"Miss Mo, how long does it typically take for a cursed object to trigger the revival of its curse?"
"This is difficult to determine, as there are too few precedents to draw from. However, Julian has demonstrated that if the actor holding a cursed object dies, the curse's influence will gradually weaken. Even so, the object must not remain visible in the film's frame for long; it must be hidden away."
Nathan's words were still vivid in Allen's mind.
Fortunately, he now had an ample supply of redemption tokens.
With less than thirty minutes remaining, he could only use the final soul-binding talisman, as the high heels remained off-limits for now. He couldn't afford to wait until the thirty minutes passed—by then, the curse might very well have awakened.
He descended the stone steps of the basement, the oppressive darkness closing in around him, forcing him to rely on his phone for light. The narrow corridor ahead seemed suffused with an air of malice. He could not afford to slow his pace and hastened towards the basement.
He could have brought Cheryl along, but she would likely think he was hoarding the severed finger and dragging her into this perilous venture just to earn more redemption tokens. Cheryl was already jumpy, and there was no time to explain. Besides, he couldn't afford to risk losing precious moments. With only one talisman, he wasn't certain he could survive, but if the vengeful spirit of the severed finger were to be revived, the entire horror film would surely end in total annihilation! Donna's incredible life-saving abilities were a poor comparison—her survival could not serve as a model for this situation.
The darkness of the basement was chilling, the atmosphere oppressive and full of dread. Alone with nothing but his phone to illuminate the way, Allen searched for the severed finger, but found nothing.
Turning the corner, he saw the basement room ahead.
He reached into his pocket and gripped the talisman tightly. When it came to life-saving abilities, the talisman was far inferior to the high heels. The talisman could only delay death for a moment, while the high heels could sustain the curse's effect for a period of time. Yet, Allen was still puzzled as to why the talisman's power had weakened previously...
There couldn't possibly be a problem, could there?
He turned the corner and aimed his phone's screen forward.
Wu Jun's lifeless body lay plainly in view, but as he surveyed the area...
He still couldn't find the severed finger!
Was it not here? Then where could it be?
Or perhaps... had the curse already revived? After all, ten minutes had already passed, far too long.
No... it hadn't just been ten minutes!
Allen's hand, gripping the phone, trembled with growing unease. Wu Jun's body was right there, but the severed finger was nowhere to be found...
Hank was dead too...
Allen clutched the talisman in his pocket, his eyes frantically scanning the darkness with the phone's light, dreading the sudden appearance of a ghastly, vengeful spirit.
He couldn't...
He must not...
If that were truly the case, Allen's chances of survival would be almost nonexistent. Even with over six hundred redemption tokens, they would scarcely be enough to keep him alive!
He still had to return to the real world, to see his parents again! He could not die here!
He could not!
His teeth were nearly biting through his lips from the tension. Now, for Allen, the question was whether to retreat or continue searching for the severed finger. Could it be...
The severed finger was behind Wu Jun's body?
Allen slowly approached Wu Jun's lifeless form, crouching down. His right hand remained buried in his pocket, while his left extended toward the body, preparing to move it.
However, a hand suddenly shot out from behind Wu Jun, grasping for Allen's throat!
Allen swiftly drew out the soul-binding talisman and pressed it against the hand!
The hand immediately recoiled, disappearing back into the darkness behind Wu Jun's body!
Wu Jun's corpse crumpled to the ground. Allen shone his phone light at the spot where the hand had been... but there was no one there.
The hand... Allen could see it clearly now, with only four fingers—missing the index!
The severed finger... indeed... had revived the vengeful spirit!
His redemption tokens, originally at 658, were now reduced by 150 due to the use of the talisman, leaving him with only 508 tokens!
Allen's body trembled uncontrollably. Despair washed over him like an unstoppable tide!
This was the same situation he had encountered in the film Blood of the Dead! Elsie had narrowly escaped death due to the revival of a cursed object's curse. Were it not for the lead actress, Donna, that horror film would surely have ended in total annihilation!
And now, with less than thirty minutes remaining, the talisman had already been used up. Allen... could no longer rely on the high heels! If he attempted to use them, the curse would fully awaken, and the vengeful spirit of the woman who had been murdered with those heels would be resurrected in this horror film! In that case, even the faintest hope of survival would be entirely extinguished!
The only way he could escape was to make his way to Cheryl! That was his sole remaining option!
Although it felt like an eternity, these thoughts flashed through Allen's mind in an instant. He immediately dashed toward the basement entrance, but as he rounded the corner, he discovered that his phone... had suddenly gone black!
It had been fully charged!
