Chapter 22: Collective Madness! The Entire Courtyard Descends into Chaos! It’s Total Bedlam!!

Deng Chao rushed out of the room, just in time to see Reba, overwhelmed by extreme terror, crash directly into the wall and pass out.

In his panic, he sprinted wildly, but then—*creak*—his neck seemed to hit something. A chill hit his Adam's apple; he had been clotheslined!

Chao didn't even have time to struggle. As he barreled forward, not only did the ripped-off tape stick to his face, but his eyes made intimate contact with another strip of tape suspended in the hallway. The mustard smeared evenly across it acted like a bizarre face mask, coating him thoroughly!

"Ah, what is this?!" Chao screamed. "Aaaah! My eyes, it burns, I’m blind!"

In his frantic flailing, he only ended up spreading the mustard further across his face, and he inhaled a massive amount through his nose and mouth!

"Awooooo!"

Chao wailed continuously, his face twisted in agony, his brow furrowed so deeply it could have crushed a fly, while tears streamed down his face. "Help... help me!!"

Chen Chichi rushed barefoot out of his room and immediately saw Deng Chao banging his head against the wall. He hurried over to help, but before he could, he saw a blob of dark green stuff suspended in front of him. Instinctively, he opened his mouth to call for Chao, and in the next second, the tape sealed his lips shut, with a glob of mustard mysteriously finding its way inside his mouth!

*Gulp!*

The moment he subconsciously swallowed, a sensation of extreme pungency surged upward. Chen Chichi felt his throat and nasal passages under intense assault. He coughed repeatedly, tears streaming down his face.

"We’ve... been set up... some jerk in the hallway... strung up tape, and it’s covered in... *cough, cough*... mustard!"

"It feels like someone shoved sulfuric acid in my eyes, *hiss*..." Deng Chao wailed in pain. "No, call an ambulance!"

Chen Chichi, tear-stained and snot-nosed, tried to help his brother, but suddenly his foot slipped, and he fell to the ground with a *thwack*...

With red eyes, he looked back in disbelief, only to see a large wooden board stuck to both of his feet, covered in a sticky substance that wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pulled.

"It’s a rat glue trap!"

Chen Chichi simply lay on the ground with his limbs flailing, pulling at the board with both hands and kicking wildly. The heart-wrenching pain made him feel as though he were tearing the skin off his feet, but it was useless. The quality of the glue trap was far too high; the thick layer of rat glue looked like strands of cheese as it stretched out over ten centimeters, but it refused to snap!

"There’s mustard in the hallway, it’s all on the tape, you guys must—"

Just as he was about to warn the others, the next second, the Big Black Bull’s gut-wrenching scream echoed through the courtyard: "Attack! It's a terrorist attack, I’ve been poisoned!"

"Aaaaah!"

The wooden sliding door was violently kicked open, and a wild bull rushed out, clutching his eyes. His eyes, mouth, and nose were completely covered in green mustard. As Li Chen flailed about, he smeared it all over himself. Chen Chichi, sprawled on the ground, screamed in terror: "Black Bull, stop, the outside is full of mustard!"

The frenzied Black Bull didn't listen; he just kept charging blindly.

As strip after strip of tape fixed in the hallway was violently torn, the Black Bull's eyes, mouth, and nose were instantly coated in even more mustard.

"Awooooo..." The Black Bull wailed miserably. "I’m allergic to mustard!"

He opened his eyes in pain, and a figure in official imperial robes appeared fuzzily in his line of sight. The Black Bull was startled; his pupils, bloodshot and stinging from tears, constricted. Then, a hideous, terrifying face became clear for a split second. The Big Black Bull, who had barely regained a shred of reason, was instantly terrified: "Aaaaaah!"

The panicked Black Bull charged for his life!

In the distance, the zombie was stunned to see the frantic Black Bull. He instinctively dodged Li Chen’s charge and then hopped wildly in the opposite direction of the hallway.

Why hopping? Because he was afraid he wouldn't look authentic enough and wanted to avoid breaking character, Wu Qian had tied his legs together with hemp rope before entering. Now, that dedication became a major hindrance.

With his legs bound, facing Li Chen, who looked like he was about to ram into him to death, a primal survival instinct unlocked his physical potential. In that instant, Wu Qian used all his might to hop toward the end of the hallway!

Deng Chao: "Holy crap!!!"

Chen Chichi: "Mommy, don't come over here!"

It was the middle of the night, the surrounding rooms were pitch black, and in the only hallway with light, the dimness combined with their mustard-blurred vision made this terrifying apparition look like something out of a nightmare. The visual impact was no less stimulating than watching *Mr. Vampire* alone at home as a child!

Seeing the rotting-faced zombie hopping wildly toward him with arms raised high, its ten-centimeter-long black fingernails poking forward with every jump as if it were about to skewer him on the spot, Deng Chao lost his nerve. He scrambled against the walls, bumping left and right, running in a panic: "Zombie! There’s a zombie, a zombie!"

Chao, sporting a head full of bumps, scrambled out of the hallway.

