A Scummy Alpha and An Award-Winning Omega Actress Fell in Love After an Arranged Marriage - Chapter 47

Meng Qing and Ji Xinlan protested against the role-playing cards. The host explained that they weren’t playing ghost NPCs and that the specifics wouldn’t be spoiled they’d have to wait for the group activity.

After all, this wasn’t a horror variety show. While there was competition around the haunted house, the main theme remained intact.

Aside from Sheng Lan and Lu Xueyin, the other two teams spent their free prep time crafting various props, maximizing comedic moments and gradually steering the entire cast toward a goofy dynamic.

Sheng Lan and Lu Xueyin had already broadcasted their prop preparations.

Now, their backpacks were stuffed with all sorts of ghost-repelling items. The Talisman Papers they bought and the ones they drew themselves could cover their bodies several times over.

Today, they weren’t making more props, they were chatting.

Online, the edited clips of the haunted house surveillance footage were trending. The antics between players and NPCs inside the house had been cut into hilarious compilations, the louder the screams inside, the harder the laughter outside.

The buildup to the haunted house segment of Trial Love had been excessively long. All three guest teams had prepared thoroughly, and while Sheng Lan had already embraced the absurdity, the other two teams were catching up, much to the audience’s delight. The scrolling comments were flooded with “LOLs.”

Even if the premise was cliché and predictable, watching celebrities dive into it was entertaining enough to keep viewers hooked.

It made sense. The horseback riding group activity had been nearly derailed by the scorching heat.

With the haunted house segment nearing its finale, the production team would deploy their PR army to steer audience reactions, regardless of initial reception.

Sheng Lan lounged lazily in a wicker chair, her long legs stretching beneath Lu Xueyin’s seat. A tablet on the table displayed their live broadcast feed.

The scrolling comments piled up in layers, completely obscuring their faces.

Sheng Lan responded to a few.

“I’m not scared of ghosts. Just because I told them that, you think I actually am?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ve fooled my partner, my teammates, the director, and the audience. The only ones left to trick are the ghosts. If I say I’m scared, do you think they’d buy it?”

“No need for more props we’ve got enough. We’ll unlock the entire map tonight and clear it in one day.”

“If everyone else leaves, I’ll stay. I’ve got my own camera, I’ll give you a live demo of ‘testing a haunted house for sleep ability.’”

“Haven’t you heard the saying? ‘If you’re bold enough, the female ghost will be on maternity leave every day.’ Not my thing, but turning the tables? Absolutely.”

While bantering effortlessly with the comments, she was also texting Lu Xueyin on her phone.

From Sheng Lan’s perspective on showmanship, the production team’s current setup was a clear hint that the haunted house activity wouldn’t go as expected.

For other activity cards, the team wouldn’t even drop this much of a spoiler.

But the haunted house was special hence the prep time. Mostly for mental preparation.

Lu Xueyin lacked experience with live broadcast variety shows, but she had sharp instincts for danger.

She thought Jiang Ling’s idea of a “haunted house party” sounded good and asked Sheng Lan if she’d consider it.

Sheng Lan didn’t mind.

[Mountain Wind]: If you, the socially inept one, agree, I can rally the NPCs for you.

Lu Xueyin: “…”

Lu Xueyin then asked what they’d do if the NPCs refused and the other two teams didn’t join either.

Sheng Lan chuckled, still lounging, but her expression carried her signature audacity.

“If they don’t come? We’ll wreck the place.”

The live broadcast was indoors. If things got loud, viewers from other streams would hear the commotion.

As long as they keep it up with enough intensity, they can leverage people’s curiosity to draw in viewers.

Whether they can retain the audience depends on their skills.

Sheng Lan said, “Tonight is actually perfect for wearing dresses something sexy and glamorous, with retro makeup. We could dance.”

A haunted house masquerade, borrowing the fans’ “tragic ending script” and “cinematic feel,” could use dark romance to conceal emotions, turning this into a counterintuitive move.

As the broadcast time approached, realizing potential mishaps, Lu Xueyin abandoned her previous refusal to communicate and earnestly discussed the feasibility of the masquerade with Sheng Lan.

If there were many people, they could turn it into a party with a bright, lively atmosphere, making the haunted house event into a goofy team-building activity.

If it was just the two of them, they’d focus on ambiance, relying mostly on improvisation.

Lu Xueyin needed to sketch out storyboards, she couldn’t perform without a script.

“Should we have someone deliver outfits?”

Sheng Lan shook her head. “No, it’s inconvenient to run around. There are too many variables before things are finalized.”

Lu Xueyin paused her pen.

In other words, her current preparations might be useless.

Sheng Lan encouraged her to sketch anyway. “If the production team won’t give us opportunities, we’ll create our own.”

Some of their discussions happened online, occasionally dropping a few positive remarks to show they were preparing for the night’s event, not slacking off on the livestream.

After chatting with fans for a bit, Sheng Lan joined Lu Xueyin in mapping out the activity area with a pen.

