TurkeyFlavoredRiceCracker: That sound is kinda like... dismemberment. Hey, streamer, why don't you open the door and let us see?
LMAO_ItsTheModsFault: Are you trying to get the streamer killed? Can't you see her face is white with fear? If she opens that door and runs into a ghost, it's game over!
ThomasTheTrollEngine: The sound is pretty convincing, but how could someone not fight back or scream when they're being attacked? Unless... it was an instant kill, which is unrealistic. Streamer, the stuff outside is just props, right? Your acting is great, you almost had me. I bet you have assistants outside cutting up props to make that sound of limbs being torn apart.
PlushieBall: Why do I feel like this is real...
"You get some rest. This will be your last chance to sleep at night for a while. I'll keep watch."
Shigure Kira glanced at the chat and also saw the messages on the streamer's phone. Most were from her friends, checking in with each other.
Kira wasn't concerned about that. As long as she could reach the fourth floor, the methods she used didn't matter.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
A knocking sound rang out, clearly coming from the second floor above them.
Shigure Kira's eyes narrowed. It was exactly as Li Mo had described. Three knocks on the first door, one knock on the second, and four on the third.
But Li Mo had already dealt with the ghost in the second room.
The Knocking Ghost only knocked based on the number of ghosts in a room. Logically, it shouldn't have knocked on the second door at all.
This meant the haunted house must perform some kind of reset. She and Li Mo were not in the same instance of the house.
For her, however, this wasn't a problem. Once she reached the third floor, she could rewind time and search through the countless similar-but-different timelines to find the one Li Mo was in, and then go there...
It might take some time, but the result would be worth it.
"White Flower, my friend is in the third room! The candle is already halfway gone! She escaped and now she's right outside our door!"
"Tell her to go to another room. The first or the fourth room will do. There are people in both, so she won't be alone," Shigure Kira said decisively.
The streamer did as she was told, typing out the message verbatim.
A moment later, the sound of hurried footsteps outside the door faded away.
But before long, they stopped right outside their room again. It was clear the person wanted to come in.
But why?
The answer was obvious.
"White Flower, she says she wants to come in here. There are a lot of ghosts in the main hall, and she doesn't trust the others. Since I was the first one to send a warning, she thinks I would never hurt her."
The streamer relayed the entire message honestly, even showing Shigure Kira the chat log on her phone.
Shigure Kira spoke in a low, quiet voice, "You wouldn't hurt her, but can you be so sure she wouldn't hurt you? Think about it. If she trusts you, why isn't she listening to you and hiding in a room with people where the candle is stable? Why is she risking getting caught by a ghost to stand right outside our door?"
"Want to make a bet? The person you see when you open the door will be your friend, but she'll already be dead."
After hearing Shigure Kira's analysis, a chill ran down the streamer's spine. The chat log on her phone suddenly seemed much more sinister.
That's right. If she trusts me, why isn't she listening to me? Why is she so insistent on coming into my room?
And she's already seen the ghosts in the hall, yet she's just waiting out there so calmly... If it were me, I'd be pounding on the door like crazy, not just standing there so quietly...
The streamer looked at her chat. The familiar usernames from the beginning of the stream were now lost in a sea of new, random IDs, all offering their own opinions.
Ah_Sydney: Just let her in! Open the door so we can see! I can't wait to see what a ghost looks like. LMAO, I can't believe so many people are falling for this.
WhoYouCallinATroll_ImJustBased: The user above just wants to watch the world burn. I think Miss White Flower's analysis makes a lot of sense. If I were in the same situation, even if I wanted to get into that room, I'd be knocking and screaming, saying something to prove who I am. But this person—or whatever it is—outside hasn't knocked or said a word this whole time. I seriously suspect it can't speak...
WindsHowling: You know, you might be onto something. I recorded the shuffling footsteps from earlier. And guess what? They're perfectly even. Do you really think someone in a crisis would walk with such a regular pace? Even the intervals between steps are identical. That's not how a living person walks.
