Shen Yan, a master of folklore, received a videotape, which showed a midnight stage. The actor playing Zhao Kuangyin on the stage took off his facial makeup, revealing a face exactly like his.
In order to track down the missing old man from the theater troupe, he stepped into the theater building that shouldn't exist. The audience under the stage are not human beings - they are about forty life-sized paper statues with bamboo bones as their bodies and faces painted with rouge. Every time he moved, they copied his movement three seconds later. Raise your head, raise your hands, turn around - when the paper neck turns, it makes a dry rustling sound, like dead leaves being crushed.
His name was displayed on the water sign. Tonight's drama has been decided and there is no way to leave.
The old chanting voice came from behind the curtain, announcing the iron law of this stage - the performance begins as soon as you take your seat. If the performance is good, it will be a stick of incense; if the performance is bad, the paper-wrapped spectators in the audience will be unhappy.
What makes Shen Yan even more horrified is that every play on stage is not a story. It's a prophecy. It's a murder that will happen tomorrow. The appearance, lyrics and movements on stage all contain clues to solve the case. But by the time you understand it, it's often too late.
The gongs and drums played three times, and the curtain opened. He must complete the performance of "Beheading the Yellow Robe" within a stick of incense and find a way out among the stylized movements of the opera. And the more than forty pairs of eyes painted in ink below the stage were all looking at him - they were looking forward to this performance too much.