The world around him plunged into pitch darkness!
But there was no other choice—his only hope of survival was to reach Cheryl!
Allen ran desperately!
Just as he was about to turn another corner, he suddenly felt an icy hand seize his right arm with a vice-like grip!
Despair had finally arrived. Allen could no longer escape.
"Help me... save me! Cheryl—"
Allen screamed with all his might, hoping Cheryl would hear him.
In that final moment of hopelessness, the surrounding time seemed to freeze.
Before he could react, his consciousness began to blur. He didn't know how long it had been, but eventually, he began to stir back to awareness.
He found himself in a dark room with Liu Ying. The door in front of him still bore a nearly burned-out talisman affixed to the handle.
NG!
Allen instantly realized, in that life-or-death moment, he had made a critical error—he hadn't shouted "Lu Ze Nan," but had instead called out "Cheryl." This was absolutely unacceptable, and thus, the scene was immediately marked as NG. New actors, especially in their first horror film, often made this mistake, as they typically didn't know the actors' real names.
Of course, this mistake saved his life. However, despite the fact that it was an error leading to the NG, he still had to forfeit three times the redemption tokens as a penalty—450 tokens. Thus, from the original 508, after the deduction, he was left with only 58 tokens! This meant he could no longer use redemption tokens! Moreover, while his venture into the basement to search for the severed finger had been a voluntary risk, he had only survived due to the NG, so no additional tokens would be awarded. After an NG, the deducted tokens wouldn't be returned or reduced for anyone, which was a rule that applied to all—fair enough.
This was Allen's first NG, and he never imagined it would save his life. Had he deliberately caused the NG, the redemption tokens deducted would have been 1500, meaning he would have to bear nearly a thousand tokens in debt! Redemption tokens were not easily earned! Though Allen had gradually accumulated 600 and 500 tokens, each had been hard-won, purchased at the cost of his near-death experiences, using cursed objects. But now? After the NG, he could finally use the high heels again, but... he no longer had enough tokens to do so!
He and Liu Ying pushed the door open and stepped out, finding the world outside brightly lit. Everything... was exactly as it had been at the start of the third act.
The third act began anew.
"Are you alright?"
Hank came running from the opposite side of the hallway.
Yes... it was Hank! After the NG, even the deceased actors could come back to life! Resurrection was an absurd concept, but having witnessed his own head and body severed yet surviving, Allen no longer found it strange.
Still, seeing Hank's body and then watching him return to life brought a strange sense of poignancy.
For Hank, it was nothing short of miraculous. He had thought himself dead, only to find that luck had favored him, granting him the chance to come back to life!
This was his first time truly dying in a horror film! From what he knew, there were four actors who had died and been resurrected after an NG in Cinema of the Thirteenth Degree. One of them had been Julian—he himself had died once! That had happened during the filming of Ghost Festival 2!
At the time, someone had asked Julian what death felt like. But Julian couldn't answer. Hank, too, could offer no explanation. Reflecting on his own death now, it seemed like little more than a dream.
Now, Hank was left with nothing but gratitude. Though he didn't know who had caused the NG, that person had unknowingly saved his life!
It was worth noting that, because Hank had come back to life, the severed finger and the bell were still his possessions. And Cheryl, having paid 50 redemption tokens for the bell, would not see them returned—she could only chalk it up to bad luck.
However, Cheryl didn't seem disheartened. Seeing Hank alive again, standing before him, she felt a great weight lifted. After all, if Hank had truly died, she wouldn't have known what to do. Now that the protagonist had returned, it felt like the balance had been restored. The 50 tokens spent? There was nothing that could be done about that.
With Hank's resurrection, Wu Jun also miraculously came back to life. And so, the third act was reshot. But what would the outcome be after this re-shoot?
Although Allen didn't have enough redemption tokens, if he could survive by taking personal risks, the tokens he earned should offset the debt. As per the current script, he was not supposed to die just yet. But, if the plot were to take an unexpected turn, what would happen then? That, too, was unknown.
Everything was still uncertain.
One by one, the others began to fall asleep in the living room. Allen, though feeling as if sleep was impossible, eventually closed his eyes and drifted into slumber.
When he awoke once more...
How would he decide?
That, too, could only be determined once he was awake.
Yet, in his dream, he found himself plunged into an even more terrifying nightmare. He felt himself being dragged deep into the basement, pulled into that sealed room.
Inside that room was a decayed, horrifying figure—a zombie!
The zombie lunged at Allen, tearing his flesh from his body, one piece at a time...
The nightmare repeated endlessly, and Allen... could only endure the long, harrowing night within this never-ending horror.