Chapter 24: Human Skin Script (2): Pet

The face of the guy with light brown hair turned pale, and he already felt the urge to flee.

Beside him, the long-haired woman gently nudged his shoe with her own and whispered a reminder: “Apologize.”

“Apologize? Oh, right, apologize.” The guy snapped out of it, swallowed hard, and raised his voice. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to yell! I’m sorry for disturbing everyone!”

Finally, after he shouted this, the gazes withdrew one by one. The figures resumed their tasks, busy with their own work. A few were also talking about him in low voices—the extras. Some still occasionally glanced his way. He guessed they were gossiping about him, but he couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying.

Anyway, whatever they were saying, it was better than being stared at like that.

Xu Xiye had only been drawn by the shout and then simply watched. Now that the person had apologized, it naturally wasn’t good to keep staring. But he did say one thing: “I think he looks like a little light brown puppy.”

With that single remark, the Boss, Landlady, and the couple all looked over again.

The Landlady said, “Do you want to raise a puppy?”

The Boss said, “This coat color is okay.”

The Girlfriend said, “Yeah, looks fluffy.”

The Boyfriend said, “Good eyes. They’re round, glossy, and watery. And they tremble.”

The mention of eyes made Xu Xiye look again. Just as the Boyfriend said, they were round and watery. But they were dark brown, almost black from a distance. Xu Xiye had no interest. He shook his head. “No, I don’t plan on keeping a pet in the near future.”

The four faces showed disappointment, as if a gift couldn’t be given.

Xu Xiye: “?”

What’s with you people? Just because he looks like a dog doesn’t make him one. And even if he were, you can’t just steal someone’s dog.

As they sat in awkward silence, the bearded Director came out with a megaphone. “Alright! The set is mostly ready. You’ve all gotten your scripts. Don’t waste time. Use all the time you have to memorize your lines, get into character, and act with immersion!”

“From now on, you are the characters from the script, made reality! You may be inexperienced newbies, but you are the most fitting actors for these roles!”

“Alright, get acclimated first. We start shooting at nightfall!”

He clapped his hands and dismissed the crew. The villa’s living room was now set up much like a hotel lobby. There was a front desk, or rather a bar counter, with many bottles of alcohol behind it.

Five or six sets of sofas and chairs were arranged, some large, some small, all for the tenants to rest. There was a kitchen and a dining room. Three meals a day were the responsibility of the Boss and Landlady.

This setup clearly wasn’t something poor people could afford. Right, who poor would come to stay in a villa? Commuting would be inconvenient either way.

Oh, so he was playing a rich person here to unwind. Xu Xiye understood now.

The Boss had spoken, so they, as extras, had to cooperate too. The Boss and Landlady went to busy themselves in the kitchen. The couple playing lovers went to a corner to whisper sweet nothings. Xu Xiye moved to a small two-person table by the window to watch the scenery alone.

So they had to shoot at night too. No wonder such easy work paid so well. He wouldn’t be able to go out and play.

On the outsiders’ side, once the Director finished speaking, the long-haired woman carefully sensed her surroundings. She wanted to know if the Director’s command to “get into character” and “act with immersion” would bind them with some invisible shackle. The result was no. The Sanity Value on her bracelet barely changed.

She asked the ordinary people in the group, “Do any of you feel anything physically or mentally from the Director’s words?”

The long-haired woman was from the S City Security Administration Bureau Investigations Division. Her name was Wen Danning. Unlike the often blunt and forceful approach of the Operations Division, she paid great attention to subtle changes.

Everyone else shook their heads. The light-brown puppy guy, who had a good impression of Wen Danning for helping him, answered eagerly, “I don’t feel anything either. The megaphone was just a bit loud, aimed right at us.”

Xie Lincheng: “Filming hasn’t officially started. Not feeling anything is normal. Lou Hao, aren’t you an intuition type? Who does your intuition say is the pollution source?”

Lou Hao rolled his eyes at him, maintaining a cool facade. “Intuition-Type ability is still an ability. My ability hasn’t reached that level of strength yet. Wait until I…”

“Alright, let’s go over the scripts again,” Xie Lincheng cut off his “wait until my power reaches the peak stage” nonsense. “So we’re not clueless when the time comes.”

Lou Hao fumed.

Puppy Guy glanced at the script he hadn’t touched since throwing it away. It was still lying open on the table. The paper was smooth and soft, with a fine, glossy sheen. It hadn’t seemed so bad before, but now it looked more and more like human skin.

On it was his character information.

[Your name is Zhuo Heng. Trapped by a severe rainstorm on the road, your car unable to move forward, you decide to take the woman you picked up hitchhiking to a nearby villa to wait out the storm.]

Zhuo Heng was his real name. Picking up hitchhiking women was something he’d done before. More than once.

He asked uncertainly, “Do we really have to act according to this? What if the more we act, the more we forget who we are? And these scripts… can we just leave them here? Or in our rooms? The Director will definitely assign us rooms to stay in.”

