Chapter 608: Chapter 376: “Wedding Dress” Released

Shanghai, Hua Country!

In a cinema at Wanda Square, seizing the opportunity of a midnight showing, Jia Changxu arrived alone.

As a well-known film critic and a movie explanation blogger with over eight million followers across the network, Jia Changxu naturally would not ignore “Wedding Dress,” a film produced by the Jieke Group and promoted extensively as the “Number One Horror Movie in the World.”

Besides, he hadn’t been paid, not because he was above it, but because Jieke Group hadn’t approached him.

Jia Changxu, who considered himself to have seen countless films, saw Jieke Group’s first film production as a huge gimmick. He was curious to see what Jieke Group was capable of, especially since they didn’t bother to pay him to wave their flag–quite an oversight.

Yes, in Jia Changxu’s view, Jieke Group making a movie was just a publicity stunt.

After collecting his ticket from a self-service machine and while waiting for the movie to start, Jia Changxu noticed that there were quite a few people there to see “Wedding Dress.”

Curious, he interviewed some of them and learned that most had come because of Jieke Group’s reputation. Some were curious about how Jieke Group’s ghost movies differed from domestic ones, since it was impossible for real ghosts to appear in Hua Country’s horror films. The rest had just casually chosen “Wedding Dress” as a way to pass the time.

The brief interviews ended, and it was time to enter the theater for “Wedding Dress.”

As he lined up at the entrance holding his ticket, a considerate cinema employee asked, “Sir, ‘Wedding Dress’ is a 3D movie. Would you like to wear the regular 3D glasses, or our special Hundred Ghosts 3D Glasses?”

Jia Changxu was surprised and asked, “Hundred Ghosts 3D Glasses, what’s the difference?”

“These glasses are provided for free by the Jieke Group. They’re said to offer a more realistic viewing experience, but they will slightly increase the horror level. I wonder which one you would choose?”

“All this mystique – I’ve seen every horror film there is. Let’s go for the Hundred Ghosts 3D Glasses. I’m eager to see what new tricks Jieke Group can pull off.”

Jia Changxu made his choice without hesitation, his face full of disdain.

“Sir, I recommend you choose the regular 3D glasses. Having knowledge of Jieke Group’s expertise in creating horror, they have some unbelievably advanced technology.”

In front of Jia Changxu, a woman with a graceful figure and delicate features turned around to kindly offer this advice. She too held a pair of Hundred Ghosts 3D Glasses in her hand.

“How terrifying could it be, if even you, a woman, dare to use it? Am I supposed to be scared?”

Jia Changxu, not appreciating the advice, spoke quite relaxedly.

“Okay, as long as you’re happy.”

Shen Xueqing shook her head. If there had been regular visitors of Nightmare Park there, they would immediately recognize the beautiful woman as the top scorer in Nightmare Park, the one with the most Ghost House passes and currently the only player to have successfully conquered the Nightmare Level Ghost House.

In fact, after receiving the Hundred Ghosts 3D Glasses, Shen Xueqing felt a sense of deja vu; they were very similar to the AI glasses she often wore in Nightmare Park.

Shen Xueqing believed that if Jieke Group could create a ghost house as realistic as Nightmare Park, their horror films would definitely be extraordinary. Therefore, she came to watch as soon as the movie was released.

The two entered the cinema and, coincidentally, their seats were right next to each other.

“Uncle, quite the coincidence, huh!”

Shen Xueqing greeted him friendly.

“You, a girl, came alone to watch a horror movie?”

Jia Changxu glanced at Shen Xueqing before adding, “And also, I’m not an uncle. I’m only 26 this year.”

“Oh, sorry, I couldn’t tell. I thought you were about the same age as my dad.”

Shen Xueqing looked at his unkempt beard, a face no one would doubt belonged to a forty-year-old uncle, and made a small complaint.

“The movie is starting!”

Jia Changxu, slightly annoyed, interrupted Shen Xueqing and then took out his notebook to record his impressions of the film.

The lights in the cinema gradually dimmed, and the screen brightened accordingly.

All the spectators shifted their focus to the screen. Shen Xueqing, holding a bucket of popcorn, nibbled on it bit by bit until the title “Wedding Dress” appeared in bloody letters, marking the official start of the plot.

The tone presented was somewhat gloomy. Jia Changxu, wearing the Hundred Ghosts 3D Glasses, let out a light yelp, feeling that these glasses were a bit too realistic, surpassing any regular 3D glasses he had used before.

However, Jia Changxu didn’t think much of it, assuming Jieke Group had just upgraded their 3D glasses slightly, and concentrated his attention on the movie.

The first scene depicted in the movie was a young female student hanging herself.

Her body dangled from the branches of a lakeside willow, her feet dipping into the water, the placid surface of the lake spotted with floating dead fish; a prolonged police siren wailed, and a large number of officers were nearby on alert.

