Chapter 9: Exploring the Exit of the Dense Forest

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Qian Cangyi stood at the exit, assigned to Exit No. 2. Before each of the other four exits stood an actor as well. In a few seconds, they would all step onto the path ahead together.

"I'm off!" the Wise Star shouted.

Qian Cangyi glanced left and right, noticing the other actors had already entered. He then stepped forward with his right foot.

Entering the dense forest again, this time the sensation was entirely different from the previous two occasions; a faint but persistent fear began to grow within him.

Walking alone through the eerie woods, he imagined a monster or some unknown wild beast could leap out from either side of the path at any moment.

“Is the second movie already this difficult?”

Recalling the circumstances of the last film, his anxiety deepened.

He couldn’t help but quicken his pace.

Suddenly, faint voices of discussion emerged from deep within the forest. The sound was soft and hard to discern, but definitely there.

Qian Cangyi focused intently, trying to locate the source by following the voices. However, the direction seemed to shift—sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, and even occasionally seeming to come from below. It was impossible to pinpoint.

The only change was that the discussion gradually turned into an argument, growing increasingly heated.

Qian Cangyi pressed forward; the quarrel grew louder.

“Yan Ruoxuan, why won’t you speak? We’re all going to die here!”

Startled, Qian Cangyi recognized the voice—it was his own. But he quickly realized it wasn’t actually him speaking, but rather Mo An, the character he portrayed.

“Mo An, I told you, I don’t know what’s going on!”

A soft voice followed—this was Yan Ruoxuan, portrayed by Rou Guang.

“Stop arguing.”

A quiet, aggrieved, and weak voice sounded—this was Duan Ling, played by Ning Jing.

Perhaps the group of five from Hefang Island were discussing how to escape the forest.

Qian Cangyi maintained his pace, his expression tense, his focus sharpened.

“At least you should tell us what the hell this place really is!”

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Angered, Mo An cursed outright.

“Mo An, say that again if you dare!”

“Alright, alright, stop fighting. Arguing won’t solve anything. I’m telling you, Yan Ruoxuan, is it really so hard to tell us what this place is?”

“He Hongxin, don’t act like a peacemaker while standing with Mo An. Do you think I care about you?”

“Uh... Duan Ling isn’t feeling well; she’s about to faint.”

Then came a burst of noisy voices.

Qian Cangyi felt speechless. Even now, Yan Ruoxuan still refused to reveal anything about Hefang Island.

At the same time, he felt a twinge of sympathy for Rou Guang, who had to play such a detestable character.

People naturally empathize; even though the actors were rational, it was hard not to accidentally associate Yan Ruoxuan with Rou Guang’s identity, since their voices and faces were identical.

“Could it be that Yan Ruoxuan herself doesn’t know? Was she deceived? Or is there another reason she won’t say?”

Qian Cangyi had no idea which was true. But he knew he had to hurry, because... hunger was returning once more.

The quarrel abruptly ceased and did not resume.

Soon, the forest opened onto a familiar clearing, where tents came into view.

Qian Cangyi returned to the open space and first checked the markers he had left—four pieces of torn paper weighed down by soil.

The scraps were ordinary, but their arrangement was not. He had used the length and width of his notebook as a reference, slightly reducing the spacing.

Unless the entire set was moved, it would be very difficult to replicate perfectly.

Because the shape, orientation, and relative positions of the scraps were all recorded in Qian Cangyi’s notebook.

“Cangyi, you’re the first,” the Wise Star called out loudly.

Qian Cangyi turned and saw Wise Star picking his nose with his left index finger. He spoke,

“I heard arguing in the forest. It was Yan Ruoxuan and Mo An.”

Wise Star nodded but said nothing.

“You heard it too?” Rou Guang had also returned to the clearing.

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Qian Cangyi looked around and saw that Xiao Tian and Ning Jing had arrived as well, walking one after the other along the same path.

The five gathered again by the pattern chart.

“Report your routes,” Wise Star said, holding a twig in his right hand as he drew their paths.

After a few minutes, Wise Star had sorted all the routes.

“Enough chatter. Basically, each path corresponds to another, except for one exception: the route leading to the yellow tent—No. 3 road. No matter how you travel, you can’t get back to the clearing by this path,” Wise Star said, turning to face the yellow tent.

Qian Cangyi glanced toward the exit facing the yellow tent, feeling a bit less worried.

“Then let’s go!” Rou Guang could no longer wait and turned to leave.

“Wait,” Xiao Tian called after Rou Guang. “Did you hear the argument between Yan Ruoxuan and the others in the forest?”

“Oh,” Rou Guang gently tapped his left palm with his right hand. “I almost forgot. Yes, I heard it. Cangyi and the others did too.”

“Let’s all share what we heard. Maybe each person caught something different,” Ning Jing suggested, her voice tinged with excitement.

Each of them spoke a few sentences, quickly piecing together the quarrel’s full picture.

The arguments in the forest were not identical—though all quarrelsome, the details differed.

Qian Cangyi heard the dispute between Mo An and Yan Ruoxuan, followed by He Hongxin’s attempts to mediate, and then Zhang Sibo reporting that Duan Ling had fainted, after which the argument abruptly ended.

Xiao Tian’s version was slightly different. He heard a quarrel between He Hongxin and Yan Ruoxuan, which escalated into a physical fight. Considering their size difference, it was mostly one-sided, with the other three trying to break it up.

As the actor playing Yan Ruoxuan, Rou Guang’s account differed yet again. The argument was still between Yan Ruoxuan and Mo An, but the cause wasn’t about Hefang Island—instead, Yan Ruoxuan vented her anger on Zhang Sibo, who was timid and offered no resistance. Mo An couldn’t stand this and argued with Yan Ruoxuan. However, toward the end, their quarrel circled back to Hefang Island.

Ning Jing and Wise Star, playing Duan Ling and Zhang Sibo, respectively, heard arguments centering on Yan Ruoxuan, Mo An, and He Hongxin—not involving their own characters.

“Could it be that we are hearing different stages of the argument?” Rou Guang’s expression turned serious.

“Or maybe arguments from different groups,” Wise Star added.

“The rift just got even wider!” At that moment, Qian Cangyi noticed another troubling matter.