Chapter 230: She's Using His Phone to Stream?

Chapter 230: She's Using His Phone to Stream?

There was a faint sound of water dripping, and his nose was itchy from the surplus of dust invading his nostrils after a great fall.

“Damn it, it hurts...”

All the bones in his body seemed to be falling apart, and his chest burnt and ached from the putrid air.

Li opened his eyes; his dilated pupils gradually focused as they adapted to the darkness.

He found himself in a small room, mottled with moldy, black hay. The walls were mossy, and the mice scurried in the darkness, squeaking and chewing.

He sat up holding his head, feeling dizzy.

He recalled holding his phone and turning on the flashlight to look into the manhole, and then...

That’s right! He took a photo into the darkness, and a pair of eyes stared back at him!

However, those eyes weren’t violent or malicious. Instead, it was empty, lifeless, like fog on a stagnant lake.

Those eyes merely observed with no other intention.

It was, of course, uncomfortable to be watched, but Li couldn’t find any other word to describe those eyes.

“I looked into those eyes, and I was forcibly dragged into the hole...”

He recalled something like an iron hook, which stretched from the darkness, piercing into his calf and dragging him into the cellar.

As he was dragged downwards, he immediately casted a hand-me-down spell given from his ancestors, enveloping his body with electricity as his body tumbled through the darkness.

In the face of death, potential energy awakens.

Li felt that it was the best time for him to cast that spell. If he could make it out alive, he would be able to advance his runes and become stronger.

As he was in deep thought, those empty eyes plastered themselves within his mind.

He remembered going to the zoo – it was dilapidated and somewhat worn-down, and the animals were trapped in dimly-lit, boxy cages, hiding themselves in the darkness with dead eyes.

It was different this time, however – he felt like he was the zoo animal being watched.

His body shivered. Only then did his mind realize that those eyes were currently observing him – they concealed themselves, not wanting him to know they were watching.

However, upon acknowledging them, it was as if he violated an unspoken rule, and those eyes seemed to turn angry...

...

Meanwhile, when the bald man noticed that Jiangli was following him, he immediately invited her to join his one-man party.

Jiangli flashed an unfriendly smirk in response, which startled the man, “I understand – strong people like you work alone. Take care.”

As he spoke, he gently bowed towards Jiangli and went into the other direction.

Watching him leave, she sighed to herself calmly, “It’s okay. If anything is following me, I can deal with them easily.”

She looked around and recalled the several safe zones recorded in the files of the Night Division, walking towards them briskly.

...

The slaughterhouse was once the largest pig slaughtering and breeding areas in Huacheng, and their production surpassed even the biggest ones in the surrounding cities.

In addition to three slaughtering and processing plants, there were also seven or eight breeding farms, and two small buildings used for office work and experimentation.

When the urban legends surrounding the slaughterhouse were sealed away, Jiangli had just joined the Night Division. Her situation was similar to Yibei’s, and since she was a new recruit, she didn’t participate in the mission to seal the slaughterhouse away.

She only obtained information regarding the slaughterhouse when she was promoted to a higher classification, so this was officially her first time here.

In the slaughterhouse, except for the office and experimentation building, the buildings were all five-meter-tall, blue-colored, brick buildings, which donned windows that were extremely high up from the ground and iron railings.

The windows were tiny – they acted more as a source of ventilation rather than to aid in sight.

The only other defining feature was the iron door of medium size. However, they were all locked by large, rusty locks.

Some may wonder what secrets these locked doors conceal.

Passing by the buildings, Jiangli noticed countless scribbles on the walls, and each word seemed desperately scrawled out.

Nothing new here, she remarked. I’ve seen writings like these before.

Humans aren’t designed to understand complex urban legends, and their minds crumble at the sheer complexity of the unknowable. Hence, they needed to vomit these negative thoughts out from their mind.

These may manifest in music, words, pictures, but the most common one was scrawled writings.

As if they could get rid of their nightmares by writing down what troubles them, she sighed. The opposite is true, in fact. Writing it down exposes the urban legend to more people, which powers them further.

Of all the urban legends she’s dealt with over the years, most of them were reoccurrences due to the fact that somebody would unravel these desperate writings and essentially revive the urban legend.

The moon was strangely dim tonight, barely illuminating the concrete floor. Recalling the information in the file, Jiangli quickly found the feeding room.

According to the records, this is the location with the least residual psychic energy fluctuations, which means that this must be the safest place.

The walled courtyard was tall, and it was overgrown with grass; the dark red paint had peeled off, and it looked abandoned.

Jiangli came to the door and pushed it tentatively. She didn’t expect the door to be pushed open with ease, and looking down, it seemed as if someone had broken the rusty locks that sealed the buildings away.

A messy courtyard came into view, and there was a blue-bricked building facing it. The door was ajar, and there was a little firelight dancing within the cracks of the door.

Somebody’s here. Is it another group chat member? Or somebody else?

Jiangli thought of the absentee and frowned. Her eyes turned cold, and with a flash of silver light, dazzling pieces of armor affixed themselves onto her arms, and a sword larger than her manifested within her hands.

