Chapter 87: An Unimaginable Start

Wasn't Jiang Shihan already dead?

I had watched her jump from the ninth floor with my own eyes. The sound of her life shattering against the ground was still seared into my mind.

Gripping the Underworld Live Show Phone, I felt an inexplicable chill.

"Ding!" A text message popped into my inbox.

"Genius to the left, lunatic to the right. I will prove to you with facts that there are things in this world far more terrifying than ghosts and monsters."

"Wager your life, and let's play a killing game."

"Close your eyes when it gets dark!"

"Live Broadcast Task: Take a taxi to the Jiangcheng Southern Suburbs at ten o'clock tonight (Note: Please properly safeguard your broadcasting equipment. If the equipment is lost, the task will automatically be judged as a failure)."

"Optional Task: Reward of one point for every person killed."

Staring at the message on the phone screen, I rested my chin on my hand, my gaze heavy.

This broadcast task was much vaguer than the previous ones. It required me to head to the Jiangcheng Southern Suburbs at ten tonight, moving the start time up by two hours, and didn't specify an exact location.

I had very little information to work with. The task was issued, but I had absolutely no idea what I would face tonight. I was completely unprepared, and I didn't even know what kind of research to do.

What made me even more uneasy was the optional task. Although it hadn't been explicitly stated in previous broadcasts, protecting the living had more or less lowered the difficulty. But this time? Rewarding one point for every person killed—was it encouraging me to commit murder?

I stood frozen in place for five whole minutes without figuring anything out. This task was going to be incredibly difficult.

'Blind Liu said I have ten chances to die and none to live. Is my life really going to end tonight?'

I repeatedly studied the messages in my inbox. Combining them with my experiences over the past few days, and prompted by Jiang Shihan's appearance, I linked everything together. The black magician, the hospital, Jiang Shihan, and the broadcast task—these unrelated people and places all revolved around a single key phrase: do not close your eyes when the sky turns dark.

'But what exactly does that mean?'

It was already eight thirty. I didn't have much time left.

After packing my broadcasting equipment, I clutched the Black Leather Suitcase and silently lit a cigarette.

'Did I miss something?'

I read through the text message again. The broadcast task had specifically highlighted the word "Note": "Please properly safeguard your broadcasting equipment"?

'Why do I need to safeguard the broadcasting equipment? Is someone going to try and snatch the camera?' There were a lot of things inside the Black Leather Suitcase. Being cautious, I took the Underworld Live Show's Large-Screen Phone and the Portable Encoding Stick, placed them in a plastic bag, and taped them securely to my calf with black electrical tape. This was a common trick I used when taking on extramarital affair investigations.

My loose sweatpants covered them perfectly. As long as I kept a normal walking posture, no one would be able to tell.

By nine fifty, I finished packing, slung the Black Leather Suitcase onto my back, and headed outside.

Ting Tang Road, usually bustling with traffic, seemed somewhat deserted tonight. I waited for a long time without seeing a single taxi pass by.

I locked the shop door and walked along the street toward the intersection.

Before long, I suddenly spotted a taxi with an "Empty" sign parked at the mouth of an alley. I was just about to head over when I noticed a middle-aged man walking out of the pitch-black alley, holding his belt.

He was pulling up his pants with one hand. His trouser legs were stained with mud and water spots.

We locked eyes, and both of us looked a bit awkward.

"Need a taxi?" he asked, waving at me. Seeing that it was getting late, I frowned and nodded.

"Get in."

As I walked past the alley, I glanced inside and noticed a woman in a white dress squatting in the corner. She was straightening her clothes. One of her feet was bare, and her shoe had been flung quite a distance away.

"Don't overthink it. I was just doing a good deed, giving a ride to someone without any money." The middle-aged driver smacked his lips, seemingly still savoring the sensation.

I didn't press the matter. Pulling the car door open, I said, "Head toward the Jiangcheng Southern Suburbs. I'll give you the exact location when we get closer."

I tossed him a hundred-yuan bill. The driver chuckled and tucked it away. "Alright. The customer is god."

Sitting inside the car, I looked back toward the alley, only to find that the woman in white had vanished. Only a white high-heeled sandal remained on the ground.

The driver noticed me staring into the alley and gave a sleazy smile. "I'm not trying to make you jealous, but that woman had an incredible body. So tender you could practically wring water out of it..."

