The six were divided into three groups, and the program team was very happy regardless of whether the audience agreed or not. These casual cuts were all attention grabbers, so what was there to worry about for ratings?
But even they didn't expect Jiang BaiYan's performance to be so "special" this time.
The kid looked obedient and sensible, never offending anyone, but he wasn't that easy to manipulate either. They had hinted earlier that he and Coco were close in age and could interact more, which they did interact more, bickering and arguing, and it was all quite entertaining and topical.
However, those perfunctory quarrels were eclipsed by the simple line "I'm not a child anymore."
The director backstage desperately wanted to prompt him: Say more, speak as much as you can.
But Jian Jing came to her senses and apologetically said, "Oh, I've had this cat for a long time and I'm used to her. Sorry about that."
Director team: "..." Teacher Jian, you didn't have to say that, really.
Jiang BaiYan, on the other hand, showed no anomaly. He smiled and squatted down beside her to look at the photos together.
--
After the broadcast.
Danmu 1: What's the situation??
Danmu 2: I've seen so many variety shows and this one has me confused.
Danmu 3: You saying you're confused has me confused.
Danmu 4: Those who know, know. Don't ask if you don't.
Danmu 5: High level play. Such crucial clues are hard to find before the final boss fight.
Danmu 6: I hate people who make everything about shipping.
Danmu 7: Tell me! Does the killer love the female lead!!!
...
--
The photos developed from the camera could not have been very clear, only vaguely showing a few bizarre humanoid monsters, like piles of rotten meat, like alien invasions, all very horrifying.
"This looks like an operating room." Jiang BaiYan said.
Jian Jing said, "Not necessarily here, let's go take a look."
"Aren't we going to check the mirror?" Jiang BaiYan was very concerned about the mirror that took up half the wall, his gaze lingering on it, unable to look away.
Jian Jing looked at him and said solemnly, "I advise you not to stand so close."
"But there seem to be words on it." Jiang BaiYan did not back away, but moved even closer, breathing on the mirror's surface, "Look..."
Just as he leaned in, the mirror surface suddenly turned transparent, and a baby-sized monster appeared, its bloodied and mangled face plastered against the other side of the mirror, its sharp teeth at the edges of its mouth clearly visible as it grinned at him.
Jiang BaiYan was so frightened he jumped up and scrambled behind Jian Jing, yelling, "Help!"
"Let's go." Jian Jing pulled him out the door and shut the men's restroom door tightly, wedging a mop handle in the handle as a bolt.
Then they heard the sound of the mirror shattering.
Something fell to the floor with a "pitter-patter" of footsteps.
Jiang BaiYan asked, "Did you kill it?"
"Hard to. It's too small for me to hit it." Although she had auto-aim cheats, what's the fun in cheating while gaming anyway? After a moment's thought, Jian Jing said, "Since there's a secret passage in the toilet, we still need to find a way to deal with it."
Just then, the other pair, Zheng Keyan and Han Bo, who had been checking the examination room, came running over when they heard the commotion to ask what was going on.
Jian Jing did not conceal anything and told them the truth, adding, "This monster is only the size of a cat and very fast. It's not easy to kill, so it's more suitable to set a trap to lure it in."
As she spoke, she looked meaningfully at Cao Yu, clearly leaving it to him to arrange.
Cao Yu nodded, already having a plan in mind: "The operating room we just looked at has reinforced steel bars around it that can be used as a cage. Oh right, here is a lab report, take a look."
The relationship between the two sides eased.
Jian Jing took the lab report to study while Cao Yu directed everyone to work, intending to use light sources to lure the little monster in the toilet into the operating room.
Coincidentally, the pair Zheng Keyan and Han Bo had discovered a lot of mirrors in the examination room earlier. There were also many white wax candles found in the drawers.
- Clearly props.
The plan went very smoothly.
Everyone took separate actions: Han Bo and Zheng Keyan took the mirrors and hid inside the door, using the candlelight to attract the monster. Jiang BaiYan hid behind the toilet door, ready to open the door to release the monster, while the daring Coco chose to stand guard in the operating room to shut the heavy iron door last.
