It Can't Be Just Me Getting Screwed Over!

Early morning.

Dawn had just broken.

But some streamers still had not gone to sleep.

Like this streamer named Li Bai Tu.

He streamed on Old Days Video Network, mainly drawing. Virtual streamers were all the rage these days, and Li Bai Tu drew character designs for them. He had originally worked behind the scenes, but later simply drew himself a persona and started streaming.

Since the virtual streamers whose personas Li Bai Tu designed had all done quite well, he had gained some traffic himself. As a night owl, Li Bai Tu often streamed from midnight until dawn, just like today.

"...I'll watch a few more videos before ending the stream."

Li Bai Tu said this while yawning.

His virtual avatar was a very cute little boy with rabbit ears. In contrast, Li Bai Tu himself was a six-foot-tall athletic young man. Right now, he was just killing time by watching videos before ending his stream.

For some reason, viewers loved watching streamers browse goofy videos on video sites, especially fan creations related to themselves. Li Bai Tu was also obsessive about searching his own name, which made it even more entertaining.

He casually browsed through videos, refreshing the recommendations.

By chance, Li Bai Tu caught sight of a video with a rather strange thumbnail. It was called Never Open It at Night!!!

In the thumbnail, a man lay on a bed in a dim room. He looked completely ordinary, yet there was something inexplicably unsettling about him.

Perhaps because Li Bai Tu was an artist and had a stronger artistic sensibility, the thumbnail immediately caught his eye.

"Interesting. It doesn't count as nighttime anymore, does it?"

Although the video had only been uploaded recently and had just a few hundred views, Li Bai Tu was intrigued enough to click on it.

It was probably one of those scary supernatural videos, right?

That thumbnail is so cursed I'm speechless. Can't they make something less hellish?

It's one hundred percent one of those videos that stay calm for a while before suddenly throwing a ghost face at you!

Don't be scared, Bunny. Mommy's here with you.

No male moms.

I found this video too. I'm gonna skip to the end and scout ahead.

The stream chat was full of comments like these. To make it feel more immediate, Li Bai Tu had deliberately set the stream delay as low as possible, so the stream footage was almost perfectly synchronized with his movements.

In the video, the man checked under the bed, threw away a doll, then lay back down.

There was no trace of filming throughout the whole process. It looked like footage recorded by a surveillance camera, giving it a strong sense of realism and immersion.

As the image darkened, the sound of a heartbeat suddenly came from the computer speakers.

Thump—

Thump—

Thump—

Li Bai Tu raised an eyebrow. The heartbeat surprised him a little, but it did not scare him.

He sat up slightly straighter and leaned farther away from the screen, wary of some sudden jump scare with a face popping up.

As the heartbeat gradually slowed, Li Bai Tu inexplicably felt that it had synchronized with his own.

"When the heartbeat stops completely, a ghost face will pop up. I get it."

Li Bai Tu laughed.

Then, all of a sudden, the wardrobe beside the man's bed slowly opened.

Creak—

There was no one there, no mechanism either, yet the wardrobe door simply swung open on its own.

"Hiss—"

Li Bai Tu sucked in a quiet breath.

At the same time, the chat began to pick up.

Holy shit, my wardrobe moved. I'm done, I'm not playing anymore!

After seeing this, I couldn't help looking back at my wardrobe. Thankfully, I can't afford one.

It's probably some kind of mechanical switch, right? A smart wardrobe. I get it, this is a furniture sponsorship.

What could be inside the wardrobe? Don't tell me it's the guy next door.

Hello, everyone. I'm the person inside the wardrobe. I'm hiding in here right now.

Where's the person who went ahead to check the video? Any warning for scary parts?

The growing number of chat comments did nothing to ease the video's eerie atmosphere.

Compared to horror, Li Bai Tu found the video more bizarre. It was not that frightening, yet it carried an indescribable sense of wrongness.

He stared intently at the open wardrobe, trying to figure out how it worked.

Suddenly, a piercing scratching sound rang out.

Scritch, scritch, scritch—

"Fuck!"

Li Bai Tu heard the scratching erupt from his own speakers, several times sharper and louder than the earlier heartbeat. It was so clear that it sounded as though it were scraping against his own skull, and with the sound playing aloud, the entire room was instantly filled with it, sending chills down his spine.

He hurriedly turned down the volume and saw the man on the bed twitch, as if he were about to wake up.

But the man failed to rise. Instead, he seemed to be imprisoned by something, struggling faintly with a livid face.

The performance was incredibly realistic, making Li Bai Tu hold his breath without realizing it.

He also saw deep shadows on the man's arms and ankles, as though something had gripped them hard enough to leave indentations.

The utterly bizarre image, coupled with the nerve-racking scratching, battered Li Bai Tu's sanity.

He did not even notice that the chat, which had been joking around moments ago, had nearly fallen silent.

Finally, the man seemed to break free from his restraints. He sat up, grabbed a crowbar, and climbed out of bed.

But his movements were like those of a marionette, making Li Bai Tu deeply uncomfortable, as if some strange thing were forcibly pretending to be human.

The perspective shifted, following the man's gaze and head as they moved beneath the bed.

Li Bai Tu pressed himself hard against the back of his chair, trying to get farther from the screen. His eyes could not help darting to the side, but the other monitor was also showing his stream, and it was still playing the same video.

As the image lowered, the ridiculous Lan Lan Lu doll that should have been thrown away was staring straight into the camera. Li Bai Tu instinctively held his breath. He wanted to close his eyes, but his body, like the man in the video earlier, could not move. He could only witness the entire scene.

At some point, the lowered volume had been turned back up. The scritching echoed through Li Bai Tu's room, and together with the doll's gaze on the screen, it tortured his sanity.

At last, the screen went black. Li Bai Tu let out a breath and felt his body become movable again.

Though he had only been sitting there, he was already drenched in sweat.

During the brief black screen, the viewers seemed to regain control of their keyboards, and the chat exploded in an instant.

What kind of hellish video was that? It almost sent me to the grave.

I almost threw my phone just now.

Fuck, this uploader is taking revenge on society in the middle of the night. Is this something a living person could make?

I just want to ask, is the person in the video okay?

Didn't feel a thing. Not scary at all. I only changed my pants.

The effects are so realistic, especially where that guy's hand was being gripped. Million-dollar effects!

A stream of comments swept by. Li Bai Tu saw the screen light up again, showing the man lying in bed as though he had just woken up.

From his first-person perspective, the camera checked the wardrobe and under the bed. There was nothing wrong with either.

Li Bai Tu breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, as the camera slowly pulled back, he saw the Lan Lan Lu doll with its eerie smile perched on the man's shoulder, staring in the direction of the camera.

Staring at Li Bai Tu outside the screen.

"Fuck!"

Li Bai Tu cursed aloud, his voice trembling.

He had no time to look at the exploding chat. All Li Bai Tu felt was a chill down his back, as though something were pressing on his shoulders.

Summoning his courage, Li Bai Tu touched both shoulders. Only after confirming there was nothing there did he dare turn around and inspect his room. He quickly discovered that his wardrobe had not been fully closed, with the corner of a piece of clothing caught in the door.

"...Was my wardrobe not closed before?"

Li Bai Tu did not dare think too deeply about it and decided to lie to himself.

His mind was a complete mess, as if someone had shoved a red-hot iron rod into it and violently stirred it around several times. Even the things in his room looked slightly distorted.

Closing his eyes, Li Bai Tu took several deep breaths. It took him quite a while to calm his pounding heart.

Then, with trembling hands, he forwarded the video to his virtual streamer group.

It couldn't be just me getting scared!!!