After the secret marriage to my top star partner

Chapter 34

Editor: Princess

Mu Nan was determined to keep his distance from Cheng Han, hence the moment they arrived at the hotel, he shut himself in his room, claiming he was tired from the flight and needed to rest.

Xiao Jin thought to himself secretly, “I didn’t see you sleep any less on the plane.”

As usual, they would be filming at night, but this time it was split into two days—one episode outdoors and one indoors.

Mu Nan spent the afternoon conserving his energy, and by evening, he was full of vitality again.

After being constantly frightened during the previous episode, he believed his tolerance for ghosts had significantly improved, and he wouldn’t be scared to the point of immobility.

Soon, everyone gathered at the filming location to record the opening. The same six guests were present, but this time there was a new sense of familiarity between them, along with some awkwardness.

Cui Zhixing’s expression remained poor. Since the last episode aired, he had been relentlessly criticized by netizens, and the backlash continued even now. If not for the filming obligation, he would hardly dare to go outside.

Although Mu Nan expressed sympathy toward him, deep down he thought he deserved it.

Ai Qian Qian’s attitude toward Mu Nan wasn’t particularly friendly either. Her situation was even worse than Cui Zhixing’s. At least he had persisted until the end, with screen time second only to Mu Nan and Cheng Han. She, however, was the first to be eliminated, and her on-screen behavior had been revolting, so not only did she fail to gain any popularity from the show, she actually lost quite a few fans.

Amid widespread calls for her removal, the fact that she still showed up for filming suddenly earned Mu Nan’s unexpected respect a little.

It was later, when watching the show, that Mu Nan figured it out. Ai Qian Qian’s “death” was probably arranged by Cheng Han. During a filming break, he had complained to Cheng Han about Ai Qian Qian, and soon after, she was eliminated. Who would believe that Cheng Han hadn’t had a hand in it?

But the production team had their own considerations and those details weren’t aired. Mu Nan never confronted Cheng Han with his suspicions.

To break the awkward atmosphere, Duan Shi made a joke: “Mu Nan looks so brave this time.”

Playing along for the show, Mu Nan puffed out his chest: “Of course! I’ve grown up. I’m not the same Mu Nan as before. I’m now Niohuru Mu Nan!”

“Can I stick with you today then?” Duan Shi simply moved to stand beside him.

“Absolutely!” Mu Nan pretended to pat her shoulder without actually touching her. He said grandly, “Big brother will protect you!”

Cheng Han was standing on Mu Nan’s other side, and hearing this, he glanced at him but didn’t say anything, though his eyes darkened slightly.

Mu Nan immediately sensed his gaze—the pressure from him was too strong. Even while talking to Duan Shi, he couldn’t ignore Cheng Han’s overwhelming presence.

He had long known that Cheng Han could exert a powerful aura. During his confrontation with Bai Wenyan, under Cheng Han’s pressure, Bai Wenyan couldn’t even muster the strength to fight back.

At the time, he had found it incredible, but now he experienced it firsthand.

The director briefly explained the rules: this recording was based on a popular game where humans and a butcher were placed in a manor. The butcher’s task was to hunt down the humans, while the humans needed to repair several machines to open the final gate and escape.

In this real-life version, instead of repairing generators, players had to solve riddles—both knowledge-based questions and puzzles.

Once the game rules were announced, Cheng Han instantly became highly sought after. Everyone knew about his academic credentials; he would excel at answering questions.

Suddenly, Mu Nan and Duan Shi were left out in the cold.

“Can you handle this?” Duan Shi asked.

Mu Nan gritted his teeth: “A man never says he can’t!”

Duan Shi: …

Nobody knew exactly how Cheng Han’s group had coordinated, but Mu Nan and Duan Shi agreed to team up and set a meeting point for after the game started.

Soon, everyone was blindfolded and taken to their starting points on electric carts. A few minutes later, Mu Nan was placed at his “spawn point”.

His position was advantageous. It was inside the only small wooden building in the scene.

The building had two floors and a basement. As the game began, Mu Nan first ran upstairs to scout the area.

There were gates at both the north and south, and six question stations. According to the production team, each station would take about ten minutes to complete. If they answered incorrectly, an explosion and sparks would attract the butcher, and they needed to complete five stations to open the main gate.

From the second floor, Mu Nan saw four question stations. The scene was designed very much like the game, with waist-high grass, lockers to hide in, and abandoned shipping containers to run around.

He ran toward the gate where he had arranged to meet Duan Shi, without encountering the butcher on the way.

Then the two crouched in a patch of grass, whispering.

“I just saw Ai Qian Qian being chased.” Duan Shi said quietly. “Her spawn point was very close to the butcher.”

This time it couldn’t be blamed on others, Mu Nan thought to himself. Perhaps it was simply bad luck.

“I saw a question station on my way here. Should we go there?” Mu Nan asked.

“Sure.” Duan Shi had no objection.

So the two crept cautiously to the question station. A tablet was placed there, with the main page displaying “History Questions”.

“Fuck.” Duan Shi’s face paled. “History was my worst subject in high school.”

Mu Nan wasn’t confident either, but he gritted his teeth and tapped it open: “We’re already here.”

The screen displayed the first question: The famous Austrian Empress and Queen of Hungary, known as “Princess Sissi” Elisabeth, was from which kingdom? A. France B. Hungary C. Germany D. Bavaria

Looking at this question, Duan Shi was completely stumped. “What kind of question is this?”

But Mu Nan reached out to select an answer. Duan Shi stopped him: “Are you sure? If we’re wrong, it will attract the butcher.”

