Terrifying comments

By the time Xu Ye and Lu Mingwang arrived, it was already ten in the morning.

Under the blazing sun, the scene, which had long since been cordoned off, was steeped in sorrow.

Sorrow?

Xu Ye rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

The Ninth Squad's investigators sat slumped where they were, looking utterly dejected. Some were even sobbing, silently wiping away tears.

"What's going on?"

Xu Ye and Lu Mingwang exchanged a glance, then walked over.

"Brother Ye!" Zhou Ye stood at attention with his rifle in hand when he saw Xu Ye approach, his back ramrod straight. Ever since Xu Ye had saved him from the Old Man Aberrant last time, his admiration for Xu Ye had bordered on worship.

"Where's your mentor?"

"He's been fighting with his wife over a divorce lately. She lives in Sky City and says he doesn't come home even once in several months," Zhou Ye replied frankly.

Xu Ye: "..."

Honestly, kid.

"Forget it. Let's get to work first. Tell me what's happening."

Zhou Ye tensed every muscle in his body and said gravely, "Brother Ye, we've taken everyone out of this apartment building. Only Zhang Rongxuan is still inside. He refuses to come out, even if it kills him."

"And whenever our team members enter the building, they start feeling inferior and hating themselves. My willpower might be stronger, though, because I wasn't affected."

Xu Ye looked over.

"I'm sorry I was born human," said a man kneeling on the ground.

"Boohoo, I'm just a lump of worthless mud. I don't even deserve to be plastered onto a wall," a middle-aged man wailed, tears streaming down his face.

"I've never done anything to you. Why would you remind me that I'm useless?" another man asked the empty air, sounding deeply wronged.

"..."

"Your ability should be able to deal with this." Xu Ye looked at Lu Mingwang.

The latter covered his mouth to hold back his laughter and managed a difficult nod. "Ahem..."

"Perfection of Wisdom, again and again."

"Let life be as dazzling as summer flowers, and death as serene and beautiful as autumn leaves."

"Why still care about what you possess?" ("Life Like Summer Flowers")

The easy, sunny singing drifted into everyone's ears. Within seconds, the investigators there had recovered their spirits.

"All right. Let's go inside and take a look."

Having dealt with things outside, Xu Ye and Lu Mingwang made their way to apartment 703.

The door was open.

Xu Ye touched his chest. There was no warning from his heart, either, so there probably wasn't much danger.

Besides, the negative emotions here couldn't affect Awakened.

"I'm detecting energy at five points. It's very faint. No danger for now." Lu Mingwang had also improved considerably during his recent training.

He glanced furtively around as he spoke in a low voice.

The corridor was gloomy, its lights flickering erratically. He couldn't help edging closer to Xu Ye.

He just couldn't understand it.

Why wasn't Xu Ye scared?

"Stay behind me." Xu Ye nodded.

"Then I'm counting on you." Lu Mingwang breathed a sigh of relief, then took out a brick and clutched it tightly.

"What's that?" Xu Ye asked.

"An F-Class Forbidden Object, [One-Brick Knockout]. If you hit an enemy in the head, it causes dizziness and nausea. I just bought it. There are loads of Taboo Objects for sale in Sky City, so I bought several. Didn't you buy any, Brother Ye?" Lu Mingwang asked.

"I don't need any for now..." Xu Ye said stubbornly.

He pushed the door open as he thought.

The lights weren't on, and since the apartment faced west, it was rather dim inside.

Near the balcony sat a thin young man with stubble and glasses, staring intently at his computer screen. His ten slender fingers clattered across a mechanical keyboard.

"Who's there?"

Apparently hearing their footsteps, Zhang Rongxuan turned around warily.

Xu Ye took out his work ID and explained why they were there.

"Officer, you're finally here."

"My reader wants to kill me!"

"I'm really not lying! I really did encounter a ghost!" Zhang Rongxuan suddenly grew agitated. He immediately grabbed Xu Ye's arm, his eyes bloodshot.

"I haven't rested for ten hours. Whenever I stop typing, creepy comments appear in the comments section."

Comments?

Xu Ye reassured him, then began looking through Zhang Rongxuan's comments section.

One page, two pages, three pages...

Zhang Rongxuan was a moderately well-known webnovel author. His previous book was currently being adapted for the screen, and this was his new book.

As a result, there were plenty of readers commenting below, but one reader with the username [Day-and-Night Death Warrant] had posted hundreds of comments.

[Dear author, I'm your die-hard fan. Why haven't you updated yet? Are you dead? If not, get up and update!]

[Heehee, see this recommendation vote in my hand? Riiip! Gone!]

[Dear author, if you don't update, you'll get hit by a car when you go out tomorrow. Then you'll lie in a little dark room and update twenty-four hours a day! Heehee!]

That post had been made yesterday.

[Everyone, don't worry. If our dear author isn't updating, he must be having difficulties. Maybe his parents died, his wife ran off with someone else, or he got buried.]

[Dear author, what kind of garbage did you write today? When your mom gave birth to you, did she throw away the baby and raise the placenta instead? Heeheehee.]

"This guy's sick, isn't he?" Lu Mingwang sucked in a breath and rubbed the goose bumps on his arms.

Just then, the reader posted again.

[Author, say something if you're not dead! Say something if you're not dead! Say something if you're not dead!]

[I don't like Qin Yanhua, the female lead in your last book, "Three Lifetimes, Three Worlds, Escape from Death." Can you kill her off?]

[If you don't kill her off, I'll come find you through your internet cable in an hour. Heehee.]

[Dear author, has anyone ever mailed you razor blades? If you'd like some, I can send them to you.]

[Shameless author, selling adaptation rights to just anyone for money. That female lead is hideous. She can't act; all she has is popularity!]

[Poverty is the mother of all artistic creation! Everyone, stop giving our dear author votes and gifts!]

[Heeheeheeheehee.]

That string of strange "hee"s was only text, yet for some reason, all three of them felt as though a person with a hideous face was grinning eerily on the other side of the screen.

Zhang Rongxuan dropped onto his backside and kept scrambling backward.

"He's coming!"

"He's coming!"

"Unplug the internet cable!"

Lu Mingwang held him down and used his Sequence Talent to soothe him. Soon, Zhang Rongxuan calmed down, though he remained in a terrible emotional state.

Xu Ye rubbed his chin.

Sure enough, Qin Yanhua's death in the earlier simulation was connected to this incident.

Xu Ye reported the situation.

"Xu Ye, we've found him."

"The person posting is named Zhang Jian, thirty years old. He used to own a Sewage Treatment Plant, but he later went bankrupt and the company was acquired. He's now unemployed and stays at home, frequently posting negative comments online and getting into flame wars," Li Yunyao's voice came through his earpiece.

"He's also a devoted fan of Qin Yanhua who imagines himself as her boyfriend. Because he frequently sent her private messages and even stalked and harassed her, he's already been blacklisted by the Qin Yanhua Studio. Qin Yanhua also made a post condemning him."

"It's very likely that this incident turned his love into hatred and triggered his aberration."

"..."

"Zhou Ye just took a team over there, but his apartment is empty. Zhang Jian has probably gone looking for you!"

That was all it took to turn into a damn Aberrant?

Wasn't that way too easy?

Xu Ye smacked his lips.

Just then, the light outside suddenly began to warp, and gusts of icy wind filled the room.

The windows rattled with loud bangs.

Along with that sound, the mechanical keyboard began typing on its own.

[Hello, dear author. I'm here. Heehee.]