Under the live stream camera, Lu Heng, wearing an eye patch, was pacing in place, with three other people also wearing eye patches not far away from him.
Surrounding the four were bloodstained figures, dragging their mutilated bodies, their faces obscured and indistinct.
The flickering light and shadows cast shadows on the tunnel walls, creating an interplay between the illusory and the real, making the tunnel appear exceptionally eerie and unsettling.
Lu Heng waved his hands, his fingertips brushing against the hem of someone's clothes. The chill made his fingertips curl slightly, and he turned away as if he hadn't noticed anything.
The theme of this operation in Shunshun Tunnel is "game". The first phase of the summoning ceremony has ended, and the candles lit in the corner and the burnt paper money indicate that they have accepted the invitation to the game.
The second stage is "Blindfolded Catching," where participants are divided into blindfolded individuals and troublemakers.
The blind man must catch the troublemaker to end their actions, and at the same time be able to ask them a question.
Lu Heng and Yun Xi are both blind. In addition, there are two other blind fans randomly selected by the platform, named Chang Yue and Liu Yanhe.
Because they incorporated supernatural elements into the game, they invited people who had died in the tunnels to become the troublemakers.
The blind men can only end the game by catching all the troublemakers.
Blind people cannot communicate with each other and have only three chances to receive location hints from the others.
If a blind person catches another blind person, both of them are eliminated.
Lu Heng blinked, and only when the blindfold was put on did he realize that the blindfold had been switched.
The black cloth covering his face may seem to block his vision, but it's not actually very thick, and he can still see.
Someone helped him cheat beforehand. Was it out of kindness, or was there another reason?
Lu Heng doesn't know yet, but being able to see his surroundings clearly is obviously advantageous to his actions.
Through the dim light, he could clearly see the six ghosts that had long since died in the tunnel.
Dozens of people died in the tunnel, but only these remain today.
The six ghosts retained their appearance before death, their flesh and blood blurred beyond recognition. They stared intently at the group, moving without making a sound.
Having experienced the previous live streams, Lu Heng no longer doubted the authenticity of the ghosts before him.
As he expected, he summoned the ghost with equal ease this time as well.
"Where's the troublemaker?" Liu Yanhe, who was standing in the corner, suddenly asked.
According to the game rules, once a "blind person" asks a question, at least one person must make a sound to provide a location clue.
Lu Heng frowned, not expecting Liu Yanhe to use up his prompt so quickly. He then clapped in response, his applause mingling with other applause of varying intensity and stomping sounds.
Some people even chuckled softly.
Lu Heng looked at the chuckling little boy, who was standing behind Liu Yanhe. Suddenly, the boy raised his hand, tugged at Liu Yanhe's sleeve, and then stepped back.
Following the boy's "prompt," Liu Yanhe actually walked step by step towards Lu Heng.
Lu Heng frowned and immediately shouted, "Where's the troublemaker?"
Blind people cannot communicate directly, but they can guess the distance between each other by hearing three audible cues, thus avoiding grabbing the wrong person.
Liu Yanhe in her tracks, clearly realizing that she was being lured closer and closer to Lu Heng.
He couldn't help but think to himself that the crew members they arranged were quite cunning.
Although he was a fan of Lu Heng, he didn't actually believe in the supernatural and firmly believed that it was just editing and makeup that made it look real.
If ghosts exist, the ghost-hunting streamers would be dead long ago; how could he possibly have the opportunity to participate in the live stream as a special fan?
Liu Yanhe scoffed inwardly, and when his clothes were tugged again, he suddenly grabbed those small hands.
The icy touch startled him, as if he had grabbed two popsicles. He quickly let go, "Why are there children here!"
My hands are so cold!
Although it was windy and cold inside the tunnel, it wasn't this cold.
Liu Yanhe didn't say the second half of his sentence. A doubt flashed through his mind, but he still followed procedure and said, "I've caught you. My question is, how did you die?"
As soon as the question was raised, a chilly wind swept through the tunnel, and time seemed to fall into an extreme silence.
Liu Yanhe felt a chill run down his spine, his eyelids twitched, and he inexplicably shivered. "What's wrong?"
He was just asking a question the production team had already prepared, for the sake of the show. How come it seems like he asked something he shouldn't have?
The sudden drop in temperature must have been because the film crew turned on the air conditioning, right? They really know how to create atmosphere...
Liu Yanhe comforted himself, raising his voice slightly as if to reassure himself, and asked again, "Why aren't you answering? Haven't you finished making it up yet?"
The boy tilted his head slightly, his grayish-purple lips parted in a grin, and malice flashed in his eyes. "I was hit by a car and died. It hurts so much! Daddy, let the uncle feel it too!"
"What..." Before Liu Yanhe could react, a tremendous force lifted his head.
With a "crack," the cervical vertebrae fractured!
A charred man appeared behind Liu Yanhe, his hands gripping Liu Yanhe's neck, the cervical vertebrae beneath the skin already separated from the body.
