Although Weapon A's live stream was forcibly terminated, countless viewers had already witnessed it all.
The hashtag # Supernatural # quickly rose to the top of the trending topics list within just half an hour, with related terms dominating the entire list.
#Live Streaming Paranormal Events#
#Who is Weapon A?#
#Do superhumans really exist in this world?#
The incident caused an uproar on major social media platforms. Some people firmly believed it was special effects, while others insisted that they had known about the existence of the supernatural for a long time. Many others began to delve into the mysterious administrative department in the live broadcast footage, trying to find more clues.
A popular post on a well-known forum. "A Rational Analysis of the Livestream Accident Regarding Weapon A -- This Was Definitely Not a Script!"
The original poster provided a frame-by-frame analysis of the live stream recording, pointing out several key details:
1. Drone flight path - The live stream suddenly switched midway through. Based on the landmark buildings that appeared in the footage, the distance between the two locations should be tens of kilometers. However, it is impossible for an ordinary drone to cross tens of kilometers in a few seconds, and the live stream signal was not delayed before it was cut off.
2. The "superman" in the live stream – his movement speed far exceeds human limits, and there is absolutely no trace of AI synthesis.
3. Those monsters that look like "zombies" are likely organized and belong to the system, based on their clothing.
The comment section exploded:
"Heh, I'm pretty sure the official response will be some kind of 'movie special effects' nonsense again."
"If this were special effects, Hollywood would be kneeling down and calling him 'daddy'!"
"Have you guys noticed that all the screen recordings were throttled after the live stream ended?"
--The authorities are indeed trying to suppress the hype.
On Weibo, several live stream clips reposted by influential users were deleted one after another; a pre-recorded video on a certain video platform was taken down as soon as it was uploaded; even the most hotly debated posts successively displayed "404".
But the more it is suppressed, the more discussion it generates.
Various "insider" revelations began appearing online:
"Those who know, know; those who don't, you won't understand even if I explain. Don't ask too many questions; the stakes are too high, and knowing too much won't do you any good. Anyway, the world is changing, so try to stay home as much as possible these days, and ideally, just stay indoors..."
"I wonder if everyone remembers what happened in Shanque City before. The officials said it was an extremely rare and unusual weather phenomenon, but now it seems there might be more to the story."
"Supernatural events do exist in the world, but ordinary people cannot come into contact with them."
Netizens have differing opinions, making it impossible to distinguish between truth and falsehood.
Weapon A, however, remained completely silent.
His social media accounts are completely silent, and his team is also eerily quiet, leading some to speculate that he may have been taken away by the authorities.
Two hours after the "Supernatural live stream" incident, the live stream platform that Weapon A was contracted with finally released a brief statement:
"Regarding the live stream content circulating online, after verification, it was found to be a special effects production by a team, and there are no supernatural phenomena involved. We urge netizens not to believe or spread rumors."
The statement immediately drew laughter from netizens.
"The classic principle: 'Don't believe or spread rumors.'"
"Got it. Next time I see a ghost, I'll ask it if it has a special effects artist's license."
"This statement feels so perfunctory, and the official media's attitude is also strange, actually letting the rumors fester."
"I also feel something's not right; the authorities are actually doing nothing..."
The official stance, which has been criticized by netizens, is actually preoccupied with its own problems at this moment.
The "Supernatural live stream" incident dominated the trending searches, attracting the attention of most people. Few noticed that tonight, many netizens with IP addresses in Jing City were frantically seeking help, claiming that they had encountered Supernatural phenomena and that many people had died.
Multiple unusual incidents occurred simultaneously in Jing City...
Fan Cheng'an put down his phone and rubbed his nose wearily.
I just saw a ton of content about "Supernatural live streams" online, and my head was filled with useless information. Instead of getting a break from using my phone, I felt even more tired.
He drew back the curtains, and from the 27th floor, the city lights stretched out before him, his weary face reflected in the glass.
This five-star hotel in Jing City has excellent soundproofing; you can't hear any outside noise except for the slight hum of the central air conditioning.
"Mr. Fan, your coffee." The room attendant knocked, entered, and placed the tray down. "Would you like a late-night snack?"
