Zong Qi stood in the bathroom stall, turning his phone on and off, finally seeing the signal indicator jump from “No Service” to three bars.
But even with a signal, the 4G indicator was there, yet there was no internet connection, and he couldn’t connect to the livestream no matter what he did.
After several attempts with the same result, Zong Qi was at a loss.
“Why is there no signal? The network was fine just a moment ago.”
Squatting on the floor, he scratched his head in frustration, trying to figure out why he couldn’t connect.
Desperate, he fiddled with the system settings, accidentally opening the settings for receiving messages and calls.
A moment later, a new message notification appeared.
It was from the carrier, informing him that his phone service had been suspended due to unpaid bills.
Zong Qi: “”
He fell silent for a moment, finally remembering the issue.
During his last livestream, Zong Qi had accidentally used up all his data. He meant to pay the bill but had forgotten. Today’s livestream had burned through most of his call credit, and once that was gone, his phone was suspended.
Without his phone, Zong Qi couldn’t ask anyone to help pay his bill. Without paying, he couldn’t resume his livestream, making this ghost-hunting trip a waste.
There were no buses nearby, and a taxi ride from his apartment to here cost almost a hundred yuan.
“Ah—”
Zong Qi felt his heart bleed, wishing he could just lay down and sleep here until the next ghost hunt.
The bad news left him stunned and unable to think for a while.
At that moment, Zong Qi noticed a new icon on his phone’s home screen.
The small program was at the bottom of all apps, with a yin-yang symbol on a black background, and blood-red letters that read “Horror Movie Director.”
What is this?
Zong Qi was certain he hadn’t downloaded this app recently, nor was there any assignment from school that involved it.
“Could it have been bundled with something else I downloaded?”
Thinking this, he opened the program.
The interface was empty, but after about three seconds, a personal profile appeared.
[Director Name]: Zong Qi
[Code]: Q
[Director Level]: E-level Director (Newbie task not completed)
[Representative Work]: None
[Director Points]: 0
[Actors]: 0
[Movie Scripts]: None
Zong Qi stared at his profile for a long time.
How could this mysterious little program accurately display his real name and major?
Could this be some new type of scam targeting college students? His neighbor in the dorm had been scammed last year, falling for a romantic scam that turned out to be a man, nearly losing everything.
Becoming wary, Zong Qi immediately exited the app, intending to uninstall it from the settings.
However, what happened next was beyond his expectations.
The program did not appear in the list of uninstallable apps, nor could it be removed from the home screen.
“A phishing program? Malware?”
After rebooting his phone three times with no change, Zong Qi was frustrated.
With a flick of his finger, he reopened the app.
Surprisingly, this time a prompt box with blood-red text appeared.
**[Welcome, Mr. Zong Qi]
[This is the Horror Movie Director System. Here, you can gain money, fame, status, and even mythical or legendary items.]
Seeing this, Zong Qi remembered the promotional message he had glimpsed earlier.
“Could modern technology really install malware remotely just from a text message?”
As he muttered to himself, the text on the screen changed again.
**[Unfortunately, the system detects that you currently have no unlocked horror movie scripts, and thus cannot enter the normal filming process.]
[As this is your first time entering the system, the newbie guide will now begin.]
[Newbie Director Task: Complete an impromptu short film without an initial script.]
[Impromptu short film attempts: 1 remaining]
[Completing the newbie director task will earn a random point and script reward.]**
Zong Qi’s eyes lingered on the words “money” and “fame” before he calmly pressed the power button to turn off the phone.
“What kind of scam is this? If I had money for filmmaking, I wouldn’t be doing ghost-hunting livestreams.”
He stood up to leave, but the flashlight beside him suddenly flashed twice, like a scene from an old horror movie.
The next second, the flashlight went out.
In the darkness of the abandoned mental hospital, his phone screen was the only light source.
The phone, which he had locked, still emitted a faint glow, and the app’s text remained clear.
Not only that, the text floated out of the screen and into his view.
**[A good horror film needs scary scenes. Scream points quantify the horror, raising the audience’s adrenaline.]
[Newbie Task Goal 1: Scream points exceed 100.]
[A good horror film also needs a meticulous storyline. Script exploration adds depth to the story.]
[Newbie Task Goal 2: Script exploration progress exceeds 30%.]
[With no extra points to recruit actors, remember, everyone is their own best actor.]
[Newbie Task Goal 3: Number of surviving actors is greater than or equal to 1.]**
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
As the subtitles appeared, a frame also appeared around his retina. It didn’t block his vision but made the text noticeable.
