I stood at the entrance of the cinema, took a selfie with my phone, and sent it to the "Four People for a Lifetime" group.

"Brothers, I'm going to the cinema in my hometown to look for the murderer. If you find out that I'm dead, you must report it to the police. This is the evidence that I've been alive. Also, take care of my mom for me."

Third brother: "?"

Fourth brother: "?"

Eldest brother: "What's gotten into you, Second brother? You went to a desolate place to watch a movie?"

Me: "?"

The eldest brother took a screenshot and sent it to the group.

It's really me, standing in a desolate and uninhabited area.

As far as the eye can see, it's desolate.

I took another photo and sent it again.

Third brother: "Stop acting cool, what's there to show off about in that crappy place?"

Me: "I'm really standing at the entrance of the cinema. If you don't believe me, let's video chat!"

When the group video chat was opened, I felt much more at ease.

Eldest brother: "Are you playing a wilderness survival game?"

Third brother: "You have quite a few players next to you, your village is doing pretty well!"

I pointed to the cinema's entrance: "Can't you see it?"

The three of them stared at me with widened eyes and shook their heads in unison.

Fourth brother: "Raiding the wilderness for fun, your rural village really knows how to play."

They really couldn't see it.

Helplessly, I took out my earphones, put my phone in the pocket of my shirt, and quietly said into the microphone: "You guys help me observe the surroundings, I'm going in now."

Eldest brother: "Live-streaming from a haunted house?"

Third brother: "Go ahead, walk boldly, if there's an ambush, we'll let you know."

Fourth brother: "Hey! It's a game! It's called non-physical simulation gameplay!"

They didn’t know that I had already stepped into the cinema.

Two security guards were patrolling the hallway.

I arrived at the screening hall, and a ticket seller stopped me: "Hello, please pay one yuan for the movie ticket, otherwise, please leave."

The security guards walked towards me aggressively, afraid that I would escape without paying one yuan.

I found a one-yuan coin in my pocket, handed it to the ticket seller, and walked into the screening hall.

As I walked in, I listened to the intermittent voices coming from the earphones.

Eldest brother: "Second brother, what's with those paper people?"

Third brother: "Why did you give a paper person one yuan?"

Fourth brother: "This game is too weird! You shouldn't play it anymore! I saw several paper people floating around!"

My heart sank suddenly: Could it be that all the staff are the paper people I saw in the office last night?

I lowered my voice and said into the microphone: "I'm already inside, keep a close watch and let me know if there's anything strange."

Eldest brother: "Why did it suddenly get dark? Second brother, are you okay?"

Fourth brother: "Your screen turned black!"

Third brother: "We can't hear you speak!"

I immediately took out my cell phone and found that the originally clear screen seemed to be disturbed by some strange force, with snowflakes flashing across it.

Finally, the signal was interrupted.

I took a deep breath and realized that relying on external forces was useless, so I had to rely on myself.

Unlike other cinemas, there would be some sponsor's advertisements before the screening.

At this moment, all kinds of movie names were scrolling on the screen.

"Severing the Dead Romance".

"Resurrected Madhouse".

"The Horror of the Living Wax Figure".

"The Case of the Deep-Sea Giant Swallowing a Person".

"The Heavenly Executioner's Case".

"The Dissection Corpse Monster".

"The Battle Between the Spirit Pen and Sadako for Three Hundred Years".

You could feel the terrifying atmosphere just by reading the names of the movies.

Suddenly, I remembered the "Customer Guide" I saw last night—

【This cinema has been established for a hundred years, with branches in villages all over the country, containing all kinds of movies from around the world for nearly a hundred years. But please do not request horror movies.】

Now, all the movies scrolling on the screen were horror movies!

Wasn't this obviously forcing the customers to break the rules?

Crackling—

As the lights went out, the doors closed, and the screen emitted a crackling sound like electricity.

Then the names of the movies started to scroll rapidly, as if they were being randomly chosen.

The villagers behind me clamored: "Show me a martial arts movie!"

The picture stopped, and several large red characters glared out—

"Cursed Territory".

My heart sank.

As each movie frame was shown, the first five minutes of the movie were normal.

Starting from the sixth minute, the frames started to become bizarre and strange.

The female lead was walking on the street when she was suddenly killed by a flowerpot falling from the sky.

Her head was smashed to pieces and her limbs were twitching reflexively.

Then, an ambulance arrived, and to my surprise, the driver was the big brother from our village?

