Chapter 31: Dark Night Reaper, Sets Out Again! Giving…

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Such erratic behavior, completely different from day to night, made Trainee No. 44, who had started to harbor a bit of hope, face the terror of the Weird Tales Dungeon head-on for the first time as he gazed at Supervisor Su’s red-rimmed eyes.

He stopped shouting. His whole body trembled under the scythe. He simply didn’t dare imagine what this eerie figure, who grew even more excited as he said, would do to him or what kind of gruesome death he would inflict.

Before arriving on this bizarre island, he had been nothing more than an ordinary college student.

In the end, as he trembled uncontrollably, Trainee No. 44 felt the eerie figure’s gaze roaming over him, as if pondering where to make the first cut.

Ultimately, his survival instinct briefly overcame his fear and cowardice. He raised his hand, shoved the scythe away from his neck with all his might, rolled off the bed at top speed, and ran barefoot out of the dorm.

Su Ximu, who had been waiting for Trainee No. 44’s next move so he could play along, relaxed slightly. This was his first time handling this kind of task, but fortunately, Trainee No. 44 had picked up on his eye signal and started fleeing.

There were plenty of cameras in the hallway. To give Trainee No. 44 more screen time, the Black Cloak Scarred Reaper lingered in place for a full three seconds before raising his scythe and giving chase.

“You dare push me?!”

“Once I catch you, hmph!”

Su Ximu continued imitating his colleagues’ tough talk.

In the hallway, the barefoot brown-haired guy sped up even more at those words. His speed was no less than if his ass were on fire.

In this game of cat and mouse, they raced all the way to the stairwell. Trainee No. 44, who instinctively wanted to head downstairs to hide, was hurled back by an invisible air wall just before his foot hit the step, landing hard on the floor. A current-like shock coursed through his limbs, leaving his face pale with pain and stripping him of any strength to resist.

Su Ximu remembered that the day before, a colleague downstairs and another trainee had ended their prank segment right here.

But when he closed in, Trainee No. 44 still looked terrified. As Su Ximu approached, the trainee desperately grabbed his leg in a struggle. “I really have no strength left. Please, just give me a quick death, okay? I’ll do anything!”

Adding his own flair?

Su Ximu got it.

He looked down and tried to shake off the leg that was being hugged but couldn’t.

Seeing Trainee No. 44’s flawless pitiful act, the teenager sighed inwardly. Every profession had its own hardships.

As a trainee, before debuting, they not only had to practice day in and day out but also seize every chance to grab more camera time.

That fall onto the floor earlier—even from a distance, Su Ximu could tell Trainee No. 44’s ass must hurt like hell right now.

As long as it was within his power, Su Ximu was happy to help trainees who worked hard toward their dreams.

So he lowered his head, pinched his voice to make a chilling laugh, and spoke in a sinister tone. “Anything at all?”

“Heh heh heh, you said it yourself…”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out the little box of body paint he’d used for his red eye circles, and grabbed the magnetic mini brush from the back of the lid.

Trainee No. 44, now completely limp on the floor, closed his eyes, resigned to death.

He could feel the wet brush tracing something on his face, perhaps. Maybe some kind of contract.

The brushing didn’t take long. Soon, he heard the eerie figure’s footsteps fading away: tap tap tap.

Followed by the faint creak of a door opening.

A few seconds later, another terrified scream.

Trainee No. 44 lay sprawled eagle-style on the gleaming hallway floor, no longer caring what happened outside.

Because from that moment, he had sold his soul to the devil…

The next victim, picked by the eerie figure just like him, followed almost the exact same steps: racing to the end of the hall, then trying to go downstairs.

Only to be knocked back by the invisible electrified air wall, robbed of all strength and means to fight.

Another sinister laugh, the faint sound of the brush on skin.

He knew another fellow sufferer now lay beside him.

Together, they had sold their souls to the monster.

A long while later, once the monster had gathered his three victims, he pulled out his phone and snapped photos of them lying on the floor.

He insulted them freely. “Don’t worry, I’ll hand these photos and videos over to the production team. They’ll make for great footage once edited.”

A long while after that, the terrifying teenager who transformed from daytime Supervisor Su into nighttime scythe-wielding reaper finally returned to his own dorm.

Trainee No. 44 finally opened his eyes in resignation and locked eyes with No. 55 across from him. He stared bleakly at the monstrous contract painted on the other’s face.

A “king” character on the forehead, a drooping eight-character mustache. That was probably his look now too.

?

This… look?

The next morning when he woke up, Su Ximu stood by the half-open window, talking on the phone with Third Brother.

