"This is the dream I’ve constructed for you, based on facts and your understanding of those facts. It may not be the whole truth, but it certainly won't be false. You need to find usable information from it to escape your current predicament."
The Sorcerer’s voice echoed around them, calm and soothing, almost hypnotic.
Gu Zhan also cooperatively closed his eyes, relaxing his mind.
The Sorcerer continued, "Of course, it’s alright if you can’t find a way to escape. After all, this matter has nothing to do with me; I can always find a way to leave..."
For some reason, the end of that statement carried a malicious tone, as if the Sorcerer could no longer conceal his desire for their complete defeat, watching them from a distance with a sense of schadenfreude, which was repugnant.
In the next moment, Gu Zhan felt as if he had been suddenly thrown into water, a suffocating sensation engulfing him. He gasped for air, inhaling deeply as a rush of air filled his lungs, making him cough violently.
"Cough cough cough..."
"South wind blows, nightingale sings,
The flowers under the moon are asleep,
The night fragrance spreads its scent,
The nightingale sings under the hazy moon..."
Gu Zhan's cough mixed with a melodious female voice singing. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a saxophone. The music was light and lively, inviting him to move.
Although Gu Zhan had not yet opened his eyes, he felt bright light shining on him, and the air around him became complex with the fragrance of tea, sweet pastries, and the rich scents of the women’s perfumes.
He felt a gentle bump on his shoulder. Opening his eyes, he found himself standing beneath a magnificent building. The architecture was even more extravagant than the Black Raven Mansion, with illuminated lights all over the dome, and it was bright and transparent with no windows.
Surrounded by people, there were servers in casual outfits carrying towels; a boss in a long gown wearing jade rings; women in split cheongsams and high heels...
It painted a picture of wealth and hedonism.
Gu Zhan looked down at himself; he was also dressed in convenient short attire, only slightly more respectable than the servers.
What is this place?
The Sorcerer said he would send them to a location within the script... This should be the opera house called "Ye Sheng Ge."
Looking at the attire of the people nearby, it had the style of that era.
Gu Zhan was squeezed among the crowd, unsure of his purpose, where he was headed, or where the others were.
While he was lost in thought, a commotion suddenly erupted in front of him, with a woman screaming as she fell near a nearby table.
The crowd quickly parted, and Gu Zhan clearly saw that the woman was wearing a cheongsam adorned with peony patterns, and she was very beautiful. As she fell, her long, fair legs were exposed, attracting the lewd smiles of the nearby men.
As far as he knew, cheongsams from this era were quite conservative. Dressing like this meant she was likely part of the theater, only to entertain others.
In front of the woman stood a man in a long gown, smirking as he looked at her. He said, "If I, Lord Sun take an interest in you, it’s a favor to you; no one at Ye Sheng Ge is as ungrateful as you."
The woman seemed frightened, clutching her clothes and leaning against the table leg, quietly crying.
The man began to twirl his ring faster, his expression growing darker.
At that moment, a man in a Zhongshan suit pushed through the crowd. Seeing this scene, he first scolded the woman on the ground, "Good-for-nothing! If Lord Sun has his eye on you, it’s your fortune!"
He then approached Lord Sun, ingratiatingly pressing down on his hand and smiling, "My lord, this silly girl is clueless. Later, let Xiao Xiu accompany you for a drink. You haven't come in days, and Xiao Xiu has been talking about you since yesterday."
"The owner of Ye Sheng Ge is indeed considerate." Lord Sun was flattered and nodded, finally showing a smile. "Well, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Xiao Xiu. Forget it..."
He glanced at the woman on the floor, a smile on his lips, but his gaze was icy. "As for her, let her come to my house to apologize later. I’m magnanimous and won’t make things difficult for a woman; if she sincerely apologizes, I’ll let her go home."
Upon hearing this, the woman cried even harder.
The owner of Ye Sheng Ge frowned and immediately looked at Gu Zhan, saying, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and take her away!"
Gu Zhan suddenly remembered that he seemed to be a part of Ye Sheng Ge as well, and he quickly bent down to help the woman on the ground.
The woman was trembling all over, her hands icy cold, and she was almost lifted up by Gu Zhan.
He took the woman toward the back of the stage, to a place where there were fewer people. Suddenly, the woman began to struggle and almost escaped from Gu Zhan's grasp.
Gu Zhan reacted swiftly, grabbing the woman tightly. His strength was greater than that of a woman, and as she was held by him, tears streamed down her face.
“Please, let me go…” the woman cried, pleading softly, “I was sold here by my uncle. I… I didn’t know I would have to sleep with men in this place. Please, let me go! I’m still a young girl; I can’t… I can’t go to the Lord Sun's residence.”
Only then did Gu Zhan understand that the Lord wanted the woman to come over not to apologize.
His brows furrowed, and before he could react, he suddenly heard a commotion from behind. Someone shouted loudly, “Someone’s dead! Someone’s dead!”
Gu Zhan released the woman’s arm and said, “You can go now.”
The woman thanked him profusely and stumbled away.
Gu Zhan squeezed through the crowd toward the direction of the commotion. Pushing aside a man who was watching the spectacle, he finally saw what had happened.
The Lord, who had just flirted with the woman was now lying on the ground, a wet patch on his chest, his face twisted in agony, and his hands clutching his neck, seemingly already dead.
The owner of Ye Sheng Ge stood helplessly nearby.