Dinner followed the same routine as before playing mini-games at the set time to earn points for food.

Sheng Lan and Lu Xueyin had the added step of cooking for themselves, allowing them to exchange the same points for more food.

Afraid of feeling nauseous later, Lu Xueyin suggested eating something light.

So Sheng Lan made fermented glutinous rice dumplings, using the slight alcohol content to bolster their courage.

They didn’t leave immediately after dinner. The production team explained the rules of the hide-and-seek interaction card, unveiling the mystery of the night’s event.

“One hides, one seeks. The first pair to reunite wins. The guest who draws the ‘hide’ card must wait quietly for their partner to find them. You can discuss who hides and who seeks.”

The production team named this segment “Heart-to-Heart Collision.”

Regardless of the show’s format or the roles the partners played, it was still a variety show at its core.

And variety shows meant screen time and competition for popularity whoever waited would be left in the cold.

Rather than “Heart-to-Heart Collision,” it might as well have been called “Stirring Up Discord.”

Sheng Lan and Lu Xueyin didn’t need to discuss Lu Xueyin directly took the “hide” card.

Tang Yingyue hesitated briefly but also chose to be the one hiding.

Meng Qing and Ji Xinlan, watching from the sidelines, suddenly felt their role-play cards were quite good otherwise, they’d have to fight over who got to slack off by hiding.

Once the cards were decided, the Fake Couple role-play cards were skipped, and Lu Xueyin and Tang Yingyue had to pack up and prepare to head to the haunted house.

“Only after you’ve hidden can your partners come looking.”

Given the rules of hide-and-seek, this process made sense.

But the production team confiscated their phones and gave them only one sentence each.

Yan Bing told Tang Yingyue to just find a random spot to hide. “I’ll find you as soon as possible.”

Tang Yingyue responded conventionally, “If you’re late, I’ll be angry.”

Sheng Lan and Lu Xueyin remained silent for now.

The show’s task cards disrupted all plans, rendering the previously prepared strategies and ghost-catching tools useless. Everyone was back on the same starting line, facing a brand-new game mode.

Sheng Lan hooked out Lu Xueyin’s liquor bottle pendant, leaving the chain intact and only unscrewing the small bottle.

Inside was real tequila, its rich aroma immediately noticeable upon opening. Having been worn close to Lu Xueyin’s skin for so long, the bottle carried a faint but lingering trace of rose pheromones.

Sheng Lan pressed her fingertip against the bottle’s opening, tilting it upside down to let the liquid make maximum contact with her skin.

Lu Xueyin didn’t bother packing her things. Only when Tang Yingyue came downstairs with a small bag did she tilt her head slightly, letting Sheng Lan reattach the pendant for her.

Unable to release pheromones openly, Sheng Lan relied on the shared scent of the liquor, absorbing as much as possible to give Lu Xueyin a sense of security.

She also took off her wristwatch and gave it to Lu Xueyin.

Beside them, the “Yan Bing-Tang Yingyue” fake couple copied their idea, exchanging accessories as well.

Lu Xueyin wanted to follow suit and offered her bracelet to Sheng Lan, but Sheng Lan refused.

Bound by the rules, they couldn’t speak much so she used her one allotted sentence here:

“Just wait for me to find you.”

Lu Xueyin maintained her composure but warned her that being late would come with consequences.

After confiscating their phones, the show connected the living room TV to the live stream, allowing them to see the scrolling comments.

The audience was surprised by the show’s arrangements, but the overall mood was lively.

They laughed at the contestants’ preparations going to waste, joked about them contributing to hilarious haunted house footage, and praised the show’s talent for stirring drama.

The winner would be determined by who found their partner first, with all cameras focused on the seekers testing whether they prioritized collective victory or individual spotlight.

Ambition couldn’t be hidden. No matter how hard one tried to conceal it, desires would inevitably leak through the details.

And this was a live broadcast, the longer it went on, the more it tested sincerity.

Yan Bing asked Sheng Lan if she wanted to team up. Without turning her head, Sheng Lan replied, “How? Ditching our partners and having two Alphas clear the haunted house together?”

Was this still a dating show?

Yan Bing dropped the subject.

Five minutes later, Lu Xueyin and Tang Yingyue arrived at the haunted house. The show arranged for the fake couple to follow closely behind, preparing for roleplay.

A troubling suspicion crept into Sheng Lan’s mind.

Maybe this roleplay wasn’t about playing ghost NPCs but impersonating the contestants themselves, blending in to obscure the truth.

The show wouldn’t reveal it in advance, and they’d even confiscated their phones.

The TV channel was switched, blocking any program-related updates.

To taunt them further, the crew played a compilation of popular haunted house clips.

The host interviewed them, “Did you study these kinds of videos in your prep?”

Yan Bing nodded.

Sheng Lan shook her head.

Those who nodded lost the next question, while those who shook their heads got a deeper interview.

The host asked Sheng Lan, “Then what kind of videos did you watch?”

