up his sleeves to reveal the muscles underneath. "As if a ghost would help you change your chandelier style? Afraid you don't like crystal lamps or something?"
Kong Xiangqi thought about it and realized he was right, so she sheepishly fell silent.
Ji Meng came out with clean bowls and asked, "Why hasn't Bai-ge come down yet?"
"Yeah, it's a bit late today. Who wants to go knock on Bai-ge's door?"
It was the third day at the Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Bai Yuhuai sat on the sofa, slowly flipping through the script in his hand.
Jing Jiujiu had just gotten up from bed, his expression still a bit dazed, even his suit buttons weren't properly fastened.
Bai Yuhuai put down the script in his hand, paused for a moment, and still asked, "Do you want breakfast?"
Jing Jiujiu's thoughts were suddenly pulled back. He slowly shook his head and said, "Hmm, I might need to go on a long trip."
Bai Yuhuai: "..."
What kind of long trip could a ghost go on?
Jing Jiujiu, however, continued his story very seriously: "Probably for about five or six days, maybe seven or eight."
Bai Yuhuai could only respond with an "Mm."
After speaking, Jing Jiujiu didn't move anymore.
Bai Yuhuai was also at a loss. He had never comforted a person before, let alone a ghost.
Seeing that it was getting late, Bai Yuhuai put on his microphone and went downstairs.
Meanwhile, Jing Jiujiu leaned on the windowsill, looking out at the scenery. He had seen the view outside so many times that he could accurately predict when it would snow and when leaves would fall in autumn.
He wanted to go out.
The thought flashed in Jing Jiujiu's mind and became increasingly firm.
Since his death, very few people had come to see him.
He didn't have a grave, so every half year, only the old butler from the Jing family would come to the castle, clean up a bit, and put out flowers and wine as a form of grave-sweeping for him.
Jing Jiujiu had never drunk alcohol before he died, and he couldn't bear to drink it now. After all, he was a ghost, so he couldn't taste it anyway. So he just hid it all in his bedroom.
This was one of the rare pleasures for Jing Jiujiu living alone in the castle.
He could stare at the different shapes of packaging and different colors of wine, gradually imagining what the taste of wine might be like...
Jing Jiujiu twisted his head, looking towards the direction of the castle's main gate.
...Could it have been the old butler who put the fish tank there?
Besides him, Jing Jiujiu rarely saw people, only occasionally two or three unfamiliar high school or college students who came for adventure.
Jing Jiujiu sat there, unable to come to a conclusion just by thinking. Well, once he goes out, it'll be fine. Once he goes out, he'll know who put the fish tank there and why.
He could also go see his father, see his childhood friends, see many, many things...
Jing Jiujiu jumped down from the windowsill, his form gradually becoming transparent until it was completely invisible to the naked eye.
Bai Yuhuai quickly discovered that Jing Jiujiu was gone.
Did he really go on a long trip?
No, that's unlikely. According to Kong Xiangqi's narrative, Jing Jiujiu was very likely to have become an earth-bound spirit after death. He couldn't leave this castle.
So the most likely possibility was that he was hiding.
Hiding out of fear?
Bai Yuhuai frowned imperceptibly, and at that moment, Old Cao called out to him: "Bai-ge, come take a look, what's this?"
Bai Yuhuai responded and walked over.
Old Cao was holding a brass key that looked ancient. He said in bewilderment, "This can't be the key to complete our challenge, right? So soon? It hasn't even been eighteen days yet."
Bai Yuhuai glanced at it: "It probably isn't."
Ji Meng asked quietly, "Could it be the key to the adjacent building? When I arrived, I noticed the door over there, and it seems to match the style of this key."
"Shall we go take a look? It might not be safe to sleep in the adjacent building, but it should be fine to explore during the day, right? There's so many of us together," Yu Shaoguang chimed in.
Ji Meng wasn't wrong. Half an hour later, everyone successfully stood inside the adjacent building.
But there was a problem...
"It doesn't seem like there are any cameras installed here?" Kong Xiangqi looked puzzled.
"Did we run out of the area planned by the production team?" Old Cao laughed helplessly, "Then let's go back... It looks like this key probably doesn't have any useful clues."