“Mm, Third Brother, everything’s fine here. You’re so busy with work—don’t worry about me.” The teenager’s voice held a hint of guilt. He had just remembered he hadn’t told Third Brother about changing jobs yet.

Unexpectedly, Su Jianglou brought it up next. “Xiao Mu, about that Tonight’s Big Star production team you mentioned last time—I looked into it these past couple days. The chief director used to collaborate with Second Brother.”

The implication was clear: Xiao Mu, you didn’t want to work there, did you? And now Second Brother’s onto you?

Su Ximu didn’t really want to, but he was already on the job. And he felt like he was doing okay so far—no urge to job-hop frequently for now.

Then he heard Third Brother say, “But later, Second Brother stopped dealing with him. Said his taste was awful and he was afraid it’d rub off. Xiao Mu, if you really want to switch jobs, Third Brother will find you one.”

Su Ximu blinked at that, feeling there was no need to worry much. They said entertainment was a small world; since Second Brother worked in it, he probably knew everyone to some degree.

Familiar or not, Second Brother might not show up anyway.

And gradually, though he wouldn’t actively seek out Second Brother, Su Ximu felt it wasn’t right to keep dodging forever.

By the end of the month, if he still hadn’t returned to his original world, he decided! He would come clean to Big Brother, Second Brother, and Third Brother—he wasn’t actually their little brother!

As the routine check-in call neared its end, Su Jianglou casually asked, “Xiao Mu, how’ve things been with that friend of yours lately?”

Was the guy still trying to steal his doll?

Su Ximu thought back for a moment and answered earnestly. “Great. We get along really well.”

Su Jianglou nodded.

Great. The guy was asking for death.

Once he wrapped up his busy period, he’d go take him out.

After hanging up, Su Ximu grabbed his small shovel and weeded his big potted plant.

The morning air on the island was fresh. The teenager took a couple sniffs and noticed a faint rusty iron tang mixed in today.

He figured some dorm water pipe must have sprung a leak somewhere.

After tending to his mushrooms, he returned to the dorm and picked up his phone.

In the Tonight’s Big Star work group, the counselor @everyone, announcing that before the initial rating, the trainee count had dropped from 104 to 101.

Those three trainees had apparently fallen ill overnight and had no choice but to withdraw.

At the same time, the associate director @ the program’s five supervisors, stating that after the initial rating, the trainees would face their first elimination round.

Nearly half would be cut.

That would free up a big chunk of the dorm building.

In other words, after the first elimination, the production team would only need two or three supervisors.

The rest would naturally be laid off.

【Associate Director: If you won’t work hard yourselves, learn to be smart. At your age, with such poor performance, you’ll get optimized out by society sooner or later! If you’re not excellent, learn from truly excellent colleagues. Like @Third-Floor Elimination Staff Su Ximu—he’s the model for you all!】

【Props Team Xiao Liu: I think the director’s right!】

【Makeup Team Xiao Wang: The director’s words rang like thunder in my ears, waking me from my stupor. Starting today, I’ll learn from @Third-Floor Elimination Staff Su Ximu too!】

【Editing Team Vincent: The director’s so busy with a million things yet still cares about our work—truly hardworking.】

【Logistics Team Blue 242 Leader: Thumbs up.jpg】

【Associate Director: @everyone, cough, during work hours, just call me associate director.】

Suddenly held up as an exemplary employee and publicly praised in the group, Su Ximu was flattered. He reflected briefly on his work these past days and figured it was because he’d gotten extra behind-the-scenes footage from a few more trainees last night.

Mainly because those trainees had signaled him, and he didn’t want to play favorites.

The reticent teenager, whose cheeks flushed a bit from the colleagues’ praise, pursed his lips and popped a quick reply in the group:

【Third-Floor Elimination Staff Su Ximu: Thanks everyone, I’ll keep pushing harder!】

With the associate director and colleagues’ support and encouragement, Su Ximu knew his current work direction was probably on track.

So when night fell again, he donned his cloak once more, grabbed his prop scythe, and set out.

The next day, the associate director announced in the group that another nine trainees had withdrawn overnight due to health issues.

Su Ximu guessed they must not be acclimating well to the local water and soil.

Fortunately, none of the third-floor trainees had issues yet. Probably because they danced year-round and had strong constitutions.

Though, Su Ximu thought, it might also have a little to do with his attentive care. Worried they’d catch a chill at night and get sick, he adjusted the third-floor central AC temperature and fan speed at least twice every evening.

On initial rating day, only 92 trainees remained.

