Chapter 35: A Dangerous Plan

Wise Star raised his head, looking at the darkness above, and said in a low voice:

"So, this is unfair. A person with my kind of thoughts is destined to save others. As long as there is the slightest chance, I will not give up. Even if it costs me my life, I will still go to save them."

"However, I am only one person, an extremely fragile person."

"Walk by the river often enough, and you're bound to get your shoes wet. Maybe one day I will die in a movie world because of saving someone. If there is a cause of death, it will probably be saving someone nine times out of ten. But still, although it's unfair, I have no regrets, because I am always moving forward."

After saying this, Wise Star stopped speaking and stood quietly in place.

The spiral staircase fell into silence.

"Chang'an, what happened later?" Ning Jing asked softly.

"Although the process was very torturous, in the end, we all survived." Wise Star's tone grew calm.

Ning Jing remained silent.

"I want to save him. Can you help me?" Wise Star turned his head, looking straight into Ning Jing's eyes with a serious expression.

"If... if you can guarantee that I am in no danger, I can help you." Ning Jing took a slight step back.

"I cannot guarantee that you are in no danger, but I will minimize your danger. If you cannot accept this, you can go to the beach and wait for the tourist boat to arrive." Wise Star made no promises.

Hearing this, Ning Jing felt a sense of relief wash over her, and she said:

"If you had said you could guarantee it, I definitely wouldn't have helped you. No actor can ever guarantee zero danger."

"What you said just now moved me. Indeed, if a person only thinks about surviving themselves, then they are no different from beasts in the Hell Movie, and will ultimately die like walking corpses."

"Although I won't go out and save people like you do, helping out occasionally isn't bad either—think of it as an investment. Maybe one day, I'll be saved by you guys, and I'll get to see Chang'an's spirit shining bright within the Hell Movie."

With that, she felt a great deal lighter.

"Thank you." Wise Star turned around, a smile at the corners of his eyes.

"What should we do?" Ning Jing asked.

"First, let's confirm whether Cang Yi is still alive. I have a question for you: the body and head in the large pit were separated, and the corpse hunted you down, but are the heads alive? Just like the heads atop the blood sticks?" Wise Star frowned deeply.

"The heads? Yes, they are alive. They even mocked me and Cang Yi." Ning Jing nodded heavily.

Wise Star raised his right index finger and explained:

"Then the plan is simple. You stay on the spiral staircase at the entrance of the palace first, and I'll go in first to lure the corpses out. Once they are all chasing me, you use something as a stepping stone to jump across, and then head to the large pit to find Cang Yi."

"Remember, you only have twenty minutes to search. When the time is up, whether you find him or not, you must leave."

Ning Jing nodded, then, thinking of something, she blinked and asked:

"What about you? How will you get out?"

Her face was full of doubt.

"The corpses chasing me can also become my stepping stones, you don't need to worry." Wise Star said in a relaxed tone. "Though it'll be a bit harder, it's not a major issue. If there are no other problems, I'll go make the arrangements. You should be quite safe staying here."

"No problem." Ning Jing nodded.

Afterward, with Ning Jing's help, Wise Star returned to the spiral staircase on the other side. About an hour and a half later, Wise Star's voice came through.

"I'm going to throw some things over, watch out."

"Got it."

With that, Ning Jing pressed herself against the wall. Then, she saw the five-person group's backpacks, several dismantled tents, and a few blood sticks land on the staircase, followed by Wise Star jumping across as well.

"If we had known in advance that we could switch to another path, we could have prepared beforehand." Wise Star stood up and clapped his hands. "Alright, you go across now, but be careful."

"The blood sticks are..." Ning Jing was somewhat surprised.

"The human heads aren't safe either; this thing might be of help to you." Wise Star picked up a blood stick.

"Mhm, you be careful too." Ning Jing nodded, then jumped across to the other spiral staircase.

Once she reached the other side, Wise Star's voice reached her.

"Get ready!" Wise Star shouted.

"Okay." Ning Jing replied.

Before long, a chaotic and very loud sound of running came from the other side of the spiral staircase.

Ning Jing waited quietly, noticing that the items used as stepping stones on her side included not just debris, but even Xiao Tian's body.

She took a deep breath and looked toward the entrance. The headless brute could appear at any moment; although she could easily jump to the other side, she still felt a bit apprehensive.

Soon, the sounds above gradually faded into the distance, but heavy footsteps resounded at the entrance of the spiral staircase—the headless brute was about to appear.

Ning Jing took two steps back, took a running start, and leaped across the debris-paved gap to the other side. The lunar phase door frame was just two meters behind her.

The debris on the right side of the staircase had already tumbled to the ground. Ning Jing stepped forward to tidy it up, preparing her escape route, then picked up the blood stick and turned to walk into the lunar phase door frame.

This time, Duan Ling's memories did not appear.

After the darkness receded, Ning Jing once again saw the bright full moon of Hefang Island and the red Moon Deity gazing up at it. Shifting her gaze downward, she saw the heads filling the large pit.

Dense masses of human heads were crammed together, appearing endless, and instantly, a sense of powerlessness enveloped Ning Jing.

"I'm supposed to find Cang Yi in this? Never mind twenty minutes, even two hours might not be enough."

Ning Jing took a few steps forward.

Suddenly, a loud shout caught her attention.

"Ning Jing, save me! I'm in the first quadrant here."

Qian Cang Yi's voice rang in Ning Jing's ears.

Ning Jing's eyes lit up as she looked in the direction from which the voice came. Although there were still countless heads, the search area had narrowed considerably.

"Ning Jing, since he called me Ning Jing instead of Duan Ling, it means he also received the notification from the Hell Movie—which is to say, there is indeed still a chance to survive."

"First quadrant? Is it a coordinate system? The pit is circular; if it's quadrants, it must use the center of the pit as the origin. Then Cang Yi's position is in the... upper right!"

"As for why he didn't give specific numbers, it's probably because the basic unit is impossible to determine."

Thinking this, Ning Jing accelerated her pace, feeling much more driven than before.

Amidst the dense crowd of heads, Qian Cang Yi took a deep breath. Seeing Ning Jing walking toward him, the flames of hope reignited in his heart, which had already sunk into despair.

Before he could call out again, a cacophony of chaotic voices erupted.

The surrounding heads had realized something was amiss—someone was actually coming to rescue him.

To them, whether they themselves could be saved no matter longer mattered; they simply didn't want anyone else to be saved. Whoever it was, absolutely not!

"Ahhhhhhh!"

"I'm here, I'm here!"

"Come save me!"

"Get lost, you're not needed here!"

A barrage of screams completely filled the large pit with noise.

Ning Jing walked slowly, noticing that the heads immediately around her were not speaking, but instead gazing with fearful expressions at the blood stick in her hand.

"I didn't expect it to actually work. Maybe I can use the blood stick to tell them apart." Ning Jing gripped the blood stick tighter with both hands.