Bai Yuhuai: "Not necessarily."
"That's true... Maybe it's just a red herring."
"Alright, we're all still wearing our personal cameras anyway."
This would make for quite good show content, everyone thought almost unanimously.
But this side was much older and more decayed compared to the main building next door. Every step on the floorboards left a footprint, accompanied by the rustling of dry branches and the creaking of the floor.
There was no power supply here either, so everyone had to use flashlights to illuminate their path.
The hall was empty, without even furniture, so there clearly couldn't be any clues.
"Let's check upstairs," Yu Shaoguang suggested, taking the lead.
When they reached the second floor, there was another door.
"Wow, it's even chained up! What's in there, a tiger or a lion?" Yu Shaoguang clicked his tongue.
The chain was as thick as an arm, with a lock hanging at the bottom, and even the lock had symbols drawn on it.
"This show's really gone all out! They didn't miss this, even drawing symbols, but it's not scary. That fish tank was much scarier..."
"Do we need to find a key?"
"No need," Bai Yuhuai bent down and grabbed the lock. In the dim light, before anyone could see clearly how he moved, there was a crisp sound—the lock opened.
Ordinary keys couldn't open this thing.
There was a confinement spell drawn on this lock.
Ji Meng immediately asked with a smile, "Did Bai-ge learn how to pick locks specifically for his role in 'Stealing Heaven'?"
In that drama, Bai Yuhuai played the role of a master thief.
"Has little Ji been secretly studying behind our backs?"
"Be honest, little Ji, are you actually a fan of Bai-ge?"
While the other MCs were joking around, Bai Yuhuai pushed open the door and shone his flashlight inside. As the light illuminated the room, the scene inside was revealed to everyone.
The furniture that should have been downstairs was all crowded on the second floor, piled up haphazardly.
All the partition walls on the second floor had been torn down, with no separate bedrooms, making it look like a huge junk yard.
Although there were no ghosts, and there wasn't any eerie background music playing in their ears to create an atmosphere like in horror movies, everyone instinctively frowned, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
It was as if their OCD had been triggered.
Kong Xiangqi touched the edge of the door and paused, "There's an oil lamp, we can light it."
Bai Yuhuai followed up, "Walk to the four corners, there should be a lamp in each corner. Light them all."
The others secretly wondered how Bai-ge knew this, but they didn't question it and obediently went to find and light the oil lamps. Kong Xiangqi couldn't help but complain, "This is quite strange, why didn't they install electric lights here?"
To have no light.
Bai Yuhuai thought to himself.
Those oil lamps were specially made.
At this moment, the lamps were lit one by one.
The entire space suddenly became extremely bright. Kong Xiangqi exclaimed, "Look!" Then she quickly added, "Paintings!"
Everyone's gaze shifted around and they discovered that there were many oil paintings on the walls and floor of the room.
All the paintings were of the same person.
The paintings depicted him from his childhood to his youth. The beautiful boy gradually grew up in the paintings. The oil brush strokes were delicate, the colors rich, and each painting was stunning to behold.
Everyone was instinctively stunned, overwhelmed by such a sweeping beauty.
"That's Jing Jiujiu..." Kong Xiangqi murmured.
It was far more vivid and beautiful than the photo on Kong Xiangqi's phone.
Bai Yuhuai chose the closest painting.
Coincidentally, it had a small inscription that read "Painted on October 21, 2013, Jiujiu's birthday".
Bai Yuhuai scanned through them all, discovering that each painting was done on Jing Jiujiu's birthday.
Occasionally, if it coincided with a holiday, there would be an extra painting. But these were no longer formal portraits. In those paintings, he was lazily lounging in a chair, crouching in a flower bed, or holding a mask as if at a masquerade ball...
At this moment, everyone slowly came back to their senses.
Ji Meng suddenly even regretted entering this place. He looked towards Bai Yuhuai and saw the untouchable superstar staring intently at the boy's paintings, his eyes never leaving them.
But it wasn't just him.
Everyone has a preference for beauty.
The others were also stunned by these paintings, unable to regain their composure for a long time.
However, it inevitably led to a hidden feeling of... jealousy and inferiority.
