"Drip!" The sound of falling water caused Caitlin to bury herself into Jeff's embrace once again, making Drake watch with secret envy from the side.
Of course he liked this kind of busty blonde beauty, which was the highest aesthetic standard of the Golden Hair Great Leader. Unfortunately, he was just a newcomer with little money, so naturally, he had no way to attract her favor.
This made him even more fixated on this opportunity. He took the lead and charged into the academic building, wanting to find the so-called "ominous" presence here.
This was actually part of the livestream plan. The company had sent people here in advance to set up some mechanisms and clues for the streamers to decipher, enriching the broadcast's atmosphere.
These were all very standard operations. The only unusual part was that they specifically brought in Jeff, a rising star, to endorse it and deceive the audience into believing it was real.
As they ventured deeper, classic elements of American horror began to surface one by one:
For instance, bloody handprints on the podium, water seeping out into the corridors, and shadows suddenly appearing in the room at the end of the hall...
These were actually very common tropes designed to make female streamers scream, male streamers tremble with fear, and the audience feel as if they were right there, enjoying the thrill of the ride!
Jeff was also quite pleased. The effect of this debut was excellent. With the addition of the supernatural mystery, such a location provided the viewers with a fantastic experience.
But as he took the livestream monitor and comment feed from his assistant, he suddenly frowned.
In the comments, someone was frantically spamming the chat, "Streamer, look behind you! Look quickly!"
This person had posted dozens of messages, burying the comments of many others.
Jeff furrowed his brows. "Do not spam useless things in the chat, or I will ban your account. Isn't it just a wall behind me? What is there to look at..."
Even as he said this, he could not help but turn his head to see what was behind him.
They were currently resting in a room while holding a few "clues," trying to deduce the cliché horror story that supposedly happened here. Therefore, behind him should have been nothing but a blank wall.
But as he turned around, streaks of bright red writing gradually revealed themselves on the wall:
They were eerie and complex special symbols that no one present could understand. However, a bone-chilling coldness began to radiate from his body.
Because, along with the appearance of these red letters, a small, frail, and incredibly bizarre figure materialized right in front of them.
It was a girl wearing a Victorian-style dress. She should have been a cute girl—if her face was not a blurry mess, if her arms were not folded at a grotesque angle, and if her legs had not been severed in half!
"What the... My God! What are you?!" Caitlin's scream echoed out once more, but this time it was not a performance. It was real!
Jeff stared at the girl, then turned his head to ask his assistant, "Is this part in our script?"
"No, Mr. Jeff! There is no way this is in here!" The assistant frantically flipped through the script in his hands until the pages were crumpled, but found no record of this.
Jeff took a deep breath. "In that case, my luck must be incredibly good. I have encountered another special supernatural event, right?"
Hearing this, Drake looked surprised. "Is it really supernatural? Could it be a surprise? Like a brand new opportunity brought to us by the company or something..."
As he spoke, he wanted to show off, so he took the initiative to walk up to the girl. "The model of this little girl is actually quite..."
Seeing his completely careless expression, Jeff was alarmed. "Do not move, Drake!"
"You are such a coward, Jeff!" Drake seemed fully immersed in his "character persona." Just a moment ago, he had been playing the "muscle" of the group who would slay gods and demons alike. He did not think this was a big deal.
Moreover, Jeff's concern actually made him feel like this was an opportunity—a chance to expose the big streamer and show his own face in the livestream!
He reached his hand straight out, wanting to touch her face!
Jeff stared in stunned disbelief. How did he dare to do such a thing? In a place where a supernatural event had already occurred, he was actively trying to offend it?
Do people who have never experienced Transcendent events truly possess absolutely no reverence for Transcendence?
"Ah!" A bloodcurdling shriek echoed through the room, followed immediately by the sound of Caitlin screaming once more.
The cameras slipped from the cameramen's hands in that instant, leaving the audience to see only a flash of crimson.
The only viewpoint that remained relatively stable was the Action Camera strapped to Jeff's chest.
