Metaphysics Live Stream, Going Viral Across the Internet Ch. 7

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A pure white bowl rolled all the way to Shen Huo's feet,

and a trail of white stuff scattered ahead.

Shen Huo picked up one grain and looked at it—it was rice, uncooked.

Ahead of him walked a long-haired woman, dressed in a mature, queen-bee style—the same woman who had said she felt like vomiting when seeing Shen Huo on the bus. The assistant director called her name: Ma Xi.

Shen Huo knew her.

He'd heard she had a brief burst of popularity recently because of a drama, but online fame faded fast.

Her spotlight was fleeting; maybe even netizens didn't remember her face.

Probably she came on this horror reality show hoping to get popular again.

Ma Xi looked down at the rice stuck to her designer heels and disgustedly stomped her foot.

"What kind of dumbass leaves bowls in the hallway? Are they for ghosts to eat?"

As she said this, the tour guide downstairs stared at her with a creepy smile.

Ma Xi kicked over the bowl of uncooked rice, stomped her foot hard, picked the first room, and slammed the door shut.

The noise was loud enough to shake down a good amount of dust.

No one bothered to clean up the rice on the floor, stepping over it like it was nothing.

Crunch, crunch—

The sound of rice grains crushed underfoot was like stepping on a bunch of lost souls, each step letting out a mournful wail.

But no one paid attention to the sound beneath their feet.

One by one, everyone picked their preferred rooms and settled in.

Only Shen Huo was invisibly excluded by everyone else, becoming the last person to choose a room.

Shen Huo looked at the two rooms on his left and right. In one room, a glaringly bright painting was visible at a glance.

It was that pair of red embroidered shoes again.

Those embroidered shoes seemed to have latched onto Shen Huo. From the weird dream to the painting in the hotel, wherever he went, they followed—like a pesky thug.

But they hadn't caused him any harm. Instead, they followed him like a ghost, always present.

This time, Shen Huo wouldn't back down. He decided to take the initiative.

He wanted to see exactly what the owner of those embroidered shoes wanted!

If anything went wrong, no big deal—he could always be a hero eighteen years later!

He slapped his thigh and pointed at the room on his left.

"This one!"

"This one?"

The guide's voice echoed faintly behind Shen Huo.

It sounded like it was right next to his ear, almost breathlessly close.

Shen Huo glanced around. The hallway was empty; it was just him and the guide.

At that moment, Shen Huo was closer to the guide than ever before.

The guide still hadn't taken off his raincoat, and Shen Huo could smell a strange scent of muddy fishiness and damp rain.

That smell was weird, like if you rolled around in mud a couple of times, then dug a hole in the mountains in pouring rain and buried yourself in it. After soaking in rainwater and the temperature rising, it slowly rotted and emitted a stench of decay.

Strong and pungent, disgusting enough to make someone want to vomit.

It sounded unbelievable, but that's exactly the smell Shen Huo caught from the guide.

Maybe because they were so close, Shen Huo noticed the guide's eyes—one looked like it had cataracts, but the other, a normal eye, had a cloudy pupil, the gaze unfocused.

Present but soulless.

To be clear, it was just a dead person's eye.

Shen Huo didn't dare think further.

He noticed that if he didn't respond, the guide just kept smiling at him.

"This one then."

"You sure?"

The guide's eyes still held that smile.

Shen Huo's heart skipped a beat.

No matter how good an actor was, they couldn't replicate the exact same smile perfectly a second time.

How was the guide doing it?

Shen Huo glanced sideways at the guide and saw that his eyes were also slightly crossed, smiling at him just like the ghost face pressed against the bus window, stretching its neck out.

His heart jolted.

Shen Huo clenched his fists, palms sweaty, squeezing the small vermilion mole on his fingertip into a deep crimson.

That crimson mole was the kind you couldn't help but want to gently suck and tease.

"This one!"

Shen Huo said firmly and decisively, then darted into the room, slammed the door hard, and shut it loudly.

The guide, who had just been about to follow him in, nearly bumped his face against the door.

The guide's gaze darkened.

He said softly, "If you hear any noise tonight, don't come out, got it?"

After saying this, he let out two eerie chuckles and slowly walked away from Shen Huo's room.

Shen Huo pressed his ear against the door, listening to the guide's creepy warning and the fading footsteps, and finally let out a small sigh of relief.

His pounding heart calmed down a bit.

Only then did he start checking out the room he'd be staying in for the next few days.

The room was pretty normal for a hotel, except the middle of the room had two big, red lanterns hanging.

The lantern light shone through the red paper, making the room dim and a little eerie.

Especially with the painting of the embroidered shoes hanging nearby. The yellowish light on the painting didn't bring any festive vibes to Shen Huo; instead, it gave off a chilling feeling.

Creak—

The wind blew the doors and windows, stirring the curtains, which fluttered in the air before slapping against the door and window, making a long, low screeching sound.

It sounded like an old man struggling to cough up thick phlegm.

Hearing the sound, Shen Huo instinctively grabbed the ashtray tightly.

But then he turned and realized the window wasn't closed, and his heart, which had jumped into his throat, finally settled.

Wait!

He remembered the window was closed when he came in!

Who opened the window?

Shen Huo nervously searched the whole room inside and out but found nothing.

Instead, he broke out in a sweat.

He shut the window again. After what happened on the bus, he didn't dare look outside directly, just glanced sideways.

The sky was completely dark, with only a faint glow on the horizon.

In the distance was a patch of woods, pitch black, and he couldn't see what was inside.

He only saw some strange black shadows, like lumps, squatting at the edge of the forest. They just watched the hotel from afar but didn't dare step out of the forest.

All credit goes to the original author
Feel free to pinpoint us if there are any grammar error or typos
Please don't use Guazi's translations to re-translate in other languages

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