Chapter 88: Murder Game

"What a terrible start." I pulled the iron chain around my neck taut, stood up, and walked over to the wall.

"The chain is one and a half meters long. I can't figure out its purpose. The collar fits snugly against my neck. It doesn't feel like a dog leash—it seems custom-made for a person."

This was far from good news. The specialized gear suggested my captor was likely a repeat offender with a twisted personality and a penchant for torture.

Locked up by someone like that, my situation was as grim as it gets.

"I need to find a way out of here as soon as possible." I was at a complete disadvantage—I knew nothing, and I had nothing on me.

"The cell is about four and a half meters long and four meters wide. Moss is growing in the corners, the floor is damp, the room reeks, and there's no ventilation." I kicked away a fat rat and continued my observation. "The ceiling is less than two meters high, and there's moss growing overhead too. This room should be underground, though since it's night, I can't be completely certain."

I knocked on the wall. The panels were very thick; the soundproofing was excellent.

The cell's only exit was an iron door studded with steel nails and reinforced on the inside with an extra layer of sheet metal.

At the bottom of the iron door was a hole about ten centimeters in diameter. It was blocked by a metal flap, however, and could likely only be lifted from the outside.

Aside from all that, the most peculiar feature of the cell was a thirty-centimeter-wide drainage ditch running straight across the room.

Calling it a drainage ditch was generous; describing it as a cesspit would be more accurate. The thick stench filling the room emanated directly from it.

"What is this ditch used for? Washing the floor?" The water inside was extremely murky, and it felt slightly greasy to the touch.

I brought my fingers to my nose, and a foul odor drilled into my nostrils. "It's the stench of a corpse!"

The end of the ditch was blocked off by an iron grate. This place must have been built a long time ago; the grate was heavily rusted and didn't seem very sturdy against the erosion of the flowing water.

After a general sweep of the room, I couldn't find any obvious weak points. I sat in the corner, staring down those fat rats.

"There must be a hole leading outside somewhere in this room, or else how did these rats get in?"

The chain around my neck was choking me. "Tying my hands and locking my neck—this opponent is seriously cautious."

I looked at the leather cords binding my wrists. The culprit hadn't tied a dead knot, but their technique was highly professional, using two interwoven cords—one long and one short. This type of knot had a technical name: Tiger Bite.

The more the bound person struggled, the tighter it would wrap around them, eventually cutting right into their flesh. You couldn't rush trying to untie it; you had to locate the short cord first and undo it strand by strand.

This restraint method was usually seen in psychiatric hospitals. Orderlies would tie up dangerous patients to control them, only untying the cords after injecting them with medication.

I used my teeth to gnaw the short cord loose bit by bit, then spent another five minutes working the long one free. I rolled my stiff wrists and began searching for my most crucial item.

"The Underworld Live Show Phone."

While locked inside this cell, my regular phone and jacket had been taken, and the Black Leather Suitcase had vanished without a trace, but my pants and shoes were still intact.

I rolled up my pant leg. It was only when I saw the plastic bag holding the Underworld Live Show Phone that I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"He probably didn't expect me to have two phones, did he?"

I turned on the phone. It was currently 11:50 PM.

"The middle-aged driver and I got into the accident in the Jiangcheng Southern Suburbs around 10:30 PM. Judging by the time, this cell shouldn't be far from where the crash happened."

I tugged at the chain around my neck, then fished a half-folded one-yuan banknote out of my pants pocket. I had originally prepared it to pick police handcuffs; I didn't expect it to come in handy here by sheer coincidence.

Picking a lock with a banknote wasn't some profoundly mysterious skill. Compared to standard office paper, the material used for banknotes was much sturdier. Like cellophane, it made an excellent lock-picking tool.

The collar was made of solid iron with internal interlocking gears. It took a fair bit of effort before I finally managed to snap it open.

"Not bad. The craftsmanship is even more meticulous than some handcuff manufacturers."

I held the collar in my hand. This thing was clearly custom-made. It seemed the culprit had specially forged a collar meant for humans just to satisfy some bizarre psychological need.

"A psychopath?"

It was already midnight. I hadn't forgotten my actual job. I turned on the phone's camera function, plugged in the Portable Encoding Stick, and tapped the Underworld Live Show icon.

"Acquiring image..."

"Connecting to live chat..."

"Data stable. Start live broadcast?"

"Yes."

