Horror Movie Set: This extra is too good at playing the tricks.

Chapter 83 Re-climbing the Cliff

Off-screen, the dilapidated main room exudes a sense of ease.

Lu Dan leaned back in his chair, watching "himself" spring up from the floor in the monitor, a smile playing on his lips.

He gave the observers behind him an OK sign: "This start was perfect."

On the screen, the sunlight was just right.

The new generation of Lu Dan (a derogatory term for a group of people) clearly possesses an inherent drive for action.

He kicked open the doors to both side rooms: "Get up, everyone get up!"

Ye Jianguo, Da Lu, Chen Hua, and Zhang Min were jolted awake from their beds by the shout, staring blankly at the overly energetic director.

"Leaders, don't just stand there." Lu Dan on the screen spoke rapidly, straightening his collar and pushing people out. "The 'census' work can't wait. You go to those two mounds on the back hill and wait for me. I'm going to pay my respects to the village chief. I'll be right there."

Before the others could react, this guy had already swept out of the yard like a gust of wind.

On the threshing ground, the familiar mourning drama was staged once again.

After the whole process was completed, the village chief's old face was beaming with smiles: "Adan, you've become sensible."

"Absolutely. Don't worry, Village Chief, I'll keep an eye on those leaders in the back mountain, and their evaluation of our village will be higher." Lu Dan said with a smile, his mouth full of nonsense.

After saying goodbye to the village chief, he ran all the way to the back mountain.

Four strangers stood staring at each other in front of two lonely graves.

"Thank you for waiting."

Before Lu Dan could catch his breath, his eyes turned deep and unfathomable.

He pointed to the cloud-shrouded mountain peak above him: "The focus of our 'census' work isn't down here, it's up here."

He lowered his voice: "The real 'household registration' is hidden on this mountaintop."

Ye Jianguo and Chen Hua exchanged a glance, feeling that the guide was acting strangely, but the inexplicable meaning made them have no choice but to believe him.

"Let's go up and take a look," Ye Jianguo decided.

The group traversed the rocky forest and arrived at the foot of a precipice.

In front of them were two wooden ladders, weathered by wind and sun, looking like they might fall apart at any moment, leading straight up to the clouds dozens of meters high.

Below the ladder was a bottomless darkness, and above it was an indistinct fog.

"Who would walk on this road if they were a decent person?" Da Lu swallowed hard, his calves trembling slightly.

"The hardest road is the one that leads to the truth."

Lu Dan patted the wooden ladder, testing its stability: "Let's split into groups. Everyone should look out for each other on this kind of dangerous path. Team Leader Ye, you take Sister Zhang Min on the left, Sister Chen Hua, you watch Brother Lu on the right."

Lu Dan took a step back and pulled out a slingshot: "I'll cover the rear and keep an eye out for any disturbances."

No one objected, and they began climbing according to their assigned groups.

The wooden ladder creaked, and as the height increased, the mountain wind became sharp and biting.

Halfway up, the heaviness arrived as expected.

Da Lu was the first to react. He was practically pressed against the ladder, his face turning red and swollen: "Sister Chen, why do I feel a heavy weight on my neck, like I'm carrying a sack of rice?"

Ye Jianguo, on the other side, also paused, his neck veins bulging.

Lu Dan stood below, looking up.

In the hazy fog, he could vaguely make out that Ye Jianguo and Da Lu each had a blurry black shadow riding on their necks.

"Everyone, if you can't carry it, don't force yourself," Lu Dan shouted.

Chen Hua reacted extremely quickly. She gripped the wooden ladder with one hand and deftly drew a baton from her waist with the other, striking Da Lu on the back of the neck with a backhand.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, the dark shadow on Da Lu's neck was shattered, turning into black smoke and dissipating. She then repeated the action, striking the air above her shoulder with a sharp blow.

On the other side, Ye Jianguo was so pressed down that he could hardly breathe, his hands gripping the ladder tightly, unable to free his hands at all.

"Team Leader Ye, bow your head!"

Lu Dan pulled the rubber band open.

"Boom!"

With a whooshing sound, the bullet grazed Ye Jianguo's scalp and struck a wisp of yin energy on his neck.

The shadowy figure winced in pain, letting out a squeal like a mouse, and released its grip.

Zhang Min, however, climbed slowly but gracefully. Her neck was clean and bare.

"Hurry up, don't stop."

Seeing that the danger to the group had passed, Lu Dan grabbed the ladder and began to climb up using both his hands and feet.

But he had only climbed a few meters when the ground beneath his feet suddenly began to boil.

Countless viscous, pitch-black shadows seeped out from the cracks in the rocks, spreading wildly upwards along the wooden ladder at an astonishing speed, instantly rotting and turning the hard wood to ash wherever they passed.

"Holy crap!"

Lu Dan glanced at the relentlessly pursuing black tide beneath his feet, the chilling feeling of impending death sending his adrenaline soaring.

The ladder on his side is corroding very quickly; it looks like it's about to break.

The shadowy figure climbed the shelf next to it a little slower.

"Adan, jump over here!" Ye Jianguo, who had already climbed to the top, shouted back. He and Da Lu, who was next to him, held on tightly to the top of the ladder to prevent it from tipping over.

The two ladders were more than two meters apart, with a deep abyss below.

Lu Dan gritted his teeth. The crossbeam beneath his feet was already crumbling. He was determined to fight! He pushed off suddenly, stretching out in the air and straddling the void.

"Snapped!"

His hands gripped the edge of another ladder tightly, and the huge impact caused the entire ladder to shake violently, almost throwing Ye Jianguo and Da Lu off.

"Gotcha!" Big Lu's fat face trembled as he desperately clung to the ladder.

Lu Dan had just steadied himself and hadn't even had a chance to climb up when a chill gripped his neck.

His last place ranking clearly made him a coveted prize in the eyes of wandering ghosts.

A larger and heavier shadow than the previous ones mounted his neck, trying to drag him into the black tide below.

"Cough cough..."

Lu Dan's vision went black, and the suffocating feeling made him unable to exert any strength. The black tide beneath his feet had already reached above his ankles, and the soles of his shoes made a sizzling, corrosive sound.

Just then, a hand reached down from above.

Chen Hua hung upside down at the top of the ladder, his baton whistling sharply as he swung it down without hesitation, aiming for Lu Dan's head: "Get down here!"

The blow landed squarely, and Lu Dan felt his skull vibrate; the weight on his neck vanished instantly.

With his last breath, Lu Dan exerted force with both hands and suddenly leaped upwards, grabbing Chen Hua's outstretched hand.

With a combined effort, the group pulled Lu Dan up to the mountaintop platform like pulling up a radish.

"Splash!"

The instant Lu Dan's feet left the ladder, the two wooden ladders behind him were completely swallowed by the black tide, turning into black ash that scattered into the abyss.

Five people collapsed onto the gravel ground at the top of the mountain, their chests heaving violently.

"Is this the view you wanted to see?" Da Lu wiped the cold sweat from his face and pointed to the darkness below that swallowed everything.

Lu Dan rolled over, lying on his back, panting heavily to calm his racing heart.

He stretched out his finger and pointed forward: "Don't look behind you, look ahead."

Following his finger, everyone saw an identical village on the other side of the sheer mountain ridge.

There was no sunlight there, only a pale, cold full moon hanging in the dark night sky, with countless white canvases fluttering in the moonlight.

On one side, the blazing sun shines brightly; on the other, the cold moon hangs high, dividing day and night.

The absurd yet spectacular scene was laid bare before everyone's eyes.

Lu Dan got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and gave a meaningful smile: "Welcome to Shuangshan Village."