After the secret marriage to my top star partner

Chapter 41

Editor: Princess

What followed seemed easy. Du Ling spent some time alone and was successfully possessed by a ghost. Now Mu Nan’s target was only Cheng Han.

But with only Cheng Han left, what should he do?

He absolutely would not admit that he felt somewhat reluctant. He was just worried about being discovered, because once caught, he would immediately fail the mission.

Now he was just one step away from victory. As long as he dealt with Cheng Han, he could end the recording early and become this episode’s biggest winner.

He couldn’t help but start imagining Cheng Han’s expression when he discovered he was the “mole”. Recalling how terrified he had been in the first episode, he now just wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine and let Cheng Han experience being stabbed in the back.

To secretly attack Cheng Han, the first requirement was naturally to get close to him.

He now regretted his earlier behavior deeply. If he had known it would come to this, he wouldn’t have deliberately ignored Cheng Han this morning or intentionally walked with Cui Zhixing.

Now he would have to slap himself in the face, and hard at that.

“Something wrong?” Cheng Han’s cold voice suddenly sounded in front of him.

Only then did Mu Nan suddenly realize that while lost in his fantasies, he had been following closely behind Cheng Han the whole time, nearly bumping into him several times.

“No… nothing.” Mu Nan shook his head with an innocent expression.

Cheng Han smiled, but this smile made Mu Nan feel somewhat cold.

“Tired?” Cheng Han asked again.

“No, not tired.” Mu Nan continued shaking his head.

“Want to go back to the room and rest for a while?” Cheng Han asked him. “The production team said recording continues, but we can take an afternoon nap.”

Mu Nan still shook his head like a bobblehead doll.

“No need, there’s no need.” He still had a packet of powder in his pocket. If he lay down for a nap, wouldn’t it easily spill all over the bed? Then he’d be unable to explain himself.

“Then let’s go.” Cheng Han said. “The basement and attic are left. Which one?”

Mu Nan thought for a moment and felt that the basement was a good place. After all, many ghost appearances in horror movies happened in basements, and it sounded mysterious and perfect for making his move.

“The basement!” He said eagerly.

“Alright.” Cheng Han raised his eyebrows, as if surprised by his choice. “If you’re not afraid, then the basement it is.”

Walking down the stairs to the basement, Mu Nan regretted it after just a few steps.

A foul smell filled the air, a mixture of mold, blood, and decay that made one want to vomit.

“What’s that awful smell?” He covered his nose and complained.

Cheng Han didn’t answer, just told him to watch his step.

The deeper they went, the stronger the smell became. Fortunately, their olfactory nerves gradually adapted to the odor, so they managed not to throw up.

“We’re here.” The basement had a heavy wooden door. Cheng Han pushed hard but couldn’t open it.

“Come give me a hand.” Cheng Han called Mu Nan over. Then the two of them used all their strength to barely push the door open wide enough for a person to pass through.

But the moment the door opened, Mu Nan’s stomach churned.

Bodies were piled layer upon layer in the corner of the basement, thrown there randomly like sacks. Some had already rotted, while others still retained skin and flesh.

Every corpse had a grotesque face and twisted limbs. Rather than looking human, they resembled slaughterhouse meat.

The entire scene could only be described with four words – a living hell.

“Ugh!” Mu Nan couldn’t hold it in any longer despite trying. Leaning against the wall outside the door, he dry heaved.

The scene he had just witnessed was too shocking for him to accept immediately.

“Who are all these people?” He asked after recovering.

“These should be the bodies of those living dead in the mansion. What we’ve been seeing are their ghosts.”

Cheng Han handed him a bottle of water to rinse his mouth. “If I’m not mistaken, I saw the bodies of the butler and a familiar maid.”

Mu Nan immediately spat out the mouthful of water: “You! You actually identified their faces!”

“Mm.” Cheng Han acknowledged. “Just a glance.”

Incredible. Truly you, Cheng Han.

Mu Nan marveled silently. He once again suspected that Cheng Han wasn’t human but some kind of high-tech AI that could remain completely unperturbed regardless of any situation.

“Do you still want to look around?” Cheng Han asked considerately. “If you can’t handle it, we’ll go up. Don’t force yourself.”

Mu Nan didn’t want to stay in this hellish place for even a moment, but then remembered his unfinished mission and that this was a perfect place to make his move. As long as he applied the powder and slipped out to close the door, his mission would be completely finished.

Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth: “Let’s go. After recording so many episodes, I should make some progress.”

“Good.” Cheng Han didn’t continue persuading him but took the initiative to walk ahead.

When opening the door earlier, Mu Nan had secretly observed this door, thinking that if it was so difficult to open and close, the production team would have many inconveniences when designing props.

Sure enough, he found a hidden button by the door. This button was very well concealed, painted to match the door’s pattern. Pressing this button would automatically close the door through a mechanism.

He had already planned it out in his mind: first, when Cheng Han wasn’t paying attention, he would smear the powder on him, then press the door-closing button and quickly slip out himself.

This way Cheng Han would be forced to stay alone, and his mission would be complete.

Cheng Han gradually approached the mountain of corpses, and using his fear as an excuse, Mu Nan didn’t get close but hid behind Cheng Han.

Cheng Han instinctively reached back to protect Mu Nan’s side. This way if danger arose, he could immediately shield him.

But behind Cheng Han, Mu Nan’s hand quietly reached into his pocket and took out a handful of powder.

His palm gradually approached Cheng Han. Cheng Han felt nothing. All his attention was focused on the pile of bodies ahead, completely unaware of Mu Nan’s movements.

