Chapter 2: The Ghostly Shadow Behind

Hearing the sound of an engine starting, Xie Sui frowned and looked toward where Zhang Yun had parked.

In the blink of an eye, the car had already driven quite a distance, quickly disappearing around a bend in the winding mountain road, leaving Xie Sui no chance to call out to him.

This was a bit of a problem. Xie Sui never expected Zhang Yun would actually abandon him here and drive off alone.

He had no idea what was wrong with the guy. Xie Sui remembered Old Zhao telling Zhang Yun to wait by the roadside until the livestream ended. He couldn’t possibly carry all this equipment down the mountain by himself.

Anyone else abandoned in this desolate wilderness might truly be in danger. Setting aside the possibility of ghosts or the mountain winds that were cold enough to freeze someone to death, this area was right next to a forest ecological reserve. It was entirely possible for some wild beast that had just finished hibernating to come lunging out.

He didn’t have Zhang Yun’s contact information, and Old Zhao was doing a gaming tournament livestream tonight. He wasn’t sure of Old Zhao’s schedule, and calling him would likely be a distraction.

Xie Sui sighed softly, composed a text message to Old Zhao, and then spoke to the empty space beside him without looking up. “An-an, please follow that car. I’ll call for you once the livestream is over. I might need your help to connect my phone with Zhang Yun’s then.”

Souls were a type of electromagnetic wave, so they should be able to bridge the signals between two phones, right? Ghosts in horror movies could manage “ghost calls,” so there was no reason a real ghost couldn’t do it.

The air around Xie Sui distorted for a brief moment as if something invisible had vanished.

“By the way, whatever you do, don’t interfere with him while he’s driving,” Xie Sui added as a final instruction.

He hoped Old Zhao would see the message after his gaming stream ended. If he couldn’t reach Old Zhao or Zhang Yun, his only option would be to ask the Law Enforcement Team for help. However, contacting the Inspectorate Bureau was a last resort. Xie Sui didn’t want his livestreaming career to last only a single day.

Although the recent years had seen a resurgence of the supernatural, with Shijiao and Xuanjiao¹ becoming prevalent, and the existence of ghosts being an open secret, the authorities still suppressed any attempts by the public to actively seek out paranormal events. Livestreams where incidents involving ghosts occurred were particularly targeted, facing immediate shutdown upon being reported.

The reason for such a strong official reaction was the fear that ordinary people would court death by actively seeking out supernatural forces. After all, normal humans were incredibly fragile in the face of ghosts. Frequent incidents would waste rescue resources, so it was better to suppress the behavior at its source.

Uploading horror videos was fine, as was making supernatural prank videos or streaming to capitalize on paranormal trends, but you couldn’t let anything actually happen. Once an incident caused social impact or wasted police resources, the penalties ranged from fines and a six-month ban to detention and a permanent lifetime ban from streaming for that ID.

Even so, many streamers still targeted the traffic of the supernatural circle, risking bans to get a piece of the pie. The three groups of missing streamers and Xie Sui, who was currently preparing to go live, were the best examples of this.

It couldn’t be helped; livestreams with a supernatural tag were truly lucrative.

To better capitalize on the hype, Xie Sui used the set of supernatural photos from the trending search as his livestream cover. Anyone interested in the topic would surely click on it when they saw it on the platform.

It was now midnight. The Haunted House from the trending search was hidden within the shadows of the trees behind Xie Sui. Tree branches like ghostly claws swayed in the howling wind. Under the pale light of the camping lamp, flickering shadows of trees were cast upon the outer walls of the house, looking as if countless ghosts were dancing wildly inside.

Xie Sui looked at the already adjusted livestreaming equipment, straightened his clothes, and prepared to start the broadcast.

Ignoring the runaway Zhang Yun and the problem of how to get down the mountain later, he decided that since he was already here, he might as well start the stream.

For the first ten minutes of the broadcast, there was not a single person in the room, but Xie Sui was in no hurry.

As a new streamer, the platform’s incentive mechanism would place him on the Newbie Streamer Rankings after thirty minutes of broadcasting.

The Newbie Streamer Rankings were located at the very bottom of the Blue Sea Livestream homepage. It was the best opportunity for new streamers to gain exposure. The room of the most popular newcomer would become the cover of the rankings list on the homepage, a support mechanism that lasted for a week.

Of course, new streamers who weren’t short on cash could also buy recommendation slots. Many studios would spend money directly on exposure when promoting new talent, as it was the fastest way to drive traffic.