Cao Yu held a gun - if anything went wrong, he would immediately open fire to the rescue.
"Three, two, one," he waved his hand, "Open the door."
Jiang BaiYan quickly opened the door.
The reflected light attracted the hidden little monster. It looked different from the monster they had seen before, entirely white and flabby, as if wrapped in a layer of wax, with a vague bloody flesh faintly visible under the translucent wax membrane.
It moved very fast, rushing straight for the light, flipping over three mirrors in quick succession, and was eventually drawn into the operating room.
As soon as its shadow flashed in, Coco pounced forward and slammed the heavy iron door shut.
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief at the same time.
Although it was fake, it was still tense.
Cao Yu turned the situation around and was in a good mood. He took the initiative to ask, "Teacher Jian, what do you make of it?"
"This is a cipher book." Jian Jing's words were astonishing.
Others: "???" Isn't this just a lab report?
"The key lies in the numbers mentioned in each log entry," Jian Jing read aloud, "On day 1 at hour 3, the condition was brought under control, but new problems arose after 7 hours..."
Zheng Keyan didn't mind exposing her weak point and asked, "What's wrong with that?"
Jian Jing gave a faint smile, "At the end of each log entry, there is a line 'Godblessyou'. Didn't we find a Bible earlier in the ward?"
There were six single wards on this floor: the first was their "birthplace" as a group, where they got the notebook, the second got the Bible, the third got a gun, the fourth had the corpse in a white coat where they killed the monster and got the iron door key, the remaining two had their doors boarded up and were inaccessible.
Coco said, "Grass light is good, tree light will rest, people will be eaten? What does that mean?"
"Not sure yet." Jian Jing got up calmly, "Alright, let's go take a look at the secret passage."
--
After the broadcast.
Danmu 1: The lady is really good at decryption.
Danmu 2: Such hidden clues! Ordinary people probably wouldn't notice!
Danmu 3: Those who design haunted houses, please tell us - we put multiple copies of important clues, whether they can be found depends on skill level.
Danmu 4: What skill level is this?
Danmu 5: Pro level play. Such critical clues are hard to find before the final boss fight.
Danmu 6: Haha Teacher Jian really loves ciphers, recommending her new book Rose Gold, there are Easter eggs in the ciphers.
Danmu 7: Tell me! Does the killer love the female lead!!!
...
--
The secret passage was extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through.
After a quick look, Jian Jing said, "We don't know anything about the hospital's secret passages, so best not go in."
Everyone agreed: "If a sudden monster pops out, there's nowhere to run."
So they decided to go downstairs first.
The first floor was also divided into three areas of left, middle and right, with the stairs as the boundary.
The middle was a large empty hall. The left had the consultation rooms and intravenous rooms, the right had the cafeteria, activity room and big ward. The area was relatively large, so the guests automatically split into groups again.
Zheng Keyan said, "Let's go to the cafeteria, I'm hungry."
Han Bo said, "Then let's go find some food. Man's steel depends on food for fuel, missing one meal leaves you starving."
The two chatted and laughed, unexpectedly hitting it off.
Cao Yu casually walked towards the consultation room, clearly having spotted clues there. Jian Jing did not forget that although she had shared the lab report earlier, Cao Yu's group had not told them what they found in the office yet.
Of course, he would surely share during later interactions, otherwise it wouldn't look good on screen, but that didn't stop him from stealing a march.
"Let's go to the activity room." She kept her cool and stubbornly did not ask.
Jiang BaiYan had no objections and chatted with her easily, "Teacher Jingjing, the secret passage must have been built by the hospital, right?"
Jian Jing smiled, "Of course."
"So the hospital experimented on patients, created a bunch of monsters, then got eaten by them?" Jiang BaiYan reasonably guessed, "The dead guy earlier was a doctor, right?"
