My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 606: Six Actors and One Butcher (Happy New Year)

Chapter 606: Chapter 606: Six Actors and One Butcher (Happy New Year)

Han Fei had visited the plastic surgery hospital for the first time during the day. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary abandoned building with nothing particularly special.

To prepare for the new variety show, Director Jia Jia and the crew had been setting up the filming site here for several days, running around the building to arrange various mechanisms.

Perhaps because too many people had been coming and going, the place seemed a bit more lively compared to the last time Han Fei was here, and it actually looked less eerie.

"Originally, this place was haunted, but with all their meddling, that authentic sense of horror has been diluted."

Han Fei still looked dispirited and rather frail.

"Director Jia!" President Li found Jia Jia at the restaurant with a stern face, but upon seeing Jia Jia, he was still very enthusiastic: "I’ve brought two lead actors from my new movie, and I hope you can arrange more scenes for them."

"I will certainly meet President Li’s demands. We have already prepared their scripts in advance." Jia Jia handed the scripts to Han Fei and Xia Yilan: "Although we advertise it as unscripted, some of the main plotlines still need to be there. We’ve designed several explosive scenes, you can get familiar with your identities first."

"Isn’t this just a real-life horror escape game?" Xia Yilan, holding the script, leaned closer to Han Fei: "It’s over, I’m really scared of these things."

"I’m scared too." Han Fei replied faintly, then he opened his script and started to read.

The Secrets of April Fourth mainly revolves around a group of people who were involuntarily drawn into a bizarre incident on April 4th. They would trace back the line of the murder and ghost stories based on the clues provided to them and ultimately escape successfully.

The first episode’s filming location was at the abandoned plastic surgery hospital in the far suburbs of Xinhu, mainly about seven people, four men and three women with extremely complicated relationships, who went on a vacation together. As a sudden downpour began, they took refuge from the rain in an abandoned plastic surgery hospital.

The character Han Fei was playing the second male lead, a jobless drifter, who was the least successful among his college friends.

Impulsive and volatile, cynical about the world, he had dated the second female lead during college but was broken up with after graduation.

Compared to the others’ scripts, Han Fei’s script was rather poor, lacking distinctive features or impressive abilities.

"Han Fei, what do you think of the script?" Unlike him, President Li was more concerned, hoping that Han Fei and Xia Yilan would get more screen time.

"It’s okay." Han Fei nodded nonchalantly, distancing himself from Xia Yilan, and began to walk around the building to observe.

Last time he came with Bai Xian, they only entered the first building at the front. In fact, the plastic surgery hospital covered a vast area and was a multi-functional private hospital integrating medical treatment, beauty, leisure, and vacation.

"This is clearly a recording site, so why are there so many hidden broadcasting devices? Could they be planning to do a live broadcast? Revealing a completely authentic side of the celebrities?"

As Han Fei walked around, he spotted some things and took out his phone to look up information related to Tang Yi.

As a top domestic variety show producer, this person was very bold, often initiating variety shows others wouldn’t dare to imagine.

He had created many viewership miracles, but most of his shows couldn’t be sustained for long.

Continuing the search for "April the Fourth Secret Records," the program team had begun creating a buzz two months earlier, planning to announce the first season’s star-studded lineup and exciting preview tonight.

On various major video platforms, the discussion about "April the Fourth Secret Records" was highly active, more akin to warming up for a broadcasting debut rather than just releasing a preview.

"Could Tang Yi be thinking of switching the shoot to a live broadcast?"

From his brief exchanges with Tang Yi, Han Fei could approximately tell that Tang Yi didn’t have much respect for star actors. Perhaps in Tang Yi’s eyes, star actors were merely tools to garner viewership, heat, and buzz; he might do anything to make his new variety show another success.

"Live broadcast is still fine, just hope nothing outrageous gets broadcasted then."

By four o’clock in the afternoon, other stars had also gradually arrived, and the atmosphere on set became lively, with many staff members getting excited.

"Everyone go to makeup first, keep the script with you, and after you leave the makeup room, we will collect all scripts."

Director Jia Jia, holding a microphone, directed on the scene. When he looked at Han Fei, he even gave a slight smile, seemingly waiting for the drama to unfold.