"When driving the night shift, it's best not to pick up women like that. You took her body, but she might just take your life as payment." I pulled my gaze back and looked toward the front seats.

That single glance revealed an incredibly bizarre scene.

The driver who had been talking to me sat on the left, gripping the steering wheel. But in the passenger seat, there was actually another person sitting there. What was even weirder was that he was also holding a steering wheel!

"Why does this car have two drivers?"

The taxi started moving. The middle-aged driver acted as if he hadn't heard me. He hummed a little tune, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as the car accelerated.

Meanwhile, the driver in the passenger seat remained entirely silent, his face cold as he gripped his own steering wheel.

"Hey, stop the car! I want to get out!"

"You want to get out right after we started? Are you messing with me?"

Unable to talk me down, the middle-aged driver cursed me out for being a lunatic and hit the brakes. "Starting fare is five bucks. I don't have change."

His tone was foul. I stepped out of the vehicle and looked back inside, only to see that the person in the passenger seat was gone. Everything was perfectly normal.

'Was I seeing things?' It was already ten o'clock at night. If I didn't hurry to the Jiangcheng Southern Suburbs, the Underworld Live Show would likely judge my task a failure. But looking around, there wasn't a single other taxi passing by.

"Hurry up! Stop wasting my time and money. Charging you five bucks for the starting fare is letting you off easy."

The driver urged me from inside the car. I gritted my teeth. "Forget it, I'll ride with you. But drive slower, and be very careful on the road."

"I've been driving taxis for years, I don't need you to teach me! I could be picking up more fares with the time it takes to drive slowly." He shouted impatiently, "If you're getting in, hurry up. If not, screw off."

After a two-minute standoff, I had no choice but to get back into the car due to my tight schedule.

"Should've just done that in the first place. What kind of crazy episode was that?" he muttered, starting the taxi again. I buckled my seatbelt and swept my gaze across every corner of the car.

'The man in the passenger seat is gone. I clearly saw two drivers sitting up front just a moment ago, one on the left and one on the right.'

My eyes landed on the passenger dashboard, where the vehicle registration was displayed. The car owner's name was Yu Chengfei, and the photo on the license was not of the middle-aged driver.

Under the cover of the dark night, the taxi sped down the highway toward the Southern Suburbs. The tall buildings on either side gradually thinned out, leaving little to no light other than the streetlamps.

"We're already in the Jiangcheng suburbs. Are you going to give me a specific location or what?" The road conditions were getting worse, making the driver increasingly irritated.

"Keep driving." I hadn't received any further instructions from the Underworld Live Show, so I didn't know what to do next.

"Are you planning to rob me, kid? I'm warning you, this car is equipped with GPS and a dashcam."

"Keep driving. I have no interest in your money."

"No way. If you don't give me a specific spot, I'm turning back to the city!" the driver said, preparing to slow down and turn around. He slammed his foot on the brakes, but the car actually sped up.

"Shit! The brakes are failing!" he yelled, stomping frantically on the pedal.

My face slowly drained of color. At some unknown point, the man in the passenger seat had reappeared.

He was gripping his steering wheel, his mouth split open all the way to the roots of his ears. As we drove past a patch of woods, he violently wrenched the wheel.

"Bang!"

Warm liquid trickled down my forehead, and my vision blurred. Right before I blacked out, I saw the taxi driver get launched out of the car. After that, I knew nothing at all.

...

The faint sound of dripping water echoed in my ears. My nose itched, and my eyelids felt incredibly heavy.

"It hurts..." It felt like my bones had completely fallen apart, and my chest was burning.

I slowly opened my eyes. My unfocused pupils gradually adjusted, and a faint trace of light appeared in my vision.

I held my head and sat up. The rattling of chains echoed from behind me. Only then did I realize that an iron chain was locked around my neck, and my hands were bound with a leather strap.

'I was in a car crash and passed out. I should be lying in the woods. Where am I?'

I was in a secret room of roughly a dozen square meters. The lighting was dim, and moss grew on the walls. Not far from me were several enormous rats. Completely unafraid of humans, they squeaked noisily as they gnawed on something in the corner.

'What in the world happened while I was unconscious?'

Staring at the light overhead, the room still felt like it was spinning. A faint sense of unease washed over me.