Xie Chi looked down and his eyes narrowed slightly.

[Key point of the character setting: Don’t change your essence.]

Xie Chi’s eyes lingered on this sentence for several seconds before whispering a curse.

This was a horror variety show and Severed Finger was a ghost story. It was questionable if the protagonist of the ghost story was still human but Xie Chi’s character had bullied the protagonist. Wasn’t this looking for death? The character sounded very bad and must die according to the original trajectory. Now the ‘don’t change your essence’ was added and any chance of redemption was cut off. No wonder why the story required them to simply ‘live.’ It was because there was no room for him to turn it around at all. There were many restrictions and lack of time. He just needed to go through the plot and find a way to survive.

The app rang again.

[This story is a cute and short rushing book. Once enough clues are collected and the operation is in blood, the actor will immediately enter the next scene. Actors are requested to seize the time to quickly advance and complete the first level.]

Rushing?

In a movie with a compact structure for reasoning, generally every frame contained valid information. Either the character was set or the story was coherent. Once the information was in place, the scene would be switched immediately. The rhythm was very fast and all meaningless parts were deleted. It was a type of PPT- style linking story which went through scene by scene.

[Friendly reminder: In this story, your role playing degree, operations and time spent are all included in the addition and subtraction criteria. The first one who successfully passes through the level will receive an additional 20 points.]

***

[A character is set? This is terrible. It must be terrifying. This type of person is designed to pull hatred to let Gao Le get revenge.]

[Gao Le is the one with six fingers, right? He seems to be a ghost now?]

[I’m afraid. I really don’t want to watch this story. I’ll wait for the next one.]

[Sister, they are all short stories and are very fast.]

[Hahahaha, bad teenager Xie. How will this person set it up? I think he must’ve been very good when he went to school.]

***

[Requirements for the first act of the script: Asking the actor to gain relevant information about Gao Le, who is a student two grades below you.]

[The time isn’t limited. Once the app detects enough information, the second act will start immediately.]

Xie Chi sighed secretly. This was really acting but he didn’t know if that naive Lu Wen could do it.

[The plot is opening.]

A boy to the side threw himself on the sofa, raised his head and spoke comfortably. “Ah…” Then he glanced at Xie Chi, pulled out a cigarette box from his pocket and threw a cigarette to him. “I stole it from my father. He is too stupid to discover one box missing so you can smoke it too.”

Xie Chi took the thrown cigarette and looked at this person. The man was as thin as a monkey and looked malnourished. His family’s economic conditions must be quite poor. His hair was messy and curled naturally while sticking to his scalp. It was a bit like a poodle.

Xie Chi took it in order to not be ooc.

Xie Xinglan asked, “Do you need me to play this type of role?”

Xie Chi hurriedly replied, “No way.”

Xie Xinglan’s voice sank. “You don’t believe in me?”

“Yes, I don’t believe in you.”

“Why?” Xie Xinglan’s voice contained hidden danger.

“I can do this type of small scene.” Xie Chi paused and replied truthfully, “I’m afraid that you will end up in a gang fight or gather people to take drugs.”

Xie Xinglan, “……”

The skinny monkey leaned over and used the lighter to light his cigarette. Xie Chi took a deep puff and leaned comfortably back against the sofa. “It’s fu*king nice.”

[Isn’t this a huge style change?]

[The pack of cigarettes costs five yuan but the effect is like smoking Cuban cigars haha.]“Fu*k, don’t shout inconsiderately. Your face looks like its clima*ing.” The skinny monkey patted him on the knee.

Xie Chi raised his eyes provocatively, “Have you orgasmed?”

He smiled and spread open his legs. “Would you like to sit up and let me see?”

The thin monkey was stunned and blushed. “This fu*ker is stupid, sick. I think the girls will be going crazy!”

Xie Chi sneered. “Isn’t it because of you speaking nonsense? In any case, it is all dic*s. What’s the difference?”

