I stared at the arguing comments, momentarily stunned, then overjoyed. That’s right—I had the comments! Every time I’d almost been found out, they’d saved me. They always revealed useful information. With their help, I could survive!
I fought down my fear, knowing that if I looked like a coward now, I’d surely die. Pretending to be a seasoned professional, I took out my 9.9-yuan crystal ball and polished it over and over, then pulled out the bootleg Tarot deck I’d bought online and shuffled it a hundred times. I was trying to buy time while thinking of a way to escape.
“Are you done yet?” The billionaire on the screen was starting to get impatient.
Once I’d laid out the cards, I took a deep breath and began my act. “Please don’t rush me, sir. I’ve just managed to make contact with your wife’s spirit.”
The billionaire gave a slight nod. “Like that medium, you have to pass a test, too. She was able to tell me where my wife died. You tell me my wife’s name.”
I hurriedly nodded and placed my hand on the crystal ball, pretending to speak with a spirit while actually reading the comments:
[What was that guy’s wife’s name again?]
[Why can I only remember it was something Shen?]
[Oh my God, who remembers the exact name? We’re screwed if we got dragged in here.]
[I just looked it up on DeepSeek. Her name is Thẩm Thanh Huệ.]
[Thanks to the person above. Now I don’t have to look it up.]
I breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said, “Your wife’s surname is Thẩm. Her name is Thanh Huệ.”
The billionaire raised an eyebrow. I knew I’d gotten it right and relaxed my hand a little.
The billionaire suppressed his surprise and continued, “That’s right. Tell me one more thing: what year did my wife die?”
[Oh my God, who would know that?]
[The documentary said it right at the beginning: 2005.]
[If you don’t know that, then you’re kind of…]
[They said the medium in the movie, not the audience.]
[The person above is the one with a problem.]
Though the comments were arguing, I still had the answer. “In 2005.”
I covertly watched the billionaire’s expression.
Excellent. He nodded in satisfaction and signaled for the two bodyguards to take me away.
Knowing I’d passed the first hurdle, I breathed a sigh of relief. But the comments kept scrolling:
[Whoa, there’s new info. Have you guys seen it? The truth is the opposite—the whole loving-husband thing was just an image he cultivated!]
[Thẩm Thanh Huệ was actually murdered by the billionaire himself!]
I trembled with fear. The billionaire didn’t miss a thing.
He curled his lip into an inscrutable smile. “Why the change in your expression? Did you see something, Master?”
I quickly hid my panic and shook my head. “No.”
The billionaire let it go and changed the subject. “What’s your name, Master?”
“Quách Dữu.” I swallowed and answered.
I wondered whether I should hide my real name, but since I’d been brought here, he’d surely investigated me thoroughly. If I gave a false name and drew attention to myself, things might get even worse.
He nodded and told me to follow the bodyguards.
The two bodyguards were about to drag me away, but I hurriedly stopped them. “I can walk on my own. You don’t have to trouble yourselves.”
But they ignored me, each grabbing one of my arms and hauling me off.
The other mediums were still being tested one after another. I glanced back just in time to see an impostor get exposed. A bullet went through his forehead, and he died before he could even beg. His body was left where it fell, with no one to clean it up.
The billionaire didn’t care and continued testing the next person. A chill ran down my spine.
The two bodyguards led me down a narrow path. Tall banana trees blocked my view; all I could see was the gloomy sky, heavy with rain.
Trying to suppress my unease, I asked, “Could you tell me where we’re going?”
They stayed silent and kept dragging me along.
With no other choice, I shut my mouth and silently memorized the route.
At last, beyond the banana grove, a beautiful villa came into view. Its exterior walls were covered in vivid red trumpet vines. The two bodyguards tossed me onto the living room sofa, then disappeared.
Every window was locked, and I was the only one in the house.
[Is this the house where Thẩm Thanh Huệ used to live?]
[I think so.]
[Could she have died in this house?]
[Oh my God, is this a haunted house? How dangerous is it?]
The words “haunted house” seemed to make the air indoors grow colder. I turned on the living room lights and looked around.
It was a luxurious two-story vacation home. The living room and dining room were on the first floor, with the bedrooms upstairs.
There was unfinished food on the dining table, and throw pillows and blankets on the sofa. Signs of life were everywhere.
I picked up a framed photo from the table. A woman wearing sunglasses and a blue dress smiled at me. I couldn’t make out her face, but I guessed it was Thẩm Thanh Huệ.
