The man beneath him stopped moving, and before long, like the others, he turned into smoke and merged into the mist.
And Gao Yi himself was now enveloped by that vast white mist.
He turned his head to look, and the little red behind him was already nowhere to be found.
When he lowered his head, he found that a brand new ticket had appeared in his hand at some unknown point.
On the yellowed paper was a rather abstract watercolor painting: a small, lit-up supermarket stood amidst a vast expanse of mist.
And above it, four large characters were clearly written.
“Return Ticket”
“Has the little red already returned with a ticket? Then how do I use this thing…?”
Gao Yi flipped the ticket in his hand a few times but couldn't figure out how to use it.
Just as he was pondering, a strange buzzing sound came from within the mist.
Locating the sound, Gao Yi looked towards its source.
The dense mist suddenly parted, forcing open a small vacuum, leaving a corridor-like gap.
Opening the light screen again to confirm, Gao Yi frowned slightly.
What did this mean? Hadn't the mission already been completed?
Could there be a hidden plot?
He cautiously lifted the inflatable giant hammer in his hand; the sudden change in this situation was truly worrying.
But no matter what, Gao Yi still slowly moved forward along the cleared corridor.
Within the white mist on both sides, dark figures stood silently.
Ever since the Fat Man, the culprit, died, they had not shown any aggression, only drifting within the white mist.
The corridor in the mist twisted and turned, and it took Gao Yi a long time to walk the short path that wasn't originally very long.
And the final location he reached, Gao Yi instantly recognized: before him was precisely the sofa that had been carried out of the lounge.
And on the sofa, a person was sitting.
It was the little boy who had not appeared until now.
In an instant, Gao Yi’s hair stood on end, and the details he had overlooked resurfaced in his mind.
He had been focusing on the supermarket clerk before, but he had overlooked this most mysterious little boy.
Just now, all eleven people in the supermarket, including himself, were present; the only one missing was this little boy.
From the moment the final judgment began, this boy, who looked to be only seven or eight years old, had not reappeared.
At this moment, he was looking forward with full concentration, and seeing Gao Yi approach, he merely patted the other half of the sofa beside him, gesturing for him to come and sit down.
For some reason, Gao Yi couldn't even conjure up the thought of resisting in his mind; he naturally and slowly approached and sat down on the other half of the sofa.
Opposite the sofa, an old-fashioned, bulky television set had appeared at some point, and it was currently playing something.
The scene seemed to be a segment from a black-and-white movie: behind a woman showering, a dark figure suddenly pulled back the shower curtain and plunged a sharp knife into her body without hesitation.
Amidst sharp music and screams, the woman slowly slid to the ground, and blood mixed with water slowly flowed out of the drain.
As the camera's lens fixed on the woman's lifeless pupils, the screen also froze.
The boy beside him nodded with satisfaction, pointed at the screen, and introduced in a rather childish voice:
“Psycho, a classic among classics.”
Of course, unlike the boy's relaxed and leisurely demeanor, Gao Yi's muscles were taut, and he was rapidly thinking of possible countermeasures.
The pressure this boy exerted on him completely surpassed all the dangers he had faced during the several hours of the script.
Years of being an investigative journalist had trained Gao Yi to have extremely sharp senses, especially a premonition of danger.
The little boy in front of him looked so frail, but a certain intuitive judgment kept repeating in Gao Yi's mind—he could kill me with a single finger.
“You… who exactly are you?”
Gritting his teeth, Gao Yi asked the question, each word forcefully uttered.
“What’s your favorite horror movie?”
But the boy showed no intention of answering the question; he rested his right hand on his chin and casually pressed the remote control with his left hand, not even looking at Gao Yi.
A strange sense of absurdity welled up in his heart, and such an irrelevant question momentarily interrupted Gao Yi's thoughts.
Favorite horror movie? Was it a subjective question? How should he answer?
“Uh, Child’s Play?”
After a long while, Gao Yi finally struggled to come up with an answer.
“Tsk.” The boy beside him made a disdainful expression, turned his head, and scrutinized Gao Yi from head to toe:
“Your taste, oh dear… How about this, later I’ll have my devotee send you some classic works; remember to watch them carefully.”
Devotee? Gao Yi keenly caught the keyword, but he didn't open his mouth to ask.
Clearly, the other party still had something to say.
“Among all movie genres, the best is horror movies!”
The boy leaned back on the sofa, his tone relaxed, and an inexplicable look of enjoyment appeared on his face:
“You see this supermarket and the mist, I learned them from The Mist.”
“As for mixing among you, being the closest audience… You’ve seen Saw, right?”
Gao Yi found it a bit difficult to follow the other party’s train of thought, so he just gave a stiff response.
Seeing that he had received an affirmative answer, the boy nodded with satisfaction and continued:
“I’ve always wanted to make a movie myself, chosen the stage, exerted influence… But unfortunately, I’ve never had good actors.”
“That girl was pretty good, but she couldn’t shoulder the main role, so I let her be a supporting character.”
“For some reason, the people who came were worse each time; let alone protagonists, no one capable of even playing a supporting role has appeared again.”
“Until… today.”
The boy’s speech slowed, as if he had finally found the program he wanted, and he pressed the remote control, changing the TV screen again.
Looking at it, Gao Yi was startled to find that the image on the television was precisely the instance he had just experienced.
It was his observation, search, and communication within the supermarket, leading up to the final breakthrough.
“This is… a movie? You’re making a movie?!”
Gao Yi truly found it somewhat difficult to comprehend the scene before him, looking at his struggles and experiences of several hours, he couldn't help but feel a hint of doubt and confusion.
“To be precise, I made your experience into a movie, not that I made you have this experience for the sake of making a movie.”
The boy responded unhurriedly, resting his chin in his hands, seemingly watching the film intently.
“So… who exactly are you?”
Gao Yi took a deep breath, suppressed his emotions, and re-asked the question that had been interrupted earlier.
“You can call me 【Director】.”
The boy seemed completely engrossed in the TV screen, waved his hand, and said quite casually.
“Then why did you want to see me?”
“Why… isn’t it natural for a Director to see an actor? I’m not some irresponsible, third-rate producer.”
The boy frowned, seeming a bit puzzled by Gao Yi’s question.
After a moment of thought, he slapped his thigh and continued:
“Oh right, take this. You might have to come back to film a sequel next time, so don’t get yourself killed.”
As the boy spoke, he pulled a small object from his pocket and casually tossed it to Gao Yi.
Catching it, Gao Yi examined it carefully and found that it was actually a silver-white metal whistle.
“Alright, go back. Staying in this mist for too long isn't good for your brain.”
The boy, or rather, the 【Director】, pointed to his head, shook it, as if recalling something, and then continued:
“Oh right, remember to watch movies—horror movies!”
“No, what exactly is this game, why are players chosen, and what kind of existence are you?!”
Seeing the other party about to dismiss him, Gao Yi hurriedly stood up and poured out all his questions at once.
But just as Gao Yi wanted to raise his hand to stop it, the next moment, another strange halo flashed before his eyes.
The uncomfortable white mist disappeared, replaced by the evening wind mixed with rain.
When he opened his eyes again, Gao Yi had returned to his familiar “real world.”
........................................