"No, thank you." Fan Cheng'an loosened his tie. He was in Jing City on a business trip and was scheduled to meet with a client at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, but this afternoon the client suddenly made a new request, and he had to revise the plan overnight.
The waiter gently closed the door as he left, the latch making a "click" sound.
Fan Cheng'an sighed helplessly and resigned himself to working through the night.
After some time, he rubbed his sore eyes. There was a clause on page seven of the contract that he needed to check. He picked up his phone to send a message to a colleague, but found that the signal bars were empty. He went to the window and tried different locations, but it still showed "No Service".
"Strange..." He pressed the front desk shortcut key, but all he heard was a long busy tone.
Just then, a scream pierced the night sky.
The screams came from downstairs. When Fan Cheng'an curiously stepped out of his room, several sleepy-eyed guests were already standing in the corridor. The sound of the elevator running could be heard, and the numbers on the display screen kept changing.
"What's going on?" A woman in a bathrobe, clutching her phone, said, "I can't get through to the front desk."
The hotel manager ran up from the emergency exit, sweat beading on his forehead. "Please calm down, everyone. It might be a power outage..."
Another scream came from the elevator shaft. This time everyone heard it clearly; it was a man's voice, rising from a high pitch to a hoarse whisper, before abruptly stopping. The elevator suddenly began to accelerate, and the numbers on the display screen changed rapidly: 15, 20, 25...
With a "ding," the elevator stopped on the 27th floor.
As the door slowly opened, Fan Cheng'an smelled a foul odor of incontinence. Looking up, he saw a man in a suit lying face up in the sedan chair, his breathing stopped, his eyes wide open, and fear still lingering on his face.
"Call the police! Call the police now!" someone shouted.
The hotel manager shakily pulled out his walkie-talkie, but only heard static. Fan Cheng'an noticed that all the elevator buttons were off, with only the emergency lights on the top floor flashing.
After this happened, some people wanted to check out on the spot.
However, something even worse happened.
More than thirty people were gathered in the hotel lobby. A woman in a bathrobe was sobbing, a businessman was constantly pressing his phone, and several young people tried to break open the door with a fire axe. Unfortunately, the axe blades were like cutting into a non-Newtonian fluid the moment they touched the door, leaving not even a mark.
"All the exits are like this." The hotel manager wiped his sweat. "The back door, the garage, the emergency exits... we can't even break the windows. It's like we're trapped."
Fan Cheng'an walked to the main entrance and tried to push and pull it. He could see the empty revolving door through the tempered glass, but when his palm touched the doorknob, a strange chill ran up his fingertips.
He glanced at the indoor thermometer; the temperature was normal and constant.
Suddenly, a short-haired woman in red high heels screamed, "It's happening again! That voice is coming again!"
Everyone looked at her.
Fan Cheng'an didn't hear any strange noises, but the short-haired woman kept covering her ears and her face was pale.
"Smack--"
The chandelier suddenly went out.
The sudden loss of light immediately caused a commotion. People fell and overturned coffee tables in the darkness. When the emergency lights came on, the woman in the bathrobe was found dead for unknown reasons. Her body lay quietly on the marble floor, her eyes wide open, her face still showing traces of terror.
Witnessing a living person die inexplicably in front of you is so shocking that the scene immediately became even more chaotic.
Fan Cheng'an hurriedly walked up to the short-haired woman in red high heels and asked, "What did you mean by what you just said? What sound did you hear?"
However, the short-haired woman was more severely traumatized and seems to have completely lost her mind.
Fan Cheng'an was somewhat disappointed. He still didn't know what had happened, but it was clearly not a normal phenomenon; it could be one of the supernatural events circulating online. He had hoped to get some clues from this woman, but alas...
With the situation still unclear, Fan Cheng'an chose to remain where he was, not daring to make any rash moves.
Soon, several more people died, still dying suddenly and without explanation.
Fan Cheng'an silently calculated the time intervals between the deaths of the several people, but found that there was no pattern to it.
What caused all these deaths?
It shouldn't be a random, indiscriminate death, and he wouldn't consider such an unsolvable situation.
Similarly, it's unlikely that hearing strange noises caused the death. The short-haired woman in red heard strange noises, but she was simply too frightened and didn't die.