LetMeCorrodeYourHeart~: Streamer, you should trust Miss White Flower. She showed up this morning, so she's definitely not a ghost. As for the others... forget them. They're all scattered. Who knows who's still alive.
More and more comments flooded in, eventually splitting into two camps. One group remained staunch materialists, believing that everything in the world could be explained by science. If it couldn't be explained now, it just meant science wasn't advanced enough yet.
The other group put themselves in the streamer's shoes. These netizens, who suspected the ghosts were real, helped her point out various clues to prove that the thing standing outside was, in fact, a ghost.
The streamer was suddenly paralyzed with indecision. A part of her still refused to believe in ghosts, preferring to think this was all an elaborate variety show orchestrated by Shigure Kira. For all she knew, the house was rigged with pinhole cameras, filming their every terrified moment.
How else could Shigure Kira know so much? She acted as if everything was going according to plan, completely unconcerned for her own safety.
But no matter how hard she looked, the streamer couldn't find any cameras.
She asked tentatively, "White Flower, can I talk to the person outside?"
Shigure Kira shook her head in disappointment and spread her hands. "Your idea is completely redundant. If there are no ghosts, then your friend is perfectly safe. There's no need to ask. They're just pranking you. When the 'game' is over, they'll open the door. After all, opening a door is easy for the living, but for many reasons, ghosts can't just push their way in."
"But if there are ghosts, how can you be sure the person outside is your friend? And not a ghost disguised as her?"
"Think about it. She's been standing there this whole time without saying a word. She isn't pacing back and forth. She's just standing there like a wooden doll, motionless and rigid, waiting for you to open the door."
"Forget you guys—when I first encountered a paranormal event, I was terrified. Everything felt strange, my actions became frantic, and I paced constantly. It was a manifestation of my anxiety."
Shigure Kira laid out her entire argument in one breath. For some reason, ever since she'd gained the ghost's power, her mind felt clearer than ever before. She didn't feel tired, hungry, or weary. Her thoughts were perpetually active. Many things she couldn't figure out before were now crystal clear.
Plus, she didn't need to test the rules herself. With absolute information, she could find a reason for practically anything that happened.
"If you want to test it, then go ahead. In fact, you should open the door. There are some things I need to verify... and some things I need to do."
Uncharacteristically, Shigure Kira compromised.
Li Mo had repeatedly emphasized how intelligent the ghost on the first floor was. But an information gap is the most fatal weakness—for humans and for ghosts alike.
The humanoid spider couldn't possibly know she wielded the power of a terrifying ghost, let alone a ghost that could manipulate time and space.
Therefore, if the ghost outside the door was the humanoid spider, Shigure Kira would lock its time without hesitation. When dealing with an intelligent ghost that could think like a human, giving it zero opportunities was the best strategy.
The streamer looked shocked, but after a moment, she shook her head and started typing on her phone, asking the person outside questions only her friend would know.
Who's your biggest crush? What was that rumor about you in school? What was your score on the last final exam?
The answers were flawless, which only convinced the streamer further that this was all just a big prank. Shigure Kira, behind her, probably thought the time was right to wrap things up. The silent people outside must be her scattered friends and the film crew, ready to capture her panicked and terrified expression the moment she stepped out. After all... variety shows from the Far East were always insane and full of surprises.
"Okay."
The streamer didn't say anything like, "White Flower, I trust you to protect me." In her mind, she had been played by a TV show. If the person outside was a real ghost and she let it in, White Flower behind her would die too. But she wasn't scared at all. She was completely unfazed, even letting her open the door.
At that moment, the livestream chat reached its most insane peak in history. In a single second, hundreds, then thousands of comments flew by. The chat turned into a spam-fest, all repeating the same phrase: "IT'S HAPPENING!"
The tens of thousands of viewers in the stream held their breath, waiting to see if the legends of the haunted house were true.
The streamer took a deep breath, trying desperately to calm her racing heart.