“I’m sure.” Mu Nan knew this answer because he had performed in “Elisabeth” with Cheng Han and had researched the history a bit. He confidently selected D, and indeed, nothing happened.

Duan Shi had already prepared to run, but saw the question quietly advance to the next one.

“You’re amazing!” She praised softly. Mu Nan smiled sheepishly and continued to the next question.

The following questions covered both world and Chinese history. He correctly answered five more questions, and while working on the seventh, they heard an announcement over the loudspeaker: “Mathematics question station has been fully unlocked.”

“What the hell?” Mu Nan was shocked by the speed. “Mathematics? That fast?!”

Duan Shi said, “It must be Cheng Han. Only he could be that quick.”

However before she finished speaking, Mu Nan’s eyes suddenly filled with terror. “Run!” He shouted.

Duan Shi instinctively looked back and saw a tall figure wearing a ghost mask—the butcher—running toward them with large strides. He was holding a bloody bone saw, which looked particularly terrifying under the harsh white searchlights.

“Run!” Seeing Duan Shi frozen, Mu Nan pulled her, and they both started sprinting.

“Split up!” When he noticed Duan Shi still following him, Mu Nan called to her.

At that moment, they were circling around a haystack. Duan Shi ran straight ahead, but Mu Nan turned and stopped, circling around the obstacle formed by five or six haystacks, playing cat and mouse with the butcher to give Duan Shi time to escape.

According to the production team, the butcher was a “surprise guest”, but Mu Nan didn’t feel surprised at all. Only that he was about to collapse from exhaustion.

He jumped around the haystacks, already tired after just starting.

Suddenly, as he was jumping over a haystack, he tripped and was struck on the back by the bone saw.

“Mu Nan has been injured.”

Staff rushed forward to put special shackles on his feet. The shackles had more than twenty keys and would take a long time to unlock. This slowed his running speed and made noise when he moved.

The butcher started to target him clearly, wanting to finish him off while he was “injured”.

However just at that moment, a shout came from behind the butcher. And as he turned around, he was met with the bright beam of a flashlight that temporarily blinded him for ten seconds.

During those ten seconds, Mu Nan dragged his heavy legs and hid inside a locker. Outside, the butcher had started chasing someone else, finally giving him a moment to catch his breath.

He hadn’t seen who was holding the flashlight, just that it seemed to be one of the male guests—either Cheng Han or Cui Zhixing.

It didn’t matter who it was. Mu Nan had just caught his breath and was about to leave the locker when he heard two sets of heavy footsteps approaching. Frightened, he quickly retreated back into the locker.

Outside, he heard Du Ling scream “Ah!” however the locker had no gaps, so he couldn’t even peek out.

Soon the broadcast announced: “The butcher used a one-hit kill skill.” “Du Ling has been captured. Rescue countdown begins now, one minute.”

The butcher carried Du Ling on his shoulder and walked away slowly. Mu Nan came out from the locker, however now that he had shackles on him, his movement would reveal his position. What’s more even if he wanted to rescue her, he lacked the ability. His priority was to find someone to help unlock the shackles.

“Come here.” A deep voice suddenly came from behind, startling Mu Nan and making him reflexively try to run.

“Where are you going?” Only then did Mu Nan recognize Cheng Han’s voice.

He sighed with relief and walked over. However Cheng Han didn’t say anything, he just crouched down to unlock his shackles.

Then perhaps feeling that crouching was ungraceful, he maintained a one-knee kneeling position, working with a set of keys at Mu Nan’s ankles.

But Mu Nan felt that this posture, this scene, this…

Somehow seemed a bit inappropriate?

“Um, should I sit down too?” Mu Nan hesitantly asked.

“No need.” Cheng Han replied coldly.

The unlocking took only a few minutes, but Mu Nan felt completely awkward. When Cheng Han stood up again, he felt a strange embarrassment flowing between them.

“Thank—”

His thanks was interrupted by Cheng Han: “There’s a question station right behind us. I’ll go answer.”

“Huh? Aren’t you going to rescue Du Ling?” Mu Nan asked him.

“She’s been taken to the basement by the butcher, who’s guarding the entrance. There’s no value in trying to rescue her.”

Mu Nan thought Cheng Han’s words sounded cold, but he had to admit that he was right.

Mu Nan had played this computer game before. Once the butcher chose to “guard the body”, there was indeed no possibility of rescue for the other humans.

“You go answer the questions then. I’ll look around some more.” Mu Nan remembered he wanted to keep his distance from Cheng Han.

Cheng Han neither agreed nor disagreed, but handed something to him. “Take this.”

Mu Nan looked and saw it was a flashlight.

“This is what you found…”

“I said take it.” Cheng Han’s tone was somewhat impatient. Mu Nan had never seen him like this, and so felt a bit aggrieved and became stubborn and refused to take it.

At that moment, another series of announcements came over the broadcast: “Cui Zhixing injured, Duan Shi injured, Du Ling dead.” “Duan Shi captured, rescue countdown begins now.”

“All right.” Cheng Han put the flashlight away. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Mu Nan asked.

“To rescue someone.”

“Why?” Mu Nan was surprised. Hadn’t he just chosen not to rescue Du Ling?

“If we don’t go rescue someone, a certain little friend will be unhappy again.”

A certain little friend? Mu Nan took a moment to realize that Cheng Han was talking about him. He was about to protest when he made an even more shocking discovery.

How had he ended up following Cheng Han again?

He followed quickly, bewildered inside: Has he put some kind of spell on me?