Unfortunately, money was exactly what Xie Sui lacked most right now, so he could only wait patiently.

Xie Sui looked down and toyed with the cigarette case in his hand. The palm-sized pitch-black box flipped through his long, pale fingers. The stark contrast between black and white alternated rapidly, creating a somewhat hypnotic effect.

However, within a few minutes, a large crowd suddenly flooded into the livestream room.

[‘Xianyun Yehe’ has entered the room]

[‘Zhijiafeng Chuanzhen’ has entered the room]

[‘Ganfan Huahua Shijie’ has entered the room]

…

Xie Sui was startled by the notification sounds and looked up at the bullet chat².

Over three hundred people had rushed in all at once, and the number was still climbing. While this traffic might be nothing to a major streamer, for a newcomer who had just started, this level of popularity was somewhat abnormal.

It hadn’t even been half an hour yet. Why were there so many people?

[Holy crap, isn’t this The Haunted House from the trending photos? Someone actually dares to stream here right now?]

[Wow, it’s a pretty boy! Zhao Ritian, you’ve really fallen. If you’re out of ideas, you could just bite a lighter³. Is there any point in trying this hard to promote a pretty boy?]

[Impressive. This is a classic case of wanting money more than life. I’ll bet a Rocket that the streamer won’t last ten minutes before disappearing.]

[Didn’t the Law Enforcement Team block this place off today? Isn’t it illegal for the streamer to be here? Can we report this?]

[As long as he didn’t cross the police tape, it should be fine. Let’s just watch the show for now.]

…

Seeing the bullet chat, Xie Sui roughly understood what was happening. It seemed Zhao Haotian had started his broadcast, and the people in the room were likely redirected from Old Zhao’s side.

Although Zhao Haotian wasn’t a top-tier streamer, he was still a major one with several million followers. He was exceptionally loyal. He had started his stream before his tournament began and pinned a direct link to Xie Sui’s room in his own broadcast, aiming to drive as much traffic as possible to Xie Sui during that time.

Since most of the audience in the livestream had jumped over from Zhao Haotian’s channel, they were clearly less tolerant of Xie Sui than they were of other rookie streamers. These veterans had high emotional thresholds. As long as Xie Sui’s performance didn’t meet their expectations, they didn’t care if he was a newcomer or not; they would start flaming him immediately.

Most of these people were just there to watch the chaos, and insults and mockery were everywhere. Some mocked Xie Sui for chasing clout, while others simply couldn’t stand Xie Sui’s face, leaving a comment calling him a “pretty boy living off women” before immediately exiting. The fan conversion rate was also low, with very few among these hundreds of people actually following Xie Sui.

If it were any other rookie streamer with low stress tolerance, they probably would have been unable to handle the toxic atmosphere of the comments and chosen to end the stream by now.

Faced with those messy comments, Xie Sui remained unmoved, offering a standard professional smile to the camera.

Looking at the smiling face on the screen, the complaining comments that had been flooding the chat actually paused for a strange moment.

“Welcome to the Appraising Popular Paranormal Events livestream. I am your host, Xie Sui. Today, we are going to appraise a set of paranormal photos that have been circulating widely on the internet. To prove their authenticity, I have personally come to the source of these photos – which is The Haunted House behind me.”

[Host, if you dare to enter The Haunted House, I’ll dare to tip you a Space Battleship.]

[Host, if you dare to dance in drag, I’ll dare to tip you a Space Battleship.]

[Gays, get lost. Entering a haunted house is boring. Host, if you can catch that female ghost to show us, I’ll tip ten Space Battleships right now!]

[Zhijiafeng Chuanzhen: I just like watching streamers in drag, so what? If you don’t like it, then get lost. If you’ve got the money, then put up or shut up.]

[‘Zhijiafeng Chuanzhen’ tipped Space Battleship x1]

[Ganfan Huahua Shijie: Crap, you want to compare wallets with me? Open your dog eyes and see who is at the top of the Blue Sea Livestream fan rankings!]

[‘Ganfan Huahua Shijie’ tipped Space Battleship x10]

Xie Sui: …Money really is easy to earn.

He had only said one sentence since starting the stream and had already earned a month’s worth of his old salary. No wonder everyone said livestreaming was lucrative; there really were a lot of wealthy people who enjoyed watching for entertainment.

A Space Battleship was the most expensive gift on the Blue Sea Livestream platform, worth 1,888. The platform took a fifty-fifty cut, meaning he would pocket nearly a thousand.

