Everyone in the Entertainment Industry Thinks I’m a Flirty Diva [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 45

This sinister hand, which had terrified previous MCs into fleeing in panic, now lay shattered on the ground, utterly humiliated and pitiful.

The production team watched through the screen as the prop Chu Xi had destroyed: “………………”

Didn’t she say she was timid?

Turns out, while her courage might be small, her strength certainly isn’t.

Chu Xi looked up at the camera in the corner, her expression full of remorse, as if apologizing to the crew through the lens—she hadn’t meant to do it.

The production team couldn’t help but laugh at her guilty expression afterward.

Chu Xi opened the door at the end of the hallway, revealing a small windowless room. The lighting was bright, and the other four regular guests, along with one guest star, had already arrived. She was the last one.

“Hello, hello,” Chu Xi greeted everyone with handshakes. When she shook hands with Ai Wenwen, the latter asked with concern, “How are you? You must have been terrified. We could hear your screams from inside.”

Chu Xi immediately nodded. “Yes, I was really scared.”

Ai Wenwen gave a knowing smile.

Hearing their conversation from the control room, the production team: ???

Chu Xi, have you seen the state of the prop outside? Is this how someone who was “really scared” behaves? Doesn’t your conscience hurt?

After the guests finished introducing themselves, the production team announced the mission through a small speaker in the room.

The six guests would be divided into two groups. There were two different doors in the room, each leading to a different challenge. The two groups would choose separate doors to enter, and the first team to find the clues and escape would win.

Chu Xi, Ai Wenwen, and Yan Zhun were grouped together, while Zhao Yu, Xu Jiafan, and the guest star for this episode formed the other team.

After the groups were formed, everyone discussed naming their teams.

It was unclear what the program team had in mind with the arrangement. Normally, there should be one girl in each group, but the opposing team had two regular members and one guest—all male. In Chu Xi’s group, Yan Zhun was the only male with two girls, both of whom screamed louder than the other at the sight of the bloody hand in the hallway.

“We’ll be the Victory Team!” The opposing team had already decided on their name, stacking their hands together in a spirited cheer, brimming with confidence.

“What should we call ourselves?” Yan Zhun looked at Ai Wenwen.

Ai Wenwen then turned to Chu Xi: “Chu Xi, what do you think?”

Chu Xi recalled how she had nearly been scared to death by that hand earlier. If it was this terrifying right from the start, who knew what horrors lay behind those two doors? No matter how capable Yan Zhun was, dragging along her and Ai Wenwen as deadweight, surviving this ordeal would be a miracle, let alone winning.

Chu Xi timidly suggested, “They’re called the Victory Team, so maybe we should be the Survival Team. How about that?”

Their eyes met, and apart from Yan Zhun’s slight hesitation, they instantly understood each other’s thoughts.

“Alright, we’ll be the Survival Team then.”

The Victory Team and the Survival Team each chose a door and ventured inside as a group.

Upon opening the door, the Survival Team found another room. Unlike the previous spacious and bright one, this room was dimly lit, furnished only with an iron-framed bed and a cabinet. The paint on the walls was peeling, and the most eerie detail was the red threads crisscrossing the ceiling, adorned with tiny bells. The faint glow from the wall lamps made it difficult for two people standing together to clearly see each other’s faces.

Despite there being nothing overtly threatening, the sinister atmosphere sent chills down their spines. Chu Xi and Ai Wenwen immediately clung to each other upon entering, while Yan Zhun shielded them. “It’s fine,” he reassured.

The production team finally breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this scene.

This was the effect they had hoped for. The Chu Xi from the hallway must have been an illusion.

To find the exit to the next stage, they needed clues. Yan Zhun settled the two women in a corner and began searching earnestly.

Chu Xi and Ai Wenwen had only met today, but their shared fear made them fast friends. After holding onto each other for a while, Chu Xi realized that apart from the dim, dilapidated, and aged appearance, the room didn’t seem to hold anything else—certainly nothing as terrifying as the hand from the hallway. Shivering, she suggested, “Maybe we should help Yan Zhun look for clues too.”

Ai Wenwen glanced around the room and nodded. “Okay.”

Hand in hand, they approached the tall cabinet in the room. Yan Zhun had already checked it, but Chu Xi still felt there was something off about it. Standing before the cabinet, they tremblingly reached out, each pulling open a door slightly.

Nothing happened inside.

So they slowly pushed the doors open completely. Though the lighting was poor, they could see the cabinet was empty.

“Why put such a big cabinet here for nothing?” Chu Xi muttered, noticing Ai Wenwen’s hand felt unusually cold in hers. “Wenwen, why are your hands so icy?”

Ai Wenwen replied, “Your hands are cold too.” Not just cold, but also a bit rough.

Chu Xi was thinking to herself that her hands were actually quite warm and not cold at all when she suddenly froze, slowly looking down.

She saw a male ghost in prison garb emerging from the ground, his upper body above the surface while his lower half remained buried. Somehow, he had managed to separate Chu Xi and Ai Wenwen’s tightly clasped hands. Raising his head, his entire face devoid of pupils—only the whites of his eyes visible—he gripped one hand each from Chu Xi and Ai Wenwen, grinning at them with a crimson mouth.

