Chapter 175: The Sixth Live Stream

I flipped through the student records. In Guo Junjie's class, Class Three, the page for student number eleven was completely blank.

"Did the archivist carelessly slip a blank piece of paper into the records? Or was it a printing error?" I pulled the page out; all the information on it had been erased.

I pocketed the page. As I kept reading, I slowly made more discoveries.

Every year, the other classes received a quota of five for the Three Good Student award. Only Guo Junjie's Class Three consistently had four.

'Why would they be short one spot? Does this sort of thing rely on looks too?' I carefully read through every student's information sheet. They listed the positions the students had held during the academic year, such as subject representative or hygiene commissioner.

By the time I finished reviewing all the records, I discovered that not a single student in Class Three had ever served as the math representative.

I also noticed something strange. This Japanese-style private high school had many student-run clubs, like the music club and the art club, and the activity records for all of them could be found in the archives.

Among them was one called the Detective Club. Out of professional habit, I took a closer look at it and made an unexpected discovery.

The entry for the club's president was completely blank, and the president's name was entirely absent from all the activity attendance records.

As I looked at the documents scattered across the floor, a hypothetical profile began to take shape in my mind.

This missing high schooler had to be exceptionally low-profile in his daily life, possessing a calm and mature personality. This was evident from Guo Junjie's tone and attitude when speaking about him. While the rest of the class treated bullying Guo Junjie as a daily routine, this person had never done anything excessive to him.

Furthermore, his academic performance was outstanding. He was awarded the Three Good Student title every year, and out of all his subjects, he excelled most at math.

He had also founded the Detective Club and served as its president, which meant he had a strong interest in criminal investigation and solving cases.

I rubbed my chin, taking out a pen and paper to jot down all these traits.

"Age seventeen to nineteen. Gender unknown. Height and weight unknown. Strong logical reasoning skills. Calm and composed personality. Possesses a certain level of organizational and coordination ability."

After writing it down, even I was somewhat surprised. All of the missing person's traits perfectly matched the requirements of the Underworld Live Show. It was as if he were tailor-made for it.

'Could this student be Xia Chi? If he was already an Underworld Live Show Streamer five years ago, then this guy is utterly terrifying.' I had been a streamer for less than a month and had already survived several life-and-death crises. It was hard to imagine how anyone could endure this torment for five years. 'But Xia Qingzhi said her brother only went in for an interview recently. They probably aren't the same person.'

I didn't leave Xinhu High School until evening. I had searched every room, but the results were far from ideal. Everything regarding the missing student had been wiped clean, leaving not a single clue behind.

By the time I returned from Xinhu to Ting Tang Road, the sky had already grown dark. I practiced the Profound Truth Mental Method in my shop and spent my free time studying talisman arrays. It was a rather fulfilling evening.

The next day, I followed the methods outlined in the Profound Truth Detailed Explanation. After wasting more than a dozen sheets of Talisman Paper, I finally succeeded in drawing my first Suppression Talisman. Looking at the crooked runes on its surface, I still felt a fair amount of accomplishment.

I spent the entire day cultivating and drawing talismans in the shop. I had ruined more than half of the Talisman Paper and drawing materials in Lu Jin's Many Treasures Pouch, but through repeated practice, my success rate continued to rise.

When night fell, I pocketed the three completed Suppression Talismans, packed up my streaming gear, closed the shop early, and waited by the Large-Screen Phone.

Every three days felt like the reincarnation of a nightmare. There was no escaping it; I could only search for that increasingly slim sliver of hope within this game of life and death.

Time ticked forward, and the electronic clock on the wall chimed. It was eight o'clock in the evening.

A cold light suddenly illuminated the desk, tearing through the darkness of the small room like a ghost fetus impatient to be born, forcing its way into my field of vision.

Picking up the Underworld Live Show Phone, I pressed it to my ear.

"Hello?"

The sound of chewing and swallowing came from the other end of the line, as if someone were gnawing on something.

I didn't dare speak. I listened intently, unwilling to miss a single clue.

It took more than a minute for the chewing sounds to finally stop, followed by the sound of a door closing over the phone.

