Chapter 251: Sudden Change

"Yi Yi, go see what the doctor has to say." I patted Yi Yi on the shoulder, and the girl obediently walked toward the doctor. She hadn't slept all night either, and her eyes were red and swollen like freshly picked peaches.

Watching Yi Yi follow the doctor into the ward, I stood up, brushed the dust off my clothes, and turned to walk downstairs.

Day had broken. With the seventh live broadcast over, Tie Ningxiang's life should no longer be in danger.

"Ding!"

"Live Broadcast Task: Find Tie Ningxiang before midnight — Completed."

"1 point rewarded for completing the live broadcast task; peak viewership exceeded 5,000, rewarding 7 points; total gifts received during the broadcast exceeded 3,000 Underworld Coins, rewarding 5 points; completed a commission from the Underworld, rewarding 1 additional point."

"Optional Task 1: Protect Tie Ningxiang and keep her alive until daybreak — Completed. Reward: 5 points."

"Optional Task 2: Kill Tie Ningxiang by any means necessary — Incomplete."

"Optional Task 3: Guess 'my' true identity — Completed. Reward: 5 points."

"The help call function was not used during this live broadcast. Your free use will be carried over to the next live broadcast."

"Calculation complete. A total of 24 points were earned in this live broadcast. Current point total: 67 points."

"Seventh live broadcast completed. Store catalog updated."

"Complete Secret Water Dragon Classic (In the lands of Jianghuai there are no dragons or tigers; where do the vast waters return? East and west take only water as the dragon; bury here and your descendants shall rise to the Three Ducal Ministers. An ancient feng shui method for discerning water veins, lakes, and marshes, 30 points), Spiritual Chess Classic All Beings Volume (Heaven and earth are the board, and all living beings are the pieces; perhaps one may seek a slim chance of breaking free, 30 points), River God Water Seal (Water-suppressing river official, governing eighty li of water veins, 20 points), Book of Rain Divination (Wondrous art of rain divination, consisting of three chapters on cloud observation, calling the wind, and summoning rain, 30 points), Two Dragons Emerging from Water Formation Talisman Paper Set (12 points), Hardship-Relieving Rebirth Divine Talisman (Upper Vehicle Talisman, capable of redeeming malicious souls and guiding them to rebirth, 6 points), one Random High-Tier Talisman (10 points)..."

I skimmed the task completion and catalog update notifications on my Underworld Live Show Phone. The items in this update were quite distinctive, mostly tied to rivers, lakes, and seas. There were arts of rain divination, feng shui techniques for surveying great rivers and marshes, and the River God Water Seal. Special official seals like this had indeed existed in ancient times. Those who bore the seal stayed out of mortal affairs. Unlike the imperial court's water transport commissioners, they were mostly rustic folk—of whom it was said the divine dragon is seen its head but not its tail. Born upon great rivers, they spent their entire lives living around treacherous waters and dragon pools, rarely having any dealings with the living, which was why they were also known as water-suppressing yin officials.

'Everything is related to rivers and water veins. Could the next live broadcast take place by a river?' I frowned in thought. Counting the Amusement Park Live Broadcast, I had gone through seven live broadcasts in total, which corresponded to seven special fate patterns among the Eight Characters Divine Fiends. Now, only the tribulation fiend had yet to appear. If my guess was right, the next live broadcast would center on the tribulation fiend.

Walking out of the hospital, I immediately spotted Balding Uncle fast asleep in his cab. The middle-aged driver's performance yesterday had been truly impressive, making me see him in a whole new light.

"Uncle, wake up! Time to get to work!" I knocked on the window, pulled open the rear door, and got into the taxi. It took Balding Uncle a good while to fully wake up.

"Ting Tang Road. Park in the usual spot."

"You got it." He wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and started the taxi right away. "Your girlfriend's alright now, isn't she? How come I didn't see her come out?"

"She still needs to stay in the hospital for observation for a while. Besides, she's not my girlfriend." I stretched and leaned against the window, letting the warm sunlight fall across my face. "Uncle, thanks for last night. Without you, I probably wouldn't have lived to see the sun today."

"Nothing to thank me for. Even though I thought I looked pretty cool yesterday myself, I didn't actually help all that much... Plus, I think I smashed up their main gate and crushed a bunch of pipes. Who knows how much I'll have to pay for that. I'll have to get the car checked out tomorrow, too. I just replaced the bumper, and now the paint on the front is scraped off again. My wife is going to tear me to pieces next time I bring the car home. Sigh, movies really are full of lies..."