[I can’t listen.]

He’s so good at provocation, wtf.]

[His swearing makes me feel good.]

[Who remembers his gentleness and elegance?]

The box was full of laughter and the people looked at Xie Chi on the sofa. “Xiao Chi is awesome?”

The skinny monkey was choked up with anger and his face was full of shame and indignation. “You fu*king want to go to Heaven?”

“Don’t try to compare with me.” Xie Chi flicked his cigarette ash. Then he seemed to casually ask, “What’s up with Gao Le?”

The thin monkey was taken aback. “What’s wrong with him?”

A man holding the microphone next to him was howling. He heard Xie Chi ask about Gao Le and excitedly stopped. “That kid Gao Le, I said that he came back after cutting off his finger. He is more clever and knows to invite us here to play on his birthday. Before that, he was always angry and deserved to be bullied by us. Sure enough, that extra finger was bad luck. He just cut it off and his head has become brighter…”

Xie Chi’s face instantly became gloomy.

Gao Le was the protagonist of Severed Finger and it seemed that the severed finger was an extra finger, a sixth finger. Gao Le couldn’t bear the bullying of these senior gangsters and finally chose to go to the hospital to cut off his sixth finger. After he came back, he changed and invited them to the KTV on his birthday, as if he wanted to reconcile with them.

However, things definitely weren’t that simple. Xie Chi had successfully brought the topic to Gao Le.

“Isn’t it weird? If it wasn’t for Xiao Chi’s question, I wouldn’t have even noticed. That kid Gao Le went out for so long to get the cake. What’s going on?” A boy with an airplane hairstyle was impatient.

He looked at the beer on the table and his Adam’s apple move. He seemed a bit impatient, hungry and thirsty. Xie Chi looked down. Gao Le had gone to get the cake. It seemed he would soon be able to meet the protagonist Gao Le.

“Why aren’t you speaking?” The skinny monkey bumped his arm. “Are you a bit embarrassed remembering what you did to him before?”

Xie Chi thought of his character and scoffed. “What did I do? I didn’t do anything?”

“You truly have a thick face.” The skinny monkey said. “You threatened him with a brick and said that if he didn’t give you money, you would smash his extra finger to cure him. Wasn’t that you?”

“Compared to what you did, I just played a prank and teased him. When he was sleeping, I drew black eyes on his double thumbs, a double-headed Medusa. Isn’t it creative?” The skinny monkey took out a phone with a broken screen and showed Xie Chi a photo.

In the photo, Gao Le was sleeping on the table. His right thumb had snake eyes drawn with a marker pen that couldn’t be washed off and a snake letter was also drawn on the joint between the nail and thumb. This photo of the deformed fingers was weird and evil.

The person sitting next to the skinny monkey glanced over and his back became cold. “That’s sick!”

“Che.” Xie Chi put out the cigarette with his bare hands and threw it into the trash can. “Boring.”

The skinny monkey scoffed and went to chat with buddies who could appreciate his art.

A man with a tattoo on his hand spoke. “He is really poor. I asked him for money to go to the grocery store and searched his entire body. There was only two yuan, which is enough to buy a can of soda. Then he even told me in a trembling voice that his mother gives him one yuan a day. Is he being raised as a primary school student? Now he is actually inviting us to play when he has no money.”

Xie Chi looked at the background of the story and guessed it was probably 10 years ago based on the consumption level.

Someone wondered, “Then should we still play tricks on him in the future? He is like this and I feel a bit guilty.”

Xie Chi remembered the key point of keeping his ‘essence the same’ and his tone became extremely violent. “Why feel guilty? We didn’t really hurt him, we just scared him. If he had cut it off earlier, we wouldn’t have bullied him? Why was he being bullied? Didn’t he find some reason for himself?”

The other people in the box were surprised by Xie Chi’s three views and laughed and praised him. “Xiao Chi is right. It is because he was weak. Don’t blame us.”

