The legend had always been clear—to escape the curse, one must offer another soul in their place.
That was the only way.
But no one had ever confessed to doing it.
Until now.
In a quiet internet café tucked away in a forgotten alley, a young man sat hunched over a dusty keyboard.
His eyes were sunken, dark circles etched deep into his pale skin.
His name was Li Chen, one of the earliest viewers of Lin Ze's final livestream.
And somehow, he was still alive.
Most of his friends who had tuned in that night…
Were already gone.
Li Chen's trembling fingers posted a final message on a hidden online forum dedicated to urban legends.
"I survived… but at a price. To live, you must make someone else watch the livestream. You must… let her find them instead of you."
He pressed send.
And then…
He stood up and left.
Behind him, his phone lit up one last time.
A final message appeared on the cracked screen:
[Payment received. Curse transferred.]
Somewhere across the city, a new phone buzzed.
An unknown message popped up with a video link.
"Midnight Horror Livestream—Watch Alone if You Dare."
That night, another person disappeared.
The police found only a faint trail of jasmine petals leading to their front door.
But something was different now.
The curse… was evolving.
For the first time, Lin Ze's livestream went live before midnight.
At exactly 11:11 p.m., the red LIVE icon flashed.
And this time, it wasn't just showing the usual banana tree or the rattan chair.
It showed a mirror.
And in that mirror stood countless faces—blank, eyeless, all smiling grotesquely.
At the front of the mirror stood a new figure.
A man.
His mouth was sewn shut with red thread.
His eyes had been replaced by two blooming jasmine flowers.
And then…
The stream chat exploded.
[Bullet Comments]
"Who is that?!"
"His face… it's changing!"
"Wait… that's Detective Chen Rui!"
The mirror cracked.
And with it, a new message appeared on every viewer's phone:
[One must take another's place. Who will it be tonight?]
End of Chapter 8