Gu Zhan scanned the area, and his gaze suddenly fell upon a woman in a qipao. Her expression and gaze were familiar. Gu Zhan quickly walked over to her. “Sang Yue?”
Sang Yue was taken aback but quickly recognized him. “Gu Zhan?”
“It’s me,” Gu Zhan said. “What happened?”
Sang Yue replied, “He drowned.”
She briefly explained what had happened. After Gu Zhan took the woman away, the Lord started boasting to the owner of Ye Sheng Ge, claiming he had tried every woman within a hundred miles and wouldn’t be impressed by a small courtesan from their opera house.
The owner listened, occasionally laughing politely. Just then, as they passed a table, the Lord suddenly grabbed a teacup from the table and smashed it against his face.
The teacup was scalding hot, filled to the brim with water. He acted so quickly that before the water could completely spill out, it covered his mouth and nose.
And then he pressed down tightly, wailing and struggling, trying with all his might...
Until he drowned himself.
At that moment, the teacup lay on the ground beside him, water already splattered on the Lord's clothes and the floor, with a red mark still on his face where the teacup had pressed against it.
And he...
Had already lost his breath.
Sang Yue said, “There’s something supernatural about this. Such a bizarre way to die couldn’t possibly be caused by a person.”
Gu Zhan said nothing. When they arrived, the sorcerer had already informed them that there were ghosts.
What they needed to do was figure out where the ghost was.
Gu Zhan glanced around; everyone seemed shocked by the event, whispering among themselves about what had happened to the Lord, whether he was dead or just not moving.
The owner of Ye Sheng Ge snapped out of his daze after a while and quickly called for someone to drag away the Lord’s corpse.
Once the body was taken away, people immediately came to clean up the traces left behind. After a while, everything resumed as if nothing had happened.
People seemed oblivious to what had just occurred and continued to enjoy the performances on stage. The Lord’s death seemed like a stone dropped into water, creating a ripple before quickly dissipating without leaving a trace.
Sang Yue stood beside Gu Zhan, frowning. “Don’t they find it terrifying that someone just died? How can they continue like this?”
Even though this was a movie script, it shouldn’t defy logic, right?
Gu Zhan glanced around. Not far away, a large promotional poster hung on the wall, reading “Sleepless Night - A Special Performance by Xiao Xiu, The Nightingale's Ye Sheng Ge, Not to be Missed.”
“Maybe they can’t stop,” Gu Zhan said. “This night is very important for Ye Sheng Ge. Look at that poster; the edges are already yellowing. It must have been up for a long time… Do you remember what the script said?”
Sang Yue thought for a moment, then said, "Ye Sheng Ge was established less than half a year ago, but it has already dealt a huge blow to the local opera scene. However, the opera troupe wasn’t willing to back down and kept launching new performances. Their lead female roles were impressive, and many loyal patrons still frequented their shows."
"The owner of Ye Sheng Ge wanted to completely take over the opera troupe, but the troupe master was too stubborn and refused to give in. Until tonight, when they decided to hold a performance at the opera house. The final vote would be between their lead actress and Xiao Xiu. If they lost, they would willingly join Ye Sheng Ge..."
At this point, Sang Yue no longer needed Gu Zhan to remind her of the situation.
The owner of Ye Sheng Ge had been planning this for at least half a year; how could they give up just because of the death of a Lord?
The Lord, who had just been praised by the owner of Ye Sheng Ge, was merely an insignificant character in this hedonistic world.
Sang Yue said, “Let’s go look for the others.”
There was no point in lingering over a dead person; they hadn’t even gathered their teammates yet.
Gu Zhan followed Sang Yue toward the backstage of the opera house.
On the way, he was still reflecting on the manner of the Lord’s death... and the events that had occurred before his death.
The backstage of the opera house was even more chaotic and busy than the front. The singers and dancers were rushing about, while the waitstaff and cleaners moved quickly, heads down.
But their teammates were easy to find because among the crowd of hurried people, they stood still in the corridor, particularly conspicuous.
Seeing the way the man and woman were tightly sticking together, they were likely Wang Zhe and Ma Xiaowen.
Sang Yue approached them. “When did you guys arrive?”
Wang Zhe replied, “About ten minutes ago.”
One of them was dressed in a waitstaff outfit, while the other wore a pink long dress, looking less like a dancer and more like a little maid taking care of the singers.
It seems that everyone is a staff member of the opera house.
The Sorcerer's abilities are still limited, unable to conjure an important role for them in the script, so he collectively turned them into employees of the opera house.
Sang Yue asked, "Since you arrived, have you been anywhere? Did you notice anything unusual?"
Wang Zhe shook his head. They had no information and didn’t dare to wander around after arriving. They had just stayed here for a while before seeing her and Gu Zhan arrive.
Sang Yue had been hoping they could provide some information, but to her disappointment, they had nothing. Her expression looked troubled, and she lowered her head, saying nothing.
Wang Zhe also sensed that something was off and asked quietly, "Are you in some sort of trouble?"
Sang Yue replied, "It’s not exactly trouble..."
She left her sentence hanging, expecting Gu Zhan to continue, but after a long wait, he remained silent.
He really wasn't going to speak.
Sang Yue, helpless, had no choice but to finish her sentence.
She briefly recounted the previous events, then added, "This ghost has already started killing people. According to the original script, there’s a female ghost who first possessed Qing yi, then Xiao Xiu, and killed everyone. But the script says Xiao Xiu is the female ghost herself..."
She glanced around, making sure no one else was nearby, and then asked, "Have you seen Xiao Xiu?"
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