Horror Movie Set: This extra is too good at playing the tricks.

The smell of blood fermented in the sweltering mountain forest.

Although Zhang Min's hands were trembling with fright, her bandaging technique was still quite skillful.

She tore off the hem of her shirt and used it to bind Da Lu's calf. The wound was deep enough to expose the bone, with the flesh turned outwards. It didn't look like it had been bitten by a wild dog; it looked like it had been ripped open.

"Let's go, don't stay here."

Ye Jianguo was a tough guy; without saying a word, he carried the 200-pound Lu on his back.

The road down the mountain was more arduous than the road up.

Lu Dan followed behind, occasionally reaching out to support Da Lu's swaying backside. He was exhausted today, going up and down the mountain, and almost slipped and fell into the ditch several times.

Ye Jianguo's leather jacket was quickly soaked with sweat, but he didn't utter a sound. Seeing this, Lu Dan silently gave him a thumbs up—he was a qualified porter.

When we returned to the village, the sun was already setting, casting long, deformed shadows that looked like strange, grotesque insects.

The village chief was sitting at the doorway smoking his pipe when he saw the group of disheveled people. His cloudy old eyes narrowed: "Oh dear, what happened? Did wild dogs ravage your place?"

The old man cried out "Ouch!" but didn't move his buttocks, a forced, insincere smile of sympathy appearing on his face.

"Village chief, we need to go to the hospital, or could we find a doctor?" Ye Jianguo said breathlessly, putting Da Lu on the steps.

"A doctor? There isn't one." The village chief slowly stood up, tapping the ash from his cigarette on the sole of his shoe. "Where would we find a doctor in this poor, remote place? At most, we might have some folk remedies passed down from our ancestors."

He turned and went inside, and soon came out with a dark earthenware jar: "Here, this is a folk remedy. Apply this ointment and you'll be fine by the next day. It will hurt a bit, but with divine protection, you won't die."

The earthenware pot emitted a nauseating stench, like that of dead fish and rotten shrimp.

Zhang Min smelled it and almost vomited, but seeing Da Lu's pale face from blood loss, she could only grit her teeth and apply it to the wound.

Da Lu twitched in his unconscious state and let out a muffled groan.

By the time the commotion ended, it was completely dark. The group sat in the main room, eating cold steamed buns and pickled vegetables, the atmosphere extremely oppressive.

Ye Jianguo's face was gloomy.

"Sizzle—"

The annoying broadcast started again, its nagging female voice echoing throughout Shuangshan Village.

"It's 8:55 PM now... Please turn off the lights immediately, get into bed... and close your eyes."

"Enough!" Ye Jianguo slammed his hand on the table, knocking over the bowl of pickled vegetables. "I've had enough of this charade! Da Lu is injured like this, and Chen Hua is dead without a trace, and these people are still muttering about sleeping?"

He grabbed the flashlight from the table, his eyes fierce: "I refuse to believe this! Zhang Min, come with me! We'll go find that old bastard village chief and get to the bottom of this. If Chen Hua isn't dead, we'll search every cellar in the village to find him. If all else fails, we'll take a car and go find reinforcements."

"Team leader, this..." Zhang Min hesitated for a moment, glancing at the pitch-black night outside.

"What are you afraid of? A living person can't be killed by holding their pee!" Without saying another word, Ye Jianguo grabbed Zhang Min and rushed outside.

Lu Dan sat on the bench, holding half a steamed bun in his hand. Before he could stop them, the two figures had already disappeared.

"Sigh, it's hard to persuade a damned ghost with kind words, let alone a tough guy like this who's determined to go to hell if I don't." He shook his head, glanced at Da Lu lying unconscious in the east wing, and turned to close the door of the main room.

"Time is running out."

Lu Dan lay back on the hard wooden bed, rolled up his trouser leg, and whispered to his "roommate" whose left ankle was wriggling, "Do me a favor. No matter what happens later, even if you bite me, don't let me fall asleep. I really need to see what's going on."

His roommate sent out a wisp of cold tendril that pierced into Lu Dan's calf muscle.

It hurts, it hurts like hell.

But Lu Dan grinned with satisfaction, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.

The second hand ticks.

58, 59, 00.

In an instant, as if a projectionist had rudely cut the film, the world's images skipped frames.

......

......

Lu Dan suddenly jumped out of bed.

"Ouch—why does my leg hurt so much?"

He instinctively covered his calf, where there was a bluish-purple bruise, as if he had been pinched hard by something.

Shaking his head, a sense of unease washed over him. He instinctively reached into his pocket, touched the slingshot, and gently ran his fingers over the cartridge groove. His gaze froze instantly—one cartridge was missing.

The original load of seven psionic bullets has now been reduced to only six.

"Who touched my gun?"

Lu Dan narrowed his eyes; this feeling of being out of control made him very uncomfortable.

He touched his pocket again, his fingertips brushing against a folded piece of paper. He pulled it out and saw that it was a hand-drawn sketch with two mounds on it. Next to it were the two names "Yaoyao" and "Yaoyao" written in a crooked hand. The handwriting was messy, but it was definitely his own.

"Grave? When did I go to a cemetery?"

Lu Dan stuffed the sketch back into his pocket, his brow furrowed, a suspicion forming in his mind. It seemed that both the older and younger brothers were likely himself, day and night.

Even the "older brother" during the day resorted to violence in order to advance the plot.

"Bang, bang, bang." The knocking on the door interrupted his thoughts.

Lu Dan quickly scanned the room. A fat man was lying on the bed in the east wing, sleeping like a log. The other two, who seemed more shrewd, were nowhere to be seen.

"Brother Danger! Brother Danger!" came the voices of two little devils from outside the door again, this time sounding even more excited than last night. "Come out quickly, the auspicious hour has arrived!"

Lu Dan walked to the door and flung it open. Two chubby little boys wearing red bibs were perched on the doorframe, holding white paper lanterns in their hands, their rosy cheeks appearing particularly alluring in the red light.

Upon seeing Lu Dan, the one on the left grinned and said, "Brother Dan, Grandpa Village Chief said you worked hard last night, sweating and exerting yourself."

The one on the right chimed in, "Yes, yes, so tonight you're in for a treat. You don't have to be a horse anymore; you're a VIP, so please go eat meat."

"Changed horses?" Lu Dan caught the key words and his eyes flickered slightly.

"Yeah, the new guy is really strong." The two kids said as they stepped forward and took Lu Dan's hands, one on each side.

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

Lu Dan followed the two child ghosts out of the courtyard, and the village road remained deathly silent.

When we arrived at the old locust tree again, the decorations were even more elaborate than the night before. Red cloth was laid on the ground, and candles as thick as an arm were lit all around.

The old locust tree was dimly lit, shimmering like a menacing ghost.

The villagers knelt all around him, but this time they did not bow their heads. Instead, they stared at Lu Dan with a fanatical and envious look, as if he was about to receive some supreme glory.

At the very center of the crowd, the village chief, his face covered in rotten flesh, held a whip adorned with bells and looked at Lu Dan with a kind expression.

A man was kneeling at his feet, his muscular upper body exposed, his hands on the ground, his knees on the ground, and a rein around his neck.

Lu Dan looked again and saw that it was another man who had been lying in the east wing last night.

"Adan, come here quickly!" The village chief brandished his whip, pointing at the man kneeling on the ground. "Tonight, the gods will ride a giant horse. Come and help drive it, and you'll get a lot of meat. You're in luck!"