130. I Have a Hypothesis, Though It May Be Wrong
This video has tens of thousands of views. The uploader is clearly a personal account with less than two hundred followers, just like Lu Ban before he became famous.
Oh, no, at least Lu Ban has cat videos.
The video shot by the phone was a bit shaky, but it quickly stabilized. It was taken in a room, with the phone placed on the table, capturing most of the room's view.
It looks like a bedroom.
"We're going to try this ' Hyakunin Isshu ' now. Well, we don't know any waka poems, so we'll just recite some ancient poems. The candles are from the supermarket, so there shouldn't be any problems."
The person, who appeared to be the content creator, said a few words, then put down their phone, took a candle, and stood in the corner.
You can see three people here, and there should be another person standing next to the phone.
There were many comments, mostly meaningless remarks like checking in, signing in, or coming from "Hyakunin Isshu". However, there was one yellow character who was seriously saying something.
"This is a variation of a paranormal game. In the original game, an extra person appears later on. There is always someone reciting poetry, and there are candles in the four corners. No one knows who the extra person is. It's very eerie."
They spoke with such conviction, as if it were the truth.
"Isn't that what I said in my movie?"
Lu Ban read it carefully, only realizing its meaning belatedly.
However, he was quite grateful for the repost.
In the video, the game begins, Oldest One everything is normal, just like when Lu Ban played this game on Song Island. The two of them take turns reciting poems and then begin to move.
The room wasn't completely dark; because it was small, the candlelight was enough to see the person opposite.
When the third person moves and comes to the phone that is taking the picture, the game is considered to have completed one round.
The fourth person will then move forward and fill the empty space where the first person was, and the game will end.
Because at this point, the fourth person doesn't have a lit candle, so in the end, there will only be three candles left on the field.
However, when the fourth person started moving and appeared in the video, for some reason, the room lights dimmed a little.
Then, Lu Ban quickly noticed that in the direction the fourth person was moving, the spot where the first person had been standing, which should now be empty, now had an extra person.
The person was holding a lit candle and was waiting for the fourth person to come.
In other words, there are now people in all four corners of the room, and the last person to leave will come to the side of the extra person after reciting the poem and light their own candle with his.
It's a very strange situation.
[Holy crap, when did this extra person appear?]
[It seems like it came out when the third person replaced the fourth person.]
Don't worry, based on past patterns, as long as the uploader has uploaded the video, the ending will definitely be fine!
How do you know the person who uploaded it is really the Uploader?
[Maybe this isn't even human anymore.]
[Got it, so this is how I see Momiji. Goodbye everyone, I'm off to the world of anime!]
The barrage of comments reached its climax at this point.
Lu Ban frowned.
He saw that the number of people had increased from four to five. After playing for a while, in the second round, the third person went to the fourth person.
A face suddenly appeared in the center of the screen, pale and glowing with a green light, making people exclaim "Holy crap!"
Lu Ban raised an eyebrow, looking at the barrage of insults in the comments.
[UP, this is way too creepy!]
Get lost, I've blocked you!
So it's all just acting, right? How could any supernatural events possibly happen?
[Momiji, my Momiji, will I never see you again?]
The patient in heat should not go into the hallway.
[So you're just a brat trying to ride the wave of popularity, get lost!]
Such complaints all accuse the content creator of misbehaving.
Lu Ban naturally realized that the key issue was that the audience didn't know how many people were in the room at first.
Actually, there was a fifth person all along. He took advantage of the third person walking to the fourth person's side and blocking the phone to go to the corner and pretend to have been there all along. He was also the one who made the scary face at the end. In the end, this was just a prank played by a few naughty kids to scare people.
However, Lu Ban thought...
Just now, when the fourth person walked towards the fifth person, the candlelight in the room did indeed dim slightly.
With Lu Ban already understanding the essence of the game, [True Sight] came into play.
He could see that some kind of hidden door was slowly trembling in the very center of the room.
However, the game is too rudimentary, and the people involved are quite ordinary, so the door is suppressed by reality and difficult to open.
Even if another hundred people came, it might not be enough to complete this ceremony.
But perhaps, one day in the future, in this already strange world, that door will be completely opened?
Lu Ban felt something was amiss.
He immediately took action, cutting out a portion of the "Hyakunin Isshu" game, transforming it into a form that ordinary people could not replicate. Although it was fine for the time being, what if someone with extraordinary talent succeeded in courting death in the future?
Subsequently, Lu Ban contacted the operators of several websites to replace the video source, and then posted another update.
[Motionless]: Please do not attempt the game "Hyakunin Isshu" related to the video, as it may cause unimaginable serious consequences.
Lu Ban's post received hundreds of replies in less than a minute.
This content creator is quite dedicated; they're even acting to make the video more realistic.
[No way, no way, there are actually people who are afraid of this game?]
I've watched videos of people playing this game, and they're all nonsense; there's nothing of substance to them!
[This content creator is pretty good, they're quite into the role, I've followed them!]
Nobody paid any attention to things like that.
However, two hours later, when people who had watched the movie a second time noticed that the movie was a little short, Lu Ban's seemingly funny post resurfaced.
[No way, they actually changed the movie's content? Is there really something wrong with this game?]
[I feel like there haven't been any changes; it should be exactly like this. You must have remembered it wrong.]
This movie can't be downloaded, and it seems there's no way to confirm if it's the same version from this morning.
This is called the Mandela Effect; the movie wasn't actually changed, but everyone feels like they've seen another version before—it's a collective illusion.
[I have a guess, it might not be right, but could it be that there's something wrong with this movie?]
My classmate and I tried this game, and apart from feeling a little depressed when we closed our eyes, we didn't have any other problems.
Stop spreading rumors! My uncle teaches folklore at a university, and he says there's no such thing as a supernatural game; it's all made up in movies!
No, I need to go see it again.
So, to Lu Ban's surprise, his viewership numbers suddenly surged again.
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20,000 recommendation votes will result in an extra 1/3 chapter.
Thanks to "Chen Jicheng" and "Lonely Bohu" for the 100-coin reward!