"Welcome Teletubbies Died of Murder to the channel, welcome Master Tieling Biao to the channel, welcome..."

After the video feed stabilized, the viewer count was already over a hundred. Having completed three broadcasts, my channel had gathered a few die-hard fans.

"Welcome everyone to the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room. Before we start today's stream, I have to warn you all: this broadcast is a bit heavy. Watching it might cause physical discomfort, and you might even end up haunted by evil spirits. I hope all you livestream viewers proceed with caution!"

"Streamer, Streamer, where are you going to seek death this time?"

"Holy shit, the viewer count is so high today!"

"If anyone can type the characters for 'Taotie,' I'll call them Daddy!"

Master Tieling Biao tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 99 Underworld Coins: "I waited three days. You finally started streaming."

Teletubbies Died of Murder tipped the Super Thriller Live Broadcast Room 99 Underworld Coins: "Taotie, Taotie, Taotie..."

Watching the comments fly rapidly across the screen, I felt a strong sense of accomplishment. With a faint smile on my lips, I said, "To be honest, today's stream is pretty sudden. Just an hour and a half ago, I was in a car crash and knocked unconscious. When I woke up, I found myself locked in a secret room. As everyone can see, it's this exact cell."

"The number one guy in all of Huaxia to stream his own kidnapping!"

"I've seen a series like this. I think it's called Himitsu no Heya kara Dasshutsu Suru (Escape from the Secret Room)."

"Yeah, yeah, I've seen it too. Is the female lead Miss Hatano Yui?"

"Fuck, posting pics without dropping the link? Prepare to get your asshole impaled by ten thousand guys!"

I got the distinct feeling they were misunderstanding something. "Everyone, don't just focus on spamming the chat! I've seriously been locked up by a psychotic serial killer! Hurry up, grab your phones, and call the police!"

"The Streamer's acting skills have gone downhill. He isn't giving off that panicked, helpless vibe at all. Look at that breezy smile still hanging on his lips. He's not putting his heart into it!"

"I give the set design 99 points. I'm holding back one point so you don't get arrogant."

"Streamer, please step to the side. I want to see the rat in the corner!"

"Holy shit, that rat is huge!"

"Good Lord, it's so big!"

"Big my ass! Is this really the time to be looking at rats?!"

Holding onto a final sliver of hope, I repeated myself to the chat. "The location of my car crash was a patch of woods in the Jiangcheng Southern Suburbs. The place I'm locked up in shouldn't be far from the accident site. My preliminary guess is that I'm underground."

I stared at the live chat for a long time, but I didn't spot the IDs for Half-Immortal Liu or Daoist master Wan. Suddenly, I felt unsure of myself.

"Streamer, why did you get kidnapped? Are you actually the young master of some financial syndicate in real life? Or do you own a few oil fields in the UAE?"

I had actually considered the livestream viewers' questions myself. But no matter how you looked at it, I didn't seem like a rich guy. The culprit's goal in locking me up probably wasn't for money, but purely to satisfy their own twisted psychological urges.

Speaking of money reminded me of another case: Jiang Fei's disappearance. The villa she lived in was also located in the Southern Suburbs.

"That woman was willful and spoiled, but she was as beautiful as an enchantress. Her personality should perfectly fit what this culprit desires psychologically. It's just..."

"Splash!"

I moved the phone away and looked toward the source of the sound. The rats that had been huddled in the corner had all dived into the ditch in the center of the room.

"Did I scare them?" I walked over to the ditch. There were now threads of crimson mixing into the murky sewage. Just as I was feeling bewildered by this, a larger surge of bloody water washed down from upstream.

Gradually, the entire ditch was dyed blood-red. Watching it made my scalp tingle. I pressed my ear against the wall and could faintly hear extremely low, agonizing wails.

"It's not coming from the room next to me. It's coming from further away."

I stared at the blood-red water and rubbed my chin. "This ditch must connect different rooms, running top-to-bottom throughout the entire underground facility."

The screams sounded muffled to me. Even if the walls had excellent soundproofing, they shouldn't have been this faint—unless they were coming from very far away.

My expression turned grim. Constructing such a massive underground complex probably wasn't the work of a single individual. What I was facing was very likely a group of severely deranged people.

It took over ten minutes for the bloody ditch to turn clear again. At that moment, a rat popped out of the water. It seemed to be biting down on something.

I squinted for a closer look and suddenly felt a wave of nausea. It was a severed human finger.