Through dialogue between the characters, Jia Changxu understood that the police were investigating this case, but seeing the multitude of special forces on site, he felt it was a bit of an overreaction.

“It doesn’t make sense, it’s not some heinous crime, how could they deploy hundreds of SWAT officers? As if police resources cost nothing,” he complained.

Jia Changxu was griping when suddenly as the camera zoomed out, a small boat appeared on the surface of the lake. It seemed like a salvage team clad in full diving gear suddenly plunged into the water, and the camera followed them beneath the surface.

On the screen, one corpse after another appeared in view, looking like lotus roots growing out of the mud, their feet stuck in the sludge, bodies swollen and pale, and their hair floating like seaweed — all of them dressed in school uniforms, numbering in the dozens.

The scene was captured with such impact that Jia Changxu felt his breath catch.

He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he felt that some of those floating corpses, with unblinking deathly eyes, seemed to be faintly staring at him, sending a chill down his spine. Just when he tried to see clearly, the scene on the screen had already changed.

“Feels a bit colder now.”

He subconsciously touched his neck, saying so.

As the plot continued to unfold, it turned out that these corpses in the lake were all students from a high school, who had come here for a weekend wilderness cookout and then went missing collectively.

At the same time, a tomb raiding incident had occurred nearby a week earlier.

In the movie, the police began investigating this drowning case and, upon examining the bodies found in the lake, discovered that they had all died from dehydration — paradoxically, they died of dehydration in the water.

Moreover, only 41 bodies were found at the scene, while the total number of people who came for the outing, upon investigation, was 49, meaning that eight people had vanished without a trace.

The police suspected that these eight missing students were of significant interest and began searching for them.

The camera then shifted to focus on those missing students.

The plot kept unfolding; the male protagonist was a righteous police officer investigating the case, whereas the female protagonist was one of the missing female students. After much effort, the male lead finally found her and attempted to uncover the truth. Despite the female lead’s story of the fierce ghost’s mischief and her presentation of the clues she had gathered, the male police officer did not believe her.

Those students who had escaped exhibited various reactions; some went mad, some fled abroad, others holed up in their rooms, too scared to leave.

Then the fierce ghost killed again.

Seeing the plot unfolding on the screen, Jia Changxu finally perked up.

It was about a male student who had fled to another country. His family was wealthy, enabling him to study abroad and hire many bodyguards.

“Finally, the main course,” he said.

Jia Changxu watched the screen intently. In the scene, on a night when rain poured heavily, inside a mansion, there was no usual startling horror. Only the kitchen faucet, not fully turned off, dripping, tapping out a rhythm.

Somehow, with the rhythm of the dripping water, a bone-chilling coldness crept into Jia Changxu’s heart, making him involuntarily tense up. Although not a ghostly figure was yet in sight, an atmosphere of fear had already arisen spontaneously.

In the movie, the male student was oblivious, chatting on the phone with his parents, who mentioned that they were taking him to church the next day for a baptism with holy water, chatting happily, when suddenly he noticed water trails flowing in from outside, gradually spreading to his feet.

“Where is the leak coming from?”

The male student shouted, but the entire mansion was eerily silent, with no response.

As the male student walked out of the room on the wet traces, he was horrified to see that the mansion’s servants, bodyguards, including his large, fierce dog, had all vanished.

“She’s come… she’s come for me…”

The male student in the movie’s pupils dilated as he looked out the window and saw a red silhouette. The moonlight cast a long shadow, and through the window, it was indistinct; it might just have been the shadow of a red plastic bag. However, the sinister eerie sensation was palpable even through the screen, causing everyone watching to break out in dense goosebumps.

While the male student’s parents were still anxiously inquiring on the phone, after he uttered that sentence, a lightning bolt struck outside, and the rampantly flowing water on the floor illuminated his pallid face.

His orifices uncontrollably oozed murky water, dark strands of hair emerging from them.

The male student collapsed into the water, motionless. The camera then shifted to the outside of the mansion, where in the swimming pool, several bodyguards, servants, and nannies lay at the bottom, all their pores sprouting hair-like parasitic filaments, undulating in the water.

“This atmosphere and special effects feel so real, typical of horror films, though the plot is a bit deliberately obscure. If I were directing…”

Jia Changxu was writing something on a notebook when suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he abruptly noticed some watery traces on his shoes.

“What… Where’s this water from?”

Jia Changxu bent down to look, but it was this very movement that allowed him to see strands of hair sticking to his shoes, writhing as if alive.

Jia Changxu’s expression froze, a cold shiver racing from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull, his heart almost leaping out of his throat. He remained stunned for several seconds before reacting, abruptly jumping up from the chair as if a spring were installed under him.

“Ghost!!!”

His cry, heart-rending and desperate, made everyone turn their heads. The spectacle was not unique to Jia Changxu alone; quite a few other spectators wearing Hundred Ghosts 3D Glasses had the same ghostly expression.

And while the other spectators were also frightened, their symptoms were clearly much milder.