Lin Xiaomei and Doctor Gao

"Ding~"

"Customer No. 037 has a new order!"

The announcement sounded. The energetic girl at the front desk skillfully prepared a bowl of instant noodles, added an egg and a sausage, then delivered it to the corresponding computer.

Inside the private room.

Zhang Ze tapped away at the keyboard, repeatedly clicking closed countless video sites. He even used a VPN to visit foreign websites, but still failed to find any Lost Media labeled No. 021.

It was as though it was nothing more than an unfounded urban legend.

No one had ever seen this thing in real life.

Comments drifted across the phone livestream.

"666. The streamer really can't find this video. Doesn't look like an act. Could we be part of the play too?"

"No way. I seem to remember these Lost Media actually exist. The numbering starts at 001, but I don't know how many there are."

"Stop talking nonsense, guy above. I've been online for twenty years. Back when I pulled all-nighters at internet cafés, they were still playing Jay Chou and Wang Leehom songs at the entrance. I never heard of any Lost Media."

Zhang Ze glanced at the time in the bottom-right corner of the screen. It was already midnight.

Clearly, he had failed.

Lost Media were called Lost Media precisely because they could not be found again through any channel.

During that time, Zhang Ze had even logged into several sites specializing in online dirt and gossip. All sorts of massive buns and huge peaches filled his screen... forcing him to turn his phone screen away for the moment, lest his livestream get banned again.

He spotted a video labeled No. 021.

When he clicked it, an intoxicating cry came through his headphones.

"Ah~ yamete~"

Zhang Ze:?

So this was No. 021, huh.

He was so startled that he immediately closed the webpage.

He kept searching for a long time, but it was all in vain.

Just as Zhang Ze thought the system would notify him that he had failed the mission.

He realized he had received no failure notice.

"The mission didn't fail?"

Zhang Ze froze for a moment.

The Nightmare Mission required him to livestream himself watching Lost Media No. 021 at midnight. He clearly had not found the video, yet the mission was proceeding normally...

In other words, he had actually watched the real No. 021 video.

How was that possible?

It couldn't really have been that video from the island nation website, could it?

If that thing counted as Lost Media, Zhang Ze would have to wonder just how terrible it was for male internet users with dozens of gigabytes of resources each to have never seen it.

"Everyone, the livestream continues."

"We actually found Lost Media No. 021, but we may have overlooked it and failed to give it enough attention."

"In other words, Lost Media No. 021 is among these webpages on my computer!"

As Zhang Ze spoke, he shifted his gaze to the center of the screen.

He only had three webpages open in the background.

One was his QQ account. He usually kept QQ logged in whenever he went online. It was simply a habit of his and required no thought at all.

Another was a short-video platform Zhang Ze had not had time to close. When he clicked back into it, he saw three emo boys with shockingly colorful hair standing in the plaza outside some train station.

"Tiger Bro, you're not even at the zoo. Where are you hiding?"

"I'm coming to catch you right now, so just wait!"

This...

This thing was about as widely known as the Xinhua Dictionary. Zhang Ze did not believe a video with tens of millions of views had even the slightest connection to the words "lost."

That only left the final website.

<For your personal safety, please do not actively search for or watch any Lost Media. The number of related missing persons has reached 167!>

It was the news article Zhang Ze had initially found, written by Mystery Case Tracking Studio and dated several years ago.

"Hm?"

As his mouse passed over the webpage, it automatically triggered the embedded video in the middle of the article.

In the video, Lin Xiaomei sat directly in front of Doctor Gao. The main camera focused on Doctor Gao. After asking him several questions, she handed him the microphone.

Doctor Gao then explained his views.

"There are many reasons why Lost Media become lost. One of them is the presence of bloody and violent elements, as well as scenes that cause discomfort, such as abuse, verbal manipulation, PUA, or sensory shocks on other levels."

"These images can easily cause patients with psychological disorders, who already have latent mental health issues, to recall unpleasant events, lose control of their emotions, suffer an episode, and thus trigger a tragedy."

"Even mentally healthy adults are not advised to examine Lost Media while alone, much less redistribute it."

Something was wrong.

Zhang Ze watched the video again and noticed something off.

The last time he played the video, Lin Xiaomei had made an insignificant slip of the tongue when she first questioned Doctor Gao, misreading a word. Zhang Ze remembered it clearly. Lin Xiaomei had immediately corrected herself after the slip.

But this time.

Lin Xiaomei had not made a slip.

Judging from Lin Xiaomei's expression, it was as if she knew she would make that slip at a certain line and had prepared in advance, reading the line correctly.

"Something's wrong."

"How could the people in a video correct a slip of the tongue?"

Zhang Ze refused to believe it.

He dragged the progress bar back to the beginning and played it again.

Lin Xiaomei: "Hello, Doctor Gao. Recently, Lost Media has become highly popular online. Statistics show it is related to 167 cases of missing residents. One theory says these videos possess a certain special meme. What is your opinion of this type of media?"

Doctor Gao: "There are many reasons why Lost Media become lost..."

It was exactly the same as the previous playback.

Zhang Ze was stunned.

What he found strange was not that the video content was normal, but the video's duration.

The original video was two minutes and thirty seconds long.

But this time, its total duration had become two minutes and seventeen seconds.

More accurately, after Doctor Gao finished speaking, the video continued as though it had frozen. The two sat in their respective seats for over ten seconds before the video ended.

"What kind of joke is this?"

"The video got shorter, but there was no fast-forwarding at any point. I only felt that... Lin Xiaomei and Doctor Gao spoke more smoothly, as if they had prepared their lines in advance."

"No, it wasn't just preparation. It was more like they had rehearsed beforehand. They were far too practiced."

"What exactly is going on?"

A chill ran down Zhang Ze's back.

No matter how slow he was, he realized there was something abnormal about the video.

He dragged the progress bar back to the beginning once more.

The video played normally.

Lin Xiaomei: "Hello, Doctor Gao..."

Doctor Gao: "There are many reasons why Lost Media become lost..."

Just like before.

But this time, Doctor Gao had finished his lines by the two-minute-thirteen-second mark.

For the remaining dozen or so seconds, the two still sat in place, except their expressions had clearly become a little stranger. Even Zhang Ze, watching from outside the screen, could tell.