[Hahahahaha, the fu*king bigshot. What about his integrity and kindness? How did he survive the zombie movie?][Everyone else is so cautious while this side is hahahahaha. This style is amazing.]

[He is so quick to get information.]

[My Young Chi really knows how to talk nonsense.]

***

Xie Chi talked to these people for five minutes and then his phone vibrated.

[It is detected that the information you have obtained is sufficient. The next scene is opened.]

***

[Wow, he is first!]

[The honest man Lu Wen over there is answering shyly. Hahaha, it’s so difficult for him.]

[You Jing also entered the next scene!]

[Hey, You Jing seduced a girl. He is a bit greasy.]

[Who cares about such things?]

[Xie Chi is more down-to-earth in comparison.]

[Is this show too greasy? I’m laughing to death. There is a man whose acting skills are too exaggerated hahahaha.]

[Horror Skewers has always been a funny variety show, don’t you know?]

[Young Chi, don’t be greasy, understood?]

[Ren Ze is coming soon!]

***

Xie Chi looked down at the script on his phone.

[Requirement in act 2: Eat cake.]

The door of the box opened and Gao Le came in with a cake.

Xie Chi looked up. He saw that the protagonist was a handsome boy, thin and small. Once he met Xie Chi’s eyes, he immediately lowered his head deeply, looking shy and introverted. Xie Chi raised his eyebrow. The protagonist of this Severed Finger looked quite normal.

Gao Le wore a pair of white-washed sneakers. His clothes and pants didn’t fit well and they hung on his body. It felt like someone else could wear the rest of the clothes.

Xie Chi frowned. Why would he invite a group of them to this place if he was struggling? The KTV clearly charged by the hour and it would probably cost a few hundred yuan for the night. There was mainly beer on the table. Generally, KTVs didn’t allow you to bring alcohol in. If they bought it then there would be dozens of bottles plus the birthday cake. Gao Le would need to pay nearly 1,000 yuan.

Gao Le’s parents were the type who only gave Gao Le one yuan a day. They definitely wouldn’t give Gao Le nearly a thousand yuan all at once. Where did he get the money? Did he steal it?

Xie Chi moved his gaze down to Gao Le’s right hand. The stitches on Gao Le’s right thumb had been removed. The finger was still a bit swollen and the scar on it was as scary as a centipede.

Gao Le felt Xie Chi’s unbridled look and silently hid his hands behind him.

The group of teenagers had been hungry when waiting. They saw the cake coming and started to make noises. Xie Chi whistled frivolously while feeling that he was glowing with oil. Gao Le came over, placed the cake on the coffee table and tried to stammer out words. He finally managed to say, “I made the cake by myself. I hope you don’t dislike it.”

“You made it yourself?” Xie Chi raised his eyebrow slightly.”

“Yes.” Gao Le seemed a bit afraid of Xie Chi. His voice was as low as a mosquito.

“Yes, it’s very virtuous.” Someone to the side teased Gao Le.

Gao Le unwrapped the cake. He silently cut the cake into beautiful portions with a cake knife and distributed them to everyone.

The requirement of the second act was to eat the cake. Xie Chi held the cake and sat on the top of the sofa while dangling his legs. He stared at Gao Le’s every move while eating. He always felt that there was something wrong.

Xie Chi’s eyes moved down and then his pupils shrank. Gao Le, who was delivering a cake to the skinny monkey, turned out to… have no shadow.

Xie Chi’s heart jumped. It had clearly been there just now.

Gao Le felt Xie Chi’s gaze and slowly turned his head. He smiled at Xie Chi, the meaning unknown. At this time, the red wall of the box reflected the cake that Gao Le hadn’t handed to the skinny monkey. It clearly had the appearance of a cake but the reflection on the wall was a woman’s head with long hair!

Xie Chi lowered his head. He stared blankly at the half-eaten cake in his hand and his gaze gradually deepened.