When Ruan Qing became aware of his surroundings, he usually turned off the livestream while sleeping. In fact, unless he was involved in something related to a game instance, he would immediately close the livestream.
Just like in the previous instance, he only turned on the livestream when participating in a gambling session.
However, at this moment, Ruan Qing hadn't turned off the livestream, so the viewers had been watching the entire time.
Naturally, they also noticed the abnormal changes in the lighting.
At first, the flickering flashlight could be explained by low battery power or a faulty circuit, causing the light to flicker intermittently.
The livestream audience didn’t find it too strange at first, just thinking it was an odd coincidence.
After all, the flashlight malfunctioned only when Ruan Qing was alone, but when others arrived, it worked fine.
It seemed a bit too coincidental.
However, none of the viewers thought too deeply about it.
But now, the lights were connected to the power supply, so there was no possibility of a low battery.
Either the light was broken, or there was something... in the room.
If the light had broken, it would have gone out instantly, not gradually dimmed like it was now, before completely going out.
So, only one possibility remained.
There was something in the room.
The viewers, who were still somewhat in denial moments ago, suddenly remembered the name of this instance.
The [Haunted Building].
Could the Haunted Building... actually have ghosts?
The fear of the unknown was always the most terrifying, and the existence of ghosts accounts for a large part of that fear.
The viewers suddenly felt a chill, their nerves tense as they stared fearfully at the livestream.
After the lights went out, the basement was plunged into darkness again.
It was an eerie, ominous darkness, one that sent chills down the spine.
It was as if the light hadn’t simply disappeared, but something had blocked or absorbed it.
The livestream camera wasn't affected by the darkness, and the viewers could still vaguely make out the basement's scene.
But after the lights went out, the warmth the light had brought vanished completely.
The basement became cold and gloomy once again, perhaps even colder than before.
In early autumn, the temperature difference between day and night was already significant, let alone wearing just a thin shirt.
Although Ruan Qing was covered with a blanket, Xu He's blanket was the kind of thin summer quilt that couldn't provide much warmth.
Without the warmth of the light, Ruan Qing seemed to feel a bit cold. Even in his sleep, he slightly furrowed his brow and unconsciously tucked his head further into the blanket.
However, Ruan Qing was probably not used to completely covering his head, so he only burrowed in slightly, with most of his head still exposed.
He looked somewhat pitiful.
Ruan Qing was sleeping on his side, and from above, only his profile was visible.
His profile was exquisitely perfect, and with his black hair scattered across the pillow, it contrasted sharply with his fair, jade-like cheeks, creating a striking visual impact.
A beauty so breathtaking.
It was almost unbelievable.
Even the dark basement did not diminish his beauty in the slightest; instead, it made the basement look even more appealing.
If this were a normal situation, the viewers in the live stream would have already started frantically taking screenshots. But at this moment, they weren't doing that; instead, they were frantically warning in the comments.
[Wife, wake up!!! Don’t sleep! Get up and run! There’s something in the basement! Ah!!!]
[When I saw the words "Haunted Building," I had a bad feeling. "Haunted" almost always involves ghosts, but I didn’t expect the ghost to come so soon! It’s only the first day in the game!]
[It's over, it's over. My wife is definitely done for. He has no combat power at all. No matter how smart he is, it’s useless when facing something supernatural!]
Let alone having no combat power, even players with strong combat abilities might not be able to confront a ghost head-on.
The only thing to do was to run.
However, the sleeping person had no idea how much danger he was in, nor could he see the frantic warnings in the live stream comments.
After tucking himself in a bit, the young man seemed to feel much more at ease, and the slight furrow in his brow relaxed.
He drifted back into a deep sleep.
The young man's eyelashes were incredibly long, even more noticeable with his eyes closed—so beautiful, they didn’t seem real.
Silent and serene.
No one had the heart to disturb the tranquility of this moment.
The young man's health didn't seem very good; his face was so pale it almost seemed translucent, carrying a faintly sickly appearance.
He probably hadn't seen sunlight in a long time.
He stood out awkwardly in the basement, yet somehow also seemed to blend in perfectly.
It was as if he had been born to belong to this dark basement.
A profound contradiction.
Just like the young man himself—born with a natural contradiction.
While the viewers in the livestream were fixated on the side of the bed, a black shadow appeared in the corner without anyone knowing when it had arrived.
To call it a shadow wouldn’t do it justice—it was more like some eerie mass.
Humanoid, yet not quite human.
Twisted, bizarre, and emanating an overwhelming sense of oppression.
When that shadow appeared, a chilling, powerful aura spread through the air, carrying a dangerous and terrifying vibe.
After appearing, the shadow stayed eerily still in the corner, merging with the surrounding darkness.
But if you looked closely, you'd notice that the area where the shadow lingered resembled a black hole, so dark that not even the camera in the livestream could capture it.
The viewers hadn’t noticed the shadow initially, but one viewer happened to glance toward that corner. The moment they did, cold sweat broke out.
They felt a strange and inexplicable tingling on their scalp, as if even their heartbeat had stalled.
It was as though they had glimpsed something terrifying.
It took that viewer several seconds to snap out of the inexplicable fear, their trembling hands typing a message in the chat.
[Guys...guys, look at the left corner. There's...there's something there!]
