1.
I discovered that graveyard on the second day of filming this exploration show.
At first, I didn't pay much attention. But as I got closer, I realized something was wrong.
The name on the first gravestone was “Qi Meng.”
Qi Meng was the leader of a famous girl group and one of the guests on this show. What were the odds? Could it just be a coincidence that they had the same name?
Then I looked at the second gravestone. I recognized the name of the person who had died there, too. The third, the fourth... Every gravestone was engraved with the name of one of the show's guests!
Something was wrong!
There was also a small inscription on each gravestone with the date of the person's death. For example, Qi Meng's read: [Died on the night of August 23, 2023.]
But it was still daytime on August 23. Was this some cruel prank by the production crew?
Why would the director pull such a tasteless prank? If it really was a prank... then what was this chilling, oppressive feeling I could sense?
I walked around the graveyard and unexpectedly found an eighth gravestone.
[Deceased: Tran Tuyet Diem.]
That was my name.
2.
I stared at the gravestone for a while. Then I pulled out a marker and added a few words.
[Tran Tuyet Diem is your father.]
At once, the air grew not only oppressive but resentful, too.
This reality show's filming location was an abandoned village.
The abandoned village's main specialty was ghosts.
I didn't mind taking a few ghosts back as specimens, either. But first, I needed to go back and tell the other guests.
When I returned to the main camp, someone stopped me. “Tran Tuyet Diem, why did you come back empty-handed? Where's the food?”
Her name was Kim So So, my sworn enemy. Our styles and career paths were so similar that she was always trying to undermine me.
Recently, she'd been nominated for Best Actress, and her nose was practically pointing at the sky.
I answered honestly. “I couldn't find any.”
Kim So So sneered. “You couldn't find any, or did you hide it?”
The atmosphere suddenly grew tense.
This had started yesterday afternoon.
We'd lost contact with the production crew. Supplies in the village were extremely limited. Until the rescue team arrived, the remaining supplies had to be divided among all the guests. Her words immediately set everyone off.
“Exactly. We all found food. There's no way you couldn't find anything.”
“I don't believe there was nothing along that whole stretch.”
“She must be planning to keep it all for herself.”
“We can't let her go off on her own. Her selfish nature is showing.”
See? They'd turned this into a question of human nature.
I shot back, “Why did I have to go off on my own? You all know perfectly well.”
“When we drew lots to split into groups, you rigged it to isolate me. Have you forgotten already?”
Their fake masks were ripped away, and the atmosphere turned awkward. Since Kim So So and I didn't get along, they'd naturally taken her side and isolated me. But I couldn't be bothered by it.
“I found a graveyard. Your names were all engraved on the gravestones.”
“What?”
They didn't believe me.
I took out my camera to show them the picture I'd just taken. But strangely, all the photos looked normal—only the one of the graveyard had turned into a blank space!
Qi Meng and Kim So So were close. She led the laughter. “Tran Tuyet Diem, are you messing with us?”
“No, I'm sure I just took that picture.”
I stared at the empty screen. There was clearly nothing there, yet I could feel a ghostly chill emanating from it.
“Please, the show's filming has already been suspended. What are you trying to pull now? Are you crazy?”
“Tran Tuyet Diem, do you really think that joke is funny?”
The guests kept complaining.
Finally, one of the male guests suggested, “We should go back there and take a look.”
I led them there. The graveyard was in the most remote corner of the abandoned village. But when I parted the waist-high weeds, the sight before me left me stunned.
The gravestones... were gone.
3.
All I could see in front of me was a patch of weeds. Kim So So and Qi Meng laughed at me, but I couldn't bring myself to laugh. Ever since I stepped into this abandoned village yesterday, I'd had a bad feeling. The spiritual energy here was oppressive.
Back then, I'd suggested, “Something's wrong with this village. We shouldn't film here.”
Kim So So said, “Don't worry. We're a team. I'll protect you.”
At the time, the show was being livestreamed, and the guests could see the audience's comments. Her act of gentle concern earned her plenty of praise.
[Kim So So is so gentle and knows how to comfort people.]
[I want a teammate like Kim So So, too!]
[Meanwhile, someone doesn't want to film here just because she's scared. How selfish.]
[If she's scared, she shouldn't have come. What's with a bully pretending to be a delicate flower?]
“Bully” was the nasty nickname people had given me. Online accounts had spread rumors that I'd been a bossy, arrogant girl back in school.
They'd even faked screenshots of conversations. Someone claiming to be my former classmate said I'd bullied them.
