"Your wallet has received 3,257 yuan!"
Lin Mo looked at the notification of the deposit in his electronic wallet and smiled.
He was the boss of a gaming studio that mainly provided boosting and gold farming services. He had borrowed money to open this studio right after graduating two years ago. Unlike others who blindly jumped in and failed miserably, Lin Mo actually made money.
This was because he was a top-tier gamer. No matter what type of popular game on the market, he could find ways to "grind" after playing just once, and then exploit them.
Besides himself, there were four other employees in the studio. The 3,257 yuan was just today's income. After distributing it according to the assessment criteria, Lin Mo himself could earn at least a thousand.
Over the course of a month, the income was around thirty to forty thousand, which was definitely a high-income group in Niao City.
Although Lin Mo was the boss, he never skimped on his employees' pay. Whatever they were supposed to get, he would give without missing a penny, and it was usually paid daily.
After transferring money to the four people's phones separately, the room immediately echoed with the notification sounds of money being deposited into their mobile wallets.
"Ah, the money's here," chuckled a young man with glasses sitting in the corner.
This room was rented by Lin Mo. It was a three-bedroom apartment. Apart from converting the living room and one bedroom into a workspace filled with computers and phones, the other two rooms were a rest area for employees and Lin Mo's own bedroom.
Lin Mo also lived here on a daily basis.
"Thanks, Brother Lin," said a chubby young man with an oily face, also looking happy.
After a busy day, the most anticipated moment was when the money came.
"I got over 500. We earned quite a bit today. What about you? You must have gotten more than me," the chubby guy asked the one with glasses.
"I got over 600. This month's income is almost 15,000. That's more than what my classmates are earning," the young man with glasses said, his tone tinged with pride.
The other two people in the room were wearing headphones, focused on the screens and operating their mice and keyboards. They clearly had no time to chat, but after taking a quick glance at their phones earlier, they couldn't hide the smiles on their faces.
Lin Mo walked over and patted their shoulders.
"Get some rest early today. Don't stay up too late, it's not good for your health. In our line of work, your body is your capital. I'll treat you all to some barbecue skewers today. Let's relax a bit."
"Alright, Brother Lin!" They all cheered.
...
At 10:30 PM, only Lin Mo was left in the studio.
He had sent the others home to rest. They had flexible working hours, usually not distinguishing between day and night, but every week Lin Mo would forcibly require them to go home and rest for one night.
After taking a shower to wash off the barbecue smell, Lin Mo made himself a cup of tea and opened a 3A-grade horror escape game that had just been released recently.
Playing horror games was one of Lin Mo's ways to relax.
Lin Mo had a secret that no one knew.
He didn't have the emotion of fear.
Lin Mo had discovered this by chance. Whether it was physiological stimulation like roller coasters or giant swings in amusement parks, or sensory and psychological stimulation like haunted houses, horror novels, and movies, none of them could make him feel any fear.
It felt like a kind of illness, so Lin Mo had specifically consulted a psychologist about it.
The psychologist's conclusion was that Lin Mo was born without this emotion.
In fact, fear is very similar to excitement, so Lin Mo couldn't feel what excitement was either. This was actually quite boring, but Lin Mo didn't mind.
He was always a laid-back person.
Later, he discovered that playing some horror games could give him a tiny bit of pleasure, so he became addicted to them.
The more horrifying, the better.
Even if it could bring him just a little bit of stimulation.
At this moment, the interface of this horror game appeared on the computer screen.
Lin Mo started playing. The dark style, the elements of puzzle-solving and escape, the sudden jump scares - all were used just right. An ordinary person playing would definitely be terrified.
But when Lin Mo played, there was no expression on his face.
He even felt a bit bored.
Lin Mo quickly completed the game, and even found some hidden plot Easter eggs, summarizing some shortcuts to pass the game. He prepared to post them on the gaming forum he frequently logged into.
As soon as he logged onto the forum, Lin Mo saw several private messages.
His ID on this forum was 'Lin God', a famous forum bigshot. Because he often posted speedrun videos of horror games, he was also known as the 'Speedrun God', quite renowned.
Opening the private messages, they were from 'Mao Mao Hen Dan Da'. This was another famous bigshot on the forum who, besides being extremely good at games, often told horror ghost stories in the off-topic section. Mao Mao Hen Dan Da was very familiar with Lin Mo.
"Lin God, something big happened. Check out this link."
In the private message, there was also an address.
Lin Mo looked at the domain name in front and knew it wasn't a Trojan website, so he clicked on it.
