Chapter 325: A Fellow Streamer

Before I could finish, the woman pulled a high-end selfie stick from her bag. She expertly mounted her phone, turned to me, and smiled sweetly. "I'm actually an outdoor ghost-hunting streamer."

'Huh? Are you sure you aren't stealing my lines? You're really a ghost-hunting streamer?'

I swept my gaze over her. I had to admit, her outfit and makeup really did fit the mold of the female streamers I knew.

"A ghost-hunting broadcast?" I trailed off. A terrifying thought suddenly crossed my mind. On my way here, I had answered a distress call from the Underworld Live Show. The caller was very likely an Underworld Live Show Streamer as well.

'Could she be the caller?' I wondered. 'A lingering spirit trailing me all the way here? But I never gave my address over the phone. It has to be a coincidence.'

"That's right. I'm the top outdoor streamer on the Panda Platform—Chen Xiaocang. You can call me Sister Cang or Teacher Cang," the woman announced boldly. "I saw you waving your phone around earlier. Don't tell me you're a ghost-hunting streamer too?"

A sly gleam flashed in her eyes, as if she had already seen right through me.

"To think I ran into a fellow streamer." My expression shifted into a strange, helpless half-smile.

"Alright, drop the constipated look. I've got you covered. I guarantee your popularity will double today!" Sister Cang waved her hand grandly and shot me a knowing look.

"I don't need you to cover me. This place really is dangerous. If you're streaming, you should probably find somewhere else."

I tried to warn her sincerely, but she wasn't having it. "I drove all the way from Xinhu to Jiangcheng just to explore this hospital. My Mod-chan promised that if I spend one night here, they'll send 99 rockets and push me straight to number one on the weekly leaderboards!"

"Your Mod-chan..." Just hearing the name gave me goosebumps. It made me feel like the livestream viewers in my own room were actually somewhat normal.

"Alright, alright, don't be so stingy. You got here first, but this place is huge. We can split up and explore without getting in each other's way, right?" Sister Cang put on a look that said she had me all figured out. "And don't worry about me stealing your viewers. A major streamer like me with over a hundred thousand fans doesn't care about that. If you play along with me tonight, I'll casually drop a plug for you later. I can blow up your follower count in minutes."

Her alluring eyes rippled with intent. I knew exactly what she meant by "play along." To maintain their popularity, some top streamers staged scripts in advance. Their broadcasts were nothing more than acting.

"What do you say? It's a win-win!"

"Fine. But after midnight, we split up." I made the condition partly because I worried this woman would just get in the way, and partly because the Underworld Live Show rules strictly forbade completing a broadcast with a living companion. 'She showed up out of nowhere, and I never asked her to tag along, so it shouldn't count as a violation,' I reasoned. 'Still, it's better to play it safe.'

"After midnight? No problem. As long as you don't regret it."

She smiled mysteriously. I had no idea what she was scheming, but since she agreed, I didn't dwell on it.

The Underworld Live Show rating system was based on two factors: tips and popularity. If she really could double my viewer count, it would be a massive advantage for me. "Let's head in," I said. "Make sure you stay alert."

"What's the rush? Can't you see I haven't even started my stream yet?" Sister Cang pulled out a compact to touch up her makeup, then fiddled with her phone to toggle on the beauty, filter, and skin-whitening settings before finally going live.

Watching her fuss around, I lost my patience and headed straight for the Maternity and Children's Health Center.

"Hey! Stone-face, hold up! My babies want to see you!" Sister Cang grabbed her selfie stick and jogged over. "If you walk that fast, won't your screen shake? Won't your viewers get dizzy? Success looks easy, but it's really all in the details."

'Details my ass! You're the one with a stone face! Your whole damn family has stone faces!'

I kept walking in front without slowing down. Pulling out a cigarette, I was just about to light it when the woman snatched it away. "Lady, is my smoking bothering you? Don't push me. I grew up dreaming of being a delinquent."

"Smoking is bad for your health. Besides, the authorities are cracking down right now. You can't show smoking, drinking, or anything that harms the healthy development of minors on a broadcast. Did you seriously not know that? By the way, I still haven't asked which platform you stream on." Chen Xiaocang angled her camera to catch me in the frame. She was clearly trying to do me a favor, using her massive audience to give me some free exposure.

I appreciated the gesture, but there was no way I could say the words "Underworld Live Show" out loud.

