Chapter 699: Dangerous Phone Call

Sitting alone in the cramped room, breathing in the faint musty scent of the wooden bed, I fell into deep thought.

To me, the Underworld Live Show was far more terrifying than any Fate Usurper. Even after surviving over a dozen livestreams, I still didn't dare mention it to outsiders, nor did I dare speak its full name to anyone.

This innate dread had taken root deep in my heart during my very first interview on No-Lights Road.

If I could avoid it, I would absolutely never come into conflict with the Live Show.

This puzzled me. The people who best understood the Live Show's terror were the live show streamers themselves. For someone to resolutely defect under those circumstances was highly abnormal.

Anyone who became a live show streamer and survived so many broadcasts had to be shrewd and calculating. The Traitors couldn't possibly have defected without considering the consequences.

'Just what kind of encounter forced them to betray the Live Show? Was it for profit, or was it because of something even more terrifying?' I rubbed my chin, my brow furrowed tight. In truth, there was one crucial question I still hadn't figured out: what was the significance of the Live Show's existence? What was the purpose behind this mysterious organization?

From the intelligence I currently had, the Live Show existed somewhere between good and evil. They despised rules and the will of heaven, casually obliterating living people, yet they repeatedly destroyed the Two-Faced Buddha's schemes and stopped him from usurping fate. They treated human lives like weeds and held absolutely no reverence for ghosts or gods. However, I couldn't deny that over a dozen broadcasts, guided by the Live Show, I had saved many people—including the millions of lives in Jiangcheng.

They kept themselves hidden. Other than the live show streamers, absolutely no one knew of their existence. Even their very name was a taboo.

Yet such a secretive organization would do something as absurd as hosting public livestreams, placing the darkness and gore of the entire city in front of a camera and revealing a very real world filled with shadows.

Where there is light, there must be darkness. And the Live Show existed right between the two.

Unfathomable, hysterical, and forever impossible to see through.

'If I can just figure out the fundamental purpose behind the Live Show's creation, I can follow the vine to touch the melon and use the traces they've left behind to deduce more about them.' I had made many guesses about the significance of the Live Show. As I saw it, they went to great lengths to let people with special constitutions and extraordinary experiences watch the broadcasts. Firstly, it was to harvest the merit and luck from these people. Secondly, it seemed designed to make them realize the bizarre true nature of this world.

Most of the livestream viewers watching my channel were ordinary people. I believed their worldview would inevitably shift after watching my broadcasts. Blood and cruelty were like opium, drawing people into an addiction. This wasn't some psychological perversion, but rather a fundamental shift in their minds.

'It's a pity I didn't have a good chat with Daoist master Wan earlier. He is a rather unique one among my livestream viewers. If I could speak with him, I would definitely gain some unexpected insights.' With the Five Great Upper Sects closing in, seeking out Daoist master Wan right now was far too dangerous. If my identity was exposed, everything I had done so far would go down the drain. Because of this, I couldn't touch Daoist master Wan's lead for the time being.

'Thinking about it this way, the only method to uncover the Live Show's secrets is to ask my predecessors. There have been ten live show streamers in total. I wonder which number belongs to the one who told me to come to Jinghai City.'

A light rain drifted outside the window, and the sky was pitch-black. Among the dense cluster of buildings, I could occasionally spot a figure or two running through the rain.

'It's dark. Are they hurrying home?'

I watched the electronic clock on the wall. On the dust-covered face, the hands ticked away.

'It's eight o'clock...'

The Large-Screen Phone in my hand cast a cold glow, illuminating my pale face. The devil's phone call had arrived exactly as promised.

Sweat seeped from my palms. For some reason, this livestream was making me a bit nervous.

I pressed the answer button and held the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

It was quiet on the other end. I could only hear faint panting.

'A woman?'

I didn't dare miss a single clue and listened closely. After a long wait, the panting slowly grew louder. It was suppressed and pained, yet carried a hint of helpless submission.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" When I spoke up for the second time, the panting stopped. It was replaced by the sounds of swallowing and chewing.

This was a sound people heard often in daily life, but coming from the Underworld Live Show Phone, it felt completely bloodcurdling.

I had no idea what the person on the other end was chewing. I waited silently for her to crush whatever was in her mouth and swallow it down with difficulty.

'What is she eating?'

I wasn't given much time to think. A hoarse voice soon rasped from the receiver.

"Do you love me?"

I froze at the question. I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or someone else.

'If she's talking to me, how should I answer? Will saying yes or no give me different clues?'

The starting clues for a Live Show broadcast task were incredibly important. I had to treat them seriously.

After thinking for a long time, my lips moved, and I lowered my voice. "I do."

"Then let's never part, okay?"

