Chapter 2
The person in charge of the livestreaming platform came to meet them on the third day after Xie Chi received her phone. Since they had instructions from the higher-ups, the two sides quickly reached an agreement and could begin working at any time.
However, getting started wasn’t quite that simple. First, they needed to purchase equipment, then choose a location for the livestream. Her martial nephew was responsible for handling all of that, so Xie Chi only needed to wait.
When the time and location of her first livestream were finally confirmed, Xie Chi was busy wiping down her box. To be fair, the box had only been sitting on the offering table for a couple of days, so there was hardly any chance for dust to accumulate. But she was like a new pet owner who couldn’t resist keeping her newly adopted cat or dog spotlessly clean. She wanted to wipe the box three to five times every day.
Her martial nephew stood beside her, patiently repeating his advice. “We’ve settled on the location for your first livestream, Little Martial Aunt. You absolutely must remember this: even if the viewers actually see a ghost, you have to deny it no matter what. Insist that ghosts don’t exist in this world and that it’s all feudal superstition. All right?”
Xie Chi tilted her head, not quite understanding why they had to go to such lengths. But this was a task assigned by her sect, so she had to carry it out regardless.
“All right.”
“Since we still have some time, Little Martial Aunt, watch a few more episodes of Approaching Science to gain some experience.” Her martial nephew deliberately selected several episodes with particularly strong supernatural atmospheres and played them for her.
Holding her box, Xie Chi watched attentively, absorbing everything she could. As she watched, she asked in confusion, “It was clearly an infant spirit causing trouble, so why did they say the noise came from catfish calling in the sewer?”
Her martial nephew wiped the sweat from his forehead. “To prove that ghosts really don’t exist in this world…”
“Then did they exorcise the infant spirit afterward?”
“Yes. We have our own people working behind the scenes on that program. They usually deal with the problem on the same day.”
Xie Chi nodded and continued watching. She could vaguely understand the reasoning behind it. To maintain social harmony, there were always certain things ordinary people couldn’t be allowed to know. But the excuses this production team came up with were far too ridiculous, weren’t they? Would anyone actually believe them?
By now, Xie Chi had learned how to use her phone. During her free time, she even searched online for comments about Approaching Science, only to discover that everyone’s attitude toward the program was more or less like this:
‘The first half built up such a terrifying supernatural atmosphere that it was scarier than an actual horror movie. And then, in the end, you’re telling me it was just wind blowing through cracks in the house?’
‘This episode was hilarious too, okay? Someone could suck blood out of their own arm without leaving a wound, and the conclusion was bleeding gums. Emmmm…’
‘As everyone knows, Approaching Science is a comedy entertainment program.’
‘What do you people know? Approaching Science is actually a program created by a secret government department specifically to cover up supernatural phenomena. They use science to explain everything unscientific, conceal the truth, and then secretly resolve these incidents behind the scenes without letting us know. They’re working really hard, okay? Sorry, I can’t keep making this up…’
Xie Chi: …
You’ve actually figured out the truth.
But considering the original purpose of the program, perhaps it could be considered a success?
In that case, she might as well learn from it. Who knew? It might come in handy someday.
After watching Approaching Science for two days, Xie Chi was practically beginning to believe its explanations herself. Meanwhile, her martial nephew finally finished all the preparations. They could begin her first livestream whenever they wanted.
The location of her first livestream was a hospital.
Apparently, the place had originally been a maternal and child healthcare hospital. Later, two or three pregnant women in succession had died on the operating table under inexplicable circumstances. Their conditions had been perfectly normal when they were first brought into surgery, and the operations themselves had gone smoothly, yet something had mysteriously gone wrong, resulting in their deaths.
The incidents had provoked extreme dissatisfaction among the patients’ families. Combined with several other problems, the hospital had eventually gone out of business.
Later, the property was purchased and converted into a general hospital. However, people frequently reported seeing strange things at night, such as mysterious bloodstains appearing inside the elevators, dark figures standing beside hospital beds late at night, and a woman dressed in red carrying a child as she paced back and forth along the corridors.
Some people even claimed to have heard strange crying sounds, like those of an infant.
Xie Chi gathered her things and placed the box inside her bag. Speaking of preparations, it was worth mentioning that her martial nephew had originally prepared a miniature button-style camera. However, after considering that his martial aunt needed to show her face, he had switched to an ordinary smartphone.
He had looked extremely regretful, wearing an expression that practically said, I really wanted to show my filial devotion to you, Martial Aunt.
Once everything was ready, her martial nephew drove Xie Chi to the destination.
“Martial Aunt, just give me a call when you’re finished. I’ll be waiting outside.”
“Mm.” Xie Chi stood beneath the hospital and looked up at it. The disturbances had become rather serious a few days earlier, with quite a few people claiming to have seen ghosts. As a result, the hospital had temporarily suspended operations for almost a week now. None of the lights were on, leaving the entire building pitch-black. Seen from below, it looked rather eerie.
Xie Chi first adjusted her phone. Following her martial nephew’s instructions, she opened the livestreaming app, logged into her account, entered her own livestreaming channel, and gave the stream a title. That was all.
Her martial nephew had told her that it didn’t matter if she acted a little aloof and didn’t interact with the viewers. After all, she was pretty.
He had also said that this was a world where looks mattered, and people who loved pretty faces could be perfectly happy just admiring them.
Although Xie Chi didn’t entirely understand what he meant, she could grasp the general idea. For example, Sister Qiao, who doted on her the most back on the mountain, had a vicious tongue. Everything she said seemed to carry a hint of sarcasm. But because Sister Qiao was beautiful, no one could bring themselves to dislike her.