I pocketed my lighter and used Chasing Eye to glance at her screen. In just a few short minutes, her viewer count had already skyrocketed to a hundred thousand, and virtual gifts were flooding the chat.

"Don't be shy. I've officially taken you under my wing tonight!" Sister Cang planted her hands on her hips, her striking figure on full display.

"I'll skip the name of the platform so I don't cause you any trouble. But my room is called the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room. If any of you ever stumble across it, you'd better keep an eye on your backs."

My low, eerie tone caught Sister Cang off guard, but she quickly flashed me a thumbs-up. "Not bad! You get into character fast. An expert at work!"

"Believe what you want, but it's the truth." I shook my head and dragged my Black Leather Suitcase toward the Maternity and Children's Health Center.

Master Tieling Biao tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 1 Yuanbao: "She's a top streamer with a hundred thousand fans, but why do I feel like our guy has some weird superiority complex around her?"

"Our streamer flexes as effortlessly as flowing water. He's long since achieved true oneness with his own arrogance. No external factor could ever shake it."

"Maybe that's just what it means to be a man."

...

Crash! A crisp shatter echoed near the hospital entrance. While Sister Cang was busy looking for a door, I picked up a brick and smashed through a first-floor corner window.

Glass shards rained down on the floor. Hearing the noise, Chen Xiaocang stared at me, dumbfounded. "Are you out of your mind? That's a hospital window! As streamers, we need to maintain our image and spread positive energy!"

"How else are we supposed to get in? I already checked the perimeter. There are no other entrances. All the doors and windows are sealed shut." I set the Black Leather Suitcase under the window sill and casually tossed the brick aside. To me, this was just business as usual.

"You're pulling stunts like this in front of a live audience? Aren't you afraid your channel will get banned?" Sister Cang pressed a hand to her forehead, utterly speechless.

"Banned? I doubt it." Compared to live-streaming myself stealing police cruisers and firearms, or broadcasting actual murders, breaking a window was as mundane as drinking water. Was there any need to act so shocked? Clutching my phone, I vaulted through the broken window into the hospital.

Chen Xiaocang followed closely behind. Kneeling with one leg on the Black Leather Suitcase, she swung her other foot over the sill, struggling quite a bit before finally squeezing her way inside.

The moment her feet hit the floor, without even checking her surroundings for danger, she immediately whipped out her compact to touch up her makeup again. "What are you staring at? Even if we bump into a ghost, I need to stay elegant."

"Well, your little routine just proved one thing to me. You really are just an internet streamer." An Underworld Live Show Streamer would never be this careless. The lingering suspicion in my heart began to fade.

The moment I stepped inside the Maternity and Children's Health Center, I fell into the instincts of a hunting predator. My nerves pulled taut. On high alert, I pressed my back against the wall, my eyes scanning the shadows.

"Based on my past broadcast experience, the true horrors won't reveal themselves until after midnight. There's still some time before then, so I need to use this window to search for clues."

Arriving at a new location completely blind always put me at a severe disadvantage.

I moved slowly, checking every single corner and keeping a wary eye on the half-open doors and the turns in the stairwell.

Footsteps echoed behind me as Chen Xiaocang jogged up, still holding her selfie stick high. "Aren't you overacting a little? You were bold enough to smash a window with a brick just a second ago, and now you're acting this terrified?"

"Better safe than sorry. Stand behind me. This building is dangerous."

I gestured for her to keep her voice down and kept moving forward, but Chen Xiaocang persistently leaned in. "Alright, alright, you put on a good act. But to tell you the truth, even if there really are ghosts and monsters in here, we'll be fine. I came prepared!"

She unzipped her bag, showing off a thick stack of paper talismans inside. At first, I didn't pay them much mind, but a casual glance revealed that the runic patterns and brushwork actually carried a genuine trace of Daoist intent. They weren't offensive talismans, though. Most of them were simply meant for warding off evil and inviting good fortune.

"These are real?"

"Look at you, acting like you've never seen the world. I paid a high price for these talismans at the Miaozhen temple. Have you ever heard of the Miaozhen temple? I'll let you in on a little heavenly secret today. This world is nowhere near as simple as you think it is. Everything you see is just the shallow, superficial surface." Seeing me freeze in place, Chen Xiaocang gave me a gratified, patronizing look, as if gazing upon a promising student.