The browser opened a new page. It was a video.
The video was shot with a phone, a bit shaky but still clear enough. It was filming a residential area, with police cars and officers at the entrance, and ambulances constantly driving out from inside the complex.
The scene was very tense.
There was someone talking in the video, probably the person filming.
"This is the Green Garden Complex on Sanqiao Street in Niao City. See, it's all sealed off. I heard it was a gas leak, dozens of people died. Ambulances have already taken away more than a dozen people."
"Look, they're bringing out another person in front."
Someone spoke, and the video immediately zoomed in. Clearly, the person filming had run forward. Two people in protective suits were seen walking out, one in front and one behind, carrying a stretcher.
On the stretcher lay a person with their head covered by clothes, motionless.
But then the person in front accidentally tripped, the stretcher flipped, and the person on it fell to the ground.
The video captured this moment perfectly. The person who fell was motionless, already dead, but their facial features were distorted, eyes wide open, as if they had seen something unbelievable just before dying, full of fear.
"Who are you? Who allowed you to film?"
Someone discovered the person filming, and at this point, the video abruptly ended.
But the face of that dead person just now was unforgettable.
To be honest, Lin Mo didn't feel much after watching it. The only thing that caught his attention was that the city he was in was Niao City, and where he lived was very close to the Green Garden Complex on Sanqiao Street.
Mao Mao Hen Dan Da had sent two private messages in total. Lin Mo opened the second one.
The second one didn't have a video, it just said to contact him immediately if online.
Lin Mo sent a reply to the other party.
Very quickly, Mao Mao Hen Dan Da responded.
"Lin God, I remember you saying last time that you're also in Niao City? Anyway, add me on Chat Chat. Using the site's private messages is too slow."
Below was a Chat Chat account number.
Lin Mo thought for a moment, then opened his phone and added this account as a friend.
Ding ding!
The notification sound rang out, and the other side almost immediately accepted the friend request.
"Lin God?"
Lin Mo replied with an "It's me".
Then he casually clicked on the other person's profile. The other party's Chat Chat ID was also Mao Mao Hen Dan Da, gender female, with a very cute cartoon cat as the avatar.
"Lin God, I'm also in Niao City. Did you watch the video I sent you earlier?"
"I did."
Mao Mao Hen Dan Da also lived in Niao City?
Lin Mo really didn't know this.
Usually, he only communicated with the other party on the forum. This Mao Mao Hen Dan Da liked horror and supernatural things, and coincidentally, Lin Mo quite liked them too, so the two of them chatted quite a lot and had common topics.
"Lin God, is it convenient for you to video chat?" Seeing the message sent by the other party, Lin Mo was a bit stunned, but still replied that it was convenient.
Five seconds later, the other party initiated a video chat.
Lin Mo answered, and saw a short-haired girl appear on the screen.
She really was female.
Looks were above 8 out of 10.
To be honest, judging from Mao Mao Hen Dan Da's usual chatting style, Lin Mo had always thought the other party was a transvestite.
"Lin God, I didn't expect you to be so young," the girl said with a kind of mischievous spirit. She giggled, "And quite handsome too."
Seeing that Lin Mo had no reaction, she had to get to the point: "Take a look at this."
After saying that, she adjusted the video to the rear camera. It could be seen that she was on a balcony of a high-rise, with the camera facing the residential complex she was in.
Surprisingly, this complex was extremely quiet, while the perimeter was full of police cars and ambulances.
"Bet you didn't expect this. My home is right in the Green Garden Complex. How about that, exciting, isn't it?"
Mao Mao switched back to the front camera. It was evident that she had a smug look on her face.
Lin Mo knew what she was thinking. For someone who treated pursuing supernatural and horror events as a hobby, suddenly discovering that a mysterious death incident had occurred in their own residential complex, feeling nervous and excited was normal.
"So, it's not a gas leak?" Lin Mo asked.
"No, definitely not. Let me tell you, the police were just knocking on doors, telling us to stay at home and not go out."
"I think you should listen to the police," Lin Mo sincerely advised.
"Don't worry, I know what's important," Mao Mao said as she walked to the kitchen to get a drink from the refrigerator, then shared what she knew: "Lin God, you're the supernatural section's big shot. What do you think, isn't this weird? It's not a gas leak, but the police insist on using this excuse. I think there must be something going on. Oh right, they said something very strange before they left."
"What did they say?"
"They said, no matter what, don't fall asleep tonight."