Metaphysics Live Stream, Going Viral Across the Internet Ch. 9

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Those things curled up in the corner, hiding in the cracks, all peeking out one eye to watch outside.

"They" seemed really scared of the man in front of them, but also hated him.

Two sharp emotions collided, twisting "their" faces into a twisted mess, tilting their heads at a forty-five-degree angle, glaring at the man's back.

It was as if once this man fell, they'd swarm up and devour his flesh and blood.

Suddenly, the heavy footsteps stopped.

"Heh!"

A cold laugh echoed in the empty space, causing the things hiding in the cracks to panic and scatter.

"Knock—knock—"

A knock sounded.

One after another, persistently hitting the wooden door.

Inside the room, Shen Huo was sleeping deeply, his little face fully buried under the soft blanket, flushed red.

Even the deadly knocking outside couldn't disturb his sleep.

The things outside got annoyed, switching to slapping the door, the sound growing louder.

Every time those things hit the door, a little dust fell off, making the wooden door look like it was about to collapse. If they pushed hard enough, the door would be smashed open.

Shen Huo—

Finally woken up by the noise, he rubbed his eyes groggily.

Hearing the constant slapping outside, the knocks were three short and one long.

Who knocked with such ceremony? Three short and one long—that was bad luck.

Looking at his mood, already annoyed waking up, he didn't even consider this strange detail.

He yelled in a very annoyed tone, "Who's there!"

The knocking outside finally stopped.

"Shen Huo, it's me."

The voice sounded like a man in his forties or fifties, but when he lowered his voice and said this, Shen Huo heard a "zzz" noise, which then turned into a woman's scream.

Sharp and piercing.

Shen Huo, whose mind was still foggy, suddenly snapped awake.

At this moment, the room's lights inexplicably went out, and everything went pitch black except the eerie red glow from the lantern.

He turned on his phone screen and checked the time—it was just past one in the morning.

So late. Everyone else who'd been tired all day was long asleep. How could anyone be knocking on his door at this hour?

"Shen Huo, open up, I have something to tell you."

Every time the thing outside spoke, a woman's scream followed, louder and more piercing each time.

Shen Huo cautiously answered, "...Director Wang?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Hearing Shen Huo reply, the thing outside quickly confirmed its identity.

Shen Huo's eyes flickered, and a small smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He cleared his throat lightly and said, "But Director Wang, why aren't you asleep so late? Are you here to give me a raise?"

"Yeah, hurry up and open the door."

Shen Huo's voice was a little shy. "Isn't this kinda embarrassing? How much raise are you planning to give me?"

"As much as you want, as long as you open the door."

The thing outside started tempting Shen Huo, giving him an uncertain goal.

This goal could make someone feel endless greed and an excited urge to try, and desire would blind people, pushing them to open the door for that thing outside, whether it was human or ghost.

But sadly...

"It" picked the wrong person.

Shen Huo's eyes looked excited, but his words hesitated.

"But, isn't this kinda unfair to others? After all, many of them are my seniors..."

He rambled around in circles, just refusing to open the door for the thing outside.

He could feel the thing outside slowly losing patience, starting to bang on Shen Huo's door more fiercely.

And that woman's scream Shen Huo heard before got louder and rougher, until it turned into a gurgling sound.

Like a drowning person swallowing a huge mouthful of water, rotten lungs flooding the throat, rushing into the mouth, and the melting tongue trying desperately to howl.

Shen Huo was more certain now: the thing outside definitely wasn't Director Wang!

But he still didn't know what it actually was.

What felt strange was why it didn't just come in but kept knocking politely like a well-behaved kid?

Could it be some kind of hotel power keeping it from entering on its own, waiting for the room owner to invite it in?

Maybe it was because Shen Huo had faced so many weird things that day, he kept remembering some trivial stuff from deep memories.

He recalled a saying from his hometown.

'Your doorstep is a line between yin and yang—front foot yang, back foot yin. Most ghosts can't enter.'

'Some strange things, if they want to get in, will mimic the voices of your relatives or people you know to trick you into opening the door.'

'This is called [responding speech], or in folk terms, ghost-responding speech.'

The three short, one long knock suddenly rang out again, snapping Shen Huo out of his thoughts.

He took a deep breath.

"Knock again and see what happens... you're short-lived, looking for trouble, playing director in the dead of night, who are you trying to scare? Get lost, damn it!"

Shen Huo deliberately raised his voice, pretending to be angry at being tricked, cursing all kinds of nasty words, even feeling a bit sorry for the thing outside.

It was finally trying to do its business, but ran into a stubborn loser like him.

Being a ghost nowadays wasn't easy.

Shen Huo laughed at the scene he imagined in his head.

The idea was funny, but reality was terrifying.

The thing outside was probably stunned dumb by Shen Huo's insults, staying still for a long time.

Shen Huo got up to turn on the wall lamp, but his hand touched something smooth and cold.

It felt like human skin.

His scalp tingled instantly, and he pulled his hand back right away.

Hurriedly, he tried to turn on his phone screen to see what he just touched.

But when a person is highly tense, their hands and feet don't obey.

Clack!

The phone dropped to the ground with a crisp sound.

Shen Huo had to crouch down and fumble around on the floor to find it.

After a while, he found the phone and lit up the screen.

A pair of blood-red embroidered shoes floated in front of him; red silk lightly drifted past his eyes, blocking the screen's light.

Shen Huo got such a shock from the sudden appearance of a headless female ghost that he jolted and sat down hard on the edge of the bed.

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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