"Hello?"

"Shh, keep your voice down. She absolutely cannot find out," a man whispered. He sounded terrified.

I lowered my voice as well and asked, "How can I help you?"

"My wife has been acting incredibly strange lately. I want you to help me find out why."

"Can you give me the details?"

The man's voice trembled slightly over the line. "Starting a month ago, pet cats and dogs have been going missing from my residential complex every single day."

"At first, no one paid much attention to it, but over the last few days, it hasn't just been pets. Five- and six-year-old children have started disappearing too."

"We checked the security footage. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but my wife always appears near the scenes where the children vanish."

"I suspect my wife is involved with the disappearances of these animals and children. I've also noticed animal fur inexplicably appearing in our apartment, along with a scent of blood coming from nowhere."

At this point, the man's voice dropped even lower. "But what terrifies me the most is that every morning when we wake up, the moment my wife opens her mouth to speak, a stench of formalin wafts out!"

"Hubby... who are you talking to on the phone?"

Just as the man reached the most crucial part of his story, a bizarre female voice suddenly echoed from the other end. Then, the call was abruptly cut off.

Listening to the busy signal, I stood frozen in place until a text message pinged into my inbox.

"They were childhood sweethearts who thought they would grow old and watch the sunset together. But at the age of thirty-five, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Gripping the diagnosis, she cried and laughed in alternating fits. She didn't smoke. She didn't have a single bad habit. How could she have gotten lung cancer? She went to his office, only to find a bag of her favorite dried fruits inside his drawer. Beside it sat a medicine bottle. The warning label was shocking, and tears streamed down her face. Three days later, she wept as she lit his birthday candles. He was not there. She lit thirty-four long candles and one short candle, laughing softly as she whispered, 'You've really gotten thinner.'"

"Do you want to know which question you answered incorrectly? Survive, and you will get your answer."

"Live Stream Task: Arrive at the West Gate of the old Jiangcheng Medical College campus before midnight."

"Optional Task 1: For every person who survives other than yourself, you will be rewarded with one extra point."

"Optional Task 2: Provide the correct answer. Reward: five points."

"Note: The special SOS call feature of the Underworld Live Show Phone has been unlocked. When you encounter an unresolvable deadly situation, you may dial this mysterious number. The person on the other end might help you escape, or they might plunge you into even deeper despair. Your first call is free, with a maximum duration of three minutes. Every subsequent call will cost ten points."

Staring at the text messages in my inbox, the man's voice still echoing in my ears, I habitually lit a cigarette.

'This question in the text was one of the ones I answered during my interview for the Underworld Live Show. Was this the one I got wrong?' Between the phone call and the text messages, it seemed like I had been given a lot of clues, but they were actually a chaotic, tangled mess. There was no obvious place to start.

'And then there's this SOS call feature. What an absolute scam! It could help me escape, or it could drag me into deeper despair. How is that any different from telling me nothing?'

After finishing my cigarette, I opened my computer and ran a search. The old campus of Jiangcheng Medical College was located on the west side of Jiangcheng. It wasn't exactly a remote area, yet very few developers were willing to purchase that plot of land.

Five years ago, Jiangcheng Medical College had relocated to the eastern suburbs of Jiangcheng. The old campus was left with only four departments: Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Pathophysiology, and Pathological Anatomy.

Furthermore, the students of these departments all attended their classes together at the east campus. The entire West Campus had been sealed off, with entry strictly prohibited.

'They relocated five years ago?' I stubbed out my cigarette, my fingers slowly clenching into a fist. 'The incident at Xinhu High School also happened five years ago. It seems like the entirety of Jiangcheng experienced some massive upheaval five years ago.'

Glancing at the time, I realized it was already eight-thirty. I packed up my things, loaded all my streaming gear into the Black Leather Suitcase, and then hailed a taxi heading for the old campus of Jiangcheng Medical College.

I arrived just past nine o'clock. The campus covered a massive area. I walked a full lap around its perimeter, only to discover that the entire campus had exactly three gates—and none of them was the West Gate mentioned in the Underworld Live Show's text message.