461. Horror Movie【11/60】
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Even though it was getting late, none of them felt sleepy.
Lin Nan had already taken a nap, while the other three had grown accustomed to staying up late. Chen Yao usually stayed up till after midnight, and Tu Junhui and Xiong Da often played games late into the night, insisting they were young and could sleep just three to five hours a day.
The four of them huddled in Tu Junhui’s room, barefoot, sitting cross-legged on the bed, playing a four-player game of Landlord.
“You can still beat me with fourteen cards?!” Tu Junhui sneered as he glanced at his three bombs, then looked up at Lin Nan, who was hesitating.
“I’ll let you play your hand! If I hadn’t drawn a single card, you three would have been bald by now!”
Lin Nan was silent for a moment, staring at her cards, then suddenly broke into a grin as she tossed down a dozen cards at once, her voice bursting with excitement: “I win!”
“Jet plane! Quick, drink! Drink!” She quickly grabbed a 500ml beer can and handed it to Tu Junhui, “Landlord, chug it!”
Tu Junhui’s face turned dark as he accepted the beer, “Then why did you hesitate for so long?”
“Just putting on a show,” Lin Nan shrugged, casting a pleased glance at Chen Yao, then suddenly turned serious. “You’re not allowed to drink; you promised me!”
“But you proposed that the landlord drink a bottle and the farmers share one if they lose…” Chen Yao reminded carefully.
“Exactly! But you’ve been winning nonstop! Look at me, I’ve won five rounds in a row!”
Chen Yao had no excuse left and sighed, wishing he hadn’t invited Lin Nan to play cards.
Maybe it was the magic of changing her appearance, but Lin Nan felt like her luck had improved considerably ever since becoming a girl.
In this game of Landlord, she didn’t know the strategy or how to count cards, but her luck was off the charts.
Plus, with Tu Junhui always so eager to be the landlord, Lin Nan had been a farmer for five rounds and managed to win every time.
“How about we skip the drinks? We still have class tomorrow afternoon,” Tu Junhui suggested, having already downed five beers. He glanced at the other three leisurely sipping cola and hastily proposed, “How about a game of Truth or Dare? If you lose, you can drink, or share a heartfelt truth or take a dare.”
He had thick skin, and his game made him seem like the ultimate cheater.
Lin Nan thought for a moment, deciding there was no point in playing that since she had no magic to unlock anyway, so she shook her head without hesitation.
She stretched, half lying in Chen Yao’s arms, treating him like a couch. “Let’s not play cards. How about some other activity?”
“How about watching a horror movie?” Xiong Da suddenly suggested.
Lin Nan recalled her performance while watching horror films with her cousins at her grandfather’s house and was about to refuse when she suddenly glanced at Chen Yao.
“Sure!”
Chen Yao looked surprised, “Aren’t you the one who’s most afraid of these things?”
“It’s fine. I’m not as scared if you’re here.”
Mostly, Lin Nan was just curious about horror films. Even though they scared her, she always seemed eager to watch them again afterward, the adrenaline rush being irresistible.
Just like some people who might cover their faces with their hands while watching but still peek between their fingers for that sense of safety.
“Tsk, this unexpected dog food.” Tu Junhui shook his head and got up to prepare the horror movie.
In the past few years, domestic horror films had been slacking as regulations prohibited supernatural elements, but there were still plenty of good foreign horror films.
“What about Saw?”
“That’s more of a thriller, not exactly horror, right?” Xiong Da mumbled as he checked his phone for recently released horror films, “You’ve been watching this kind of movie every night; I’m starting to think you might be a psycho.”
“Saw has deep themes, you know?” Tu Junhui turned his head to see everyone shaking their heads in rejection and pondered for a moment before asking, “How about The Grudge?”
That one seemed to be quite old and famous, though Lin Nan hadn’t seen it.
The TV in this inn seemed to have been bought recently, and it was a so-called smart TV. Tu Junhui fiddled around for ten minutes and successfully cast his phone screen onto the TV.
He switched off the lights and pulled the curtains to block the streetlight outside, plunging the room into darkness.
The movie began.
Lin Nan covered herself with a blanket, curling up in Chen Yao’s arms, nervously staring at the screen.
“Isn’t Kayako supposed to be invincible?” Tu Junhui, having seen the movie ages ago, grabbed a small couch and sat by the bed, muttering, “I think Kayako was abused to d*ath by her husband, then became a ghost. I watched it a long time ago.”
“And then…”
Chen Yao threw a pillow at him, “Spoiler alert!”
Aside from Tu Junhui, no one else had seen the film, and spoiling it was sure to spark outrage.
Lin Nan wanted to laugh, but just then, the film’s BGM grew increasingly ominous, and the plot thickened into something spine-chilling.
Compared to Western horror films, Japanese horror thrived on crafting a terrifying atmosphere.
With the combined effect of the storyline and the music, Lin Nan felt the whole room freezing, goosebumps blossoming on her arms. She quickly curled up tighter and grabbed Chen Yao’s arm.
Chen Yao glanced down at the shivering Lin Nan and tightened his embrace, “If you can’t bear to watch it, just don’t.”
“It’s fine; I’m just scared of those sudden jump scares…”
Lin Nan nervously shifted her gaze to Xiong Da. He appeared expressionless but seemed to be tightening up, obviously influenced by the suspenseful atmosphere.
And even though Tu Junhui had watched it before, he was now curled up on the couch like a small girl, still clutching the beer he had yet to finish.
As for Chen Yao…
She peered up at him and saw her boyfriend smiling at her with a broad grin, “It’s okay, I’m here.”
His tone was shaky, suggesting he was spooked too.
That smile seemed pretty forced.
Wrapped entirely in her blanket, Lin Nan reclined against Chen Yao’s warm chest, her initial panic steadying to a low hum.
It turned out watching horror movies really needed a boyfriend around.
Feeling secure snuggled in Chen Yao’s arms, she squinted her eyes, trying not to be too terrified by the movie.
“Looks like I won’t be sleeping tonight,” she muttered.
“It’s okay, I’m here,” Chen Yao reiterated, his tone betraying less fear this time.
She smiled with her eyes almost crescent-shaped, and even while watching The Grudge in a room heavy with terror, she felt like she was lost in a romantic moment with Chen Yao.