Xie Lincheng: “Of course we have to act. We’re actors. Unqualified or uncooperative actors get kicked out of the crew. If you can’t remember, find every possible way to remember. That’s just how contaminated zones are.”

It didn’t even matter if they were truly acting. In any polluted zone, mental confusion and a drop in Sanity Value would eventually lead to losing your memory anyway.

Wen Danning added, “The script currently gives too little information. If we don’t carry it on us, it’ll be difficult to know the plot developments in real time. Also, no actor would abandon their script. If the script is lost, bad things might happen.”

She continued, “My plot synopsis is: My name is Wen Danning. Due to a torrential rainstorm, a section of the road ahead has collapsed. I decide to drive to a villa for shelter. During this time, I encounter a man on foot and let him into my car.”

Xie Lincheng said, “I’m probably that man. I… uh, had a fight with my boyfriend and got out of the car in a huff.”

The group pieced their plots together. After lunch, the Director assigned them rooms to rest. After resting, it would be nearly time to start shooting.

Before evening even arrived, the sky suddenly darkened rapidly. It truly looked like a severe rainstorm was about to hit.

Wen Danning checked her bracelet. “The contamination level has stabilized. Consistent with predictions: A-Class.”

Xie Lincheng: “A-Class? Manageable.”

He waited a moment but didn’t hear Lou Hao boast this time. He looked over in surprise.

Lou Hao: “My intuition says it’s not that simple.”

In the few moments they were talking, the sky went completely black. Dark clouds churned. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Pitter-patter. Large raindrops began to fall.

“Wow.”

As the group stood at the doorway, watching the approaching foul weather with grim faces, a voice tinged with excitement reached their ears.

It was that extra, the one so handsome he didn’t seem real.

But then again, he wasn’t human either. He was an anomaly.

Zhuo Heng stared with his puppy-dog eyes, a little scared of him, yet unable to resist looking. Just as his gaze was half-darting away, the other man’s eyes landed directly on him.

Zhuo Heng: “!” Why him again?

“Hello, everyone. I’m Lu Ren.” It was Xu Xiye who spoke first. “A huge storm is coming.”

Xie Lincheng smiled and walked up to Xu Xiye. “Hello, I’m Xie Lincheng. You said you play a passerby?”

He was good-looking. When his peach blossom eyes smiled, they held a certain charm. Unfortunately, his eyes were black.

Xu Xiye said, “Right, I play a passerby. My name is also Lu Ren. Lu as in land, Ren as in benevolence.”

The outsiders were all quite surprised to hear this. They hadn’t expected someone like him not only to play a passerby but also to be named Lu Ren.

“You’re all going out into the storm to act now,” he said with open envy.

Xie Lincheng: “Uh…”

For a moment, he had no idea what to say.

Xu Xiye explained: “I like stepping in puddles.”

The outsiders said nothing. The atmosphere grew awkward.

Xu Xiye more or less understood. These outsiders with their strange quirks definitely didn’t like it.

To dislike talking about the weather.

He’d thought it was such a good conversation starter.

“Are you married?”

Just as Xu Xiye was regretting his awkward topic, someone said something even more awkward and abrupt.

Xu Xiye was bewildered. “I’m not married.”

Xie Lincheng: “Then do you…”

Recalling Lou Hao’s warning and seeing those anomalies constantly watching their side, Xie Lincheng decided to be cautious. “Here’s the thing. I want to get married. Do you have anyone suitable around you that you could introduce?”

Xie Lincheng’s proposal behavior could be described as utterly absurd. Because first, he couldn’t confirm if his target was the pollution source; and second, he didn’t know if the target was a symbiotic anomaly of the pollution source.

If it was either of those cases, even if they agreed, they would eventually disappear.

If he got lucky and found something outside those categories, could they really get married inside a contaminated zone?

So on all counts, the success rate was zero.

Lou Hao was already getting impatient listening, and even Wen Danning had a slight frown. But Xu Xiye was seriously thinking it over.

He didn’t know many women, and even fewer of marriageable age. Miss Neighbor was one possibility. But Miss Neighbor always liked walking upside down. Being one up and one down like that probably wouldn’t work.

Besides, no local would probably want to marry an outsider.

He didn’t say something so hurtful directly, instead being tactful: “I can’t think of anyone. Why don’t you exchange contact info?”

Actually, that had been his purpose in coming over from the beginning.

He looked toward the most emotionally unstable one, the light brown puppy, and tried to connect with his gaze.

Under the stare, Zhuo Heng instinctively pulled out his phone. He opened it only to find no network, no signal. His hand froze halfway out.

Xie Lincheng pressed his hand down. “Sorry, our phones don’t work. Can we have your number? I can memorize it.”

Fine. Xu Xiye recited his number.

As this bizarre conversation ended, Wen Danning finally found a chance to interject. “Hello, Lu Ren. Do you know what our film is about?”

Xu Xiye looked at her strangely.

“I heard it’s a ghost film. A horror ghost film,” he said. “There should probably be a dead person among you.”

The moment those words left his mouth, a chill ran through everyone present. Simultaneously, they unconsciously stepped away from the people next to them.