Ktf ogjwf rtbkfv atgff njiefr: rmgfjw qblcar, atf fzqibgjalbc qgbugfrr bo atf “Zfcaji Lbrqlaji” rmglqa, jcv atf meggfca cewyfg bo jmabgr.
Vmgfjw qblcar: 5, Vmglqa fzqibgjalbc: 2%, Jeggfca jmabgr: 1.
“Lbis mgjq, la’r rtbklcu eq bc ws fsfr!”
Ibcu Hl geyyfv jgbecv tlr fsfr lc vlryfilfo, tlr sfjgr bo wjafgljilra fvemjalbc mbiijqrlcu ja atlr wbwfca.
If an ordinary person encountered a supernatural event, they would surely panic. Now, Zong Qi’s blood pressure and heart rate soared, his heart pounding.
**[Detecting your doubts about the Horror Movie Director system. As you are the only director and it’s your first contact with the system, additional explanations will be provided.]
[Detecting your current wish.]
[Your most desired item: Money.]**
Zong Qi choked a bit.
Such a simple and unpretentious wish, given that all he had was sixty yuan, his desire for money was written on his face.
The next second, a handful of hundred-yuan bills appeared in his hand.
Zong Qi: !!!
**[Director points can be exchanged for money at an equal ratio in the system.]
[After reading the agreement, you can confirm on the phone screen.]**
“That’s pretty considerate.”
Watching the paper bills disappear from his hand, Zong Qi muttered.
In just a few words, he was filled with goodwill towards this supernatural system.
Other online stories had systems that always forcefully bound themselves to the host. This one, polite and seemingly without self-awareness, even let the host choose. Zong Qi felt he could consider this a new source of income.
Detecting Zong Qi’s change of heart, the subtitles began to disappear one by one.
**[Host agreement obtained. Horror Movie Director system binding complete.]
[Environment met conditions. Loading…]
[Unlocked mini-script: Mental Hospital. Activation conditions met. Impromptu filming begins.]
[Your remaining filming time: 24 hours.]
[Note: Although the newbie task is not highly difficult, there is still a 10% mortality rate. Please proceed with caution.]**
Just as the filming began, the surrounding temperature dropped suddenly, and even the sunlight outside dimmed slightly.
“Hiss…”
Seeing the mortality rate note, Zong Qi’s excitement cooled.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. This supernatural system uses life and death as stakes, which was understandable.
“Since I’m already on this ship, there’s no turning back. I’ll treat it like another ghost-hunting livestream.”
Zong Qi clenched his fist, cheering himself on.
“This newbie guide didn’t provide much useful information. How to increase scream points or script exploration progress is still a mystery.”
He was only wearing a simple T-shirt, his exposed arms shivering from the cold.
At that moment, a strange sound echoed from the depths of the bathroom.
“Creak—creak—creak—”
In an abandoned mental hospital, such a sound was undeniably creepy.
Zong Qi listened for a long time, unable to determine if it was caused by a person or the wind.
But he noticed that the scream points had increased by 2 points because of the sound.
His eyes lit up.
Could making unusual sounds increase scream points?
Zong Qi turned on the flashlight again, circling the narrow bathroom stall, and pressed the flush button.
Despite being abandoned for so long, the water still flowed, swirling into the toilet.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
The scream points increased by 3.
That simple?? Zong Qi was in disbelief.
It seemed he had discovered a way to increase scream points.
For the next few minutes, Zong Qi worked hard to create sounds in the stall, such as repeatedly flushing, stomping hard, coughing, or banging on the door.
With his efforts, the scream points rose from 10 to 20.
Unfortunately, at 20 points, no matter what sounds he made, the scream points wouldn’t increase.
“It seems 20 is a threshold. To increase further, I’ll need to find other clues.”
With no more leads, Zong Qi stopped and thought.
As a directing student, though not great at his major, he still had an edge over outsiders.
Given the system’s name, “Horror Movie Director,” it had to follow a filmmaking mode. If treated as a real-life movie-making mode, it wasn’t hard to understand.
Whether scream points or surviving actors, these metrics assessed how well he directed the film.
“Although I couldn’t find a job after delaying my graduation, I’ve somehow stumbled into my field. My advisor would be pleased.”
However, Zong Qi was puzzled about one thing.
“Why was the script exploration progress at 2% initially?”
After pondering for a while without a solution, he grabbed the door handle, ready to leave the stall to look for more clues.
Just then, a creepy sound echoed again from the depths of the abandoned bathroom.
“Thump, thump, thump…”
Someone was hammering, each hit producing a clear, dull sound.
The sound lasted for a few seconds, raising the scream points to 30.
