Chapter 59: Return

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"Hey, what are you looking at?"

Charlize's first sight upon opening her eyes was Christian's face, and it was very close. Christian seemed to be searching for something on her face.

"Nothing," Charlize replied.

Christian quickly turned away and settled back into her seat.

"Just woke up", Christian said.

For some reason, Charlize felt relieved but also a tinge of regret.

Charlize shifted his gaze away from Christian and looked into the distance. They were in a moderately sized screening hall filled with spectators. The dim projection light illuminated the big screen displaying the credits for the just-concluded movie.

"So, we're back", Charlize remarked.

Christian nodded, sharing in the surreal feeling.

"Yeah, we're back."

"Why does it feel like it's been almost five days since the movie started?" Charlize wondered.

"It's just your imagination. The immersive nature of the painted wall can make time feel disjointed" Christian explained.

"Oh, I see" Charlize replied, rubbing his forehead as if hoping to clear his thoughts.

"About that Ghost tiger"

"We've captured it," Christian interrupted, holding up a bottle in his hand.

"This is the bottle you asked me to bring?"

Charlize was still trying to make sense of everything.

"The bottle used to seal Alexis?" he clarified.

Christian nodded, "That's right. Just as I planned, Wei Changhui, after escaping the painted wall's seal, entered this bottle without suspicion."

"What?" Charlize exclaimed.

However, Christian's version of events was not entirely accurate. The bottle was part of 'Wei Changhui' capture plan as well, just as the trap he used to ensnare Alexis was. He had created a simple dream within the bottle, a reproduction of Vinales Valley, the place they had filmed earlier. This dream was connected to the world he had constructed with the wall-painting spell. As their consciousness transitioned back from that world, they would inevitably pass through this dream world.

Christian, as the creator, was well aware of the distinction between the dream and the wall-painting world and would not be ensnared. Charlize, on the other hand, had been in a movie theatre before Christian brought her into the world of "Wrong Turn". She only needed to break free from the movie theatre's illusion to realize she was not in the real world.

But Wei Changhui, after breaking free from the chaotic void, had been entrapped subconsciously, thinking he was safe upon seeing the Vinales Valley's scenery. Wei Changhui had fallen into the dream that Christian had prepared for him, and this was Christian's final trap, a powerful one at that. Even a villain, when in a place they consider "home," can lower their guard.

"So, you caught that powerful Ghost tiger like this?" Charlize asked incredulously.

"Is it really that simple? Just like Alexis back then?" she added.

Christian nodded and didn't seem to mind if Alexis, who was attached to Charlize, overheard their conversation.

"What do you plan to do with this bottle?" Charlize inquired, looking at it with a hint of fear as if it were a dangerous weapon.

"Wei Changhui is sealed within this bottle, containing what you might call his soul and consciousness," Christian explained.

He shook the bottle as if trying to provoke a reaction from the sealed Wei Changhui, but nothing changed inside the bottle; the ants continued their diligent work.

"In this state, he's not much different from an ordinary ghost. I could simply walk to a crossroads and smash the bottle to make him disappear. However, to prevent him from regaining his full power, we need to make some preparations."

"Regaining his strength?"

"Yes"

Christian rapped the bottle's wall and explained, "What's sealed in here is only Wei Changhui's consciousness and soul. His body and most of his powers weren't brought into the world of 'Wrong Turn' by him. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to defeat him at all. So when we break the sealed bottle, he might vanish directly, or he might make a comeback."

"So, it's best to locate and neutralize his remaining power before smashing the bottle, reducing the options to just one," Charlize quickly grasped Christian's plan.

"Is this what you mean by 'making preparations'?" she asked.

"Yes, it's foolproof," Christian affirmed, then changed the subject abruptly, saying, "Sally, come over to my place tonight"

***************

"Could you let me stay at your place tonight?" Rajesh pleaded pitifully at Howard, who looked at him as though he were a large, puppy yearning for a treat.

"Don't you have somewhere to stay?" Howard inquired, noting that this puppy was a bit oversized, and he wasn't particularly fond of dogs.

"But I'm a little freaked out after watching that movie" Rajesh continued to play the cute card, but Howard was getting intrigued.

"Fine, come over if you want to stay. Just don't mind my mother's loud voice," Howard consented.

"That's not a problem; I like women with loud voices. My mom used to yell at my dad like that"

"Are you sure they're not a couple?" Emily wondered as she watched Rajesh and Howard, who were already getting cozy, not too far away. She looked at Sheldon, who seemed as alien as ever, and finally decided to ask Leonard beside her.

"As far as I know, not really, but" Leonard glanced at the two once more.

"I never asked, and they never said."

"Hmm..." Emily regarded the pair with increasingly curious eyes.

By this time, the second screening of "Wrong Turn" had ended. After watching the hidden story, the four friends left the theatre with Emily. Although their initial encounter hadn't been pleasant, the five had become close friends after experiencing this unique horror movie.

Of course, this was particularly true for the four, given that they didn't have many friends to begin with, and adding even one more friend felt like a significant gain.

"But how did they achieve the ghostly effects in the movie?" Emily continued to ponder.

"I've never seen a film where the visuals change so rapidly in just a split second," she added.

"This might be a result of exploiting our visual blind spots to deceive our eyes," Sheldon, who had been silent until now, chimed in. A triumphant look on his face indicated that he had cracked a part of the mystery.