Chapter 1: The Unsolved Mystery

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Qian Cangyi lay on the ground as his body gradually recovered, the soreness vanishing with astonishing speed.

After only two seconds, everything had returned to normal, as though all that had just happened had been nothing more than an illusion.

He slowly raised his head and looked toward the driver’s seat.

The eerie driver who had once filled him with fear now gave him an unexpected sense of security.

Qian Cangyi drew a deep breath, feeling his lungs expand, then slowly exhaled.

“Everything really has recovered—even the exhaustion is completely gone.”

With that, he braced himself against the floor and climbed to his feet. He found that his clothes had also returned to normal. Then he turned to look inside the carriage, where Hawk-Eye was now sitting on the sofa.

“If you have questions, sit down and ask them. We’re safe now.” Hawk-Eye gestured toward the sofa opposite him.

Qian Cangyi walked toward his seat, his mind returning to what had just happened.

At the time, he had already had one foot through the gates of hell. It had been virtually a certain death situation. What he had never expected was that Hawk-Eye would still be alive.

After taking his seat, Qian Cangyi voiced the question troubling him.

“Thank you for saving me.”

“I’m curious. Why did the Black Entity—the black humanoid that was chasing us just now—appear behind me?”

“If you had entered the bus earlier, the Black Entity should have been in front of me. If it appeared behind me, then you should have been behind it as well. But that wasn’t what happened.”

“Did something else happen in between?”

He leaned forward as he spoke, fixing his gaze on Hawk-Eye’s face and waiting for an answer.

Hawk-Eye thought for a moment before replying in a low voice.

“You’re right. The Black Entity had been chasing me the entire time, but after reaching a certain point, it suddenly gave up on me.”

“Perhaps it had been chasing me for too long. Or perhaps, at that particular moment, you were closer to it than I was.”

“In any case, it abandoned its pursuit of me halfway through.”

“There’s no need to thank me. You survived mainly because of your own efforts. I merely gave you one final pull.”

Hawk-Eye seemed entirely unconcerned by Qian Cangyi’s gratitude, as though he had encountered situations like this many times before.

Qian Cangyi nodded faintly. Although Hawk-Eye put it that way, he knew that without that final helping hand, the outcome would have been completely different.

In many circumstances, the process and the result could both become subjects of discussion. But in the Hell Film, the result was clearly more important.

Because dying in the film world meant truly dying.

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“Come to think of it, where did the Death Sacrifice Stele come from? And what exactly are those shadows?” Qian Cangyi stared at the tabletop, sinking into thought.

He had his own theories about these questions, but he wanted to hear Hawk-Eye’s opinion.

“What do you think?” Hawk-Eye’s reply was simple and direct.

“Er…” Qian Cangyi blinked. “I believe the shadows aren’t the villagers of Feather Creek Village. They’re special entities within the Death Sacrifice Stele.”

“Go on.” Hawk-Eye nodded.

“The shadows may be people who were transformed by the Death Sacrifice in the past. They may also represent the villagers’ final destination. If Bian Zhe and Zhang Zi’an hadn’t escaped, their final destination would have been to become shadows as well.” Qian Cangyi could not help recalling the ending of the fifth-act script.

The villagers of Feather Creek Village had waited at the entrance for Bian Zhe and Zhang Zi’an to return, gazing at the living like spirits of the dead.

Seeing that Hawk-Eye remained silent and was listening attentively, Qian Cangyi continued.

“The shadows exist in two dimensions and must cling to some object. The Black Entity, on the other hand—the monster formed after the Death Sacrifice Stele shattered—exists in this world in three dimensions.”

“I suspect that what is known as immortality may be a special state in which a three-dimensional organism is transformed into a two-dimensional one.”

“It can still exist in reality, yet no longer needs the metabolism of a three-dimensional creature. A unique form of life.”

“To be honest, I’m not even sure whether it can be called life.”

“As for the Death Sacrifice Stele, we don’t know its origins or its past. But we can analyze it based on Chenxi Li’s diary.”

“Chenxi Li wrote about dreams in her diary. In those dreams, the Death Sacrifice Stele was enshrined in the Death Sacrifice Shrine and held an exalted position.”

“Whether that dream was an illusion created by the Death Sacrifice Stele to mislead her, or whether it truly reflected reality, it still means that the Death Sacrifice Stele stood above the villagers.”

“Perhaps…”

He stopped there. After all, he had no evidence for any of this. Yet judging from the development of the script and the experiences through which the two of them had survived, it was impossible for any evidence to appear.

The fact that Village Chief Wei Guangyuan and Chenxi Li, the person who conducted the Death Sacrifice, had managed to leave records behind at the very end was already an extremely important clue for those who came after them.

“Perhaps what?” Hawk-Eye prompted.

Qian Cangyi interlaced his fingers behind his head and answered,

“Perhaps the Death Sacrifice Stele is itself a kind of organism—one that has surpassed ordinary humans. Everyone transformed by the Death Sacrifice becomes its slave.”

“Besides, I have another bold idea. There may not be only one Death Sacrifice Stele. It may have companions.”

“Of course, that’s all speculation.”

“What about you, Hawk-Eye? What do you think?”

With that, he spread his arms and stretched.

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“My thoughts are more or less the same as yours, but I think the Death Sacrifice Stele may once have been human.” Hawk-Eye gave his own opinion.

“What?” Qian Cangyi’s right eyebrow drew together. He parted his lips as though to say something, but ultimately held it back.

Just then, the bus came to a stop.

Hawk-Eye turned to glance at the pitch-black window, then stood and said to Qian Cangyi,

“This is my stop. Good luck.”

With that, he took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on before walking toward the bus door.

Qian Cangyi suddenly remembered that there was one very important thing he had yet to ask, and hurriedly called out,

“Wait, Hawk-Eye. Will we be appearing in the next film together?”

Hawk-Eye stopped beside the door and waited for it to open. Hearing Qian Cangyi’s question, he replied,

“What film comes next? Which actors appear in it? Everything is randomly assigned by the Hell Film.”

“There’s a ninety percent chance we won’t be appearing in the next film together.”

“Goodbye.”

With that, Hawk-Eye stepped forward with his right foot and left the bus.

Qian Cangyi sighed.

The bus started moving again. A few minutes later, it stopped once more.

Qian Cangyi turned to look behind him. The carriage began to turn transparent, allowing him to see the world outside.

The scenery beyond the bus was very familiar. It was the area near his home.

Qian Cangyi stood up and walked to the door. Once it opened, he stepped out with his right foot.

The bus stop where he had originally boarded appeared before him. Several young people stood on the platform, apparently waiting for the bus.

Yet not one of them noticed the strange bus behind Qian Cangyi, nor did anyone see him appear out of nowhere.

Everything seemed perfectly natural.

Qian Cangyi walked onto the platform and glanced back.

The pitch-black bus was already traveling into the distance. After turning a corner, it disappeared from sight.

“I seem to remember there being a reward.” Qian Cangyi walked toward home.

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