"What's that?" Before anyone could catch their breath, their chests suddenly tightened again.
Earlier, they were too focused on the paintings. Now that they came to their senses, they realized that the windows and ceiling were covered with black cloth. It instinctively made those inside feel extremely oppressed.
Bai Yuhuai didn't spare any extra glances at the black cloth.
He had already guessed it.
Bai Yuhuai walked through the jumbled furniture to the center.
More odds and ends were piled up here.
There were clothes Jing Jiujiu had worn from childhood to adulthood, utensils he had used...
Over there, Ji Meng felt like he couldn't breathe and hurriedly took two steps back. As a result, he kicked something, which rolled away with a clatter, startling Ji Meng so much that his hair stood on end. He cried out, "Ah! What's that?"
Bai Yuhuai's expression remained unchanged as he bent down to pick it up.
It was an exquisite box inlaid with jewels. When he opened it... Bai Yuhuai paused for a moment.
"Bai-ge, what is that?" Ji Meng asked in a trembling voice.
Bai Yuhuai: "Baby teeth."
Jing Jiujiu's.
Ji Meng got goosebumps all over: "That's a bit disgusting... Why would they keep such things here?"
Bai Yuhuai frowned slightly: "It's not disgusting, it's love."
What? The words that were about to leave Ji Meng's mouth were swallowed back. Because for the first time, Bai Yuhuai had coldly corrected him like this, making him wonder if his previous words had offended Bai Yuhuai.
Bai Yuhuai lowered his gaze and stared at the box, as if through it, he could see the boy again.
He said softly, "The person who carefully preserved these things was full of love for him."
After hearing this, Kong Xiangqi's eyes were a bit red: "Putting it that way, it's even more of a pity that young Master Jing died." She waved the things in her hand: "I also found his album of award certificates over here, and a well-worn copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales."
The others couldn't help but sigh along with her.
The more you know about a person, naturally, the more you empathize with them.
Bai Yuhuai said: "Let's go back. There are no clues here."
The others nodded, not lingering any longer, to avoid feeling both eerie and sad. These extreme emotional swings were too much to bear!
Ji Meng intentionally walked with Bai Yuhuai, and as they were going downstairs, he suddenly noticed a small glint of light in front of him.
He blinked and focused his eyes.
...It was that jeweled box!
Why did Bai-ge take this away?
Ji Meng pursed his lips.
Does Bai-ge like this kind of thing? Even if the person has died, he still wants to take something of theirs as a memento?
Ji Meng couldn't help but think... It's good to be that beautiful. Even after death, probably countless people would still be thinking of him.
For the next few days, Jing Jiujiu didn't appear again, and everyone continued filming the reality show. However, they couldn't relax for even a day. Because in this ancient castle, even if they didn't see any ghosts, everything seemed eerie.
If it wasn't this rune, it was that spell, and there were all sorts of strange feng shui formations and bagua diagrams... After a few days, they had gained a lot of knowledge, as well as many fearful goosebumps.
This was already the seventeenth day, and they would soon be able to get the final key to pass through and leave this place.
"Is the left annex building the only place we haven't been to yet?" Old Cao asked.
"Yes." Kong Xiangqi was in a daze for a moment, then said: "We can leave soon."
Yun Xin smiled and flattered from the side: "Bai-ge has taught us so many things. Does Bai-ge like to read these books in private? You could star in another Taoist priest movie someday."
Bai Yuhuai only responded absent-mindedly.
The jeweled box was now clenched in his hand. With this object, he only needed to perform a small ritual to summon the boy's ghost.
He had been missing for many days.
Even if he was hiding, he should have shown himself by now.
Or was there some design in this ancient castle that he had overlooked, trapping the young man in deeper darkness?
Bai Yuhuai caressed the surface of the box, which was uneven due to the inlaid jewels. His eyes gradually turned cold. If that was the case, he would set up a more powerful formation, first turning this feng shui formation from life to death. If the formation's creator sensed it, they would naturally come, allowing him to catch them red-handed.
...
Jing Jiujiu sat cross-legged in the locked wardrobe, talking to the little robot through the door.
Little Robot: "When are you coming out?"
Jing Jiujiu weakly replied: "Soon, soon."