Upon hearing the announcement, Han Fei took his script into the temporarily built makeup room, where he immediately saw Bai Cha surrounded by three makeup artists, his smile brilliantly sunny, drawing attention wherever he went.

"Han Fei?" Bai Cha also saw Han Fei, his smile freezing on his face.

At the film festival, Bai Cha and Han Fei had fiercely competed, and unexpectedly, Han Fei had won the Best Supporting Actor of the year by a landslide, being only a step away from the title of Movie Emperor at the age of twenty-six.

Backed by a top film company like Deep Space Entertainment, whether it was the festival’s judges or the majority of netizens, everyone felt Han Fei’s acting was much better than his, which was hard to swallow for Bai Cha, who had always had a smooth career.

"Didn’t expect to see you here." Bai Cha stared at Han Fei; the identities of the stars participating in the recording were confidential, and they didn’t know about each other.

Han Fei ignored Bai Cha and chose a corner seat to sit down and wait for the makeup artist.

Seeing Han Fei completely ignore him, Bai Cha felt a surge of nameless anger. There were many grudges between the stars, but at least on the surface, everyone was still friendly, but Han Fei didn’t even bother to speak, treating him as if he were air.

"Geese fly in formation, but the one that falls out of the draft is always the most out-of-step." Bai Cha suppressed his annoyance and returned to his original seat.

Other stars also entered the makeup room one after another, among them was a young male actor named Wu Li, a professional horror and thriller actor, who had been nominated multiple times as Outstanding Youth.

Besides the people Han Fei knew, the remaining three stars were the popular singer Alin, the national boyfriend Xiao Chen who debuted as a top student, and the second-tier top-stream actress Li Huang.

The relationships among the seven in the script were ambiguous and complicated; just as tangled were their relationships off the script.

The rivalry over acting between Han Fei and Bai Cha had continued until now, its popularity not only undiminished but also growing.

As the previously most promising horror film actor Wu Li and the current top horror film stream Han Fei, friction was inevitable.

Then there was Xiao Chen; it was rumored someone had captured him dining with Bai Cha’s rumored girlfriend.

Finally, it was Li Huang and Xia Yilan. When Xia Yilan was at the peak of her career, she was a top tier star, and had once been rumored to have suppressed her colleague from the same company, Li Huang, causing Li Huang to leave Star Map Entertainment.

After that, Li Huang didn’t become dispirited; instead, she moved up from a third-tier supporting actress to a second-tier top influencer, even surpassing Xia Yilan in fame.

Compared to the tense and exciting plots in the show, the various relationships and gossip off-stage were also full of explosive moments. Tang Yi really knew his stuff, picking each character meticulously.

In perhaps the most awkward greenroom, only Han Fei continued resting with his eyes closed, as he still had to go home and play video games later that night, needing to conserve his energy.

At six o’clock in the afternoon, seven celebrities walked out of the greenroom and were led by the staff to the front door of the Plastic Surgery Hospital.

"Come on, everyone, let’s shoot the opening together. Try to look surprised and scared, as if you’ve seen something unbelievable."

After a brief shooting session, Director Jia Jia, with his potbelly, approached them, "We’ve installed a lot of cameras in this building. From the moment you run through this door, you have to get into character. I will not interfere; just show your most authentic selves. Remember the key explosive points in the script, and improvise the details as you see fit. I believe, with your acting skills and individual abilities, you can easily handle everything."

After finishing, Director Jia Jia smiled and scanned the crowd, "Once the door is locked, you’ll have to figure out how to escape. I’m really looking forward to your performance tonight."

He led the staff to leave, leaving the seven celebrities behind.

"No signposts, no follow-up VJ, just us going by ourselves?" Li Huang, who rarely did variety shows and was different from Xia Yilan in that she took the path of an acting professional with many well-known works, asked.

"Tang Yi’s variety shows are always groundbreaking. We need to trust Tang Yi." Xiao Chen smiled warmly, giving off the vibe of an almost perfect boyfriend, "Let’s all do our best."

After seeking the opinions of the others, Xiao Chen put his hands on the door. Just as he was about to push it open, a sudden clap of thunder rang out from the sky.

Dark clouds slowly enveloped the night sky, hinting at a potential downpour later.