The woman's hoarse, awful voice carried a trace of sickness. Her words about never parting made me very uncomfortable. In truth, I was ready to refuse right then, but I was afraid she would just hang up. I bit the bullet and answered, "Okay."

"Darling, I'm right behind you. Won't you hug me?"

Hearing those words through the phone, I twisted my head around almost subconsciously. My heart pounded furiously, but there was nothing behind me except a yellowing wall.

It was a false alarm. I let out a sigh of relief. Just as I was about to speak, my Judging Eye swept across the room, and from the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse through the gap in the curtains. In the pitch-black alley below, a woman holding a black umbrella had her back to me, slowly walking away.

'A black umbrella? On a rainy day? A woman?' The black umbrella obscured most of her body, making it impossible to see her clearly. By the time I fully registered the sight, she had already disappeared.

'The innkeeper just mentioned that women carrying black umbrellas on rainy days aren't allowed to stay here. Just what is the reason behind that?' I couldn't figure it out, so I refocused my attention on the Live Show Phone.

"Come find me at Longchang Community tonight. I've made fresh soup for you."

Before I could react, the call disconnected. The steady beep of the busy signal left me feeling unsettled.

'What the hell? Longchang Community? I've never even heard of this place. Is it in Jiangcheng, or here in Jinghai City?' My mind brimming with questions, I flipped through the phone. Soon, a task message arrived in my inbox.

"Smear the fresh blood on the wall to paint your portrait. Every carved slash of the blade aches just for you."

"Why? Why did you pierce my heart, yet still complain it wasn't beautiful enough?"

"Broadcast Task: Arrive at Longchang Community before midnight, and survive until dawn."

"Optional Task 1: Find the shattered mirror shards. Reward: 1 point. Handing them over to the Live Show will grant an additional reward of one Live Broadcast Immunity."

"Optional Task 2: ????"

After reading the task prompt, my furrowed brow only knit tighter. The broadcast task message didn't give me the specific location of Longchang Community; it only spouted some irrelevant nonsense.

'Another "survive until dawn" task. Whenever this kind of prompt appears, it means my life will be in extreme danger. Optional Task 2 is hidden for now; it will probably unlock as the broadcast progresses. However, this Optional Task 1 is quite interesting.' I noticed the Live Show's note at the end. As long as I handed the shards over to the Live Show, I could earn a Live Broadcast Immunity.

For someone on the run like me, a Live Broadcast Immunity was incredibly useful. I couldn't be sure when a sudden emergency might prevent me from broadcasting. If I had a Live Broadcast Immunity in hand—even just one—I wouldn't have to panic so much.

'The shattered mirror shards.' My thoughts immediately went to the incomplete shard I carried on me. I wondered if there was some connection between the two. 'I have to figure out the exact location of Longchang Community before I can consider my next step. But before that, there's one more thing I need to do.'

Scrolling through the phone, I took a deep breath, tapped into the Personal Center, and chose to use the one free call the Live Show had gifted me!

I hadn't made this decision lightly. My ultimate goal in coming to Jinghai City was to find another streamer, but I didn't know his name, what he looked like, or any way to contact him. I had only heard his voice.

Relying on just that to find him in Jinghai City—a metropolis with tens of millions of people—was too difficult. It was virtually impossible.

That was why I thought of using the Live Show Phone's emergency call function. I was in Jinghai City, and that streamer was also in Jinghai City. There was a high chance I could speak with him directly!

This was also one of the reasons I chose to place the call right after the Live Show issued my task. Every streamer's phone should be right by their side at this moment. If I called now, someone would definitely answer.

'Excluding the Traitors and the dead streamers, statistically speaking, I have a very high chance of success.' I was gambling, forced into a corner where I had to take the bet.

After I confirmed the use of the emergency call, two options appeared on the Live Show Phone's screen: dial and hang up. It looked very similar to when I normally received a task call.

Looking at the black-and-white profile picture on the screen, I pressed the dial button and brought the phone to my ear once again.

The phone rang six or seven times before connecting. Neither of us spoke. As if guided by a tacit understanding, both of us waited for the other to break the silence.

The call duration was limited. After a brief moment of silence, I pressed two fingers against the acupoints on my neck to lower my voice. "I've arrived in Jinghai City."

Just one sentence. If the person on the other end was the streamer I was looking for, he would definitely understand what I meant. If not, it wouldn't reveal too much of my information.

The other person didn't seem intent on replying. It wasn't until the call time was almost up that a somewhat unfamiliar voice finally came through. "I'm in Jinghai City, Pig Cage Apartments."

The moment the last syllable fell, the call timer ran out. I burned those nine characters firmly into my memory.

'Pig Cage Apartments? What the hell kind of place is that?'