Escape Filming Location - Chapter 13 - The Vanished Stele

By the time the dance ended, nearly two hours had passed. Sitting on the ground, drenched in sweat, exhaustion weighed heavily on me.

The Death Ritual was underway.

Though the clearing looked as ordinary as ever, I knew the ritual had begun. All it needed now was a little time.

Dragging my weary body back home, I collapsed into bed and slept until the next morning.

To be precise, it was Wei Guangyuan who woke me up. He was insistent, pressing me about the Death Ritual Stele. Considering how Guangyuan had always treated me decently, I decided to tell him about the ritual and the stele, though I kept the source of my knowledge to myself.

Guangyuan asked if I had seen any Dark Shadows. How could I know? I had been asleep for most of the day, oblivious to everything. You could even say I had been unconscious.

Though I hadn’t seen anything, I suspected it must be connected to the Death Ritual Stele.

And if it was tied to the stele, it was also tied to Eternal Life. Dark Shadows, white shadows-it didn’t matter to me.

Guangyuan left, heading toward the Back Mountain.

A sense of unease crept over me. Guangyuan was likely planning to smash the stele. I recalled the warnings from the villagers in my dream. But just as I was about to act, I suddenly fell ill.

Blindness struck me, leaving me unable to see the path ahead, let alone follow Guangyuan to the Back Mountain. I had no choice but to stay home and wait.

About an hour later-though I couldn’t be sure exactly how long-my vision returned. Just as I was preparing to leave, Guangyuan came back, this time with several others in tow.

He demanded to know where the Death Ritual Stele was.

I was baffled. After moving the stele to the clearing in the Back Mountain, I hadn’t touched it since. It had to still be there.

But Guangyuan claimed he couldn’t find it. I didn’t believe him.

Furious, Guangyuan threatened me, warning that if I didn’t reveal the stele’s location, he wouldn’t hold back.

What could I say? I had no idea where the stele was. If I knew, it would be in the clearing.

Guangyuan and the villagers began tossing my furniture outside. I figured that once they were done, their fists would be next.

At the same time, curiosity gnawed at me. Where could the stele have gone? I decided to join them in searching the clearing.

The Death Ritual Stele had vanished!

There was no trace of it in the clearing. No matter how hard we searched, it was nowhere to be found.

Could it be underground? The villagers dug holes in the clearing, but their efforts yielded nothing.

Guangyuan’s eyes were full of suspicion as he looked at me. No matter what I said, they didn’t believe me. Eventually, they resorted to beating me.

But I truly didn’t know where the stele was.

If I had to guess, my intuition told me the stele was still in the clearing. It hadn’t left but was using some method to protect itself from being destroyed.

That night, I returned home and managed to drag my bed back into the bedroom.

Later, I did see the Dark Shadows. They clung to the walls, their eerie, sinister smiles visible. Yet, I wasn’t afraid.

The Death Ritual was in progress, and I was destined for Eternal Life.

I write this so that those who come after me will know what happened in Yuxi Village-a record of sorts.

June 11th, Li Chenxi.

Qian Cangyi finished reading the notebook, a look of realization dawning on his face.

After going through Li Chenxi’s notes, most of the mysteries surrounding Yuxi Village had been unraveled.

However, two critical questions remained unanswered.

First, where was the Death Ritual Stele now?

Second, what exactly were the Dark Shadows?

From a survival standpoint, the first question was undoubtedly more pressing.

None of the villagers in Yuxi Village knew where the stele was.

If Qian Cangyi and Hawkeye wanted to search the entire village, an hour wouldn’t be nearly enough.

Moreover, the villagers had likely already scoured the village thoroughly, yet they still hadn’t found it.

In other words, the stele had seemingly vanished into thin air.

“What do you think happened to the stele?” Qian Cangyi asked, curious about Hawkeye’s opinion.

“I’m not sure where it is exactly, but the stele must still be in Yuxi Village. Otherwise, we wouldn’t still be alive,” Hawkeye replied, his right hand casually tucked into his pocket.

Qian Cangyi lowered his head, pondering for a couple of seconds before asking, “Speaking of which, I have a question. Does Hell Movie always provide a way to survive?”

“I mean, is it possible for there to be no way out? For example, could it be that our fate was sealed from the start, that we were doomed to die no matter what?”

The thought worried him.

Many novels, comics, and films depicted similar scenarios. When fate was predetermined, no matter how much one struggled, death was inevitable.

“Does it matter?” Hawkeye countered with a question of his own.

“Huh?” Qian Cangyi didn’t quite understand.

“Would it make a difference to you? Could you resist it?” Hawkeye pressed further.

Images of his body being controlled flashed through Qian Cangyi’s mind. The power disparity between him and Hell Movie was so vast that he was insignificant in comparison-like the difference between the sun and a mere human.

Whether the outcome was predetermined or not, resistance was futile.

This was the most despairing aspect of being an Actor in Hell Movie.

Qian Cangyi took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

“So, if we want to survive, we have to assume the stele is still in Yuxi Village,” he said, his gaze shifting toward the Back Mountain.

“Exactly,” Hawkeye nodded.

“Li Chenxi believed the stele was in the clearing on the Back Mountain. We have to check it out. Maybe we’ll discover something new,” Qian Cangyi said, pointing toward the winding path leading into the mountain.

During the ritual, the Death Ritual Stele would be extremely fragile.

Li Chenxi’s notebook had mentioned this.

The villagers in his dream had warned him about it. Whether they were truly immortal villagers or the stele itself, Qian Cangyi couldn’t say. But the warning in the dream couldn’t be false.

If the ritual was still ongoing, then the stele must indeed be unusually fragile.

The villagers of Yuxi Village were trapped here, undoubtedly because of the ritual. Destroying the stele could end the ritual and free them from their confinement.

The mountain path twisted and turned.

Before long, a circular clearing appeared ahead, roughly the size of a basketball court.

Scattered across the clearing were remnants of paper money and candles. Various-sized pits dotted the area, with shovels and hammers strewn about.

The scene matched the descriptions in both Wei Guangyuan’s and Li Chenxi’s notebooks perfectly.

Qian Cangyi circled the clearing but found nothing resembling a stele, let alone the Death Ritual Stele.

If not for the candles, paper money, and freshly dug pits confirming this was indeed the clearing, he might have doubted whether he was in the right place.

“It’s really not here,” he said, disappointment evident in his tone.

Though the odds were slim, he had hoped for a stroke of luck-that the stele would be right there in the clearing, ready to be smashed and end everything.

“There’s another path ahead,” he said, pointing toward a small trail on the opposite side of the clearing.