Little Robot: "What exactly are you doing?"
Jing Jiujiu: "Becoming ugly."
Little Robot: ?
Jing Jiujiu scratched at the wardrobe door, trying hard to find that eerie feeling.
In that movie, the female ghost's fingernails were all curled up. Should I curl mine too? Jing Jiujiu had just thought about it when he decided against it. It looked too painful, he couldn't bear it himself.
"This wardrobe is magical, if I stay inside for a while, I'll become ugly," Jing Jiujiu said.
Little Robot: ?
The Little Robot couldn't hold back anymore: "Actually... you don't need to be so serious." The Little Robot had to speak up: "Your intimidation progress bar is almost complete, just a tiny bit left."
It also felt ridiculous.
How could the progress bar still increase on its own even when the young man was hiding in the wardrobe?
"You can come out now, just a slight scare will do," the Little Robot said.
The Little Robot's original intention was not to let the young man feel prematurely satisfied and stop working, so it hadn't told him. But now, if the young man continued to prepare so seriously, people would finish recording the show and leave. They couldn't just wait for it to increase on its own!
"Really?" Jing Jiujiu came out of the wardrobe.
The Little Robot was stunned.
Jing Jiujiu had indeed changed.
Not ugly.
He was still very handsome, but beautiful in a way that made one's heart tremble with fear.
"Then I won't talk to you anymore." Jing Jiujiu hurriedly rushed downstairs.
Downstairs, Bai Yuhuai was mentally going through various cruel and gentle methods.
"Don't you feel it's a bit hot?" Yun Xin breathed softly, taking off her outer jacket.
Kong Xiangqi also frowned: "It is a bit, like... like even my bones are aching. How strange. Is it because we've been running up and down too much these past two days, and we're too tired?"
Bai Yuhuai seemed to sense something and turned his head.
He saw a ball of fire slowly floating down the stairs.
The fire was scorching and bright, so hot that the center was almost white-hot, instantly illuminating everything within Bai Yuhuai's sight.
"Does this castle have air conditioning?"
"Are you dreaming? This castle is how many years old, how could it have air conditioning?"
"This isn't right, shouldn't it be entering autumn? Why does it suddenly feel like summer again?"
The people beside him said, scratching their arms.
They couldn't see that ball of fire.
That ball of fire should be more than just fire. Bai Yuhuai closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again—
The young man was engulfed in flames, walking towards him down the stairs, his features even more devastatingly beautiful.
This scene was like an ancient myth, a phoenix reborn from the flames.
Beauty wrapped in blood and tears.
Yet Bai Yuhuai seemed to faintly see that beneath that soul, there was still a struggling, curled-up shadow.
This was his appearance at the time of death.
Bai Yuhuai's chest tightened, his eyes clouding over with a dark, cold intent.
Jing Jiujiu, however, didn't share Bai Yuhuai's emotions. He walked carefully, afraid that if he wasn't paying attention, he might trip over the carpet again. That would truly be losing face!
After all, in his current state, he certainly didn't look human!
He couldn't even pretend to be human if he embarrassed himself further.
Finally, Jing Jiujiu made his way to Bai Yuhuai's side.
This time, only Bai Yuhuai should be able to see him.
Scaring one person or scaring a group - it's still scaring someone. Jing Jiujiu thought about it and decided it was better to just scare Bai Yuhuai alone. There was no need to terrify everyone. Besides, the progress bar was almost full!
Jing Jiujiu shook his arms and bent his waist slightly.
Bai Yuhuai, however, remained motionless.
This wasn't right.
He should be able to see me.
Could it be that I'm so incompetent as a ghost that I can't even materialize properly?
In truth, Bai Yuhuai wanted to raise his hand and touch the roaring flames on the young man's body.
But he couldn't let others see him do it.
Bai Yuhuai secretly frowned.
Meanwhile, Jing Jiujiu, seeing Bai Yuhuai's statuesque stillness, suddenly became anxious.
He swiftly glided into Bai Yuhuai's arms, straddling his legs. He even wrapped his arms around Bai Yuhuai's neck, pressing his entire body tightly against him.
Look at me, please!
"Crash!" Bai Yuhuai shattered a glass.