Liu Yanhe's mouth was wide open as his body fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
The boy ripped off the black cloth covering his face, revealing a pair of shocked, colorless eyes.
The man gouged out Liu Yanhe's eyeballs and replaced them with his own bloodshot eyes, then happily waved the black cloth in his hand. "Daddy, look! I have new eyes! It's so much fun! I want to play more! I want to play more!"
The charred man nodded. His face was so rotten that his features were no longer recognizable, yet it inexplicably exuded a sense of arrogance.
Two emaciated ghosts approached Liu Yanhe's body, pounced on him, and began to bite him, muttering indistinctly, "So hungry, so hungry."
They were a pair of best friends who were trapped in a loop in the tunnel. They devoured each other and died, the feeling of hunger imprinted on their souls before they died.
This sudden and brief massacre was like tearing open a wound; the vivid blood ignited the ghosts' interest.
"Living people delivered right to my doorstep. I haven't seen such fresh blood in ages, and it doesn't smell bad at all." The old man, with his hands behind his back, licked his lips. "This game is really interesting; breaking the rules means paying a low price."
Lu Heng looked away from Liu Yanhe's corpse, realizing that he must be careful with his words and actions from now on.
He glanced at Yun Xi, who dared not move, and Chang Yue, who was scratching her head. The rules prevented him from directly reminding them, and he didn't know if they had smelled the strong stench of blood in the tunnel or sensed that something was wrong.
Inviting a god is easy, but sending him away is difficult; the only way to end the game is to catch all the troublemakers.
They won't kill a person until they've caught them.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be playing a game now; they would be killing people outright.
As Lu Heng pondered, the stench drew closer, and he raised his eyes to meet a pair of bloodshot eyes.
--A woman with half her face rotting clung tightly to him.
A cold, rotten smell brushed against his cheek, and even through the black cloth, he felt as if he had been seen through!
The woman said in a sinister tone, "You saw it, didn't you?"
Lu Heng's heart raced for a moment, but he suppressed the urge to look away.
He stared at those bloodshot eyes, offering no answer, but instead grabbed the female ghost's wrist. "You little devil, I've got you."
The female ghost paused, then forced a twisted smile, asking with a hint of anticipation, "Hehehe, you've been caught. So, what do you want to ask?"
Lu Heng reached into his pocket and gripped the warm jade clasp tightly.
Liu Yanhe's sudden death has proven that asking the wrong question can lead to death. Offensive questions like the cause of death are clearly unacceptable.
Lu Heng hesitated for a moment, "What's your name?"
The female ghost's laughter became even more distorted, and she reached out with both hands to grab Lu Heng's neck. "Do you want to know? You'll tell me once you're dead."
The sharp killing intent made Lu Heng tense up. He steadied his feet and forcefully suppressed his instinct to retreat and dodge.
The sharp hands stopped just before they were about to touch.
The female ghost's smile vanished. "Huh, I really can't see it."
"He's blind, how could he see?" The old man leaned closer, a knowing smile playing on his lips. "If he were pretending to be blind, that would be interesting. What a pity!"
"Auntie, you got caught and you're out! You can't play the game anymore!" the little boy said gleefully.
"You brat, stop talking nonsense!"
Lu Heng pretended not to hear these words, "The troublemaker hasn't answered my question yet."
"... Tian Lin." The female ghost answered reluctantly. After she answered, as if some kind of restriction had been lifted, she was sucked into the tunnel wall.
Lu Heng remembered the name; he had reviewed the records of past victims before coming to Shunshun Tunnel.
Tian Lin was involved in a car accident after entering the tunnel; her car spontaneously combusted and exploded, killing her instantly. She was not discovered by the police for quite some time.
Seeing the eliminated ghosts being sucked into the wall made Lu Heng feel much more at ease. It was a good thing that the game rules restricted the ghosts.
As long as you follow the rules, there's always a way to safely end the game.
Lu Heng's voice wasn't quiet, and his conversation with the female ghost didn't escape Yun Xi and Chang Yue's ears.
As a special guest, Chang Yue did not witness Liu Yanhe's death, but she vaguely sensed something unusual.
The sound of someone falling to the ground and the smell of blood reminded her of death, but deep down she subconsciously rejected the idea.
She wasn't a coward; she had played many ghost-hunting games with her friends before. This time, she also wanted to ride on the popularity of Lu Heng and Yun Xi to gain more followers on the platform.
She had originally been determined to perform well, but after being blindfolded, she began to have second thoughts, and a sense of crisis was surging in her heart.
She had to admit, the filming crew's methods were indeed impressive; she was somewhat frightened and wanted to quit the game.
Before she could even think of how to speak, a cold breath ruffled her hair. "I'm here. Come and get me."
Chang Yue froze, her voice stuck in her throat. After a long while, she gritted her teeth and grabbed a cold, slender wrist. "You little rascal, I've got you."
So what questions do you want to ask me?