Getting all he could

It seemed that absorbing plenty of Emotional Power lately had made the Eye of Emotion more powerful.

So Su Li might as well milk Meng Chichi for all she was worth.

As Su Li was thinking this, he saw Meng Chichi approach the table. With a flick of his finger, he used witchcraft to knock her microphone off.

"How did this fall off?" she said, bending down to pick it up.

The table was directly in front of her. As she straightened up, she suddenly saw a monster with a twisted body beneath it, its deathly pale face staring straight at her!

"Aaaaah!!!!" She screamed in fright and fell onto her backside, her eyes terrified, the fear surrounding her almost taking physical form.

[Holy shit, that scared me]

[What happened? What did Chichi see??]

Su Li immediately walked over. "What's wrong, Chichi? What happened?"

Meng Chichi was already crying, her arm trembling as she pointed ahead. "The... under that table... there's a ghost, sob, sob, it's so scary, sob, sob..."

The chat began discussing it.

[Probably a staff member in costume]

[Isn't this going too far? Aren't they afraid of scaring someone out of their wits?]

[Too far? Why join this show if you're such a coward?]

[It's all Su Li's fault for insisting Chichi go look]

[Exactly, a man making a girl search instead of doing it himself]

[The comment above reeks of fake-innocent-bitch fandom!]

"It's okay. I'll take a look. Go sit over there for a while." Su Li helped her up, his voice very gentle. His handsome face left Meng Chichi dazed for a moment before she nodded blankly. "Okay."

Su Li called the cameraman over to the table and lifted the tablecloth. The camera filmed underneath, revealing no ghost, only an arm-the last missing one.

[Seriously? That was enough to make her cry?]

[It's only the first day of filming and she's already this scared]

[Chichi's just a young girl. Is she not allowed to be scared when she sees that?]

[Didn't she say there was a ghost under there? There isn't one. Being a coward is one thing, but why make up an excuse like that?]

He took out the arm. "There's nothing here except this. But that's the last piece, so we can get the item now."

"Impossible! I saw it clearly. There was a ghost under there!!" It had to be a staff member dressed as a ghost, hiding inside to scare people!

"Were you so scared you hallucinated? There's nothing under here." Su Li looked puzzled.

"It definitely wasn't a hallucination! I saw it with my own eyes!" She thought he was hateful, contradicting everything she said. If he said there was nothing there, what would the livestream viewers think of her?

Besides the cyan emotion around her, red, representing anger, appeared as well. Su Li narrowed his foxlike eyes slightly and guided that red energy a little more.

"If you don't believe me, come look again. The camera's filming too." His expression seemed helpless.

Meng Chichi's anger now overshadowed her fear. Determined to prove that Su Li was the one lying, she hurried over to the table and lifted the tablecloth.

The moment she bent down, that deathly pale face abruptly appeared before her again, less than ten centimeters away! It seemed to be smiling at her!

"Aaaaaah!!" Her scream was even louder than before.

A repeat performance.

Su Li discreetly rubbed his ears.

Meng Chichi was on the verge of breaking down. "Sob, sob, I'm quitting! I'm not filming anymore, I'm not!!"

[There really isn't anyone under that table]

[Holy shit, could there actually be a ghost?]

[Seriously?? Is she acting?]

[Her expression doesn't look fake. She must really have been scared]

[Sob, sob, poor Chichi]

Su Li helped her up. "Chichi, get ahold of yourself. Ants... ahem, no, I'll move the table away first. Take a moment to calm down. Cameraman, get her a cup of hot water."

The staff member playing the barista was also bewildered. Surely he was the only person the production crew had assigned to this setting.

As the production staff watched Su Li's team's livestream, someone asked Wang Xiang, "Director, how many NPCs did we put in the café?"

"Just one barista. Of the three options, the café has the most elaborate setup, but it only looks scary. It's the first day of the show, so it won't be too difficult."

Wang Xiang frowned. In fact, when the crew had been setting up the café a few days earlier, they had told him something was wrong with the place, saying several employees had seen a ghostly face.

But he didn't believe in ghosts and spirits, or he would never have created this sort of variety show, much less found such a remote, uninhabited estate for this episode. He had simply assumed the atmosphere had frightened them.

Was Meng Chichi too nervous? He had originally arranged for Su Li to draw this location for entertainment value. It certainly was entertaining now, just not in the way he had expected.

By now, Su Li and the cameraman had moved the table away. He pointed at the empty space. "Look, there's nothing there."

Meng Chichi was already somewhat dazed. She wondered whether she really had hallucinated, but she had clearly seen that deathly pale, horrifying face both times. Its features had left a deep impression on her.

Could... there really be a ghost? She grew even more frightened.

By now, even Feibo was discussing it:

[This episode's this intense on the very first day?]

[I don't think the last two episodes had anything like this]

[What a coward. She already wants to stop filming?]

[Poor Chichi. Let's stop filming and get out of there]

[Your fake-innocent queen thinks she can stop filming whenever she says so? Why did she join in the first place?]

[It's all Su Li's fault! Why can't he give Chichi a break?]

[Who does she think she is? Why should our Li baby give way to her?]

[Her fans have always been shameless]

Meanwhile, in a corner of the café, the Under-Table Ghost trembled, cornered by the Shadow Servant. The Shadow Servant had dragged him out, and he could clearly sense that the Shadow Servant was far stronger than he was, so he dared not resist.

He had been in this café for many years. Recently, many living people had come inside, and he had had great fun. Only the extraordinarily beautiful young man today had made him instinctively afraid. Though he didn't know why, the Under-Table Ghost, who always followed his survival instincts, dared not provoke him and chose to scare the woman instead.

When the young man moved the table, he saw the Shadow Servant emerge nearby, bow to the youth, then come over and drag him away.

Under-Table Ghost: (ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ

The director's voice came through the earpiece of the staff member playing the barista. "All right, just give them the key fragment. I didn't expect Meng Chichi to get like this on the first day. Let her calm down first."

The barista nodded, walked over to Su Li and Meng Chichi, and said, "Thank you for helping me find my wife. Here's the key fragment. It's yours now."

"Do you need me to put her back together for you?" Su Li suddenly asked. "Don't worry, it's free."

The barista's smile abruptly froze, his voice stiff. "No, thank you." Was there something wrong with this guy's brain?!!

[???]

[Turning the tables on the host]

[Li baby is so helpful]

[Barista: I don't understand]

"Oh, all right." Su Li sounded a little disappointed.

What were you disappointed about?!!!

No one had expected Su Li's team to have the most thrilling experience so far. While the other two teams were still searching laboriously, Su Li had already obtained the key fragment!

And the difficulty and horror level for Su Li's team were clearly higher than those of the other two teams!

Many viewers clipped this segment of the livestream and uploaded it online. Its popularity instantly soared, and Su Li's Feibo follower count also surpassed four hundred thousand.