Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The bathroom was visible at a glance. Aside from the lighting being a bit dim, it looked safe enough.

Chenxi felt relieved as he took off his clothes and turned on the faucet.

Water cascaded over his head at a comfortable temperature-neither too hot nor too cold.

Chenxi curled his lips into a slight smile, finally allowing himself a rare moment of relaxation. Compared to his experience in the last Instance, where sand and minced meat had started flowing out mid-wash, this Instance was practically friendly.

-Stupid Live Stream Room. Why is it censoring this? Is there anything we VIPs aren’t allowed to see?

-Forget it, his body isn’t even that great. Nothing worth seeing.

-Tsk, I’m not here for him. I’d rather watch that little beauty in Room 4005 take a shower~

-Heh, you’re only fit to dream about it. The Live Stream Room isn’t going to give you that chance.

-Shh, stop arguing, you two. The good show is about to begin~

Chenxi brushed his long bangs back from his forehead and let out a comfortable sigh.

*Patter, patter.*

Chenxi was highly alert. He shut off the faucet almost instantly and scanned the small bathroom.

The room remained clean; there was nothing there.

*Patter, patter.*

He frowned and followed the sound to the floor drain. He saw the cover trembling slightly, as if it were being pushed up by a flow of water.

*Is the sewer clogged?*

Chenxi frowned, squatting down in annoyance. He reached out, intending to tighten the drain cover.

Suddenly, a strand of black hair snaked out from the drain. It instantly coiled around his outstretched finger. Chenxi turned pale with fright, but it was too late to pull back. In a flash, his finger was severed by the razor-sharp hair. The half-segment of his finger rolled onto the floor next to the drain, only to be swarmed and consumed by the rest of the hair surging out.

Terrified, Chenxi ignored the heart-wrenching pain of his severed finger and scrambled to leave the bathroom. However, no matter how hard he twisted the doorknob, it wouldn’t budge-it was as if a hand was holding the handle from the outside, preventing him from escaping.

The hair behind him surged forward like a tide. Chenxi didn’t dare delay; he hurriedly opened the Live Stream Room interface and looked at his balance with a glimmer of hope. The gold coin total in the bottom right corner was 99. He was exactly one coin short of buying a Review Card. Instinctively dodging the long hair trying to wrap around his ankles, Chenxi immediately switched pages and began pleading with the Live Stream Room.

“Please, someone tip me one gold coin. I’m begging you.”

-No can do~

-Hurry up and die, I want to watch a mukbang!

-Want gold coins? Hehehe, beg me.

“I’m begging you,” Chenxi said immediately.

-Your way of begging lacks sincerity.

-Exactly. You think a few light words are enough for us to save your life? You’re trying to get something for nothing!

In just a few seconds, the hair pouring out of the drain had nearly filled the entire bathroom. Chenxi was forced away from the door and retreated into a corner.

Clutching his bleeding index finger, he continued to plead with a sob in his voice, “I’m begging you all, please tip me one gold coin. I’ll do anything!”

-Give it up, I’m not tipping you.

-Want gold coins? Why don’t you die first, hehehe.

-Gouge out one of your own eyeballs to trade for that 1 gold coin.

Chenxi went white as a sheet at those words. In his moment of hesitation, both of his lower legs were ensnared by the surging black hair, threatening to be sliced off at any moment.

-Hurry up, or you’re going to become a human stump.

-Ooh, I haven’t seen a human stump in ages. I like it~

-Don’t forget, one eye for 1 gold coin. Time waits for no one.
The viewers in the Live Stream Room were mostly there to mock him, with only one person willing to give him a tip-and in such a cruel, bloody manner.

Chenxi had no choice. The moment the hair tightened around his calf, he reached for his eye socket with his one good hand without hesitation.

He had heard that the Red Name Mall sold Muscle Regeneration Pills. If… if he could become a Red Name Streamer, he could restore not just his eye, but even his severed finger.

But that was only if he survived!

At that thought, Chenxi grit his teeth and gouged out his own left eyeball. The extreme pain combined with his terror pushed his mind toward madness. “I did it! I did it! Give me the tip, now!”

-Oh my god, he actually gouged out his eye. Hahaha, I’m dying.

-He actually believed it. So stupid.

The rapidly scrolling comments were like a bucket of cold water poured over him. Before Chenxi could even speak, he was engulfed by the poised mass of pitch-black hair. Within seconds, dark red blood seeped through the strands, dripping onto the tiled floor to form a grotesque pattern.

[System Message: Viewer Naughty Ghost has tipped Streamer Chenxi 1 Gold Coin.]

-Naughty Ghost: I’m a ghost of my word. I said I’d tip 1 Gold Coin, so here’s your 1 Gold Coin. Heeheehee~

[Detection: Streamer Chenxi’s vital signs have vanished. Closing Live Stream Room now.]

Bzzzt… The ice-blue light screen in mid-air flickered out like a power failure. The room full of long black hair receded into the floor drain like a tide, leaving nothing in the bathroom but the heavy scent of blood.

**

10:30 PM

Qiao Yu pulled away from the peephole and pressed his ear to the wall, curious. However, aside from that one distinct smashing sound, Room 4004 had returned to silence.

He waited for a while, but after a long period without any movement, he couldn’t help but yawn, his eyes filled with disappointment.

Suddenly, the television-which had its plug pulled-lit up without warning. It was still playing Sadako from noon. She raised her head eerily, staring silently at Qiao Yu.

She looked ready to crawl out of the TV at any moment.

“Holy crap!” Terrified, Qiao Yu immediately held onto his wobbly head and rushed into the corner of the room.

Sister Sadako floated forward soundlessly, her bruised, purple fingers slowly parting her hair…

Qiao Yu swallowed hard and fished the old-school flip phone out of his pocket.

-Here it comes, here it comes! Heeheehee, this room is definitely high-risk!

-What a pity, such a beauty is about to be gone just like that.

-The taste of a streamer’s fear is so delicious, I’m practically intoxicated~

Clad in white, Sadako slowly approached the screen, reaching one hand out toward the glass…

“Senior Brother, Master has been captured by a monster!”

-……

-It feels like something weird just mixed in…

-What’s going on?? Why hasn’t Sadako come out yet?

-Where’s the fear? Where’s that big serving of fear I was promised? It’s gone again!!!

Qiao Yu looked at Sister Sadako, who seemed to have glitched out. He held the long-battery-life, large-screen, super-cheap old-school phone in front of him like a shield and let out a long sigh of relief, feeling like he’d survived a disaster.

Sure enough, wherever Monkey Brother was, the sense of security was instantly maxed out.

After a moment, the TV crackled with static a few times before snapping off on its own. The small room returned to silence once more.

Qiao Yu didn’t turn off his phone immediately. He left Journey to the West playing while he took a shower. Before bed, he placed the phone by his pillow and peacefully drifted off to sleep while listening to the episode Thrice Beating the White Bone Demon.