My Cell Prison - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Chapter 9 – Granny Wong

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

While Han Dong was a nerd who kept himself to the books, focusing only on research during his previous life, he still had his own hobbies. It was just that there was not much time to spare for them.

If he happened to run into experiments with longer waiting times, Han Dong would watch films in the laboratory to kill time.

Films were a form of art by themselves, and in Han Dong’s opinion, some films had plenty of depth, and seriously viewing and appreciating them was very helpful in helping him improve his divergent thinking…

Science Fiction films were Hong Dong’s favorite, however, he did not watch many horror films.

It was not because he was afraid to do so, but that he was uninterested with ghosts and spirits that science could not explain intuitively. It was his belief that these were just a product of human fantasy that were combined with the fear that humans had toward reality… There was not much significance to viewing such films.

Meanwhile, Han Dong’s impression of the domestic horror film was that of a bad movie that was meant to earn money, a trashy production.

As for the Chinese movie, The Cursed, Han Dong vaguely recalled that he had once come across a movie review of it published on the internet, giving a brief overview and critique of the work.

[The amateur director spent a low budget of 700,000 yuan to create this horror film, even covering the 200,000 yuan medical expenses incurred by the male lead as a result of an injury during the course of filming… In reality, the actual film crushed millions of thrillers in the domestic box office, even going up against horror films from around the world. It even won quite a few awards, yet something went wrong on the eve of its release.

It’s unknown if this film could really have been ‘Cursed’.”]

Han Dong was really curious back then too, and he tried to gather information about it, but he barely uncovered much online about the film, proving to be even more difficult to find than small independent films.

In the process of his search, Han Dong discovered that the original release of the film, The Cursed had suddenly been withdrawn… As if there was something strange that went down with it.

One of the factors that had played a more influential impact on this matter happened during a certain Hong Kong International Film Festival.

When they were screening the movie, some woman in the audience began to run back and forth in the cinema as a result of being triggered, as if she suddenly had problems with her mental state.

Han Dong believed that this sort of film that followed a pseudo documentary style of filming had resonated with the audience to some extent, and the woman must have seen a scene similar to one when she was younger and had been too engrossed in the movie that it induced panic in her.

Because he could not find any information regarding that film, coupled with how the time for the experiment to resume was upon him and Han Dong had to isolate the bacteria immediately, he ended up completely forgetting everything about that film.

“What a pity! If I had watched the film back then, our survival rate would most likely increase tremendously. All I remember is that the movie was filmed like a pseudo documentary… And that the story followed two university students who arrived at the rural village to shoot a documentary on the subject of fortune telling, recording all the strange incidents that occurred in the process of filming, knowing nothing else beyond that. An Evil Spirit event… Looks like we’re really going to encounter evil spirits and ghosts that science would not be able to explain. If we can survive all three days here, we would become what the Knights’ Regiment calls a ‘returnee’.

From what information I’ve presently gathered, the casualty rate will be extremely high, and the moment we make the wrong decision, we might very well be on a path of no return, It’s time to get serious and cherish this life.”

It was impossible to not feel nervous about this. Any living thing when faced with an unknown object that there was no means of going against, a primal emotion like fear would of course come gushing out… It was just that different people reacted and combated to fear differently.

Having experienced death once was enough to make Han Dong suppress his inner terror.

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Aside from their clothes changing, everyone in this team of six was equipped with a handheld camera each, their own student ID, as well as 500 in the local currency.

Of course, the clockwork bracelets on their wrists were also showing a new countdown timer, and it corresponded perfectly with 72 hours.

Everyone moved out together and very soon reached an open courtyard where several peasant aunts and uncles were gathered.

“Hey look, even foreigners have come here to get Granny Wong for a reading… Our village sure has earned a lot.”

Han Dong spoke mandarin with a caucasian accent, and learned that they were at Granny Wong’s residence, and they were all queuing to have their fortune told… However, Granny Wong was not in at the moment and had gone to the east side of the village to make a house call.

After learning this information, all of them swiftly headed over to the east of Liba Village, finding Granny Wong standing in front of the door to a family residence.

By now, the ritual she was engaged in was already at its final stages.

A red weird paper cutout of a human was tagged onto the front door, as Granny Wong stirred a bowl of water with burnt talisman paper in it using her finger, handing it over to a ghastly looking woman for her to imbibe.

Han Dong softly whispered to the team leader, “Edward, we’ve still got 30 minutes to build up our relationship with Granny Wong. Paying our respect to the ceremonial etiquette, let’s wait for this ritual to finish before interacting with Granny Wong… I need to head to the toilet, so I’ll be right back.”

“Sure, go ahead.” 

There were plenty of public restrooms here in the village. Of course, Han Dong had not needed to visit the restroom at this time but had actually intended to use the time before this event officially started to learn about something extremely important that involved himself.

Han Dong made his way over to a little shop and first confirmed the date today: 5th November 2015.

“Hello, what’s the cost to use the public phone?”

“… Just call. It’s free,” this was the first time that the lady shop owner had met foreigners, so she did not seem to care about the cents incurred for making such a call.

“Thank you.”

“You speak Mandarin better than I do. It’s really quite something.”

Han Dong flashed the lady a courteous smile and picked up the phone receiver.

But who would have thought that the moment he put it to his ears, a painful, ear-piercing screech could be heard in his mind.

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While this incident is underway, it is forbidden to directly or indirectly use communication devices to communicate with the outside world.

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“Tell me that sooner next time…” Han Dong felt a mild sense of helplessness wash over him.

Actually, he had wanted to use the telephone to find a loophole in the system. His intention was to call a friend from before, confirm the fact that the in-film world was the same as the world he lived in, and even if it was different… Han Dong had planned to gather information on some horror films from the outside world.

Even if it was not going to be useful for the current event, it might just come in handy in the future.

Since this route to make contact with the outside world had been sealed, Han Dong could only use the 500 yuan the system had given him to buy some potentially useful items from the grocery store, fitting everything into a hiking backpack.

Coincidentally, the ritual had ended by the time he returned, and Granny Wong was saying her goodbyes to the old couple in that family as well as the successfully exorcised woman.

“Greetings, Granny Wong. We are…”

Han Dong handed over his university identification card and began to introduce himself and the others.

It was of course not good to outright reject a group of students studying abroad that had come all the way out here to this village to film a documentary… Naturally, Granny Wong also stood to gain from this as well. If she was able to become famous through this documentary, her business might become even better in the future.

As a result, Granny Wong very readily agreed to the six students’ request to interview as well as film her.

It was at this time when the system sounded once more.

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After establishing the appropriate relationship with the key character, Granny Wong. Please follow Granny Wong’s vehicle after and head to the site of the incident.

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