I started on a rocking horse and relied on watching ads to dominate the highway survival charts.

"What is it?"

Huo Yunzhi whispered the hidden rule she had just seen to Shen Chilie: "If I'm not mistaken, this is also one of the special rules. Only a portion of the players can hear it, and it automatically divides the players into two camps."

"The rewards will be split equally..." Shen Chilie looked around warily. "Then our opponents this time won't just be vengeful ghosts."

"It's not just that."

Huo Yunzhi and Shen Chilie maintained a distance where they could whisper to each other without attracting the attention of others.

"This set of rules seems to encourage players to kill each other in order to share the rewards, but in fact I have experienced a service area called Lijing Hotel before."

In that service area, once the number of players drops to a certain level, a special mechanism involving vengeful spirits will be triggered, further increasing the overall difficulty of the service area.

"You suspect that this Ghost Theater is like the service area you were in before, where the difficulty increases as more players die?" Shen Chilie also realized, "Then this so-called reward sharing is just a complete trap."

Huo Yunzhi nodded, looking at the open service area gate, feeling that it was like a spider web, using high rewards to lure players into its trap.

However, Huo Yunzhi was not afraid.

It's rare to encounter such an abandoned and completely polluted service area; she was even hoping it would take her a step further on the road to becoming a high-ranking ghost messenger.

Having made up their minds, Huo Yunzhi and Shen Chilie tacitly distanced themselves and walked into the service area one after the other, pretending not to know each other.

Upon entering the Ghost Theater, Huo Yunzhi discovered that the entire theater was much larger than she had imagined, with each pavilion and tower connected by stone bridges and built directly on the water.

Huo Yunzhi walked for quite a while before finally arriving at the center of the theater.

Here stands a stage, magnificent in both appearance and decoration. The newly painted pillars on both sides are so bright that they reflect people's images, making it far superior to those makeshift, rudimentary stages.

Perhaps because the play had not yet started, the brand-new red velvet curtain was hanging down, vaguely obscuring Huo Yunzhi's view of the scenery behind it, but a mysterious golden light could still be faintly seen, as if some kind of treasure was hidden there.

Other players gradually came over; some sat on the mahogany benches in front of the stage, while others walked around the stage.

Some of the bolder ones have even lifted the curtain to investigate the backstage area.

Everyone looked very busy, as if they were looking for something.

As Huo Yunzhi was observing her surroundings, her palms suddenly felt itchy for no apparent reason.

She looked down and saw a theater ticket clutched in her hand.

In an instant, Huo Yunzhi quickly looked at Shen Chilie.

Shen Chilie nodded slightly to her, then gently shook the ticket in his hand at Huo Yunzhi.

It means that I also have it.

Huo Yunzhi then calmed down and carefully examined the ticket in her hand.

It is about two fingers wide and about ten centimeters long. The paper is slightly yellowish and the material is very similar to the paper money burned during Qingming Festival. It looks like it would break if you rub it a few times.

The information on the left side takes up three-quarters of the page, including information such as the repertoire of the Ghost Theater. In the corner is a vermilion seal, and the ink has slightly bled, perhaps due to its age.

On the right is the ticket stub, with the same information written in slightly smaller font. The ticket and the ticket stub are separated by perforated lines.

Huo Yunzhi flipped the ticket to the second side, where the words "Instructions for Watching the Play" were written in large characters, with densely packed small characters printed below.

"It must be the service area rules." Shen Chilie walked over at some point. "No wonder it's the most polluted area; even the way they announce the rules is so unique."

Huo Yunzhi nodded and said softly, "Yes," before beginning to read it word by word.

"1. Tickets are for each person only and cannot be exchanged or damaged. Please keep your ticket stub for staff to check at any time."

"2. Theater actors are divided into male, female, painted-face and clown roles. No actor can play two roles and each has a unique skill. Please watch carefully."

"3. Players can freely use the props in the theater. If an actor does not come on stage, players should actively find the actor and invite him to the stage."

"4. The play will only officially begin when all four actors—male, female, painted-face, and clown—are on stage. If any actor is missing, the play will automatically recruit one player as a temporary substitute every half hour. Please find actors as soon as possible to ensure the play can start smoothly."

"5. Once the play begins, people from all directions will come to listen. Players may not leave the theater before it ends, nor may they linger in the theater after it ends."

"6. Players should remain rational in the theater and not get too caught up in the role, otherwise they will be invited by the actors to become new actors."

7. Each player's position is traceable, so please do not take someone else's position.

8. Players need to park their vehicles in an orderly manner; illegal parking will be corrected.

"The rules are not complicated; in fact, they can be described as simple and easy to understand."

Huo Yunzhi looked at the players who were still busy searching for treasure and understood what they were busy with.

"Would the prop from Rule 4 be placed in such an obvious place?" Shen Chilie remained deeply suspicious.

"However, their idea is correct; taking each step to obtain the item increases their chances of survival."

Although Huo Yunzhi said this, she did not join the group looking for props.

The safe zone she held and the red cloth she hadn't yet named were enough to protect her. If all else failed, she still had the Crimson Lotus Fire, and Shen Chilie also had the powerful mysterious glass bead.

There's really no need to risk touching those props of dubious origin in the theater.

Most importantly, since she got the ticket, her identity has become that of an "audience member." So... once she steps onto the stage, can she still be considered an audience member?

Huo Yunzhi felt that it was 90% impossible to count.

"Huh?" Just as Huo Yunzhi was wildly imagining the consequences of going on stage, Shen Chilie suddenly spoke up.

"What's wrong?"

"The rules say not to take other people's spots, which means they don't want us to make mistakes, right?"

"Yes." Huo Yunzhi nodded.

"But there's no seat information on this ticket at all."

Huo Yunzhi looked at the receipts several times to confirm that this was not just a problem with Shen Chilie's receipts.

"It seems the first vengeful ghost has appeared."

Thinking of the second rule that says "each of the three roles (male, female, painted-face, and clown) has its own unique skills," Huo Yunzhi immediately realized what it meant.

This is because the mechanism of that vengeful ghost was triggered.

If that's the case, not sitting in the right place or sitting in the wrong seat could lead to bad things.

"We need to find it."

"Find the ghost."

Huo Yunzhi and Shen Chilie immediately identified the most important thing to do right now.

[All players have arrived! The Ghost Theater in the service area is now officially open!]

Just as Huo Yunzhi and Shen Chilie were about to take action, a sinister female voice rang out.

The ticket in my palm started to get hot, and part of the ticket spontaneously combusted, along with the service area rules on the back, leaving only a small piece of the ticket stub in my hand.

Huo Yunzhi's unease began to grow infinitely.

This service area doesn't even have synchronization rules.

Even... there's a real possibility that half of them don't know the rules are written at the back!