"I can't move, I can't move!" Chen Chichi’s voice cracked, his face twisted and distorted, tears flying: "Don't come over, don't come over!"

"Old Deng, don't leave me behind!!"

"Help, help me!!!"

[Wu Qian: Hehehe, hello!!]

[You can tell he’s genuinely terrified.]

[I’m dying of laughter!]

[Deng Chao: I’m terrified too, you stay behind to block him, I’m leaving first!]

[You’re all laughing, but my daughter is biting her blanket and crying. When Reba was scared unconscious earlier, she knelt on the ground begging the zombie to let Reba go! Now that she sees the zombie trying to bite Brother Chi, she’s kowtowing non-stop, begging for mercy, and there's no stopping her...]

[Hahahahahaha!]

Chen Chichi pulled with all his might. *Rip!* A layer of dead skin from his feet was torn off, stuck firmly to the glue trap. The soles of his feet were bright red and faintly oozing blood!

Ignoring the agonizing pain, Chen Chichi scrambled to get away, but his pant leg was grabbed by the zombie!

*Whoosh!!!*

His pajama pants were ripped right off!

"Aaaah!" A trembling Chen Chichi backhanded the glue trap he was holding directly onto the zombie’s face. Wu Qian, who was just about to explain himself, felt his mouth under the mask get sticky and sealed shut!

Wu Qian: "???"

He instinctively reached out and poked, his plastic fingernails piercing right through the floral boxers!

*Rip!!*

The zombie stood there, stunned, holding a shredded pair of boxers.

Chen Chichi, wailing like a banshee, ran for his life with his bare backside exposed. He was like a human water gun, spraying as he ran. A desperate survival instinct allowed him to reach speeds rivaling a champion sprinter in a very short time. A blur of movement later, he vanished at the end of the hallway, leaving the audience with nothing but a terrified silhouette and a trail of wet puddles on the ground.

[?!!]

[What did I just see?!]

[Ah!!—My eyes!]

[His butt... his butt was exposed!]

[I’ve seen people sweat like rain, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone pee like rain.]

[Brother, you’re a celebrity!]

[Damn, I’m laughing like crazy!]

[Naked run 2.0, Chao has a partner now!]

[I’m convulsing in the middle of the night, I laughed so hard I broke the bed frame, the guy on the bottom bunk almost got crushed!]

[Is this the filming set of *Mr. Vampire 3*?]

[Not a trace of acting, all genuine raw emotion. It proves that as long as the atmosphere is right, everyone is an Oscar winner!]

[Chao and Chi are truly a match made in heaven, hahaha!]

[Before, Chen Chichi: Chao, your boxers are quite red.]

[After, Chao: You little brat, your butt is quite tender.]

[Hahahahahaha!]

[What will their reactions be when they find out the truth?]

[……]

Netizens were laughing uncontrollably in the live stream.

*Creeeeak...*

Teacher Huang’s door opened. Hearing the heart-wrenching screams outside, he stepped out with his hands behind his back, ready to inspect the results. The next second, he saw Li Chen rushing toward him with his eyes closed.

Teacher Huang immediately lost his cool and bolted!

Suddenly, he felt a heavy impact on his waist. He vomited bile and was sent flying several meters by the collision!

A massive rat glue trap appeared in his vision. While in mid-air, Teacher Huang couldn't worry about the agonizing pain in his waist; he flailed his hands and feet, seemingly trying to accelerate in the air to clear the area. But as luck would have it, his struggle caused his face to make intimate contact with the glue trap spread on the floor!

*Thwack!*

With his tongue sticking out, Teacher Huang stuck his entire face onto the glue trap, struggling incessantly.

"Help..."

"It’s... poisonous, I need to... get my stomach... pumped..."

Li Chen, thinking he had crashed into the zombie, was flailing in a panic. He was tripped by Teacher Huang, who was sprawled on the floor. The Big Black Bull, who only saw pitch blackness when he closed his eyes, was scared out of his wits. He was terrified that the zombie would take his life the moment he fell. The intense panic made Li Chen scramble up from the ground in a second, and then, guided by instinct, he began punching and kicking at the space behind him!

"Awo... woo... ugh... awo... wa..."

Teacher Huang’s face was twisted, letting out bursts of miserable screams.

He wanted to call for help, but his tongue and mouth were firmly stuck to the glue trap, so he could only make muffled, incoherent sounds.

[TEACHER—HUANG!!!]

[Teacher Huang is going to be kicked to death!]

[Why isn't he calling for help?]

[Call for help? His mouth is stuck to a glue trap, how is he supposed to talk? That stuff is stuck to his feet, Chen Chichi used all his strength to pull it off, and where would a frail, aging Teacher Huang get that kind of strength? If he pulls it off by force, he’ll be at the hospital for skin grafts tomorrow. Plus, Li Chen’s eyes are burning so much he can't open them, and he’s having a panic attack...]

[Despair!]

[The most desperate episode in the history of Chinese entertainment!]

[Sticking his tongue to a rat glue trap, is that poisonous?]

...

On the other side.

Wu Qian, with a glue trap stuck to his head and his vision obscured, was standing up and feeling around. The next second, he heard a piercing shout: "A-da!!!"