Xie Chi entered the hospital. The moment she stepped inside, she could feel yin energy circulating throughout the lobby. It seemed the rumors of hauntings were true.
The livestreaming platform had already received its orders and arranged an excellent promotional spot for her channel. It was the kind of prominent placement that visitors would notice the instant they entered the website. Consequently, viewers began trickling in almost as soon as she started broadcasting.
Just as her martial nephew had predicted, most of the people entering were there to admire her face, although a few skeptical comments were mixed in.
‘Since when do newcomers get a homepage banner recommendation on their very first day of streaming?’
‘Does anyone know if she’s some big streamer recruited from another platform?’
‘Never seen her before. Doesn’t look familiar, but she’s pretty…’
Xie Chi remembered that, according to the information she’d received, the third floor was where the hauntings were most severe. Although the hospital had temporarily suspended operations, its electricity hadn’t been completely shut off, so the elevators were still functioning. After wandering around for a while, she headed straight toward the elevators.
‘Anyone who chooses to take the elevator at this point in a horror movie is basically dead…’
Xie Chi glanced at the screen, then remembered her martial nephew’s instructions. With a perfectly serious expression, she said, “But ghosts don’t exist in this world, so things like that only happen in horror movies. There’s no need to be afraid.”
She probably didn’t realize that saying something like this made her look even more like the reckless character in a horror movie who was about to get herself killed in the very next second.
Xie Chi, who kept giving everyone the impression that she was about to meet a terrible end, opened the elevator doors and casually pressed the button for the third floor. Just as the doors were about to close, a set of blurry facial features faintly appeared on the brightly polished, almost mirror-like elevator wall beside her.
Her martial nephew had said there couldn’t be any ghosts.
Without changing her expression, Xie Chi slapped the wall, sending the female ghost that had been about to crawl out straight back inside.
Female Ghost: ??
However, many viewers in the livestreaming room had witnessed her actions, and some had vaguely caught sight of the female ghost.
‘I think I just saw a face…’
“An elevator reflection,” Xie Chi explained with a perfectly straight face.
Livestream viewers: …
The trip from the first floor to the third floor was quite short. With a ding, Xie Chi officially arrived on the third floor, where the hauntings were supposedly at their worst. For some reason, the windows on this floor had been left open. Whenever the wind blew, the curtains fluttered, adding another layer of eeriness to the already dark and gloomy corridor.
Xie Chi frowned slightly. The yin energy on the third floor was extremely dense. She could even faintly make out a thin layer of something resembling mist gathering over the floor, slowly flowing across its surface. It hardly seemed like a hospital that had only been built and put into use a few years ago. Instead, it felt more like a mass grave.
Not having her Demon-Slaying Sword at hand really was inconvenient. She instinctively reached behind her back to draw it, only to grab empty air.
The feeling of having nothing in her hands was rather uncomfortable, especially when she was being watched by a crowd of ghosts.
She could sense numerous pairs of eyes lurking in the darkness, watching her with malicious intent. To tell the truth, it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. Xie Chi was far too famous back in her own region. Any ghost that dared look at her that way had ended up skewered straight through by the Demon-Slaying Sword. Over time, gods and ghosts alike had learned to steer clear of her wherever she went.
This was probably one of the benefits of arriving somewhere unfamiliar. The ghosts here didn’t recognize her, so they were a little bolder.
Xie Chi was itching for a fight. Her eyes sparkled as she stared down the pitch-black corridor. The box inside her backpack was also growing restless. Thin wisps of black mist, resembling tentacles, slipped through the gaps in the zipper and extended along the backpack toward the ground.
Xie Chi quietly caught them and stuffed them back inside.
The misty tentacles pitifully curled around Xie Chi’s fingers, rubbing against her with the soft, clingy affection of a cat begging for food.
The affectionate rubbing made Xie Chi itch to pet it. If she hadn’t been in front of the camera, she would definitely have taken out the box and given it a thorough round of cuddles and strokes.
After stroking the black mist, which was actually tentacles formed from yin energy, several times, Xie Chi continued deeper into the corridor. Judging from her many years of experience, there was something slightly wrong with this hospital.
She had already spotted quite a few wandering souls and wild ghosts inside the hospital, but they were all minor spirits. They lingered in the human world without possessing much ability to harm anyone. At most, they could frighten ordinary people. They weren’t even capable of physically injuring someone.
That simply didn’t match the extraordinarily dense yin energy filling this place.
Unfortunately, Xie Chi couldn’t figure out what was wrong for the time being. Perhaps it was because this wasn’t her area of expertise. After all, fighting was the only thing she was good at.
The deeper she walked, the denser the yin energy became. If this continued, even the viewers in her livestreaming room might begin to notice that something was wrong. That would defeat the entire purpose of her livestream. Fortunately, she was almost at the end of the corridor. All the patient room doors were closed. When the light from her phone swept across them, the livestreaming chat suddenly exploded.
‘Someone’s there! There’s someone in the corner!’
‘Holy shit, shouldn’t you be saying there’s a ghost at a time like this?’
‘Seriously?! I saw it too! Don’t tell me the streamer arranged this herself!’
‘Emmm, suddenly getting featured on the homepage + pulling something like this… It’s probably a publicity stunt, right? Feels like she has some kind of intimate connection with the platform’s higher-ups, too.’
But before their fear and skepticism could last much longer, a hand suddenly reached through the window beside her!
And it was coming from outside the window.
Outside a third-floor window!
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