"The person watching is Liu's grandmother, right?"

"The victim seems to be Xiao Wang's girlfriend!"

"Didn't they die many years ago? When did they make a movie debut?"

"This vengeful spirit is from Zhao's grandpa!"

"How can Mrs. Feng be conducting a body dissection?"

As the plot of the movie progressed, familiar faces appeared on the screen one after another.

I listened to the villagers debating next to me.

The scenes became increasingly abnormal.

More and more people were dying.

The missing people from yesterday were all appearing in the movie?!

All the characters started to collapse.

Suddenly.

I saw my dad!

He still looked the same as yesterday, not even changing his clothes, kneeling at the crossroad, and banging on a bowl.

"Dad!"

I couldn't help but shout.

My dad seemed to hear my call.

He shuddered, slowly turned his head, and stared directly at me outside the screen.

His mouth moved slowly.

He said, "Save me!"

Save! He was my father, and as his son, how could I just stand by and watch? I had to save him!

I stood up abruptly, looking around for something strong and hard. I needed to smash the screen.

Only by destroying it could I save the missing people.

There was nothing in the screening hall except for what I saw written on the corner: Restroom.

I pushed open the door and found an old-fashioned mop stick made of long wood.

"Open up!"

A faint sound came from the stall.

I stopped in my tracks.

"Save me! Open the door quickly!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! — A series of urgent knocking resounded, as if someone was trapped in the toilet and desperately seeking help.

I remembered that the "Customer Guide" had mentioned—

【If you hear a call for help from the restroom, disregard it, it's the special effects of the movie.】

Then, a variety of voices came from the compartment, intertwining like countless wronged souls singing in hell.

"Fire! It's a huge fire!"

"Run quickly! Running for your life is the most important thing!"

"Don't push me!"

"I've been trampled to death!"

"The fire is coming over here! Ah, ah, ah, ah!"

I recalled the paper people and the female monster I saw last night.

I speculated that this was still their conspiracy and trickery.

I couldn't be soft-hearted towards the monsters.

Saving my dad was the most important thing.

I ran into the screening hall quickly, swung the mop stick, and fiercely struck the screen.

In that moment, the movie screen went dark.

I shouted loudly, "Dad! I'm coming to save you!"

The dark screening hall began to stir restlessly.

A smell of burning assailed my nose.

The villagers immediately reacted.

"Where's the fire?!"

"Steel, did you break the wires?"

I shook my head in confusion, "No, it wasn't me."

"Someone caused a fire! It's smoky everywhere!"

"Run quickly! Risking your life for a movie!"

The villagers started to run around in confusion.

Everyone was running around like headless flies, making their way towards the exit.

Bang! Bang! Bang! — Countless hands were pounding the door vigorously.

"Open the door! There's a fire!"

"Hurry up and open the door! Are you trying to burn us to death?!"

I listened to their shouts, while the calls for help from the restroom compartment gradually overlapped.

My brain was running at full speed.

This must be the monsters creating illusions!

I tightly gripped the mop stick and pressed myself against the screen.

If there were any monsters, I was ready to fight to the death.

The smell of smoke became stronger.

Suddenly, a wave of flames surged out from the restroom, like fire snakes heading towards the escaping villagers.

In my mind, I repeated over and over: It's fake! It's an illusion! It's all fake!

The fireball brushed past my feet.

The villagers were devoured by the flames, wailing pitifully.

It turned out that burning humans would emit a peculiar smell like roast pork hair.

I forced myself to stay calm.

I warned myself: Don't believe it! Even the sense of smell is a hallucination created by the monsters!

The fire raged for a full hour.

All the moviegoers had died.

I didn't dare to move a single step.

The screen behind me suddenly lit up.

I turned around and saw the movie frames turn into a scene of a fire disaster.

Burnt buildings sprawled on the ground, and the debris was scattered all over—collapsed roofs, broken bricks, and tiles. The charred corpses lay twisted with distorted and disfigured faces.

Suddenly.

The bodies grimly climbed up.

Their fingers pierced through the screen.

The charred limbs with flesh burnt to a crisp, poked out from the screen.

They crawled towards the charred villagers and opened their mouths wide, feasting on the corpses.

I bit my lip hard, forcing myself not to make a sound.

So, this was the real purpose of the cinema.

What sponsorship for the villagers?

What wealthy boss?

The mountain village cinema was a human hell for breeding monsters.