Looking around the villa, I wondered: for a house whose owner had died twenty years ago, everything here was much too new. Why had the billionaire locked me up here?
The comments appeared again:
[Why is the person above scared? This isn’t even the house where Thẩm Thanh Huệ lived.]
[To test the mediums, the billionaire rebuilt more than a dozen houses exactly like this one.]
[Who asked you?]
[Are you crazy? Why spoil it? Don’t you want to stay popular?]
Another test? I latched onto the keyword and immediately grew wary. It seemed that answering the questions correctly had only been the first step. He still didn’t trust us.
Thinking of the people who’d been shot for failing to answer, I hurriedly searched the house. Just as I’d expected, when I took the framed photo off the wall, a piece of paper fell out. It said:
Mission: Open the safe in the villa. Find the address of the next door. Time limit: 12 hours. Note: Failure means death.
The next door? So there’d be another challenge after this one? That guy was seriously paranoid!
As soon as I set the paper down, the digital clock hanging in the living room began counting down. I realized the villa definitely had cameras monitoring everything I did. Good thing I hadn’t cursed out loud. Just thinking about it gave me a scare.
The safe was in the master bedroom on the second floor, and its combination was eight digits long. I had no idea how many tries I’d get.
If I really had the ability to communicate with spirits, I might’ve just asked the ghost directly.
But I didn’t know the answer, so I could only rely on the comments:
[I heard half the people die at this stage. It’s terrifying.]
[Who knows what the combination is?]
[Hey, person who spoiled it earlier—why are you so quiet now?]
[Now you’re begging me to spoil it? Weren’t you just telling me I didn’t need to stay popular?]
The comments were arguing, and I panicked:
[Everyone, stop arguing and tell me!]
But they couldn’t hear me, as if I’d been blocked. The comments only appeared when I returned to the “main storyline.”
I sighed and began searching the villa for information about Thẩm Thanh Huệ. Even though it was only a vacation home, she’d left behind quite a few things.
I spotted the computer on the bed in the bedroom and hurried over to turn it on. Then… “Enter password.”
Undeterred, I found Thẩm Thanh Huệ’s phone beside the computer. I turned it on, only to see: “Enter password.”
Are you kidding me? One password was hard enough. Now I had to find three!
[The OP’s so unlucky. They should’ve only had to find one password, but now there are three.]
[Might as well just guess twice and get it over with.]
Helpless, I set the phone down and searched everywhere for paper documents. Luckily, in Thẩm Thanh Huệ’s handbag, I found an ID card from twenty years ago. It said she was born on June 12, 1975.
So she’d died just after turning thirty. With a pang of regret, I tried entering her birth date, 19750612, into the safe. Wrong.
At least it was only my first try. Not expecting much, I tried her birth date on the computer. To my surprise, it unlocked.
I didn’t try the phone. It was a twenty-year-old model, so even if I got in, it would be useless. The computer was ancient too, and wasn’t connected to the internet, but it still had a few files.
I opened a document titled Thẩm Thanh Huệ on the screen. It was entirely made up of news articles from twenty years ago about her death. Most were sober reports on the case; a few were rumors about their marriage.
Thẩm Thanh Huệ died on June 13, 2005, the day after her birthday and also their wedding anniversary. She was killed in the villa, and the police determined that it wasn’t suicide.
The killer was caught a week later. He was a resort security guard. Stolen jewelry belonging to Thẩm Thanh Huệ was found in his house, making it obvious he’d killed her for her valuables. But looking back now, the story was full of holes.
Thinking of the comments saying the real killer was the billionaire, I felt even more uneasy. If he’d killed her, why summon her spirit? What did he want us to do?
My mind gradually cleared. If this was the billionaire’s computer, not Thẩm Thanh Huệ’s, then the safe might belong to him too.
I realized I’d been going in the wrong direction from the start. I’d kept using Thẩm Thanh Huệ’s information as the password, but perhaps the password had something to do with the billionaire.
From a tabloid article, I found the billionaire’s birthday: Ngô Mạc Yên, born January 13, 1975.
I tried entering 19750113 into the safe, but it was still wrong. I had only one try left.
If it wasn’t his birthday, then what was it? I paced nervously back to the computer and searched the articles for more dates. Besides their birthdays, the only dates left were the day Thẩm Thanh Huệ died, June 13, 2005, and their wedding day, June 13, 2000.