Zong Qi froze, hand on the door.
There was someone in the bathroom.
It wasn’t unexpected, given the footprints outside and the ajar door. The person wasn’t hiding their presence.
But who else would be here besides a ghost-hunting streamer like him?
“Bang—”
Just as Zong Qi was hesitating whether to open the door to take a look, he suddenly heard the sound of an old door being pushed open from the depths of the bathroom.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
Next came a series of footsteps.
The owner of the voice walked leisurely, seemingly unaware that they were making noise in a dusty, cobweb-filled, and burnt hospital.
With each step, the scream value in Zong Qi’s vision increased by 5 points.
By the time the footsteps stopped outside his bathroom stall, the scream value in his vision had already surpassed the 50 mark.
Finally, the footsteps stopped. Right outside his stall.
The flashlight beam rested on the dirty floor tiles of the bathroom.
Through the small gap at the bottom of the stall, Zong Qi could see the shadow on the ground.
Separated by a door, the young man with black hair stared at the numbers in his vision, deep in thought.
There are many types of films.
Obviously, he was now shooting a horror movie. If it’s a horror movie…
The next second, there was a sudden knock on the door.
Someone was knocking on the door urgently.
A hoarse, sinister voice echoed in the bathroom.
“Hey. Open the door, I need some paper.”
Zong Qi: “”
He almost choked on his breath.
Asking for paper in a place like this? Are you crazy?!
The man’s voice was like sandpaper scraping on the ground, hoarse and dry, making one think of a severe throat infection, very strange.
Perhaps because there was no response, the person outside repeated coldly, “Open the door.”
Alright, at least he could talk, still a person. Even if he’s a bad person, it’s better than a non-human entity, at least it’s not a ghost.
At that moment, Zong Qi noticed that the scream value, which had reached 50 points when the footsteps stopped, had risen to 65.
The exponentially increasing scream value made him very concerned.
This is rising too fast. Just now, flushing the toilet increased it by 2 points, but now in just a few seconds, it jumped from 20 to 65.
He made such a loud noise in the stall just now. If the person outside had been in the bathroom all along, they would have heard it and wouldn’t need to ask.
Most likely, it’s intentional, obviously up to no good.
Zong Qi started to have second thoughts.
It’s a horror movie, nothing is more important than life.
Yes, life is important.
So Zong Qi pretended to cough awkwardly, “Um, I’m still using the toilet.”
“I just heard you turn the door handle.”
“Stomach issues, you know, it’s on and off, can’t be done in one go, need to stand up and stretch a bit. Please understand, it’s urgent.”
This statement blocked all questions, and the large abandoned bathroom fell into silence.
This conversation successfully pushed the scream value over 70, and even the previously stagnant script exploration progress increased by 2%.
Could it be that continuously talking to the bad guy in a horror movie is the new key to success?
Zong Qi rubbed his chin and started making jokes.
“Hey, buddy. This place has been abandoned for years, haunted too, why would you use the toilet here?”
The bad guy’s tone became visibly worse: “None of your business.”
Zong Qi pretended to sigh: “I’m doing an outdoor live broadcast, had to turn it off for now, need to continue later.”
As he spoke, he listened intently to the sounds outside.
Sure enough, after hearing this, the person outside seemed even more annoyed, scraping the ground with their shoe tip, producing a sharp sound, like someone possessed by a manic disorder.
Zong Qi now pretty much confirmed there was something wrong with the person outside, even more afraid to provoke them: “Buddy, just wait a moment, I just ate something bad, can’t help it. Are you in a hurry? How about I pass some paper under the door?”
Each single stall in this bathroom had a step, leaving a bit of space under the door, not completely covered.
Zong Qi, understanding the possible need, generously offered to help.
Regardless of good or bad, everyone needs to use the bathroom. Such a kind person as him wouldn’t refuse to help.
The young man with black hair crouched down, took a crumpled roll of paper from his pocket, and passed it under the door.
“I don’t have much paper left, use it sparingly.”
He accidentally extended his finger a bit outside, causing the scream value to jump by 5 points. Zong Qi’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly pulled it back, leaving the paper exposed.
Clearly, this kind of stalling dialogue exhausted all of the bad guy’s patience.
“Bang!”
The next second, the door of the stall was kicked heavily, and there was even a violent shaking of someone trying to forcefully break in.
Zong Qi no longer cared about exposure, immediately holding the door.
The man outside snorted coldly, about to continue kicking the door when suddenly a phone ring interrupted.
“Ring, ring—”
Taking advantage of this, Zong Qi quietly turned on his phone camera, raised it outside to try to see the situation.
