Chapter 331: They Are Here

"Printed with an infant?" I grabbed a piece of paper and looked down. My eyes went wide as a wave of cold made my scalp tingle.

A blurry shadow sat in the center of the standard A4 paper. It was a Ghost Infant crawling outward, looking as if it were about to climb right out of the page.

Its eyes, nose, and facial contours were perfectly clear. No matter how I looked at it, the thing seemed to be smiling at me.

I picked up another sheet from the floor. It also showed an infant, but a quick comparison revealed some differences between the two images.

The difference wasn't in their appearance, but their poses. It was as if the paper held a living creature.

It had been moving the whole time, and the printer had just captured it at different moments.

"Do you think there's a baby inside the machine?" The female streamer looked awful. She leaned against the cashier desk on her tiptoes, acting as if the floor were covered in a swarm of Little Ghosts rather than scattered paper.

"Only one way to find out." This Maternity and Children’s Health Center was downright bizarre. I'd be the first to call bullshit if someone claimed there were no ghosts here.

"Find out how?" Before she could react, I yanked the plug and ripped off the printer's cover and rear casing. "Aren't you afraid there's actually something in there?" she asked.

"Fear doesn't solve problems, and besides, this isn't the worst-case scenario," I said, glancing back over my shoulder as I took the machine apart. "The worst-case scenario would be if I unplugged it and it kept printing."

The space inside was far too narrow for a baby to squeeze into. My only discovery was two strawberries wedged in a gap. They were severely rotted; there was no telling when they had been stuffed in there.

I stared at the paper-littered floor, lost in thought. It wasn't even midnight yet, but the filth hiding in the shadows was already getting restless.

"You were the first one here. Did you notice anything off when you reached the cashier desk?" I needed more clues, so I could only ask Chen Xiaocang.

She shook her head. "I didn't see a thing. I wouldn't have even come near this desk if I wasn't looking for the key."

"Looking for a key? That's a flimsy excuse. There are plenty of ways to break out of this building. When a person is terrified and their life is on the line, they don't default to the polite option." I blocked the doorway with my body. "I think we need to have a serious talk. The real horrors of this place won't show themselves until after midnight, and when they do, I absolutely cannot have a wildcard like you dragging me down."

"If you really came here in the dead of night just to stream, you need to leave right now. Your two screams have already disrupted my plans and wasted my precious time to figure this place out. I only helped you for the sake of that Talisman Paper. I'll tolerate one or two slip-ups, but not a third. Next time, I won't lift a finger even if you scream yourself hoarse. Don't do anything stupid." I gripped my rubber baton, my expression cold and impassive.

"I won't. I'm leaving right now." Seeing my hostile expression and realizing I was blocking her only exit, she panicked.

"I'm not finished. Based on our short time together, you don't act like a normal internet streamer. Or rather, the lengths you go to are way beyond what a normal streamer would endure. Dressing up, sneaking into an abandoned, supposedly haunted hospital all by yourself in the middle of the night—it's not normal. It makes no sense." I locked eyes with her. "Do you have another motive? Is your stream different from regular ones?"

My last question was as pointed as could be. I was just short of asking her outright if she was an Underworld Live Show Streamer.

Knowing she couldn't brush it off, she hesitated for a moment before finally opening up. "Honestly, my hand was forced. I got into the industry late, and I'm a bit older now. I can't compete with the young girls who rake in cash just by chatting, singing, flashing some leg, or having an 'accidental' wardrobe malfunction. I had to find a different angle."

Chen Xiaocang told me her story. Over the past year, to build her audience, she specifically sought out locations tied to urban legends for her ghost-hunting streams.

Her content blew up right from the start. At her peak, she broke 800,000 concurrent viewers. The combination of a beautiful woman and heart-pounding thrills drew in countless fans in a very short time. She used the massive income from her streams to put down payments on a house and a car.

