Chapter 169

Chapter 169

-Holy shit!!!!

-Is the streamer… dead?

-What happened? Did I lose connection?

-Did the person upstairs finally get back online after five years??

-No! I’ve watched every one of his streams. What do we do now? How can he just be gone?

-Gone, my ass! The Live Stream Room hasn’t even closed!

-Wait. Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Did he just leave his head behind and run?

-Remember? Someone said earlier… the streamer would turn around and leave his head behind.

-Damn! Hurry up and drag that guy back. I have so many questions for him!

-Stop shouting. I’ve been here the entire time. Heh… The streamer is perfectly fine, isn’t he? Leaving his head behind? I was obviously talking nonsense.

-Seriously? Why are you holding a grudge at a time like this?!

-Heh. None of you are allowed to copy my nonsense. The streamer’s head won’t fall off at all.

-Brother… could you please stop sulking right now?!

-Don’t call me brother. We aren’t close.

-…

The instant Qiao Yu ran through the door, he realized the scene before his eyes had not moved at all, while his body had already reached the main entrance.

In a panic, he shouted at his own body, “Hey, come back! Put me on before you leave!!”

Kong Xianya stared at the talking head on the floor, utterly dumbfounded. Her eyes rolled back, and she finally fainted.

Qiao Yu’s body ran back amid total silence, picked up the head, and set it on his neck. He instantly returned to normal.

[Ding! An Aberration Source has been detected in the Instance. Please remain vigilant.]

Qiao Yu stopped. Ignoring the stunned director and Qiao Xiaowen, he stared directly at the comments in the Live Stream Room with pitch-black eyes.

“You all saw that?”

Elsewhere, Shang Yan’s amber eyes abruptly widened in the darkness, shock overwhelming him.

The moment the head struck the ground, his body tilted, and he too collapsed onto the cold concrete floor.

Nothing hurt more than losing something again after finally recovering it.

Why?

Had the body rejected Qiao Yu after his soul returned from the dead?

Shang Yan could think of no other explanation.

As though his own soul had vanished, he stumbled toward the door and pushed against the Iron Door with his small hands. But his current body was too weak to shake that towering, icy barrier…

He began kicking it frantically, even screaming and crying. Both little hands became red and swollen from pounding, yet the door remained motionless, as though an ant were trying to move a tree.

Within seconds, his body reached its limit. He began trembling, his knees weakened, and darkness surged across his vision.

Just before he collapsed, Shang Yan used his final strength to roar, “Qiao Yu!”

His violently pounding heart suddenly seemed injected with a powerful catalyst. A thin layer of black mist inexplicably wound around his clenched fist, making the hand appear even more pale and beautiful, like the finest work of art.

But this work of art was indestructible.

The instant his fist swept forward, the Iron Door that had stood before him like an unbridgeable chasm met its nemesis. It rapidly crumbled with a crash, sending up a choking cloud of dust.

At the same time, in the silent temple surrounded by trees,

the young Taoist dozed in a dim secret chamber. A chilly wind from nowhere swept past and made the upright candle flame sway gracefully.

Crack, crack, crack-

The faint sounds woke him. He picked up the fan that had slipped to the floor and blinked in confusion, still not fully awake.

Crack, crack, crack-

Another heavy sound of wood scraping made his gaze fall on the coffin that could never be opened. He instinctively shuddered.
Had the coffin… moved?

Crack!

A thin stream of dust trickled from a seam in the coffin. The young Taoist’s eyes flew wide. After a brief stunned pause, he threw his fan onto the floor, raised both hands above his head, and ran out.

“Martial Uncle! Martial Uncle! The coffin… The coffin moved!”

His loud cries echoed through the enclosed mountain forest and startled birds from the branches. It was as if a thread of life had been injected into the lifeless woods, making them suddenly lively.

“You all saw that?”

The voice from hell sounded before every Ghost watching the stream on a phone.

-!!!

-N-no! I didn’t see anything!

-My eyes are crippled. I saw nothing!

-Believe me, I’m leaving right now. Right now.

Qiao Yu narrowed his eyes. While checking whether his Live Stream Room had been blocked, he slowly asked, “Did I say you could leave?”

-…

-Then what would you like us to do?

-Help! This Live Stream Room is so strange. Aren’t streamers supposed to be human? What… What is going on? He was decapitated and can still stream? Is the streamer human or a ghost?!

The other streamers’ Live Stream Rooms also erupted into chaos.

-Come quickly! Something happened in the stream next door!

-What happened?

-That streamer’s head fell off!

-So it fell off. What’s there to make a fuss about?

-Fuck! His head fell off, then he put it back on himself! He can still jump, breathe, and run. Isn’t that worth making a fuss about?

-Holy shit! Send me the link. I’m going to watch!!!

As word spread, Qiao Yu’s Live Stream Room reached unprecedented popularity. Its “human” traffic soared by more than tenfold.

Qiao Yu frowned at the crowd flooding his stream.

[Title equipped. SSS-rank title Gu’s Rules of Acting is now active. Skill unlocked: Convincing Lies.]

“None of you saw anything. Nothing happened just now, right?”

-Right… No… Right about what?

-What happened? What were we talking about? My mind is blank…

-What? What? What?

-Upstairs… no recursive questions!

Those were the doubts of Ghosts with weaker minds.

-It looked like the streamer’s head fell off…

-His head did fall off! What’s wrong with all of you? Did the streamer put gu on you?

This Ghost was clearly far stronger than the others.

Meanwhile, inside Qiao Yu’s fan club,

Sadako, Li Xiaoqin, Painted Skin, and the Bridal Ghost all typed long strings of question marks.

Director Zhou remained silent.

The Pen Spirit… The Pen Spirit was actually controlling the comments!

-Pen Spirit: What falling head? Have you all gone insane?

-Sadako, Painted Skin, Li Xiaoqin: ??

-Pen Spirit: If any of you dares tell anyone what happened, I’ll kill you!

-…!

Ren Yan still took his side at a time like this. It was genuinely touching.

But could she be a little more competent? Her blatant threat was one step away from reciting his ID number!

[After discarding the highest and lowest scores, the final score is 25. Result: Failure. Two performance attempts remain.]

Chi Shang, I admit I spoke too loudly to you before!

Still, the comment about gu… Sorry, but Qiao Yu had a new idea.

He drew a deep breath and patted his chest.

“Are you sure it was my head that fell? It was obviously Director Qiao Shihui’s doing! She’s from the Miao Territory and knows a head-dropping curse!”

Director Qiao Shihui looked conflicted and uncertain. “…I’m from the Miao Territory?”

-Painted Skin: Baby QY, a head-dropping curse doesn’t literally drop heads.