But it was difficult because the abandoned bathroom was too dark, yielding no useful information.
“Hello? It’s done. Yeah, ran into a pesky bug.”
The man’s hoarse voice was gloomy, making no effort to hide.
Great, it seemed like he stumbled upon another crime scene.
After starting the recording feature and dialing the emergency number 110, Zong Qi also pulled out a small Swiss army knife from his pocket.
Thank goodness, emergency calls are free.
“Give me some time, I can handle—”
The voice abruptly stopped, the tone changed dramatically.
After a few seconds, not knowing what the person on the other end said, the man outside suddenly took a few deep breaths, exploding with anger.
“Since the organization will clean up, I’ll leave then.”
He said through gritted teeth, then abruptly hung up.
After the vague exchange, the man hurriedly left the bathroom, slamming the door hard, causing old dust to fall.
“Hmph, lucky you.”
Listening to the footsteps leaving, Zong Qi patiently waited in the stall, closely monitoring any movements.
Once certain there was no abnormality outside, he cautiously placed his phone camera on a stand, raising it against the wall to observe outside with a flashlight.
When it comes to hiding, Zong Qi claimed to be the best.
Outside was still pitch black, the dim light merging the sink and dirty wall into a shadowy figure, making one uneasy.
After a thorough scan confirming no one was there, Zong Qi finally sighed in relief.
He had taken some self-defense lessons in middle school to avoid bullies, but still felt a bit nervous about real danger. Not to mention, the conversation hinted at some shady business.
The scream value fixed at 75 points, script exploration progress at 10%, still 1 surviving actor.
“What does this mean, still filming? Task not completed?”
Zong Qi put away his phone, holding the knife, cautiously unlocking the door while staying alert.
The bathroom was eerily quiet. Adding to the previous sounds, the man’s hurried departure indicated he didn’t intend to return.
The suspected thug’s phone call implied someone would handle things afterward, not caring about exposure, and mentioned someone cleaning up.
Zong Qi had a wild guess, feeling the call hinted he had called the police.
Though previous ghost hunting streams stumbled upon crime scenes, the police’s timely arrival and supportive viewers made him feel secure.
Due to the ongoing filming, Zong Qi felt a persistent sense of unease.
No, he had to leave.
He pushed the door open, cautiously stepping out, phone in hand, emergency call and recording still active.
“The location is Zao Hua Ren Xin Mental Hospital, Jiangzhou City.”
The bathroom remained silent, values seemingly frozen.
The burnt walls unchanged, the heavy dust on the floor still there.
Holding the flashlight, crouching, Zong Qi scanned the area, finding nothing unusual.
But he noticed, each step deeper into the bathroom caused the scream value and script progress to rise.
A clear hint.
Zong Qi paused, choosing between leaving immediately or checking further, ultimately deciding to look, raising the phone stand to the last stall.
Previously, he would have left at the first sign of danger, but now, during filming, he didn’t want to experience task failure penalties.
The area was dark, the rusty stall door dark yellow, the broken window sealed with thick boards like a closed coffin.
Reaching the end, the scream value was just 10 points short.
Taking a deep breath, Zong Qi kicked the stall door open without hesitation.
“Creak—”
A strong, unpleasant odor mixed with decay hit him.
Unexpectedly, there was nothing inside.
“Did I get it wrong?”
Muttering, he glanced back, his eyes inadvertently catching sight of a bloody handle, pupils constricting.
Blood stained the handle, congealed into dark red.
Above it, a black ouroboros symbol stood out.
Zong Qi’s throat bobbed.
Flipping the flashlight, he slowly pulled the door, exposing the back.
As the light illuminated the door, the script progress surged from 2% to over 30%, and his phone screen lit up.
Pale subtitles appeared in Zong Qi’s vision.
[New Director Task Completed]
[Received 100 random points, major script “Haunted Village”]
[Your impromptu short film shooting time remaining: 23 hours, can stop anytime. Note: Stopping will trigger post-shooting settlement based on three main values, up to 500 points]
[Congratulations on completing the new director task, promoted to D-level director. All director permissions are now open, check your profile for details. Use the permissions wisely to create more excellent works!]
Behind the narrow, dark door, two human heads filled with white wax were nailed above.
Their mouths were cut open, painted red, forced into wide, eerie smiles, grotesque and terrifying.
Zong Qi never expected to encounter a deranged killer separated by just a door!
Boy aren’t you scared??
Either part of the previous chapter is missing or this is the weirdest plot skip ever?
Thank you for your comment. I checked it and there was really a problem with the chapters! I’ve fixed it now and it should be okay. I hope you enjoy reading!~