Wang Baoqiang rushed out of his room and delivered a flying kick, sending Wu Qian flying three meters away!

*Pfft!!!*

A heavy blow hit his waist, and Wu Qian, under the mask, spat out a mouthful of bitter fluid. But because the glue trap had his mouth firmly sealed, the fluid stayed in his oral cavity, and his frantic struggling caused him to choke and tear up!

"Who’s playing ghost?!"

Wang Baoqiang, who had trained in martial arts at the Shaolin Temple, wasn't afraid. He didn't care who was under the mask; he chased after him and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks!

Left hook, right hook, Wing Chun, Mantis style, whip kicks, sweeping leg!

He displayed his eighteen martial arts skills to the fullest in that moment.

Wu Qian, under the mask, was full of blood: "Gurgle gurgle gurgle... Help... me..."

"So satisfying! Too satisfying!"

"Ever since I became an actor, I haven't had such a hearty fight in a long time!"

"A-da-da-da-da-da!"

Netizens were stunned: [Whose subordinate is this?!]

At this moment.

The production staff rushed in all at once. The moment they entered, they saw the zombie lying on the ground. Wang Baoqiang grabbed the glue trap on its face and pulled with force, revealing the horrific, hideous human-skin mask!

At the sight of that rotting face, everyone shuddered in terror!

But then, their expressions turned strange. The zombie was indeed terrifying, but the scene unfolding was bizarre. Wang Baoqiang, barefoot, was frantically unleashing attacks on the zombie, even using the aggressive "Black Tiger Steals the Heart" punch. The latter was being beaten until he was coughing up blood and letting out muffled, whimpering screams.

People immediately understood what was going on!

"Brother Chen, stop, you’re going to beat Teacher Huang to death!"

"Stop, hurry up!"

The staff swarmed forward, finally managing to restrain the crazed Li Chen and helping Teacher Huang pull the glue trap away just enough for him to breathe and speak.

Teacher Huang was on his last breath: "Pump... pump..."

"Pump your face?" Looking at the wet bile on the glue trap and Teacher Huang’s filthy face, the director understood instantly.

"Stomach!" After saying this, Teacher Huang’s neck went limp, and he fainted.

Director: "..."

Everyone stopped Wang Baoqiang, who was still feeling exhilarated, and went to help the zombie. But before they could get close, the blood-stained zombie scrambled up from the ground in a panic. Because the hemp rope tied to his legs had snapped, Wu Qian limped away, clutching the wall in a rush, leaving behind a long, blood-stained trail of rope!

*Creeeak!*

In a dark room, Lu Ming was fast asleep on a floor mat, an empty bottle of white liquor beside him. Wu Qian, gasping for air, exhausted and broken, staggered to the mat and collapsed.

"Ptooey, ptooey!"

"Damn it, what a disaster!"

"Why did it turn out like this? Did that 'has-been' know he was going to die tonight and run away in the middle of the night?"

Thinking he had returned to his own room, Wu Qian cursed, spitting out several mouthfuls of blood, his head ringing.

He rolled over and suddenly noticed someone lying beside him!

Even though he had been beaten to a pulp and was dizzy, he caught the heavy scent of alcohol in the air. He squinted, and the person lying there was none other than the "has-been" he had been searching for!

"Why the hell are you here?!" Wu Qian’s eyes widened, and he sat up with a start.

"Good, very good, you has-been, I want you dead!"

Physically and mentally exhausted, and harboring a bellyful of grievances, Wu Qian’s expression turned savage. He gritted his teeth, ripped off his fake fingernails one by one, and reached out to strangle Lu Ming. But just then, noise erupted at the door, the room lights turned on, and Wu Qian froze, at a loss for what to do.

The dazzling light made Lu Ming blink groggily.

Feeling the sensation of strangulation on his neck, he reacted purely on instinct, grabbing the liquor bottle beside him and smashing it hard against the zombie’s forehead!

*Bang!!!*

The bottle shattered, spreading glass shards all over the floor!

[Holy crap!]

[Qian-bao!!]

[Ge-ge!!]

[That wasn't a sugar-glass prop, that was a real glass bottle!]

[You jerk of a has-been, if anything happens to Ge-ge, I’ll make you pay with your life!!]

Netizens were horrified.

Lu Ming looked at the hideous face before him that hadn't reacted at all after taking his bottle strike, and immediately let his guard down, mumbling incoherently: "So it was just a dream..."

He rolled his eyes back, dazed: "Little Ai."

"I'm here."

"Turn off the lights!"

The next second, under the stunned gazes of everyone, the room plunged into darkness again. Lu Ming’s rhythmic breathing returned within a second, completely ignoring the zombie’s existence.

The zombie sat there stiffly, as if frozen by a spell. Wang Baoqiang walked up, grabbed the rubber mask, and ripped it off, revealing Wu Qian’s filth-covered face, with a line of bright red blood slowly trickling down his forehead!

The young man was hollow-eyed, and the next second, he collapsed face-first onto Lu Ming’s bedding and passed out!

...

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