Chapter 320: Questions

I opened the box on the funeral table, my nose twitching at the heavy stench of blood.

Looking down, I saw a Brooch resting inside the wooden box. It was quaint and exquisite, made of neither gold nor silver, gleaming a bright black.

"Looks like a plum blossom?" I reached out, picked up the Brooch, and held it to my eye for a closer look. Only then did I realize there was a tiny camera in the middle, right where the stamen should be.

"A pinhole camera?" The antique exterior contrasted so sharply with the lens in the middle that it took me a moment to process it.

"That's right. This is your brand-new livestreaming tool, given as a reward. Once the Underworld Live Show Phone connects to the Portable Encoding Stick, just flip the switch on the back of the Brooch and the pinhole camera will operate on its own. In situations where holding the phone is inconvenient, you can adjust the settings in the broadcast room to shift your shooting angle." The examiner turned the box upside down on the table, shaking out a knotted blood-red rope. "If wearing the Brooch isn't practical, you can tie it to this cord and wear it around your neck."

The thick stench of blood in the box was coming straight from this rope. I felt a wave of repulsion, but this was still a treasure of sorts, so I took it and stuffed it into my pocket.

Seeing me accept the blood-red cord, the examiner nodded. "Give me your phone. There are some things you ought to see now."

He took the phone without seeming to do anything to it, but when he handed it back, two brand-new apps had appeared on the screen, both requiring identity verification to open.

One was labeled Personal Center, and the other was labeled Ledger of Merit.

"Under no circumstances can you allow anyone else to see the contents of these two apps, no matter how close you are to them, or an unwarranted disaster will fall upon you." The examiner pointed at the icons on the screen. "The Personal Center includes your current remaining points, total gift revenue, physical condition, and item exchange records. As for the Ledger of Merit, your realm isn't high enough yet, so you temporarily cannot grasp its profound mysteries. For now, you just need to remember that accumulating more merit can lower the difficulty of your livestreams and increase your chances of survival."

Merit was originally a Buddhist concept. It represented a spiritual function—the power to break the cycle of life and death, attain Nirvana, and deliver all living beings from suffering. This power stemmed from the virtue of good deeds, hence the term "merit."

I curiously opened the Ledger of Merit. It was completely blank save for a single line of text: Deficit of ninety-nine.

"Deficit should mean a loss. Does a deficit of ninety-nine mean my merit is at negative ninety-nine?" I asked, baffled.

"Correct. A deficit of ninety-nine means you do not have enough merit. You are ninety-nine merits short of an ordinary person."

I found the examiner's answer a little hard to swallow. I had just saved millions of lives in Jiangcheng. How could my merit still be in the negatives?

I was just about to voice my doubts, but the examiner seemed to anticipate them and beat me to it. "By saving millions of lives, you should have gained a surplus of a million merits. However, to offset the karma between you and the Eight Characters Divine Fiends, you have already spent them."

Seeing I still didn't believe him, he pointed at the tip of my nose. "Your Fate Pattern is ordinary, you have hidden afflictions, and you were not destined for a long life. When those merits fell upon you, less than a tenth of them remained. What little merit was left was spent altering your destiny in the unseen realm, restoring your vitality and soul. Over these past few days, haven't you felt certain changes in your body?"

Noticing the examiner continually pointing at my nose, I used my phone to snap a picture of myself, only then realizing that the mark of violent death previously pressing down on my nasal bridge had vanished. When I fell from the dam, my internal organs had been concussed and my meridians severely damaged. Yet, only a few days had passed and I was already alive and kicking. My complexion had clearly improved drastically.

"But just this shouldn't have used up a million merits, right?" I recalled the descriptions of merit in Buddhist texts. In most scriptures, merit was only measured by scale; there were no specific numerical quantities.

Seeing that I wouldn't let the matter drop, the examiner didn't dwell on the topic, simply replying coldly, "The first eight livestreams were just an evaluation. The broadcast tasks are arranged by the Underworld Live Show, so naturally, any merit earned must also be distributed according to our rules."

I narrowed my eyes. His words had actually revealed quite a lot. Merit being distributed by the Underworld Live Show implied that merit was also something the Live Show itself needed. They weren't free of desires and demands.

Realizing this, I stopped arguing with the examiner. After all, I was under their roof. If things turned ugly and they attacked me in spite of the signed contract, I would have no way to fight back.

