Chapter 64: Chen Su
Perhaps it was because Su Min’s thoughts affected them, the voices in the room suddenly disappeared.
Su Min was a little surprised.
The little couple really did end up falling asleep and was even able to do it very quickly. Was it because he had never been in a relationship before, so he was too clueless about how couples worked?
After a moment of surprise, the two started giggling again.
Su Min: “..........”
Judging their actions thus far, he felt that the male and female protagonists this time was........a little crazy.
Though it wasn’t nice saying that about others.
Su Min listened to their incoherent whispers and slowly fell asleep. When he woke up again, it was because of a child’s laughter.
The laughter this time was different to the laughter in the corridor earlier.
Su Min who was still in a state of confusion couldn’t help but shiver. The window had been opened at some unknown point in time.
The curtains fluttered up as cold wind blew in from outside.
Yang Jing Cai and Xu Yixiang on the bed diagonally opposite his appeared to have fallen asleep. He could only hear the sound of Yan Jing Cai snoring.
The laughter outside slowly got closer.
Su Min laid in bed and thought about whether he should go out and see who it was, but he ended up staying.
Going out was probably going to lead him to a dead end.
According to the script, his character would get off the bed after hearing the laughter stopping outside his door to get ready to send the naughty child back to their room.
But the moment he opened the door, he died instead. As for who that child was and how he died, he didn’t know anything about that.
Su Min felt that this kind of death could be referred to as dying in the dark.
The movie wouldn’t give too much detail on a cannon fodder’s death. After all, it not only wasn’t a novel method of death, it may even hinder with the movies ability to pa.s.s through its screening.
But as the first person to die, it probably wouldn’t be a great method of death.
Afterall, the horror movie experience at this cinema had always been scary and they held no responsibility for it so it definitely wouldn’t just be an ordinary death.
The laughter continued down the corridor and finally stopped outside the door.
Su Min’s breathing also involuntarily softened.
There were only three of them in this room and it was still a question whether the boy outside was a ghost or a human.
Since earlier, the laughter could be clearly discerned to be a child’s voice. Unsurprisingly, it was probably a child from this orphanage.
As for whether it was a former child of the orphanage or a current one, it wasn’t clear.
It had been quiet for a while now. Although Su Min was calm, as the minutes and seconds pa.s.sed, he felt that something wasn’t quite right.
Or did the other party just up and left?
Su Min thought for a while as he laid in bed. He finally sat up and it was also at this moment that he suddenly realised something. He finally recalled the locks on the door.
He had forgotten about this. That child could enter the room.
The moment Su Min remembered this, he turned around and found himself face to face with a young boy’s line of sight.
That boy stood behind the door and had entered at some unknown point in time.
Su Min still remembered his name. It was Ming Ming. The director said that he was ten years old and was very thin because of malnutrition.
While wearing clothes that were clearly too big on him, he just stared at him.
Su Min and the boy stared at each other for a long time. He didn’t seem to be dangerous.
But at this moment, the young boy came over. His movements were like those of a ghost’s and he quickly floated over to his bed.
Su Min immediately tensed up.
The boy reached his bed in an instant. He then climbed up the bed, “Will you play with me?”
The voice was thin and raspy.
Su Min backed away a little, “What do you want to play?”
A sly look flashed through the boy’s eyes: “Hide and seek.”
Despite the innocent expression on his face that was very suitable for his age, Su Min felt very strange.
Su Min subconsciously wanted to refuse.
If this boy was a ghost, then he would be playing hide and seek with a ghost. This type of game was too dangerous, and he would easily end up playing until his death.
The young boy noticed this and asked: “Don’t like it?”
Su Min admitted: “Don’t like it.”
The boy then changed the game, “Then Statues?” (KKnotes: A game similar to Red Light, Green Light)
To Su Min, this game was rather memorable. Afterall, one of the movies that he had watched prior to this movie involved the protagonists playing this game.
The young boy asked with wide eyes: “You still don’t want to?”