But the good times didn't last. A few months later, viewer fatigue set in. To make matters worse, every ghost-hunting stream came up empty. Forget ghosts—she rarely even ran into common thugs. Instead of seeing the supernatural monsters they imagined, her viewers usually just ended up praising Huaxia's excellent public safety.

Her viewership went into a tailspin. She dropped from dominating the top spot to falling off the weekly leaderboards entirely. Desperate for views, she paid actors to play ghosts. She got caught, her numbers cratered, and the streaming platform even considered terminating her contract.

Streaming was her sole source of income. If she lost her career, the bank would seize her luxury car and house. With her back against the wall, she had no choice but to push her luck in more remote, dangerous locations, praying she would eventually capture a real ghost on camera.

She heard the rumors about the Qicun Maternity and Children's Health Center from a viewer with the ID Phoenix Feather Qilin Horn. That viewer was also the intermediary who sold her the Profound Truth Talismans. They guaranteed her that with these talismans in hand, she would be perfectly safe even if she ran into real ghosts.

Everyone has their own cross to bear. Behind her glamorous facade lay a mountain of unspoken pressure.

That was why, despite knowing the danger and hearing my warnings, she had chosen to stay in the hospital and keep streaming.

...

I didn't buy her story entirely. If she really was an Underworld Live Show Streamer, this sob story was probably rehearsed. Anyone capable of surviving an Underworld Live Show live broadcast couldn't be measured by common sense.

"I understand your situation. But let me tell you this: if you don't find a ghost, you only lose a car and a house. If you do find one, you lose everything. It's almost midnight. Get out of here. I don't want any distractions." I stepped aside, letting her pass. I activated my Chasing Eye to scan her. She had a great figure, well-proportioned and full, but there was little muscle tone in her arms or legs. It was obvious she had never trained in combat or martial arts.

Being an Underworld Live Show Streamer meant facing not only ghosts, but the darkness of the human heart. Learning a few self-defense skills was practically a requirement.

"Have you stared enough, mister?" She furrowed her brow and glared at me. Then, seemingly feeling a bit guilty, she pulled out her phone and aimed the camera at me.

"I'll walk you out." Recalling the name on the ward I'd used to get inside, I led the way. After walking about ten meters, I suddenly realized something was wrong. Every door lining the corridor was perfectly intact, showing no signs of damage. Even more unnerving, despite walking that distance, the fire exit at the end of the hall didn't look any closer.

"Are they here?" I pulled out my phone and checked the time. Without me noticing, midnight had already passed.

"Crap. We might be caught in a ghost wall."

"A ghost wall?" Hearing the internet buzzword, the streamer perked right up. She lifted her phone and eagerly filmed our surroundings.

"Be careful, watch your back." I couldn't shake the feeling that something was rushing toward us from the depths of the corridor, cloaked by the pitch darkness.

'Besides me and this streamer, there should be two other living people inside the Qicun Maternity and Children's Health Center. One is the mutilation killer. He clearly has a sick obsession with women, so he was probably the one who attacked Chen Xiaocang earlier. The other should be the dark shadow I spotted hiding on the stairs. I can't be sure of their identity, but it's probably that missing child.' I thought back to the dark shadow frozen in that bizarre pose on the third floor. He had been pressed against the railing, arms stretched straight down. He either looked like he was about to jump down to embrace someone, or like he was desperately gripping something to keep it from falling.

'None of the doors on the third floor were locked. There's definitely something wrong with that level. As soon as I get this woman out of here, I'm going back up to investigate.' Finalizing my plan, I grabbed the streamer. "Stop filming and move! We need to leave, now!"

I lashed out with a kick, busting open the door to the adjacent ward. The wooden panel slammed against the wall with a loud bang that echoed far down the hall.

"Find something to smash the window..." I shoved Chen Xiaocang into the room, but when I turned my head toward the windowsill, I froze.

Just outside the transparent glass stood a row of emaciated children. They were short, their bodies hidden below the ledge so that only their pale faces peeked above the sill.