“Is that so?” the lanky man pretended to be surprised. He took out his mobile phone, opened the stream, and typed, [Can I see your feet?]

Before he could click send, a furry paw smashed his phone into pieces.

“Not the time,” she meowed angrily. “There’s a review now. Be serious for one night, that’s all I ask.”

“You’re no fun.”

The cat girl sneered at the man, “Vaccaria is acting up again, and I’m about to die of anxiety. What if the Night Division is watching the stream?”

“Not possible,” the man grumbled as he put away his crushed phone. “First, no normal person is watching the broadcast; second, there’s no psychic fluctuations radiating from the stream – you know our boss has the power to detect psychic fluctuations through a screen; third, she’s barely even showing her face.”

“Tsk, she’s barely showing her face, and you still want to sexually harass her. Got it.”

“Could you blame me? Her breasts look supple... I just want a tiny peek...”

“I can’t help but want real-life, face-to-face verification in our group chat now,” she purred. “Especially with people like you existing.”

“Tsk, I’m not done yet,” the lanky man said. “To address your concerns, our boss made sure that the Night Division and ordinary humans should not be able to see her streaming.”

“Does that mean...?”

“Correct. The viewers are all urban legends and lone psychics.”

“How do you know this? Oh... boss must’ve briefed you before you came here, correct? You just wanted to annoy me.”

The cat girl revealed her sharp claws, and the man twitched his lips, “Now, now, don’t scratch me-”

Before he could finish his words, with a flash of cold light, pillars of blood spurted out from his face.

“What the hell?! I told you, not the face, and yet...”

“Not the face? So anywhere is fine?” the cat purred, and her gaze glanced downwards.

“...fine, just the face.”

...

Three minutes after picking up Li’s phone, Lu Yibei discovered that the livestream was still running. She shoved the phone into her pocket, but the vibrations persisted. Impatiently, she pulled it out to find a private message from the livestream platform.

Despite her initial reluctance, the allure of the platform’s private message prompted her to register as a livestreamer. She fumbled with the settings, accidentally creating an account in the process.

“I’m definitely not an idiot, how do I...” she muttered to herself, blaming the platform’s confusing interface. After a few more minutes of tinkering, she stumbled upon Li’s own account.

The sudden surge of gifts rolling in piqued her interest. She pondered for a moment before switching back to the livestream room.

“Hello, viewers! I’m Li’s, uh, friend,” she announced, her voice laced with a hint of forced enthusiasm.

“He’s got himself into some trouble and sustained some really serious injuries, so he won’t be able to livestream for now.”

“But worry not! In his absence, I’ll take you on a tour of the Southern Suburbs Slaughterhouse. My livestream room code is 6324, so come join in the fun!”

Yibei had long wanted to become a streamer – she had already set up an account and waited for Du Sixian to help her out. However, her fluctuating body temperature made it hard for her to carry electronics anywhere.

Now, she discreetly turned off Li’s livestream and launched her own, titling it– [The Docile, Soft-to-the-Touch Girl – G-g-g-g-ghost Hunting!]

As the clock neared midnight, she clutched the phone and stepped into the slaughterhouse grounds.

...

Moments later, from a distance, the cat girl spotted Lu Yibei. She was confused as she witnessed Yibei strapping something that looked like horse armor to her legs, galloping around the slaughterhouse grounds.

“What the hell is she doing?” the cat girl nudged.

“Uh...” the tall and lanky man pointed to his phone, “She’s found a loophole.”

“What?”

The lanky man sighed, “The rules state that upon entering the slaughterhouse grounds, you must take at least a step forward. So...”

The cat girl’s eyes widened in realization. “She took a single step into the slaughterhouse, and that’s it? Who else is watching the livestream?”

“I told you she’d be popular,” the tall and lanky man responded with a shrug, turning his phone to her. “Beautiful girls tend to have a lot of viewers.”

“But she hasn’t even shown her face?”

“That curvy figure gives her face away! Plus, her voice is pleasant, so the audience is smitten. Just. Like. Me,” the man explained with a wide grin.

The cat girl remained silent. She retrieved her phone from her jacket pocket and sent a message to Lu Yibei.

[100 2/3 CATS: @VACCARIA, please refrain from exploiting loopholes. This is your first strike out of three.]

...

A considerable distance away, Lu Yibei received the message, and a loud “FUCK!” echoed throughout the slaughterhouse. She couldn’t help but wonder how a game developer could allow a bug to happen, and proceed to prohibit players from using it.

Fuck! What disgusting developers you people are! This Divine Horse Armor was putting in work for me!

TRANSLATOR NOTES:

I’m glad to see so many familiar names in the replies section <33 Please comment any thoughts or theories regarding the story, I genuinely do read every single one of your comments ^.^

Story Discussion: I do think it’s funny how Yibei’s shameless mannerisms barely changed even after transforming from boy to Witch, to the point where even Jiangli got suspicious about it. Should’ve trusted your instincts, Jiangli!

As always, thank you for reading! If you’d like to support me by getting your very own freshly baked translation, or by just donating me any amount you’d like, you can buy me a coffee at /slicedbreadsbakery!