Trembling in the Skies

Chapter 36: A Chance Encounter

The second round of the lottery began. This time, four men—including Li Teng and Gao Fei—drew lots to determine the order in which they would get off the bus. Would they get off at the first stop, the second, the third, or the fourth? After the men drew lots to determine the order in which they would get off, the women chose which stop they would get off at. Since the men’s boarding order wasn’t disclosed, the women’s choices were effectively random as well. The one traveling with the ghost is surely in for a rough ride. The men drew lots based on rank, with those of the same rank rolling dice to determine their order—making it very easy to establish the sequence. Li Teng drew the lot to get off at the first stop. If the “ghost ticket” were in the hands of any of the other three men, he would be safe. But if the “ghost ticket” were held by one of the four women, and that woman also chose to get off at the first stop, he would have no choice but to get off with the ghost—and then face the ghost head-on at the station. A human fighting a ghost is certain to die. After the men finished the second round of drawing lots, it was the women’s turn to choose which stop to get off at. For each woman, if the “ghost slip” ended up with one of them, they would all be safe. But if the ghost slip is in a man’s hand, a careless choice could very likely result in them getting off the train with the ghost. The consequences were all too obvious. “Who on earth is the ghost? I’m so scared,” the female office worker said, glancing at the four men seated there, trying to read something in their expressions. “It’s me. Get off with me,” the man in glasses chuckled. “Get lost!” the office worker rolled her eyes. The order of selection for the four women was: the feisty old woman, the woman in sunglasses, the office worker, and the young girl. After the director made the announcement, the feisty old woman had the highest priority and would be the first to make a choice. Because of her rank, she also had the longest time to make her choice. She had six minutes to make her decision. During this time, she could ask each of them questions to help her make her choice. Of course, the others are free to ignore her. Once the feisty old woman chooses a stop to get off at, the other women cannot choose that stop; they can only choose from the remaining three stops. This process differs from the men’s selection; in the end, the feisty old woman must clearly state in front of everyone which stop she has chosen to get off at. The expressions of the others present were somewhat bewildered; this final round of choices was the most critical. It determined the life or death of each and every one of them. No matter what, one of the eight must die for the scene to be considered complete. If she were to be the one traveling with the ghost, she’d be in big trouble. The feisty old woman did not make her choice immediately. Instead, she made a decision that took everyone completely by surprise. She took her bamboo stick out of its case, slammed it down on the table with a “smack!” , and pushed it to the center of the table, fully revealing the characters inscribed on it. Three characters were engraved on it. “You play the ghost.” The others let out a gasp. They never would have imagined that the feisty old woman would be bold enough to reveal her own identity! “All right, everyone, no need for all those over-the-top performances anymore. You three are safe,” the feisty old woman said, addressing the woman in sunglasses, the office worker, and the young girl first. The woman in sunglasses and her two companions patted their chests, finally feeling at ease. “It’s hard to say. Maybe after the ghost gets off the bus, instead of killing the companions who got off with it, it’ll use its supernatural powers to dash to the front of the bus and wait at the next stop for you to get off—killing two at once.” The man in glasses chuckled a few times. You have to admit, he was pretty sharp—he’d even considered that possibility. “Get lost!” the woman in sunglasses and her two companions replied in unison to the man in glasses. “Ahem… I was just trying to help…” The man in glasses wore a look of deep grievance. “You four, please show me your chopstick sides. Only then can I decide who to get off the bus with,” the burly old woman said, turning her gaze back to the four men. The four men were all taken aback for a moment. After a brief pause, the fair-faced young man was the first to react; he hurriedly took out his two bamboo sticks and placed them on the table. One of his sticks read “You play the photographer,” and the other read “Get off at the fourth stop.” “Hmm, very good! I’ve ruled out the fourth stop. What about the three of you?” The burly old woman turned her gaze to the man with glasses, Gao Fei, and Li Teng. Gao Fei and the man with glasses exchanged glances, unsure what the burly old woman was up to. “Why not just come out and say it?” the burly old woman spoke up again. “You three ladies are truly safe now. I won’t kill any of you, and I’m certainly not so bored that I’d go one stop out of my way just to kill two people,” the tough old woman said to the three women first. “Thank you,” the three women said in unison, expressing their gratitude to the formidable old woman. “The three of you are actually safe as well,” the fierce old woman said, turning her gaze to the four men. “I came here this time for one person in particular.” “To be precise, I’m here to kill this person!” As she spoke, the fierce old woman turned her gaze to Li Teng, her eyes flashing with a vicious, malevolent glint. The woman in sunglasses glanced at the fierce old woman, then at Li Teng, her expression one of sudden realization. Li Teng sighed. What a small world this is! After the last shoot wrapped up, the woman in sunglasses had even reminded Li Teng to level up as quickly as possible, raise his rank, and accumulate enough points so he could survive better. Guo Zhipeng’s mother used her privileges to find her way here! She arrived half a year before Guo Zhipeng and is one rank higher than him; she’s here to avenge her son. Li Teng vaguely recalled that Guo Zhipeng’s mother ran a casino in the real world and was ruthless. Using her three casting opportunities, Guo’s mother managed to draw the only ghost among the eight participants! Now all she needs to do is figure out at which stop Li Teng will get off, then get off with him. That way, she can use her “ghost” status to exchange points for a ghost’s superpower and easily knock Li Teng out! This round was different from the last one. In the previous round, Guo Zhipeng rammed Li Teng with his car, but as the driver behind the wheel, he didn’t have a “get-out-of-jail-free” card. Li Teng cleverly used a barstool to find a lucky opportunity to turn the tables and kill him. But in this round, the Ghost cannot be killed. Any hope of a counterattack has been completely cut off. In a battle between a human and a ghost—between an ordinary extra with zero points and a supporting actor two levels higher with a massive point total—there’s absolutely no chance of a comeback! How could a human’s luck be this bad? “Hahahaha… This is hilarious! Can something like this really happen? Man proposes, but God disposes—what goes around comes around!” The man in glasses burst out laughing once he realized what had happened. In the first scene, he’d picked the wrong side, choosing to tag along with Guo Zhipeng—only for Guo Zhipeng to get killed off. Now, Li Teng was the most popular person on set; everyone else listened to him and was being fooled and manipulated by him. The guy with glasses, on the other hand, was being ostracized by everyone. He never expected his luck to turn—Guo Zhipeng’s mom had arrived! This was an even bigger “leg to cling to” than Guo Zhipeng! “Where are your sticks?” Guo’s mother asked the guy with glasses. “Uh-huh! Here are my sticks!” The guy with glasses quickly pulled his two bamboo sticks out of the case and placed them on the table. His two sticks read “You’ll play a supporting role” and “Get off at the second stop,” respectively. “All right, that rules out another one. I won’t be choosing the second or fourth stops—now there are only the first and third stops left,” Guo’s mother said, looking at Gao Fei. Now, as long as Gao Fei revealed his slips and she knew at which stop he was getting off, Guo’s mother could deduce at which stop Li Teng was getting off.