Fan Cheng'an believes that perhaps the deceased performed some special action or came into contact with some special object, which led to death.
Without knowing the cause of death, he decided to stand still, like a wax figure, too afraid to move.
Before long, the death toll rose to seven.
Fan Cheng'an silently memorized the number.
Initially, all those trapped in the hotel gathered together, but now they have split into several groups.
Some people broke down emotionally, shrinking into corners and wailing, some even banging their heads against the wall, their foreheads covered with congealed blood scabs;
Some people pray to gods and Buddhas, hoping to be saved by them;
Some people are so provoked that they completely lose control and want to hurt others to vent their emotions. However, these people who are emotionally unstable and have too many petty actions are the first to die.
Intelligent people with a rational mind, like Fan Cheng'an, dared not act rashly and tried to find a way to survive.
"What do these victims have in common?" Fan Cheng'an racked his brains. "The first one died in the elevator, the second was a woman in her pajamas, the third..."
What's the pattern? Is it really random?
"No, no, none of these people who stayed quietly in place and didn't move died. There must be some unknown pattern of death!"
Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass came from not far away. Two young men started fighting for some unknown reason, punching each other with bottles.
Fan Cheng'an glanced at them with regret.
Sure enough, a short while later, both of them collapsed and died.
Time ticked by, and Fan Cheng'an still hadn't found a way out.
As night gradually faded and the sky began to lighten, an elderly man walking his dog could be seen passing by the hotel's glass door.
People hurriedly shouted for help, but the old man seemed oblivious to the cries for help from inside the hotel, as if he hadn't heard anything.
"Could we... already be dead?" A college student-looking man pushed up his glasses. "I've read many novels and watched many movies, and some horror movies have plots where people are already dead but don't know it, lingering at the place of their death, and thus encountering many inexplicable things."
"Don't talk nonsense!" another woman in red shouted sharply, but her fingernails were already digging into her palms.
Just then, a young man who had been huddled in a corner, sobbing uncontrollably, suddenly shouted, "I saw it!"
He tilted his head back, his eyes completely rolled back, as if trying to warn the survivors, "Don't look up, I see... it..."
His voice stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.
Fan Cheng'an had no time to grieve for the death of another; he only remembered the last half of what the other person said before he died—"Don't look up!"
Is it that all the deceased had their heads raised?
Why does looking up cause death?
Is there something strange on the ceiling that will kill you if you look at it?
Various speculations flashed through Fan Cheng'an Cheng'an's mind. He kept his eyes straight ahead, not daring to make any movement that resembled looking up, and also gave up the idea of using his phone camera to take pictures of what was on the ceiling.
At times like these, it's best not to be too curious.
"Don't look up, everyone." Fan Cheng'an kindly reminded those still alive, "And don't look up in any way either."
Unfortunately, it was too late.
The survivors who have made it this far are already on edge. When the deceased said "Don't look up" before he died, some people unconsciously looked up.
Unsurprisingly, the man died.
This also confirmed for Fan Cheng'an that looking up could indeed lead to death.
"This is a supernatural event, isn't it?" The hotel receptionist, a very pretty girl, said in a trembling voice.
The idea that looking up could lead to sudden death is indeed beyond common sense.
"My parents are still waiting for me to come home..." She sat behind the service counter, hugging her knees. "Today is my mother's birthday."
Nobody paid any attention to her.
Suddenly, Fan Cheng'an faintly heard a sound from the ceiling that resembled fingernails scratching a blackboard. The sound was so faint that it was easy to Neglect if one wasn't listening carefully.
His face stiffened; the voice seemed to be enticing him to look up, and he did indeed feel an irresistible urge to do so.
He immediately crouched down, covering his head, and several other survivors who were not quick enough to react collapsed as well.
The presence that would cause their death if they looked up seemed to have been amplified.
If this continues, everyone will die!
Fan Cheng'an panicked completely.
With a loud "boom".
The hotel door was suddenly forced open from the outside, and a handsome but somewhat slovenly man in a black trench coat walked in against the light.
The man's face was full of unhappiness, but it didn't matter. All Fan Cheng'an knew was that he was saved.