Jian Jing pushed open the activity room door, shining her flashlight around, casually saying, "Not necessarily. Have you seen any mystery movies? Sometimes, the doctor may not really be a doctor, and the patient may not really be a patient either."
"The secret passage is very strange," Jiang BaiYan muttered, "If you want to hide things from the patients, there's no need to build something like this. Just make a rule that patients can't go out at certain times."
"Too few clues." Jian Jing observed the activity room.
This patient activity room was nothing out of the ordinary. Along the walls were two rows of bookshelves, crammed full of books. By the window were a few tables, with chess and card games laid out. On the other side was a pool table, and two dartboards as well.
She picked up a dart and weighed it in her hand.
Jiang Baiyan poked his head over: “What’s this, a key? Some kind of mechanism?”
Jian Jing: “...Ahem.” She casually put it back down, “Just looking around.”
Jiang Baiyan tilted his head.
She turned around to rummage through other things.
Suddenly behind her came a soft “thwap” sound. She looked back to see he had thrown a dart, not only hitting the board but landing very near the center already.
“Teacher Jingjing.” He grabbed her sleeve. “You try too.”
Jian Jing sized him up, then picked up another dart, took aim, and threw.
She hit the board, but it was mediocre at best.
“Looks like I’m the lucky one.” Jiang Baiyan made a silly face, but didn’t keep playing. Instead he picked up a nearby baseball bat and swung it around a few times, before hugging it against himself.
Jian Jing thought for a moment, then offered him the gun. “Here, let’s trade.”
Jiang Baiyan waved his hand. “You can use it.”
“Give it a try.” She mimicked his tone from earlier, meaningful. “You’re so lucky.”
Jiang Baiyan said, “What if I’m too much of a scaredy cat to fire a gun?”
“Here.” She held it out insistently. “Take it.”
Jiang Baiyan obediently complied at once. “Oh, ok.”
--
After the broadcast.
Comment 1: Now that we're split into groups, sweet moments everywhere, so satisfying!
Comment 2: Does anyone else feel like little brother is especially obedient towards Teacher Jian? Or is it just me?
Comment 3: No it's not just you! So sweet and tender!
Comment 4: Top detective novelist X superstar heartthrob, I'm loving this!
Comment 5: Little brother said he's focused on his career and not dating, don't make things up
Comment 6: Protect little brother, reject shipping; protect little brother, reject shipping
Comment 7: Protect little brother, reject shipping; protect little brother, reject shipping
Comment 8: Protect little brother, reject shipping; protect little brother, reject shipping
Comment 9: Y'all are sick, repeating comments like broken records?
...
--
There wasn't much in the activity room, but after searching it thoroughly inside and out, Jian Jing found two clues.
The first was about George. He seemed to enjoy chess. On a hospital chess tournament chart posted on the wall, his name was near the top of the rankings.
The second was about little Helen. There was a harmonica, with her name written on it in watercolor - it looked like the little girl had claimed it as her own by signing it.
Jian Jing took the harmonica.
Faint, appetizing aromas were drifting in from the cafeteria.
The savory smells attracted everyone else, and they gathered in the cafeteria.
On the dining table appeared rice, noodles, cake, chicken curry, and braised beef.
“Such a feast?” Cao Yu exclaimed in surprise.
Coco glanced over the food trays, smiling sweetly. “I see, these are emergency rations. They say the shelf life is 30-40 years.”
“That's right, we found them in the pantry.” Han Bo said. “Just add hot water, very convenient. Don't know how they'll taste though.”
“We can find out after eating. I'm starving.”
They had arrived at the haunted hospital at 3pm, and after over 2 hours of rehearsal it was 6pm dinnertime. Having worked up fierce appetites, no one was picky about the food. Or if they were, they didn't show it outwardly. Everyone chose what they liked best to eat. Jian Jing went with the beef noodles - lots of beef and soft, mushy noodles, on the sour side, not the most delicious.
“Let's go over the clues so far...” Cao Yu began, but suddenly looked up.
Lights came on in the dark hospital.