As he grinned, two streams of bloody tears rolled down from his eyeless sockets. Simultaneously, as if triggered by some switch, the bells on the ceiling began ringing violently.

“Ahhhhhhhhh—”

“Ahhhhhhhhh—”

Yan Zhun was on the other side of the room, searching under the bed, when he suddenly heard the eerie chime of wind bells, followed by two blood-curdling screams behind him.

His heart skipped a beat, knowing the two women must have encountered something. He turned around, ready to play the hero, only to witness an astonishing scene.

The two were still screaming at high decibels, except Ai Wenwen had already ducked behind Chu Xi, crouching into a trembling ball. Meanwhile, Chu Xi, while screaming, was frantically searching for something. Then, she grabbed a wall sconce and prepared to engage in a life-or-death battle with the prison-garbed ghost emerging from the ground.

The ghost had seen people scared out of their wits by him, and even those unafraid enough to crouch down and ask how his makeup was done. But someone who was both terrified out of their mind and still ready to fight him with a weapon? This was a first.

“Holy shit!” The ghost, seeing Chu Xi advancing with her sconce, immediately retreated like a frightened mole, burrowing back underground.

With the ghost gone, Chu Xi clutched the sconce she had ripped off with her bare hands, panting heavily.

The room fell temporarily silent, save for the occasional soft chime of the bells above.

“I-Is it gone?” Ai Wenwen, still hiding behind Chu Xi, cautiously peeked out, her voice trembling with the remnants of fear from the ghost’s sudden appearance.

No sooner had she spoken than a beep echoed through the room, making all three jump, fearing another horror. Instead, it was the broadcast from the production team.

“Chu Xi, do not damage props. Chu Xi, do not damage props. Chu Xi, do not damage props.”

Ai Wenwen and Yan Zhun’s gazes converged on the sconce in Chu Xi’s hands, side-eyeing her.

Chu Xi let out an “Ah,” as if to say, How did this end up in my hand? I had no idea! She then forced a dry laugh and placed the sconce back in its original position—though the base was already broken.

Ai Wenwen stared at the sconce Chu Xi had torn off barehanded, swallowing hard. “Chu Xi… are you really easily scared?”

Chu Xi: “I’m super timid!”

Yan Zhun: “………………”

Timid, but her combat skills were anything but.

The trio traced the path where the prisoner-ghost had vanished and discovered the room’s exit was underground, hidden behind a wardrobe.

One after another, they crawled out of the underground passage. Just as they emerged, a white-clad female ghost suddenly dropped from the ceiling. Even Yan Zhun, as brave as he was, couldn’t help but step back in shock at the sudden apparition. Ai Wenwen immediately collapsed to the ground, covering her head in fear, while Chu Xi screamed…

And then punched the ghost with her eyes closed.

The ghost clutched its face: “Ow!”

Director’s team: “Damn.”

As the game progressed, the director’s team had meticulously planned every detail, but they never anticipated that the “Survival Team” trio—originally meant to follow a dramatic setup where the hero struggles to protect the two helpless members—would veer so far off script. Instead, Yan Zhun lured enemies and searched for clues, Chu Xi handled the physical confrontations, and Ai Wenwen? She cheered them on from the back.

The name “Survival Team” didn’t refer to the trio’s survival—it referred to the haunted house staff surviving Chu Xi’s relentless attacks.

On the director’s monitors, one screen showed the “Victory Team” of three men huddled together, screaming and crying for their mothers in terror.

Meanwhile, the other screen showed Chu Xi wielding a spiked club she’d somehow snatched from a ghost, swinging wildly with her eyes shut while screaming, leading Yan Zhun and Ai Wenwen on a rampage through the haunted house.

The staff in ghost masks were now the ones fleeing in terror, covering their heads.

Back in the control room, the producers slumped in their chairs, faces ashen.

All their scripting—wasted.

This… was the same Chu Xi who claimed to be timid, the one who once screamed so loudly at a cockroach in a variety show that it nearly blew the roof off?

The screaming might have been real, but clearly, the editors had conveniently left out the part where she smacked the cockroach dead right after.

Who knew that beneath her delicate Innocent White Flower appearance lay such a ferocious side?

We’ve been fooled!

Chu Xi remained on edge the entire time, lashing out blindly at every threat with chaotic movements. Yet somehow, the Survival Team stumbled upon the exit, bathed in light.

As they rushed out, they found the producers and camera crew waiting.

“I was so scared, wuwuwu…” Ai Wenwen, finally seeing living humans instead of ghosts, immediately clung to a producer to sob.

Chu Xi, also drenched in cold sweat from fear, was about to follow suit and grab a producer to cry to—until she realized she was still holding something. A spiked club, mysteriously acquired at some point.

“Uh, how did this…?” Chu Xi’s hand trembled, and the club clattered to the ground.

Remembering the director’s earlier warning, she hastily waved her hands. “I-I didn’t damage any props!”

The producer glanced at the fallen club, then back at Chu Xi, who looked utterly clueless and was subtly trying to kick the weapon behind her.

A cold smirk.

Oh, so now she’s playing innocent, huh?