Sewer Hair

Lu Ban cleaned up the hair from the sewer and threw it all into the trash. Then he put the cap back on the shampoo bottle and hid it behind the body wash.

When he came to the computer, he turned it on and saw a folder on the desktop named "One Night Carnival."

"A mediocre-level reward. Looks barely passable."

The computer screen's usual icons changed into the system's style.

Lu Ban had 4,036 Silence Points before. Adding the 4,800 points that had already been settled, he now had only 8,836 Silence Points—still just a little short of the essence requirement for Last Words.

It was not a major problem.

After completing the Career Development Task and editing and publishing these video materials, he should be able to earn some more points. Obtaining the essence was a certainty.

Lu Ban first inspected the video materials.

The materials awarded for receiving a mediocre evaluation were indeed lower in image quality. There were also few shots from certain angles, such as Lu Ban's first-person perspective. Most of the footage had been taken from the bus's surveillance cameras in a fixed third-person perspective, mixed with some close-ups and long shots inside the bus.

Overall, there were not many tricks he could use.

Lu Ban also did not see any unexpected footage like the Lan Lan Lu doll on his shoulder in the first video.

"It's not really suitable for a realistic video. After all, monsters have already appeared, and forcing it to look realistic might ruin the atmosphere. But if I make it into a short film, the plot will seem somewhat disjointed."

Lu Ban thought about it and decided to look for inspiration on video websites.

His total number of fans across the internet had already exceeded one hundred thousand, making him a minor internet celebrity. However, Lu Ban was not proud of this. Instead, he humbly learned from others.

He watched videos from several streamers who explored abandoned locations. Then he searched for supernatural short videos, and even watched some horror escape-room visits and murder-mystery game reviews.

"Presenting it as a mockumentary might be a good choice. I can minimize the shots of the rat-men and fish as much as possible, making them mysterious and unknown. That should better stimulate the audience's imagination and let them fill in the blanks."

"As for the grass and those plants, I can use fixed shots with a more cinematic feel. Those images can create a physical sense of revulsion, which is a direct stimulus."

"Finally, I can cut out the information about the rat-men and leave only Stone's creepy smile before ending it abruptly."

Lu Ban sketched out a rough storyboard on paper and quickly developed an idea.

"I should buy a graphics tablet."

He stretched and checked the time. It was half past eleven.

"I'll go downstairs for a late-night snack."

Although only a few hours had passed in real life, Lu Ban had spent nearly nine hours on the roads of Ruined City. The rat meat he had eaten seemed to have been completely digested, and he was famished.

Taking his keys and phone, Lu Ban prepared to take the trash bag containing the dripping-wet hair to the pile of garbage by the late-night food stall so it would not sit around overnight.

But when he came to the trash can in the living room, he found that the clumps of hair in the trash bag were gone.

"."

Lu Ban turned around and went to the bathroom. The sewer opening was empty, with nothing inside.

After checking once, he walked out of the apartment in his slippers.

The moment he closed the door, Lu Ban seemed to hear the rushing sound of water.

He unlocked the door with his key and hurried to the bathroom.

There was no one in the bathroom.

However, the shampoo that had been hidden behind the body wash had somehow been taken out, and its cap had been opened.

Lu Ban silently put the cap back on, crouched down, and glanced at the sewer opening.

A lock of hair was tangled around the drain.

Lu Ban reached out and picked it up.

Just as he withdrew his hand, Lu Ban saw an eye looking at him from beneath the drain.

Lu Ban blinked. The drain was empty again, and even the hair in his hand had disappeared.

Drip—

The sound of water came from beside his ear. Lu Ban stood up and tightened the faucet.

After thinking it over, Lu Ban picked up the shampoo, left the apartment, and put it in the water-meter room in the corridor. The room was usually where delivery workers left packages.

After confirming that everything was in place, Lu Ban closed the door to the water-meter room.

Downstairs, Lu Ban ordered two skewers of grilled gluten, half a dozen lamb skewers, grilled chicken wings, grilled shiitake mushrooms, grilled broccoli, grilled green peppers, grilled chicken gizzards, grilled stinky tofu, and grilled eggplant. He also ordered a serving of egg fried rice and a bottle of chilled cola, happily enjoying his late-night meal while scrolling through his phone.

Jiangcheng's nights were always lively. The residents were still eating and drinking in the neighborhood, while several college-aged men and women at the next table clinked bottles over barbecue, squandering their youth. The television in the barbecue stall was showing a soccer match, and several middle-aged men who were nearly bald stared at the screen, forgetting to eat the skewers in their hands.

Lu Ban enjoyed his meal alone. The night breeze was cool, and he felt exceptionally comfortable.

Compared to the nights in Ruined City, Lu Ban felt that this world was truly wonderful. He could not help filling with hope for the future.

He saw the advertising slogan on the cola bottle twist and contort into the system's cold text.

Career Development Task

Try a variety of creative methods and test your creative theories. The gate to a new world is opening for you!

Task Requirements: Submit works in different sections and obtain five hundred thousand likes and one hundred thousand coins, or something else of equivalent value

Likes Obtained: 0/500000

Coins Obtained: 0/100000

"Next time, for sure!"

"Five hundred thousand likes and one hundred thousand coins. That's a little difficult."

Lu Ban hurriedly opened his phone and checked the likes and coins on his previous videos.

His two videos with around five million views each had received roughly three hundred thousand likes for the first and slightly more—nearly four hundred thousand—for the second. Reaching the small goal of five hundred thousand likes would be possible with some effort.

As for coins, the gap was much larger. The first video had received only a little over twenty thousand coins, while the second had received more, though still fewer than forty thousand.

These figures were very typical and followed the growth pattern of videos that suddenly went viral after catching a wave of popularity.

Every user could give likes, and they could give countless likes each day, so people clicked like freely and the numbers tended to be high.

But ordinary users could only obtain one coin per day. Coins could also be exchanged for website accessories, name-change cards, and similar items on Old Days Video Network, so the number of coins given tended to be lower.

When a viewer liked, gave coins to, and bookmarked your video—the so-called triple engagement—it represented the viewer's genuine approval of the video.

On a short-video platform like Tomorrow Online, five hundred thousand likes was also an excellent result. Only one out of roughly ten thousand short videos might receive that many likes. Moreover, Lu Ban checked and found that the system's evaluation criteria for Tomorrow Online required five hundred thousand likes and three hundred thousand fans. He currently had only a little over ten thousand fans on the platform, so reaching five hundred thousand would be extremely difficult.

This time, Song Yunyan would not be able to help him. He would have to rely on his own strength.

"...Huh? Wait a second."

Inspiration suddenly struck Lu Ban.

"This time, I can ask her for help too!"

The happy weekend was about to begin. Please vote!