Through this footage, they witnessed Drake's tragic state:
Just a split second before touching the girl's face, the man's hand was folded backward by a terrifying force!
It was not just a simple bend, but a pure, complete fold, exactly like folding clothes!
The outstretched arm had been folded into a lump and rested upon his shoulder. Not a single drop of blood was spilled, nor did it look bizarre or unnatural. It was as if his arm had always been supposed to be that length.
The earlier contempt in Drake's eyes had vanished long ago, replaced solely by boundless terror. "She... she is a Monster! She... there is something wrong with her!"
The man had completely lost his former tough-guy image, leaving only an endless ugliness. "Did you guys not bring Guns? Hurry, shoot her!"
"Nobody make a move!" Jeff roared loudly, glaring at Drake. "Did I not just warn you not to move?"
As a major streamer, he carried plenty of authority. His single sentence intimidated everyone present into lowering their heads, afraid of catching his ire.
Only then did he turn his attention to the girl before him. "Respected... Unknown One, may I ask if you have appeared here because there is something you want us to do?"
This attitude made the initially apathetic girl lift her head slightly. Her mangled, bloody face seemed to be evaluating him.
"I am not the Unknown One; I am merely a lonely, wandering spirit..." the girl suddenly spoke. "Traveler of Heaven, can you lend me a hand?"
The group exchanged nervous glances, all looking at Jeff. They were terrified that he might lose his mind and say something like 'unwilling,' getting them all buried alongside him.
"Alright!" Jeff nodded. "What do you want us to do?"
The girl looked up at the ceiling. "I hope you can help bring me down! My body is incomplete. I cannot traverse the nine layers of Hell to reach Mictlan..."
Everyone looked up. On the gray ceiling, they could indeed see a human-shaped silhouette eerily clinging to it, looking as though it had been imprinted there.
Hearing this, Jeff did not hesitate. He grabbed a chair from nearby and jabbed it straight up at the low ceiling. A Stone Tablet shattered, and a tiny body tumbled down.
The moment it crashed down before their eyes, Caitlin let out another piercing scream. However, she did not jump into Jeff's arms this time, proving that she was genuinely terrified.
It was a body reduced entirely to a skeleton, yet anyone could see how bizarre these remains were.
It was the corpse of a child roughly eight years old, but it lacked lower legs and feet, leaving only the thigh bones.
The arm bones had been snapped and folded over the shoulders, and the vast majority of the bones in this body were in a fractured state.
It appeared as if she had suffered inhuman torture while she was alive.
Looking at this skeleton, and then back at the "girl" before them, everyone present and everyone in the livestream felt an indescribable sense of suffocation.
"This is my body. Thank you very much, sir!" the girl whispered softly. "Then... could you please help us?"
After she said this, the exact same phrase suddenly echoed throughout the entire room:
"Could you please help us?"
Countless childlike voices chimed in simultaneously as numerous "children" crawled out of the walls, turning their faces toward the group.
Some had twisted bodies, some had their heads snapped at odd angles, some were covered in blood, and some only had one arm or one leg left...
All of them were deeply deformed. Carrying a ghastly and eerie aura, they slowly emerged and stood before them.
"Could you please help us?"
They asked once again. By now, everyone knew they were ghosts, but the chill rising in everyone's hearts was not due to that fact. It was because of their appearance...
"The state they were in at the time of their deaths is their current state. So, they all died like this?" Jeff muttered. "But... but... but this is a school! This is a group of children!"
These were children! A group of children who were probably not even ten years old, yet they did not have a single normal, uninjured part on them. Even if they were Native American children, they were still children!
He felt as if his heart was about to stop beating. He felt his entire being completely overwhelmed by this horrific revelation!
In this country, where child protection laws were piled as high as a mountain and child abusers sat at the very bottom of the prison hierarchy, seeing such a group of children stripped away everyone's fear. Instead, they were filled with an inexplicable, overwhelming rage!
"I will help! I will help! Say no more, I will help every single one of you!" Jeff said, his entire body trembling. "Take it easy. We will do this step by step..."