Hearing those words, Su Min was startled. His expression however remained calm: “No, let’s do this one then.”
Earlier, he clearly saw a flash of anger in the boy’s eyes along with a strange look. It was as if he would kill him if he refused again.
Su Min didn’t understand. If he clearly wasn’t human, then why didn’t the director realise this and continued to regard him as a human?
Or was it because he was human all along?
But why would he be doing these strange things in the middle of the night?
Ming Ming climbed off the bed and quickly reached the door. He opened the door and turned to look back at Su Min.
The corridor outside was pitch-black. It looked like a beast that was about to devour you.
Su Min sighed. If he couldn’t avoid it, then he should just prepare himself for death. He had not experienced being killed so he felt that it was okay experiencing it once.
He got out of bed, wore the slippers and left the room.
The young boy revealed a standard fake smile. He then closed the door with fluid movements. It was as if he had done it countless times.
Su Min stood in the corridor. Complete darkness surrounded him. The only source of light was the faint moonlight that poured in from the window at the end of the corridor.
But soon the moonlight was gone, and the entire corridor was dark.
Su Min heard a sharp and shrill voice: “You just need to keep going forward. I’ll stop you when you need to stop.”
His ice-cold hand touched Su Min’s hand and he pointed in a direction.
Su Min frowned but he followed his words and walked ahead. Because it was dark, he could only step forward slowly with all five senses sharpened.
“We are all statues. Can’t speak, can’t laugh, can’t move and can’t shout. We are all statues so let’s see who can do it the best.....We are all statues.....”
The repet.i.tive children’s song echoed down the corridor.
Every time Su Min took a few steps, he could hear Ming Ming singing again from the beginning. There were no rises or falls in his voice. It sounded like he was just mechanically reciting the lyrics.
This tone of his caused his hair to rise.
Then Ming Ming said: “You can stop.”
Su Min stopped in place. He breathed a sigh of relief and then became alert again. The game was about to start.
He spoke up: “I’m going to start.”
The young boy didn’t answer. There were also no sound of footsteps in the corridor. It was as if he had never appeared.
Su Min recalled the boy’s ability to move around very quickly and was a little worried about being caught before he could even finish calling out his lines.
The aftermath of being caught by Ming Ming was still a huge unknown factor.
Su Min took a deep breath and spoke up: “1, 2, 3 Statue.”
He spoke very fast and turned around to look back once he was done but was only met with complete darkness. He couldn’t see where the boy was.
All he knew was that he wasn’t behind him.
This atate of unknown was the most nerve-wracking. You never knew what would happen behind you.
Su Min was very reluctant to continue the game. He sighed and turn back ahead.
Before he could speak up, a hand suddenly appeared on his waist. He then found himself pulled into an embrace.
Although he soon realised that it was Chen Su, Su Min was still startled, “What are you doing?”
With him suddenly embracing him and picking him up into a princess carry, don’t tell me he’s going to take him away?
Chen Su raised his eyebrow, “It’s no different to what you’re thinking.”
His actions were very fast, and he soon reached the door to the bedroom.
Su Min only returned to his senses after a long period of being stunned, “I can walk by myself.”
The door to the bedroom opened and Chen Su walked in while still holding him in his arms: “But I don’t want you to walk.”
Su Min asked: “Why?”
He didn’t break his leg. He had not seen Chen Su acting like this before.
Chen Su didn’t answer him and just placed him back on the bed. He then pinched his face and said gently: “Go to sleep.”
Su Min was baffled by this sudden tone in his words.
At the same time that feeling of confusion was followed by a numb sensation. He rubbed his arms. “You should speak normally.”
He suddenly felt afraid.
Chen Su sat by the bed. The sound of crying suddenly appeared outside the door.
Su Min’s scalp went a little numb. He said: “I was asked to play a game earlier. He’s probably angry now. Someone may die.”
Chen Su said: “They won’t.”