"Heaven knows we are shooting a horror variety show and specially adds to the atmosphere. It looks like our show is bound to be a hit," Xiao Chen said with a laugh as he pushed open the main door of the Plastic Surgery Hospital and entered. His expression slowly changed after stepping inside.

Except for Alin, everyone was a professional actor with basic professional integrity.

"Is anybody there?" Xiao Chen, carrying a backpack, led from the front, performing naturally according to the script.

According to the script, there would be two suspicious security guards in the abandoned hospital who would act like NPCs in a game, guiding the actors.

Hearing Xiao Chen’s voice, two security guards, one tall and one short, walked down the stairs.

"Where did you come from? You can’t stay here at night! Move along!" they said.

"There’s a heavy downpour outside, and we really have nowhere to go. Can you let us stay here just till the rain stops? We’ll leave immediately after," Xiao Chen, still carrying his backpack, walked forward and even offered a box of cigarettes to the security guards.

"It’s not that we don’t want you to shelter here, but strange things happen in this Plastic Surgery Hospital at night." The tall security guard seemed to want to say more but was stopped by the shorter one, who warned him with a look.

"We’re just here to take shelter from the rain, we won’t wander off." Xia Yilan, wearing a figure-flattering outfit, stepped forward, "Besides, we’ve been here before, and there was no issue."

Watching Xia Yilan, the short security guard seemed to suddenly think of something terrifying and turned his head to run deep into the building.

This sudden change left all the actors puzzled—this part wasn’t in the script!

The tall security guard was also surprised, but he still forcefully continued, "I’m sorry, my brother has a special personality. You can take shelter from the rain here, but remember, never go to the third floor, not to where the lights don’t shine, don’t..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the deep parts of the building suddenly echoed with the agony of a security guard’s screams, and the tall security guard could not afford to say anything more, turning his head and running into the depths of the building to check.

"How strange, why aren’t they following the script?" Xiao Chen said with a puzzled face.

"Stay in character," Wu Li quietly reminded, among the seven stars, his status was the lowest.

"It’s fine, if it doesn’t fit later, it can always be edited out. We might as well do it at our own pace." Xiao Chen glanced at Bai Cha and Han Fei, and placed his backpack on the table of the Plastic Surgery Hospital, "Everyone must be hungry by now? I’ve brought some food."

All the items from the bag were dumped on the table, among them, a group photo caught Wu Li’s attention.

The photo was a montage, showing eight young people wearing university graduation gowns, four males and four females.

Seven of them were the group with Han Fei, but the last unknown girl had a somewhat blurred face.

"Xiao Chen, I didn’t expect you to still keep this photo. Can’t you forget her?" Bai Cha glanced at the photo, perhaps because he was just annoyed by Han Fei, he added an extra line, "Why do you treasure something that others have discarded?"

The comment might not have meant much, but given some unpleasant past incidents with Bai Cha, it sounded particularly harsh to Xiao Chen.

The smile on Xiao Chen’s face faded a bit, "We are all classmates, it’s natural to be concerned. After all, I’m not like some cold-blooded creatures who abandon a woman who was so good to them."

"It’s all because of this storm, or else we wouldn’t be trapped here," Wu Li tried to smooth things over, standing between Bai Cha and Xiao Chen, giving Han Fei a pleading look. However, Han Fei seemed too lazy to speak, and simply sat next to the table and started eating from the backpack.

"That’s a prop, eat slowly," Li Huang, previously an actor with Star Map Entertainment, had been driven out due to Xia Yilan and thus disliked Star Map Entertainment’s actors and movies.

"Won’t you have some?" Han Fei said with his head lowered, his voice sounding a bit odd, "Eating well prepares you for the road ahead."

No sooner had Han Fei spoken than a thunderclap sounded outside, followed by rain hitting the windowpane, seemingly confirming the real rain outside.

The stars were not scared at all initially, but ever since Han Fei spoke those words, they felt a creepy sensation, as if something was about to happen.

"Bang!"

The sound of something heavy falling came from deep within the building, prompting all the actors to look toward the inside of the main building.

Moments later, a tall security guard came out with his face covered in blood, his expression dazed, his face blank, his lips trembling as he said, "Someone’s dead, there’s really someone dead in there!"