However, dressing in drag was impossible, and Xie Sui didn’t want to get involved with the things inside that haunted house either. The fewer troubles he had to deal with, the better.

The effect of a show came from creating contrast. Whether it made the audience angry or fearful, as long as he could manipulate their emotions and keep the diverted traffic in the livestream, it would be a victory for him.

[Is this guy a rookie streamer? He’s so handsome! What is he streaming?]

[Replying to the sister above, it seems like he’s streaming a ghost hunt… I’m really scared of ghosts, but the host’s looks make me reluctant to leave QAQ.]

Noticing those two out-of-place, refreshing comments, the smile at the corners of Xie Sui’s mouth deepened. “Thank you to the two bosses, ‘Ganfan Huahua Shijie’ and ‘Zhijiafeng Chuanzhen,’ for the Space Battleships. Let me clarify first: my livestream does not actually feature ghosts. Instead, I appraise false rumors on the internet.”

[????]

Ignoring the question marks flooding the chat, Xie Sui cleared his throat and continued solemnly, “There are no ghosts in this world. When enough people talk about them, ghosts appear. In reality, ghosts do not exist; the real ghosts are in human hearts.”

Xie Sui picked up his phone, found the set of paranormal photos, and showed them to the audience.

“First, we can analyze how these paranormal photos were produced from the camera angles. Photography experts have already ruled out the possibility of the photos being Photoshopped, so I won’t try to show off my limited skills there. Let’s explain the formation of these paranormal photos from another perspective.”

“We can see from the photos that sunlight cast beams of light after penetrating the leaves in the forest. These beams are the Tyndall effect⁴. From this, it’s clear that when the travel blogger took the photos, there must have been plenty of fine dust or water vapor in the air.”

“The lens model used by this travel blogger has very high clarity and excellent imaging effects. Under specific circumstances, it can capture even the dust in the light.”

Coughing lightly, Xie Sui gave his final conclusion. “So there is nothing to panic about. The ghostly figure in The Haunted House is actually just a light spot created by dust appearing blurred under the lens. It’s just that after this light spot was cropped and enlarged, the image became distorted due to pixel blurring, making it look a bit like a ghostly figure.”

“As for those missing streamers, it’s likely because the interior of The Haunted House has fallen into disrepair. Combined with the fact that they were streaming at night, they probably just stepped into a hole and fell. We don’t know the layout of the house, so it’s best to leave the rescue work to the Inspectorate Bureau. You must never cross the police line and enter The Haunted House out of curiosity, as that only adds trouble for the Inspectorate Bureau.”

[??????]

[I thought I was watching a paranormal exploration death-wish stream, but I didn’t expect it to be a lecture on breaking down feudal superstitions⁵.]

[Host, the way you talk nonsense with such a serious face looks exactly like me during my thesis defense.]

[LMAO, host, you’re just here to chase clout and scam money, aren’t you? I really feel bad for those two big shots who tipped you Space Battleships.]

[Coward. If you’re a man, go take a walk inside The Haunted House. Seeing is believing. How are we supposed to know if it’s true or false just from your talk?]

Mocking comments flooded the screen one after another. Clearly, not a single person believed Xie Sui’s “scientific theories.”

However, Xie Sui didn’t care. No matter how much they cursed, as long as they didn’t leave, it was fine. The night was still long anyway; he would just stand in front of The Haunted House and bicker with these Water Friends. Earning money just by talking was much easier than being a television host.

Now, he needed to think of how to make the Water Friends in the chat even angrier…

Just as Xie Sui wanted to say something else to provoke the audience’s emotions, the comments that were full of complaints suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

Then, massive blocks of identical text and exclamation marks began to flood the screen.

[Holy crap, if you walk the night long enough, you really will see a ghost!!]

[What the hell is that thing behind the host???]

[Crap! Host! The female ghost is right behind you!!]

Noticing the flood of comments scrolling across the screen, Xie Sui looked down at his phone.

The phone displayed the live feed of his stream. On the screen, the figure of a long-haired woman was shifting from ethereal to solid, slowly manifesting behind him.

The woman’s frame was withered and her skin was deathly pale. Her dry, long hair fluttered in the air, revealing a face covered in livid scars. She looked like a skeleton draped in a layer of human skin, or perhaps a mummy that had been desiccated for decades.

On that skeletal face, a pair of bulging, bloodshot eyes were strikingly prominent. Her malevolent gaze seemed to pierce through the screen, cursing everyone who saw her.

Translator’s Notes