Closer and closer – his palm was less than ten centimeters from Cheng Han. Just one slap down would hit Cheng Han’s back.

The escape route had been rehearsed in his mind no less than ten times. Countdown: three, two…

“Mu Nan? What are you doing!” At the last second, his movement was interrupted by a voice from behind.

Mu Nan whipped around to see Ai Qianqian and Duan Shi.

“You… you two?” Mu Nan looked at them in shock.

Weren’t they supposed to be on his side? They should be providing support, or at least not drag him down at a crucial moment like this. Why did they shout out?

But it was too late to say anything now. Cheng Han had already instantly turned around and grabbed his wrist.

“What were you trying to do?” Cheng Han’s gaze was icy, looking at Mu Nan with eyes as sharp as blades.

Mu Nan shook his head desperately. “Nothing, I wasn’t trying to do anything. Please believe me.” He stared at Cheng Han with his round, watery eyes.

But seeing the deep mockery in Cheng Han’s eyes, Mu Nan’s voice gradually grew quieter: “You…”

While restraining him with one hand, Cheng Han used his other hand to pull a belt buckle from the waist of a corpse.

The belt buckle was made of copper with a very smooth surface. Looking at this buckle, Mu Nan’s heart gradually sank.

Because this copper buckle perfectly reflected the scene behind Cheng Han. In other words, his entire process of raising his hand to ambush Cheng Han had been completely visible to Cheng Han.

“You knew all along?!” Mu Nan couldn’t help shouting.

“Mm.” Cheng Han raised his eyebrows.

Mu Nan didn’t know how to respond for a moment. “You knew all along! Then why did you still…?”

Seeing he couldn’t defend himself, he turned toward the two women in desperation: “Aren’t you supposed to have turned into ghosts already? Why did you expose me!”

Duan Shi looked completely bewildered: “When did we become ghosts? How come we don’t know about it ourselves?”

Mu Nan became incoherent with anxiety: “Last night’s scream, and I have two accomplices…”

But as he spoke, his voice came to an abrupt halt.

He seemed to have forgotten one possibility all along. Cui Zhixing and Du Ling were his two companions.

He had been trapped in a preconceived notion the whole time. The first person he saw this morning was Du Ling, and Du Ling and Cui Zhixing vouched for each other that they didn’t make the scream, so he naturally assumed the ghosts were among Ai Qianqian and Duan Shi.

Now it seemed the only possibility was that Cui Zhixing and Du Ling were the two who had already become ghosts.

And he himself had been doing useless work all day.

Cheng Han seemed to see right through what he was thinking. He said lightly: “The bathroom.”

“The bathroom?” Mu Nan suddenly understood. Last night before sleep, the butler had asked who else needed to use the bathroom, and only Cui Zhixing had gone. He must have been transformed into a ghost then.

“You… you… you knew all along?” Mu Nan looked at Cheng Han in disbelief.

Cheng Han neither confirmed nor denied, but said to Ai Qianqian and Duan Shi: “You two go up first. I just locked Cui Zhixing in the study. If you can find Du Ling and lock her up too, that would be best. If not, just avoid her.”

“What about me?” Mu Nan panicked. “You’re not going to lock me up here, are you?”

Cheng Han said nothing, apparently having this intention.

He became anxious, knowing that if he was locked up here alone, he would be scared to death. His voice immediately took on a crying tone: “No, Cheng Han, no. Can you lock me up somewhere else? I’ll really be scared to death here.”

Cheng Han sighed: “The basement or the attic – choose one.”

“The attic! The attic!!” Mu Nan immediately shouted. “Anywhere but the basement!”

“Alright.” Mu Nan was led by Cheng Han all the way to the attic. The attic wasn’t as gloomy as the basement, had no nauseating smells, and even had a small skylight that let in light.

The only thing that was out of place was a black lacquered coffin sitting right in the center of the attic, adding an eerie touch to the otherwise normal environment.

But after experiencing so many episodes of thrills, Mu Nan was no longer frightened by a closed coffin. He let Cheng Han take out prop handcuffs and chain him to a chair.

“Bye then?” Watching Cheng Han’s departing figure, Mu Nan actually wiggled his movable fingers at him.

Cheng Han: …

“Wait!” Mu Nan called out again.

“What else?” Cheng Han asked.

“Um, you’ll come get me, right? After you succeed?” Mu Nan looked so pitiful that Cheng Han could only nod helplessly.

Now Mu Nan felt relieved.

Mu Nan looked around. Cheng Han had kindly placed him in an armchair with armrests. Having nothing to do, he simply leaned back and began to rest peacefully.

Unexpectedly, after a day of struggling, he actually fell asleep, and quite soundly too, without any anxiety or urgency about being trapped.

He was awakened by some noise.

The sky had turned completely dark, and the shackles on his hands had been removed. He raised his hand to stretch but hit something with a clang.

Mu Nan reached out and pushed twice – there was actually a board above his body. He groped left and right – there were boards on both sides too.

Only then did he realize that this wasn’t darkness at all. He had been put into a box.

He suddenly remembered the black lacquered coffin that had been placed in the room.

“Ahahaha.” He heard sinister laughter through the coffin. “Since none of them will accompany me, then you can accompany me to hell.”

Mu Nan’s hair stood on end, and then he heard rhythmic hammering sounds from outside the box.

His not-quite-awake brain took a while to process this –

This was the sound of the coffin being nailed shut.

In an instant, he was scared out of his wits and pounded the coffin lid above his head with all his strength:

“Help! Let me out!!!”