"Lights in position."
"Sound in position."
"The host has announced, countdown beginning..."
"Prepare for lift..."
Shrinking in the compartment of the cabinet, the outside noises were especially faint. Just after the stage manager's countdown of "three, two, one" ended, Zhan Se felt her body slowly rising. It kept ascending, and by the time it stopped, she knew she had been lifted to the center of the stage.
Just as rehearsed, Cheng Guanxi first opened the empty large cabinet for Tuo Er to check thoroughly in a 360-degree inspection, confirming that indeed there was no one inside. Only then did he pretend to cast spells and fuss around, locking the cabinet before waving a curtain cloth like a black flag... and when the large cabinet doors in the middle were opened again, there was a beautiful woman inside.
It was Zhan Se.