Listening to Balding Uncle's rambling complaints, I felt a sudden wave of warmth. This was how ordinary people lived—busy every day with the mundane necessities of household life. Sadly, it had been a long time since I had experienced a life like that myself.

When we reached Ting Tang Road, I didn't let him leave right away. Instead, I went inside my room, took out a portion of my savings, wrapped it in black cloth, and slipped in a few pieces of Talisman Paper for attracting wealth and warding off evil.

"Uncle, there's some Talisman Paper in this bundle. They really work, so make sure you keep them safe." I set the bundle on the front passenger seat and turned to leave, not expecting him to grab the bundle and chase after me.

"What are you doing? I didn't help you for your money. I'll keep the Talisman Paper, but you take the cash back," he said firmly. "If you really want to thank me, bring me along on your next live broadcast. I always get the feeling that following you opens the door to a whole new world."

"Come with me on a live broadcast?" I looked at him in confusion. This line of work that I was trying every possible way to escape somehow looked fascinating to an outsider.

"That's right. I promise I won't hold you back," he said in dead earnest.

I gave a wry smile. "My live broadcasts aren't like other streams. What you saw today is just the tip of the iceberg. Don't just focus on the thrill. You and I are different—you have a wife and family. You're the pillar of your household, whereas I have nothing tying me down."

"Not so, not so." He imitated Half-Immortal Liu's tone from the livestream chat. "I'm in my forties now, and watching your broadcasts made me realize I'd spent my whole life living in a bubble. Truth is, I really admire you. Your streams can get bloody and gruesome at times, sure, but at their core they urge people toward goodness—showing that good and evil are repaid through karma and reincarnation. I can see that clearly, which is why I want to..."

"Join my live broadcasts?" I shook my head. Balding Uncle had no idea what I was actually dealing with. The broadcasts of the Underworld Live Show were far filthier than any ordinary person could imagine. It was a deeply sinister line of work—sometimes not merely a witness to evil, but an active participant in it. Thinking back to the optional task at Henshan Psychiatric Hospital that rewarded 1 point for every person killed, and then looking at the optional task in the Amusement Park Live Broadcast to kill Tie Ningxiang by any means necessary, those side tasks alone proved that the Underworld Live Show was no organization urging people to do good. It didn't care about human life. Its malice was bred in the bone, and there was no telling what it would make me do next.

I was already bogged down in this mire with no way out; there was no way I would drag Balding Uncle into the ditch with me. Tossing the black-cloth bundle back into the taxi, I cut him off just as he opened his mouth to speak and pointed at a tree lining the street. "Uncle, my live broadcasts are actually a lot like this tree by the roadside. All you see is its lush green exterior, when in truth, you don't understand it at all."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that my live broadcasts are just like this tree. If it wants to spread its leaves and reach closer to the sunlight, it has to drive its roots deep into the dark, hopeless, rotting filth underground."

I put it as tactfully as I could. Without waiting to see whether Balding Uncle understood, I walked into my small shop alone.

After locking the shop door and standing by the window until Balding Uncle drove off, I finally lit a cigarette, ready to head upstairs and get some rest.

As the tobacco smoke cleared my head, I glanced around the narrow little shop and suddenly froze. "Where's Bai Qi?"

Because my shop hid many secrets, as well as precious treasures like the Qi Transformation Pill, the Dragon-Carving Brush, and the Chu Palace Compass, I always left Bai Qi behind to watch the place whenever I went out for a live broadcast. And Bai Qi had never once let me down.

"Bai Qi?"

I called out toward the second floor, but no answer came back. A bad feeling slowly crept over me. Pulling open a drawer, I grabbed a stun baton and headed upstairs.

The second-floor door was locked tight, looking no different from when I left. Yet when I crouched down to inspect the thin tripwire at the base of the door, I saw that it had been snapped. Someone had pushed this door open.

'Who could it be? Blind Liu? Er Gou?' I opened the second-floor door, and at the sight of the room inside, my face went dead white.

Bedsheets, books, files—everything had been ransacked and left in a complete mess.

I hurried into the room. The Qi Transformation Pill, the Dragon-Carving Brush, and the Paulownia Mulberry Talisman hidden inside the secret compartment of the bookshelf were completely untouched. Evidently, the intruder wasn't after these rare treasures.

'Was it just an ordinary burglary?'

I clung to that wishful thought, but when I turned around, I suddenly saw that the lock on the computer desk drawer had been pried open. Inside, the commission file on the Huang Family was still there, but the notes I had casually sketched out regarding the Underworld Live Show live broadcasts had vanished without a trace!