October 15
Today happened to be Saturday, the day the second episode of Horror Escape aired.
Feng Qian should have been excited to watch, but just thinking about what happened in the previous episode killed her enthusiasm, and she deflated.
To be honest, she was a fan of Fu Qingli.
The first time she noticed the girl was when Fu Qingli starred in her first drama. The eighteen-year-old girl, just starting, had a face full of youthful collagen that perfectly matched everyone’s image of a school goddess. She truly amazed many people at the time.
Since then, Feng Qian has followed this girl.
Coincidentally, the dramas she liked always featured Fu Qingli in some role.
Each character was different, but none of them ever made her feel out of place.
As she became more of a fan, she started searching for Fu Qingli’s variety shows and suddenly realized that the girl seemed to exist only in the world of TV dramas—there was no trace of her in real life.
This focused, career-driven girl completely won Feng Qian over. She followed her on Weibo, occasionally leaving comments and interacting with her.
Then, a year ago, it was revealed that Fu Qingli had married into a wealthy family.
At first, Feng Qian was a little disappointed, but when she saw the man Fu Qingli had married, she felt that they must truly be in love. She even saw marketing accounts posting provocative articles, but she would always step in to refute those keyboard warriors accusing Fu Qingli of being materialistic.
Recently, she heard that Fu Qingli would be joining Horror Escape, and she was thrilled. It felt like a character from an anime had broken through into the real world.
Was this sister going to rise to fame?
Who would believe that despite marrying into wealth, her situation seemed even more challenging than before?
At that time, many people still didn’t know Fu Qingli, but once her picture appeared on the official blog, people immediately recognized her:
- “I’ve seen this girl before!”
- “Ah, I know her!”
- “She’s the one who played XX!”
Feng Qian was genuinely happy for her. Whenever someone mentioned her marriage to a wealthy family, she quickly jumped in to defend herself, afraid that if she waited too long, the people who had positive feelings toward her would stop paying attention.
Finally, seven days ago, Horror Escape aired.
Feng Qian eagerly opened the live stream, only to see a weak character who could only scream and cry in fear.
The lights went out, and she screamed in terror.
Occasionally, dolls appeared, and she immediately crouched on the ground, completely frozen.
When it came time to walk through a pitch-black corridor to leave, she even clung to a pillar, refusing to move.
What was someone like her doing on Horror Escape?!
Had she changed so much just to become famous?
Despite Feng Qian not wanting to believe it, the horrible scene from that episode left her with no choice but to admit that Fu Qingli hadn’t considered her abilities and had joined a show that wasn’t suited for her.
As a fan, Feng Qian felt deeply disappointed. The escape games were one of her favorite shows, and now, even though the other three participants performed well, she didn’t want to watch anymore.
Another Saturday came around. Feng Qian had the day off and was bored, scrolling through short videos in her shared apartment, when suddenly she heard laughter from the room next door:
“Hahaha… this is so funny!”
“Wow!”
There were several loud exclamations. Unable to resist, Feng Qian called out, “What are you watching? Why is it so funny? Recommend it to me?”
Her roommate, still laughing, replied, “Hahaha, it’s Horror Escape! But I’m watching the short video clips. Want to see? I’ll send it to you.”
Feng Qian immediately shook her head. “No thanks.”
No matter how funny it was, just thinking about what Fu Qingli did in the show made her unable to laugh. This was the girl she had placed so much hope in, and the blow had been so big that it made her too embarrassed to watch the show anymore. She didn’t even know where to look, feeling secondhand embarrassment.
“Such a pity, it’s really funny…” Her roommate said one more time, then continued watching the video without saying anything else.
Feng Qian pouted and kept scrolling through videos.
Suddenly, a video appeared in night vision mode. She froze for a moment, looking at the words “Horror Escape” at the top. She hesitated, not immediately swiping away.
In a bright setting, three people were lining up to enter a room. Just as the door opened, the lights suddenly went out, and the guests started panicking.
Feng Qian’s breath caught, a little scared, but it was fine. Then, she heard a haunting voice.
She took a deep breath, ready to swipe away, but then saw a few words floating across the screen:
“High energy ahead, please put down your snacks, drinks, and mineral water!”
She hesitated but didn’t swipe away. She kept watching, then saw Xiang Yifei, in a panic, saying that someone had touched him, successfully scaring the other guests so much that their voices trembled. She kept her eyes fixed on the screen, worried something might go wrong.
Then—click—the lights turned on, and the screams abruptly stopped. The most frightened one, Fu Qingli, was leaning against the door, her hand just having moved away from the switch, weakly replying, “…It was me.”
Feng Qian: “???” A few seconds later, she collapsed laughing on the bed, “What the heck! Hahaha…”
As she rolled around on the bed, her eyes still glued to the screen, she realized the person who had done it was Fu Qingli!
A wave of excitement washed over her, like a parent who hadn’t expected much from their child, only to see them come home with a perfect score. She felt a sense of relief mixed with disbelief.
She glanced to the right and saw over 500,000 likes! There were more than 200,000 comments and countless shares. This number was incredible, not just for an unknown actress like Fu Qingli, but for anyone—completely unexpected!
Feng Qian opened the comments section, and the top comment read:
“Fu Qingli: I’m the little genius who turned the lights on!”
“Holy crap, I thought an NPC was playing a ghost!”
“I was about to complain, but I have to give credit where it’s due! A few days ago, I thought she was helpless, but now, she’s holding her ground!”
“Fu Qingli is way more hardworking than I imagined. Last time, she was so scared, but this time, she faced her fear and didn’t drag anyone down. If I had her determination, I’d have passed my civil service exam already…”
“Sister, you’re amazing! So awesome!”
Feng Qian smiled with satisfaction, reading through all the comments. There were very few negative ones—most were praises for Fu Qingli, making her even happier.
She also learned a lot about the live broadcast from the comments.
At that point, when Feng Qian rewatched the video, now back in the pitch-black environment, she wasn’t scared at all. It was great. If it weren’t for this moment, she never would have known just how much effort Fu Qingli had put in!
After finishing the video, she didn’t keep scrolling but instead exited the short video app, opened the banana video app, and found Horror Escape to watch.
As she watched, she laughed out loud, just like her roommate next door.
That evening, Qingli and Meng Ke’s group had a meal together.
After two rounds of recording, she had been a drag in the first one, but in the second, she greatly improved their efficiency, managing to find the light switches multiple times and even helping with solving puzzles in the lit environment. Her role wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t insignificant either.
Because of this, everyone had a much better attitude toward her. Not only did they exchange contact information, but they also gave her advice on how to do well in variety shows.
On the way back to the hotel, Zheng Yue continued talking: “Don’t be fooled by their lack of big names—they have way more influence than most so-called popular stars. Build good relationships, and you’ll benefit in the future.”
“I know!” Qingli laughed, looking at her as she kept rambling. “How come I never heard you nag like this before?”
Zheng Yue replied naturally, “I never thought you were worth helping before.”
It was a little bittersweet. Although Fu Qingli was a decent actress, aside from a few important roles at the start of her career, most of her characters had been minor ones. She was shy and didn’t enjoy socializing, so even when working with the same crew, she couldn’t build any meaningful relationships.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152