Closing the Ledger of Merit, I tapped open the Personal Center. My points and physical condition all looked normal. The only thing that surprised me was the total gift revenue; over the course of eight livestreams, I had accumulated over 30,000 Underworld Coins in tips.

"What are these Underworld Coins used for?"

I asked the question subconsciously, and the examiner didn't make things difficult for me. "The money earned from gifts cannot be used by the living. You can slowly figure out the specifics yourself. The most basic use is exchanging them for merit. 10,000 Underworld Coins can be exchanged for one point of merit."

"10,000 Underworld Coins for just one point? With my merit deficit of ninety-nine, doesn't that mean I need 990,000 Underworld Coins just to make up for it?"

"Once the official broadcasts begin, your livestream feed will be seen by more people. As your popularity rises, whether or not you can attract them to tip will depend entirely on your performance." The examiner rested a hand against his Paper Doll Mask—he seemed to really like holding that pose. "After the official launch, the Underworld Live Show's gift system will also fully open. From lowest value to highest, they are Underworld Coins, Yuanbao, Paper Boats, and Spirit Coffins. 1,000 Underworld Coins equal one Yuanbao. 100 Yuanbao equal one Paper Boat. Ten Paper Boats equal one Spirit Coffin. If nine Spirit Coffins are gifted at the same time, the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin background will appear in your broadcast room."

"Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin? Is that a built-in entrance effect? It just feels weird talking about this in such a gloomy, eerie environment." I forced a bitter smile. The road ahead was long and arduous. I shouldn't hold out hope for gifts anytime soon; surviving was what mattered most.

"The livestreaming tools have been fully upgraded. The next broadcast should begin tomorrow night. You still have one day to rest and recuperate. If there's nothing else, you may go back." The examiner in the middle gave me the order to leave.

I didn't want to linger either. Stowing away the Underworld Live Show Phone, I kept my head down and said casually, "After the eighth livestream ended, I saved Jiangcheng. The task reward was the ability to ask you guys a single question. Can I use that opportunity now?"

"Are you sure you want to use it now? This is a chance you traded an entire city to get. Do not waste it."

"I don't even know if I can survive the next broadcast. Using it early will bring me some peace of mind."

"Ask away. We will tell you everything we know," the three examiners said in unison, agreeing quite readily.

I could only ask one question, but I had millions of doubts regarding the Underworld Live Show.

Who created the Live Show? What was its purpose? Why did the examiners always wear Paper Doll Masks? What did their real faces look like beneath them? Were they humans or ghosts? Xia Chi had vanished off the face of the earth; what did he encounter in the final moments of his life? Was the person I saw earlier in Room 443 actually him?

There were too many questions, but I only had one chance to ask.

After thinking it over time and time again, I chose a core question. "The world bustles for profit, and the world rushes for profit. What is your goal in attracting so many viewers? Ordinary livestreaming platforms draw in traffic to earn a profit from advertisements, memberships, paid rankings, and extended e-commerce. You go through so much trouble—what exactly is it all for?"

This was actually a fundamental question. What was the purpose of the Underworld Live Show's existence? Were they truly extracting the viewers' Yang Lifespan, or using the livestreams to spread things that couldn't see the light of day?

The three examiners glanced at each other. Only after about the time it takes an incense stick to burn did the examiner in the middle slowly speak. "There are many reasons for the creation of the Live Show. I can only tell you the most superficial one. Attracting people to watch and entangling the karma of all living beings is to obscure the heavenly secrets and gather the Fate Patterns of the masses."

Back then, Lu Xing hadn't hesitated to bury the whole city alongside him, opening the grand tomb and releasing the flood dragon, all to defy the heavens and change his destiny. The ordinary concept of "fate" could drive countless people mad, and it seemed that even an unfathomable entity like the Underworld Live Show was after Fate Patterns as well.

"A Fate Pattern is also known as a destiny grid. Everyone's Fate Pattern is completely unique and destined from the moment of birth. This is a rule set by the heavens. When a mortal is born, the position of the sun, moon, and stars in the sky forms their destiny grid, with one person corresponding to one star. Fortune can be changed, and the future can be altered, but Fate Patterns are different. They contain all sorts of marvels that barely anyone has been able to fully comprehend for thousands of years."