Chapter 17 : Willow’s Words

“Shimei (or junior), your school’s new student registration is next Monday, right?”

“Sigh, I can’t believe in the blink of an eye you’re already in university! I still think of you as a kid!”

After a whole day of running around, Liuyu had just finished showering and was now leisurely lying on the hotel bed, chatting and laughing with someone on the phone.

“I just arrived in Hangyang today, I’m dead tired.”

“From what my Shifu (or master ) said, we’ll probably be staying here for quite a while this time.”

“Maybe your senior sister can even see you off for your school opening?”

Though the reply on the other end was much shorter, Liuyu still eagerly “harassed” her adorable shimei.

“Alright, alright, I won’t keep you. You need to sleep, right? Good night.”

The call ended, and Liuyu sighed, stretching lazily.

She and her shimei weren’t from the same sect, just that her shishu (or uncle)was the shimei’s shifu—a person with a moody temperament, always appearing and disappearing like a mythical dragon.

The shimei had spent more time with him, so naturally a bond had formed.

But now, it seemed the shimei’s personality was increasingly resembling that of her shishu.

Thinking this, Liuyu idly lay on the bed, playing with her little phone.

She didn’t know exactly what was going on, only that many skilled and eccentric experts she knew in the industry had recently been heading toward Hangyang.

She’d wait to see what her shifu arranged.

Liuyu browsed through the homepage of a video app, looking for videos that caught her interest.

Because of her profession, she really liked watching small supernatural stories and spirit investigation videos.

“So fake, you can even see the fishing line.”

“Where have you ever seen talismans like that? Totally faking it to scare people.”

“The whole team’s voices were recorded…”

As she scrolled through various spirit investigation clips, her complaints never ceased.

Finally, she sighed in exhaustion.

“Isn’t there any streamer who’s more natural?”

These highly viewed popular videos were all carefully prepared, full of artificial traces.

Maybe they really hit the audience’s tastes…

But for someone like Liuyu, it felt a bit too fake and took her out of the mood.

At that moment, she noticed a new video pop up on the homepage with only a few hundred views.

“Haunted house vlog…?”

Liuyu clicked on it.

As expected, it was a fresh upload, published only about an hour ago at midnight.

The title was straightforward, nothing eye-catching.

It probably wasn’t a popular ‘haunted’ location; otherwise, it would have been stated on the cover or title.

Nowadays, those well-known “supernatural spots” on the internet were basically the strongholds of big streamers, all feeling like scripted shows.

But if a video wanted to grab attention, those famous places were indeed very useful.

From this, Liuyu guessed this must be a newcomer blogger.

Having seen too many formulaic spirit investigation videos, Liuyu suddenly found herself interested in what this newbie had made.

She checked the video length—it was a full hour.

Rarely did her shifu leave her side today, so she could afford to slack off and stay up late.

Liuyu casually opened a bottled drink from the hotel and started watching.

Though she didn’t expect much from this pure newbie’s content.

The video began with a wide courtyard, looking like a grand family estate.

【Hello everyone, it’s around 8 a.m. now. Today, I’ll be spending the day in this manor rumored to be haunted to see what happens.】

A cold, clear female voice came from the screen, making Liuyu raise her eyebrows in surprise.

The blogger was actually a girl?

Her voice was pleasant but dry, like reciting from a script.

“Rumored to be haunted…?”

Liuyu sighed, “So vague?”

“Why not tell any haunted stories?”

This must be an individual blogger, right?

Otherwise, Liuyu would question the training ability of the team behind her.

【As you can see, this is just the entrance to the courtyard.】

【Now we will pass through the courtyard to the main house.】

The video shifted scenes. Liuyu stared at the courtyard’s scenery, mentally comparing it with all the online haunted house info she’d seen before…

The same location might have been visited dozens or hundreds of times by different streamers; as a spirit investigation enthusiast, Liuyu had memorized most of the popular supernatural spots and their surroundings.

“Strange, none of it matches…”

So this really was the blogger’s own haunted house?

As the video progressed, they arrived at the mansion’s front.

The mansion appeared on screen.

Liuyu felt a twitch at the corner of her mouth.

Others likely shared her thoughts.

【This is a haunted house? Then my home’s a ghost house】

【Do spirit investigators these days even act anymore?】

A few comments flew across the screen in front of the grand estate.

Liuyu was thinking similarly in her mind.

It seemed pretty dull…

Watching this kind of video was a waste of time, she thought, about to return to the homepage when her eyes caught the video again.

“Hm?”

Her hand stopped moving.

She dragged the video back a bit; the shot returned to a full view of the mansion.

At that moment, a comment floated over the video.

【…Is someone still living here? There’s a figure on the second-floor balcony】

Liuyu glanced toward the mansion’s second floor.

Sure enough, in the shadow of the balcony, a translucent red figure flickered faintly.

At that moment, it gave a strange illusion of mutual gaze.

Because the mansion’s first impression was its grandeur, this subtle abnormality easily escaped notice.

【The blogger’s messing with spooky effects, right?】

【Am I blind?】

【Just some post-editing.】

The comments clearly scoffed at the idea.

But Liuyu knew better.

Her attention was completely fixed on that translucent red figure.

Even through the screen, she could feel the ominous aura.

That thing wasn’t a post-production effect—it had been there all along!

This house seemed truly unclean…

She might have accidentally found an extraordinary video…

But Liuyu no longer felt carefree.

She began to worry about the safety of the video’s creator, who sounded like a very young girl.

Red was already at a level that could cause harm to reality through a medium…

The video continued.

Since the front door couldn’t be pushed open, the blogger seemed to be planning to enter by other means.

The shot switched to a window of the mansion.

【The wind just blew, closing the door and windows.】

She clearly planned to enter through the window.

“Don’t, don’t go…”

Even through the screen, Liuyu wanted to rush in and grab this naive blogger by the collar.

She had long dealt with those things.

Just looking at that window made her hair stand on end.

Was this blogger born with a wood-chopping fate? Not sensing any danger?

【Creak—】

【That is…】

The blogger’s pale, slender, and well-jointed hand appeared in the video.

Normally, Liuyu would have praised how beautiful it was.

But her gaze was locked on the strands of aquatic plants wrapped around the hand.

In the window’s reflection, entangled around it was the distinctly pale hand of a woman.