With him saying this, Su Min was no longer afraid. He laid back in bed, covered himself up with his blanket and got ready to sleep.
In any case, this bed was small so Chen Su wouldn’t be able to squeeze in.
Perhaps it was because he realised that they wouldn’t come out, the crying outside became smaller and smaller and it eventually stopped.
Chen Su said: “You see?”
Su Min was drowsy. He replied: “Yes, yes. Everything is as you have said.”
Chen Su was very satisfied. Su Min who had calmed down significantly soon fell asleep.
***
The early morning of the next day.
Su Min woke up in a confused state and received a prompt from the cinema: 【Audience Member Su Min, congratulations on successfully changing your script. Please keep up with the good work. As a reward, you will be given keyword hints. The first hint is: Kitchen.】
Kitchen?
Su Min couldn’t remember where the kitchen was in this orphanage but remembered that there was a social worker called Xiao Chen.
The food should be made by him so the kitchen should be a place that he frequented.
Yan Jing Cai also just woke up.
As for Xu Yixiang, she probably left the room before the sun even rose.
Yan Jing Cai saw that it was empty next to his bed and asked: “Your shoes are gone. What are you going to wear now?”
Su Min was confused: “My shoes?”
He looked down. His shoes were indeed missing.
Su Min thought for a moment and finally remembered that they were probably left behind in the corridor last night. He seemed to have returned barefoot.
Did the young boy hide it?
What this what Chen Su was referring to last night?
Su Min sat in bed and fell in thought for a while. He felt that this guess of his seemed very likely.
Afterall, it seemed that Chen Su’s appearance always started with him.
Su Min said: “It’s all right. I still have another pair.”
Fortunately, in addition to the slippers he still had the sneakers he wore yesterday. He didn’t feel bad after changing his clothes.
Yan Jing Cai said: “Then I’ll go wash up.”
Not long after he left, Su Min put on his shoes. At this moment Xu Yixiang pushed the door open and walked in.
Only the two of them were in this room.
Su Min greeted her: “Good morning.”
Although it was a little noisy hearing her and Yan Jing Cai whispering to each other last night, when he thought of their couple relationship, he felt that they didn’t make a serious mistake.
Xu Yixiang’s expression was awkward. Her response was also dry.
Su Min could sense that something wasn’t right. He asked causally: “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Xu Yixiang walked over to the door to check that there wasn’t anyone around before turning back.
She looked at him sympathetically and said: “Su Min, I won’t tell anyone, but you have to pay attention to safety.”
Su Min didn’t understand: “What are you saying? What safety?”
Xu Yixiang was a little embarra.s.sed. After hesitating for a long time, she gritted her teeth and said: “Last night I saw you and.....speaking........and was even.......”
She didn’t know what to say. Afterall, she couldn’t see Chen Su.
Su Min realised what she was referring to and his ears turned red.
After mumbling out a few words, Xu Yixiang finally added: “If you don’t feel well, just tell us and we’ll try and help you.”
Su Min: “...........”
He didn’t expect Xu Yixiang to wake up in the middle of the night and to actually witness it. Although she couldn’t see Chen Su, she probably could guess what was happening.
Su Min remained expressionless, “It’s okay.”
Xu Yixiang stopped talking.
She felt that Su Min appeared to have accepted reality and no longer held any attachments to the world.
Xu Yixiang truly felt that Su Min may probably die soon or may get killed in a fit of anger after being hara.s.sed by a ghost...... Just the thought of it was very pitiful.
She felt that it was necessary for herself and Yan Jing Cai to help Su Min. For example, they could give him something nourishing to eat so that he could feel more comfortable before he pa.s.sed.
Although Xu Yixiang didn’t say it, Su Min could understand her thoughts through her sad expression.
He didn’t know what it was that gave her this kind of misunderstanding.
Su Min felt that, although it might sound harsh, the two protagonists may die first before he would necessarily die.
Afterall, considering the past few cases, Chen Su probably wouldn’t let him die.