There's nothing to be afraid of. There's definitely a bunch of cameras out there, ready to film me freaking out. I can't lose face in front of my audience. I'm a paranormal streamer! How can I be afraid of ghosts?
The streamer fixed her expression, forcing what she hoped was a natural smile.
She slowly walked to the door and raised her hand, her arm hovering over the handle for a long time.
"Chat, give me some courage!"
Might as well cash in while she could. If this was all staged, it would be a huge waste not to ride the hype and make some money.
Sure enough, as soon as she said that, gifts started flooding the stream. The chat's tone shifted from well-meaning advice and rational analysis to chants of "SERVE IT UP!" and "LET'S GOOO!"
Creeeak—
The streamer turned the handle and pushed open the door to the second room.
Instantly, an icy chill enveloped her. The candle in the hallway went out, while the candle inside the room flared violently, burning down at an incredible speed.
The faint candlelight was just enough to illuminate the thing outside the door.
It was her friend, but she looked strange. Her arms hung limply at her sides, shriveled, like a canvas without a frame...
"Xiao Qing?"
The streamer called her friend's name but didn't step out of the room. She looked left and right down the hallway. Her friend was the only one there. The film crew, the cameras—none of her imagined scenarios were there.
A fringe of hair covered the thing's eyes, obscuring its expression from the stream.
"Hooo..." The streamer controlled her emotions and looked down. Her pupils shrank to pinpoints.
There was no shadow beneath her friend... and her feet weren't touching the ground...
"Wh-White Flower, she... she..."
Before the streamer could retreat, Shigure Kira spoke. "Step outside."
"Huh?" The streamer froze, turning to look at Shigure Kira in confusion.
Step outside?
"B-but..."
"Trust me," Shigure Kira whispered in her ear, having moved to stand right behind her.
"I-I'm scared..."
"But you're the one who opened this door. The ghost is right there. You have to take responsibility for this."
"Can I close the door now? I-I'll listen to you, I won't have any more stupid ideas..."
"It's too late. If you don't want to be killed like your friend, you'll do as I say."
Faced with an unknown terror, a normal person's instinct is to flee, and the girl before her was no exception. It would be impossible to make her follow a seemingly suicidal order without hesitation. Shigure Kira had to give her enough confidence, a sense of security... or rather, she had to use something like moral responsibility to blackmail her.
To make her walk to her death willingly.
Whether it was with lies or something else.
The viewers in the chat were in an uproar. Some agreed, some argued. Someone even called the police, vowing to expose this sham.
Unconsciously, Shigure Kira's personality was gradually changing.
At her urging, the streamer took one difficult step after another out of the room, coming face-to-face with the ghost.
Only when she was close did she see that her friend had lost all signs of life. Beneath her gray, ashen skin, there wasn't a trace of blood. Her eyes had been gouged out, and through the black, empty sockets, she could see the brain tissue inside.
The streamer clapped a hand over her mouth, fighting back a wave of nausea.
"Something's wrong..."
The candle was still burning, and its consumption rate was accelerating.
Shigure Kira didn't act immediately. Her intuition told her it wouldn't be this easy to find the ghost. Li Mo had said the ghost's true form was a hair tie. After devouring many people, it had pieced their limbs together to form a humanoid spider. It was highly intelligent and extremely meticulous in its actions.
Unless it was absolutely certain of a kill, it would lie in wait in some unobservable shadow, waiting for its prey to show a weakness before delivering the fatal blow.
Shigure Kira walked to the candle and blew it out with a single breath.
"AH—! Wh-White Flower, I can't see! Did the candle go out?" the streamer screamed.
At that moment, a drop of viscous saliva fell on her head.
Confused, the streamer instinctively reached up to touch it, then brought her fingers to her nose to smell it.
"GACK!"
It stank like a rotten rat corpse from the sewer.
Before the streamer could tell Shigure Kira, she suddenly felt like something was right above her head.
She looked up but saw nothing, only a darkness that seemed deeper and more intense than before. It felt like something was there, but it vanished in an instant.
"Got you."