With nothing else to do, Su Ximu went to help Blue 242 Leader in logistics and watched the trainees’ makeup and rating process.

He also saw Tonight’s Big Star’s four mentors for the first time.

Jason, the main dance mentor, was supposedly a street dance competition champion.

Emily, the vocal mentor for singing and rap, showed off by shattering an entire table of highball glasses with a high note—Su Ximu, who was handing out props, watched with his mouth slightly agape.

Then there was creation mentor Zhao Yiming, who had played a piano piece for the trainees at the start of filming, supposedly his own composition.

Before Zhao Yiming started playing, Blue 242 Leader had covered Su Ximu’s ears. He tried listening a bit anyway and immediately felt his ears uncomfortable, like whispers murmuring right by them.

Finally, resident mentor Bai Bo, who oversaw trainee practice and doubled as host.

After the four mentors finished their personal stages, they sat below, watching team after team of trainees perform.

Their expressions were stern, standards high.

They watched the trainees’ shows with furrowed brows.

Once all performances ended, Bai Bo grabbed the mic and declared loudly and sternly, “Every single one of you! I mean all of you! Not a single A!”

“Your skills are trash! No audience wants to watch this boring crap!”

With that, he read off five B-grade trainee names, including Wang Xingxing. He was the first named.

Then he read out twenty C-grades.

The remaining sixty-plus trainees were all E, the worst!

After being baptized by the creation mentor’s piano piece, all the trainees on site were dazed and deathly silent.

Now being scolded by the mentor like this, they showed no reaction at all, standing in place like a group of marionettes, wooden and obedient.

The man in bright performance clothes, microphone in hand, finally nodded in slight satisfaction.

He projected the covers of five dance videos onto the large stage screen and continued speaking. “These are the stages you need to prepare for the preliminaries.”

“There are exactly five B-grades, so from left to right, come up one by one to pick.”

“As B-grades in the initial rating, you not only have the privilege of picking your dances first, but you can also choose who gets to dance this piece with you.”

“But be careful—in the same dance, you’ll be obvious rivals in the preliminaries.”

“Finally…” The handsome man’s voice turned eerie. “Friendly reminder: choose your dance carefully. Sometimes, a dance that’s too bland won’t attract votes from the audience.”

“First, Trainee No. 43, Wang Xingxing, come pick your dance and opponents. Get the related props from the Props Team.”

Wang Xingxing responded, forcing himself to turn around and look at the stage screen.

Once he clearly saw the covers of the five dance videos, his pupils shrank sharply.

Joint-Pierced Human Puppet

Limbs Weirdly Bent Clown

Wing-Broken Black Swan

The Boy Who Turns 360 Degrees to Look Back

Blood-Flowing Ballerina with Red Footprints

He could only choose the ballerina.

Wang Xingxing quickly made his decision. He tried to ignore the horrified gazes from the other trainees who turned their heads and first selected his four teammates.

Then he finished picking the remaining dozen or so opponents.

In the early stages of the competition, at least the idol selection show wouldn’t eliminate more than half the trainees in one group all at once.

At the side of the stage, Su Ximu—who had finished his tasks—also stared strangely at the terrifying covers on the big screen.

Finally, as if struck by a thought, his eyes lit up with a flash of inspiration.

Combining dance with magic tricks—the idol selection show’s creativity was indeed novel.

He couldn’t figure out what props the first four dances needed for the moment, but the last one was simple. He could bring it back to the dorm for the already exhausted trainees.

After the initial rating ended, Wang Xingxing returned to the dorm and immediately received a little gift from Supervisor Su.

Over these past few days, the Third Floor trainees were still somewhat afraid of Supervisor Su. However, their vigilance and wariness had unknowingly begun to melt away.

These days, they still got up early every morning and cleaned the corridor and laundry room under Supervisor Su’s charge.

Supervisor Su would smile and greet them every time he saw them during the day.

Then at night, he continued chasing them down the corridors in his cloak.

Su Ximu didn’t just give a little gift to Wang Xingxing—the other Third Floor trainees selected by Wang Xingxing got them too.

The gifts were several grape-sized blood packs.

The youth handed over the blood packs and gestured. “Put these blood packs in your shoes, then dance, and it’ll create a bleeding effect.”

Wang Xingxing was stunned. “Will this work?”

Would the weird mentors be so easily fooled?

The youth nodded solemnly, his tone a bit odd. “Of course. Didn’t you think of it? Otherwise, why did the white mentor tell you to get props?”

Did they really need to chop off their toes and bleed for real?