In the riverbank, the adrenaline had not yet faded from everyone's systems. Zhou Yaya had thrown her arms around Chen Ying and was sobbing due to both fear and relief. Wu Haoran and Yang Zixuan were standing guard while Chen Ying comforted her.
Director Zhao practically tumbled out of the transport boat before it even touched the bank. His face was the color of curdled milk. "Miss Chen! Miss Chen, please tell me no one is hurt!" He was breathless, his hands shaking so violently he couldn't even hold his radio. "The thermal scans... they showed nothing! We have no idea how a predator of that size breached the perimeter."
Chen Ying didn't look at him. She was kneeling in the sand, her fingers pressed firmly against Zhou Yaya's pulse. The younger girl was still shivering, her eyes wide and unfocused. Chen Ying's own expression was as unreadable as a stone.
"The bear is gone," Chen Ying said, her voice cutting through the Director's panicked rambling. "But you should stop worrying about the perimeter and start worrying about your cast. Check the footage from Drone 4. Immediately."
The weight in her voice compelled them. Within minutes, a group of shell-shocked producers huddled around a tablet. The playback was jarringly clear: while the Highland team was focused on their nets, a pale, calculated Wang Bai had moved to the water's edge. With a flick of her wrist, she had tossed a bucket of discarded fish remains directly into the path leading toward Chen Ying.
"She... she lured it," Wu Haoran whispered, his voice cracking. He looked at the screen, then at the empty woods where Wang Bai had fled. "She saw us there, and she tried to feed us to a bear."
The crew's silence was heavy with a new kind of terror. This wasn't a survival "mishap"; it was attempted murder.
Deep in the forest, Wang Bai leaned against a tree, her chest heaving. Her mind was a toxic whirlpool of resentment. 'Why won't she just break?' she screamed internally. 'Why does everyone look at her like she's a hero?' A rustle of leaves caught her attention. Xiao Li, a young, impressionable crew member who was secretly of one Wang Bai's 'brainless' fans rushed toward her. "Miss Wang! I saw you run off... are you okay? Did the bear hurt you?"
Wang Bai looked up. In the dim light of the canopy, her eyes shimmered with a sudden, unnatural violet hue. She grabbed his arm, her grip surprisingly tight. "Xiao Li... I'm so scared. They're all turning against me. Chen Ying... she's making them hate me. She's going to the private bathing area tonight to 'wash off the blood,' but I know she's just going there to gloat, I don't know what to do anymore."
Under the pulse of the Jade Pendant, Xiao Li's pupils dilated until they were almost entirely black. "She's a monster," he muttered, his voice sounding like a recording. "I won't let her hurt you anymore, Miss Wang. I'll make sure she's too ashamed to ever show her face again."
---
Ten minutes later, the camp was jolted by the sound of a breathless, heartbreaking sob.
Wang Bai didn't walk back into the clearing; she stumbled, her clothes torn by deliberate contact with thorns, her forehead smudged with dirt. In front of the rolling cameras and the entire gathered crew, she collapsed to her knees, her body racked with tremors.
"I'm sorry! Please, just listen to me!" she wailed, her forehead hitting the dirt with a sickening thud. "I was so paralyzed with fear! I thought... I thought if I threw the fish into the water, the bear would stay in the river and let us all run away! I didn't see where Yingying was standing! I was blinded by panic!"
[System: Warning! Target is over-using the 'Luck-Siphon' Artifact. Energy Output: 200%. Internal Backlash Imminent. Host, the air is literally warping around her!]
Chen Ying stood at the edge of the firelight, watching. She could see it—a visible ripple of distorted, hazy air emanating from Wang Bai's pendant. It was a literal psychic shockwave.
Chen Ying felt a sharp, stabbing chill behind her eyes, an intrusive pressure trying to overwrite her thoughts. Her own System hummed a low, protective frequency, creating a golden barrier in her mind. But the others...
Director Zhao, who had been holding a disqualification form, suddenly blinked. His eyes went glassy. "Wait... she was just a frightened girl," he murmured, his voice dazed. "Anyone would panic in front of a bear. It was a tragic accident, really."
Yang Zixuan shook his head, his brow furrowed as if he were fighting a fog. "Right... She's always been so delicate. She couldn't have meant to hurt anyone."
Even Wu Haoran, whose anger had been a bright flame only minutes ago, looked down at his feet, his expression confused. "I guess... I guess we were too hard on her."
The memories were being rewritten in real-time. The video evidence was still there, but the *intent* was being scrubbed from their brains.
Wang Bai let out one last, agonizing cry. The effort of brainwashing thirty people simultaneously was a massive drain. The jade pendant beneath her collar grew so hot it began to blister her skin. She turned a ghostly shade of grey, her eyes rolling back into her head as she fainted from the backlash.
"Get a medic!" the Director shouted, his voice full of genuine, misplaced concern. As they carried her away, the collective memory of her crime began to settle into a soft, harmless blur. Only Chen Ying remained in the shadows, her eyes cold and sharp.
Night fell over the camp, the air thick with the smell of damp earth and smoke. Because of the "stress" of the day, the crew had granted everyone an hour in the private bathing area—a natural rock pool fed by a warm spring, shielded by heavy canvas walls. There were no drones here, a rare sanctuary of privacy.
"Ying-jie," Yaya whispered, her voice small and sweet. She tugged on Chen Ying's sleeve, her eyes red from her earlier fright. "I know you always go first to check for snakes, but I feel so... so grimy and filthy after the river. Can I go first tonight? I just want to feel clean again."
Chen Ying looked at Yaya. The girl was leaning on her with total, childlike trust.
[System: Ding! High-level Malice detected. The 'Puppet' Xiao Li has bypassed the perimeter and is hiding in one of the changing stalls. Wang Bai's 'Discovery Party' is already being staged. They will arrive in 5 minutes to 'catch' a scandal.]
"Go ahead, Yaya," Chen Ying said, her voice softening just a fraction. "But if you hear even a leaf twitch, you scream. Understand?"
As Yaya skipped toward the dark pool, Chen Ying didn't follow. She vanished into the thick underbrush, moving with the silent speed of a ghost.
In the shadows of the changing stall, Xiao Li waited, a heavy coil of rope and a camera in his hands. His mind was a sludge of Wang Bai's commands. 'Destroy the Ice Queen. Make her beg.' He saw a female silhouette enter the tent. He didn't wait to see her face. He lunged.
"Got you, you arrogant—"
"AHHH!" Yaya's scream was a sharp, terrified cry in the night.
THWACK.
Before Xiao Li could even register the girl's height, a hand like an iron vice gripped his throat and slammed him against the wooden support beam. Chen Ying had appeared out of the literal darkness. With a fluid, terrifying grace, she delivered a precision strike to his solar plexus, followed by a sharp crack to his jaw.
Xiao Li collapsed like a string-cut puppet.
"Ying-jie!" Yaya sobbed, stumbling back, her clothes half-unbuttoned. She fell into Chen Ying's arms, her body shaking with violent, racking sobs.
"Shhh. Look at me, Yaya. You're safe," Chen Ying commanded, her voice steady and grounding. She reached down, picked up Yaya's discarded jacket, and wrapped it tightly around the girl. "Dress yourself. Now. Do not stop until you are covered."
Chen Ying had gone to check the other changing stall first and was a step too late.
Outside, the crunch of gravel signaled the arrival of the "witnesses".