In recent years, society had become increasingly concerned about school bullying. People didn't even care whether the screenshots were real or fake; they simply nailed me to the pillory.
A few days later, gossip accounts reported that Kim So So was the genuinely sweet one in show business.
From then on, everyone saw me as the opposite of her. But her fans didn't know that I'd never gone to school. How could I have bullied anyone?
When I was seven, my master from the Xuanmen took me in and raised me.
From then on, I began studying the occult arts under my master's personal guidance. I never spoke up to explain because my special constitution could bring trouble, and my master forbade me from revealing my identity.
The show had been filming for half a day when strange things began to happen. The guests got lost and lost contact with the production crew. Filming had to be halted, and everyone was forced to stay at the main camp and wait for the crew to come rescue them. But was everything really that simple?
This village wasn’t big, yet a whole day had passed and the production crew still hadn’t found us. How could that be? Everything was far too strange. If those gravestones really were predicting when we would die…
After thinking it over, I took out a stack of talismans. “Just to be safe, everyone should keep one of these with them.”
“Tran Tuyet Diem, are you serious?”
Qi Meng’s voice dripped with mockery, as if I were some kind of clown. “What are these yellow papers for? To wipe your mouth after you eat?”
Everyone laughed at her joke. I said, “Keep one with you. It can protect you from evil energy.”
“Oh, this napkin has writing on it, too. What does it say? ‘Retreat… retreat’?”
Everyone gathered around to read the writing on the talisman.
My messy handwriting really was hard to read, so I told them earnestly, “It says ‘Back, back, back.’”
4.
They laughed even harder. It was true that I’d scribbled those three characters down without a second thought. My talismans were different from other people’s. It didn’t matter what I wrote on them; I could even draw a pig’s head. As long as I made them myself, they worked.
My master said that was a special gift—I was born for this line of work.
Facing everyone’s ridicule, I said, “Don’t worry. I’ve studied this, so I guarantee they’ll work.”
“Pfft. Studied what?”
“Ghost hunting, feng shui…”
Before I could finish, Kim So So cut me off. “Tran Tuyet Diem, you’ve fallen so far you’re a con artist now. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
I looked at her face and suddenly remembered the small inscription on her gravestone: “Died on August 25.”
Today was already the 23rd. There was a saying in our sect: “Kind words can’t stop a demon.”
I wholeheartedly agreed. I took the talisman from her hand and said, “Then don’t take it.”
5.
Kim So So’s face turned livid with anger. “Tran Tuyet Diem, do you think I need your scraps of paper?”
Some of the other guests were about to take a talisman. But Kim So So sneered, “What if there’s some spell on that paper to drain your luck? Aren’t you afraid your hands will rot?”
At that, the guests pulled their hands back.
I narrowed my eyes at her. The kind of spell Kim So So had mentioned really did exist, and it was a taboo practice despised by the entire occult world. How did she know about it?
I immediately asked her. Kim So So looked away. “You learned it, so why can’t I? Let me tell you, I’m nothing like you. I studied under a master from an orthodox esoteric sect. My master is Dương Thiệu, famous all over the world!”
When she said the name “Dương Thiệu,” everyone gasped.
“Dương Thiệu? Master Dương? Really?”
“I know him! He’s incredibly handsome, a rising star among the younger generation in the occult world. Foreign universities even invite him to lecture on Kinh Dịch!”
“I heard Dương Thiệu is usually hard to get an audience with.”
“That’s right.”
Kim So So said smugly, “I’m Dương Thiệu’s newest disciple.”
The guests were so excited they nearly dropped to their knees before her. It was no wonder. Dương Thiệu had such a high status that even A-list celebrities respectfully called him “Master.”
One guest said, “I heard Dương Thiệu is so powerful because of his master. His master is an extraordinary person.”
“That’s right. Dương Thiệu once said in an interview that his master is far more powerful than he is, but unfortunately, no one has ever met him.”
“Kim So So, have you ever met your master’s master?”
Kim So So froze, then answered awkwardly, “No. My master’s master is pretty reclusive and rarely meets strangers…”
Rarely meets strangers? Then what am I doing here?
I asked amiably, “Kim So So, are you really Dương Thiệu’s disciple?”
Kim So So replied, “I am!”
She glanced at me disdainfully. “Surprised? Jealous? I don’t want your lousy talismans!”
I fell silent. Since when did Dương Thiệu have another disciple? Without a formal apprenticeship ceremony, I couldn’t recognize her as one.