After this message appeared, all the viewers turned their attention to the corner that had been pointed out. The next second, the once-busy chat screen went eerily silent.
Every viewer was gripped by that terrifying emotion, their bodies shaking uncontrollably.
It was as if all the strength had been drained from them, leaving them unable even to hold onto the things in their hands.
It was terrifying.
There was clearly nothing visible, yet it felt like something dreadful lurked in that spot.
At that moment when they looked back, it was as if they had seen death itself—a fear so overwhelming that it caused uncontrollable trembling.
A fear so intense that it made every cell in their body scream to run.
Yet, because of that fear, they had no courage to even flee.
Even more terrifying was that the entity… moved.
Although it wasn’t visible, the viewers in the livestream could see the position of that entity.
Because of the unique features of the livestream, no matter how dark it was, things could still be vaguely seen to ensure viewers could watch.
But the corner on the left was completely different. That place was utter darkness—pitch black—nothing could be seen.
It was like a void.
And now, that void was… moving!
Once the viewers in the livestream realized this, their eyes widened as they watched that pitch-black entity slowly inch toward the bed.
It seemed as if it was trying to drag the person on the bed into the darkness.
The viewers' hearts tightened. Many tried to suppress their fear, frantically sending warnings in the chat.
[Run, wife, run!!!]
[No, no, no, don’t come near my wife!!! Wife, wake up!]
[It’s over. This time it’s really over. My wife is done for, sob sob sob.]
The entity approached silently, almost as if it didn’t have any physical form.
It was eerie and horrifying.
And enormous.
As it left the corner, everyone realized that it wasn’t just leaving—it was more like the void of darkness was spreading.
Like a black hole, seemingly consuming the entire basement.
As the entity got closer, the basement grew darker and darker. It became so dark that even the livestream was gradually becoming difficult to see.
They could no longer make out the simple bed or the person lying on it.
It was so dark, it was as if the stream had broken.
But livestreams rarely malfunction, and a black screen could only mean one thing—the stream had been shut down.
However, all the viewers could still send comments, which clearly indicated that the stream hadn’t been shut down.
Everyone knew what this meant: *that entity* had already reached the edge of the bed.
Because only in the presence of that entity would everything become completely impossible to see.
Was the streamer... about to die?
Since the screen was pitch black and no visuals could be seen, the audience had to turn up the volume to the maximum.
The basement was incredibly quiet at this moment, with only the faint sound of the young man’s breathing.
Soft and steady.
Yet this did nothing to ease the tension for the viewers; in fact, it made them even more anxious as they listened to that breathing.
Because that breathing could stop at any moment.
And if the breathing stopped, it would most likely mean the young man’s death.
Player deaths were a common occurrence. The Infinite Horror game was filled with danger, and the kind of scenario you encountered was purely a matter of luck.
Even high-level players often died in instances.
Apart from those top-ranked players on the leaderboard, most others entering a scenario faced almost certain death.
So, the viewers had long grown accustomed to players dying. Some even found death to be an additional form of thrill.
But being used to it didn’t mean they weren’t tense. Although the audience couldn’t see the stream at this moment, they were all staring at the screen, not daring to make a sound.
They were afraid any noise they made might drown out that breathing sound or cause them to miss something crucial.
The entire stream was eerily quiet, with only a few sporadic comments popping up.
But no one paid attention to what the comments said; everyone was focused on the sound.
No one knew how much time had passed. It felt like only a few minutes, yet also like an eternity. Then, a strange sound came through the stream.
A faint rustling.
The sound was so soft that if you weren’t paying close attention, you wouldn’t hear it at all.
It sounded like the faint rustling of clothes, or perhaps the slight movement of someone on the bed.
Because they couldn’t see the stream’s visuals, the viewers had no way of discerning what was happening.
All they could do was listen intently, holding their breath, anxiously clinging to every sound from the stream.
Luckily, a few minutes passed, and aside from the young man's breathing, no other sounds came from the basement.
The bed was something the men had hastily constructed using a plank, so it was naturally very hard. It was quite normal for the delicate young master to sleep restlessly.
The audience in the live stream finally felt some relief.
Although the dungeon boss was terrifying, it rarely acted personally on the first night.
After all, generally speaking, the stronger the dungeon boss, the greater the restrictions imposed on it by the dungeon.
These restrictions typically only start to fade in the later stages of the dungeon.
It seemed that tonight, the dungeon boss wasn't here to kill anyone; it was highly likely that the player had merely been marked.
While the chances of dying after being marked were quite high, at least they wouldn’t die immediately tonight.
However, just as the audience sighed in relief, another sound emerged from the live stream.
The rustling sound returned, but this time, it was much louder.
There were even additional sounds.
The young man's calm breathing changed, as if he had been woken up by something.
“Mm...” The rustling sound came again, accompanied by the young man’s faint voice.
Compared to the sound of fabric rustling, this voice was much louder.
It sounded like someone’s mouth was covered, and the young man's breathing was noticeably more irregular.
The previously tense live stream audience froze for a moment—this sound... why did it sound like... kissing?
No... no way, right?
“Don’t…”
“Mm…”
(◍•á´—•◍)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the chapter!
ReplyDeleteWhat a naughty shadow