Sheng Lan: “Haunted crime scenes.”

The host shivered.

Searching for “haunted houses” versus “haunted crime scenes” yielded content on entirely different levels.

Given their show’s tone, the lighthearted haunted house style would’ve been a better fit.

Sheng Lan’s approach was too extreme. The host subtly hinted, “We’re not a horror show.”

Sheng Lan smiled. “But the location you picked is a haunted crime scene.”

Even after becoming a viral hotspot, the place still spawned plenty of content like those “haunted house comedy” videos.

The time didn’t drag on too late. Half an hour after the fake couple left, Sheng Lan and Yan Bing finally got into the car.

Sheng Lan only brought a high-powered flashlight, while Yan Bing carried a backpack, stuffed with who-knows-how-many ghost-hunting and evil-warding items.

The ride was silent. Sheng Lan kept her eyes fixed on the distant house glowing with red lights.

Extremes meet.

A touch of the right embellishment could send the horror factor skyrocketing.

But when overdone, the effect bordered on comical.

For those already afraid, however, this distinctly Chinese-style horror lighting made the place look like a haunted mansion that had no business existing in the human world quietly waiting for lost travelers to return home.

Once you entered, you wouldn’t leave again.

Sheng Lan had no idea about Lu Xueyin’s current condition. She rolled down the window for air, but all she smelled was the lemon scent of deodorizer.

The host chimed in, “Director Cheng has prepared thoroughly this time he wants you to follow the script. Relying on pheromones to find someone won’t work.”

Sheng Lan asked if there was a time limit. “For example, if we don’t find her within an hour, the game ends.”

The host nodded. “If you don’t find her by 10:30 PM, today’s event is over.”

Too long. Sheng Lan dismissed the idea.

She and Yan Bing didn’t need any preparation once they arrived, they’d be live on camera.

The production team didn’t stop them from bringing their own props and even gave each of them three chances to ask for hints.

Sheng Lan stood still for a moment, studying the haunted house radiating red light from within, the faintest trace of pheromones barely detectable in the air.

She used two of her three hints.

One for location: “A step away.”

One for appearance: “Silver moonlight.”

Quite poetic.

Sheng Lan said nothing, flicked on her flashlight, and strode toward the haunted house.

The mansion wasn’t far from the estate. In terms of land area, it was smaller, lacking the vast front and back lawns, but the main house was about the same size.

The architectural style matched the estate European. All the items left by the previous owner remained, including the walls covered in portrait oil paintings.

The reason it became a haunted house had nothing to do with the building itself.

No one had died here, no accidents had occurred, it was the people depicted in the paintings who, without fail, met with various fatal accidents not long after.

The painter himself was branded as “ominous” and burdened with all kinds of slander, even though the police cleared his name. Doubts lingered.

Consumed by guilt and self-reproach over the painted subjects, he shut himself in his studio and painted a self-portrait. Before he could even hang it up, he died in an accident.

Experts later pointed out that the painter had been under extreme mental strain, chronically sleep-deprived, and deeply affected by psychological suggestion. After finishing the self-portrait, he believed his death was imminent and lost the will to live making his accident tragically predictable.

But such explanations couldn’t curb the public’s appetite for the macabre. “Ghost theories” and “the cursed paintings” remained the enduring topics of discussion.

After the painter’s family sold the property, the next owner renovated it, adding numerous mirrors so visitors could see their own reflections.

Everyone who came here had heard some version of the story. The mirrors were sometimes swapped out by internal NPCs one moment, you’d pass by an ordinary painting, and the next, you’d turn around to see your own face staring back.

Even without the legends, that alone was terrifying.

Sheng Lan tilted her head as she gazed at the mirror, thinking Lu Xueyin would probably be frightened if she saw her reflection. So, she used the steel ring at the base of her flashlight to forcefully strike the center of the mirror, watching as cracks spread across its surface before continuing forward.

The interior layout of the house was completely different from the manor.

Behind the full-length mirror stood a long table.

Seated around the table were numerous NPCs wearing masks painted in an oil-painting style, depicting scenic landscapes.

Sheng Lan paid them no mind, focusing instead on the table.

The drink was tequila, the flowers were May roses, and the dishes were the same side dishes they often prepared during filming.

Sheng Lan felt genuine disdain.

If they kept this up, would they even be able to eat normally in the future?

But the current question was would Lu Xueyin be among these NPCs?

The distance was indeed “just a step away.”

The woman seated at the head of the table wore silver armor, embodying the “silver moonlight” theme perfectly.

The host’s voice came through her earpiece: “You can only remove two masks. If you don’t find your partner after two attempts, you lose.”

Simultaneously with this reminder, Sheng Lan caught the scent of May roses.

Beneath it was the faintest trace of tequila pheromones.

Every clue was urging her to unmask the woman at the head of the table.

Sheng Lan followed the hints, bypassing the other NPCs, and stopped in front of this woman.

[Inserting a talisman here to ward off evil spirits.jpg]

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