I changed the world.

Mijiafang is an old neighborhood. Because the early housing construction was not well planned, the styles of the houses here are not uniform. There are many independent Chinese or Western-style small buildings, as well as single-story tenement buildings.

The streets and alleys here are quite narrow, and puddles of strangely colored, unidentified liquid can be seen on the ground from time to time. Although the surrounding alleys were widened a few years ago to improve traffic flow, overall, car traffic in this area is still relatively slow.

It was already night, and the area wasn't very safe, so there weren't many people on the streets after dark. Occasionally, scantily clad prostitutes would stand under the streetlights, heavily made up and reeking of cheap perfume, making alluring gestures to passersby.

Meanwhile, a young man wearing a stylish silver crown and outdoor camouflage clothing was walking forward, carrying a crossbody bag and holding a selfie stick in one hand, playing a video of himself.

This person's name is Xin Hao, a streamer of supernatural games who uses the stage name "Master Hua". Because he started late, although he has been trying his best to attract attention, he has not become truly famous in today's highly competitive live streaming market, despite his best efforts.

He is now on the platform "Kulv Live", a rising platform that focuses on niche areas and offers substantial subsidies to its streamers. This is why Xin Hao switched from his previous platform.

Just yesterday, while collecting live stream materials, Xin Hao unexpectedly discovered a highly topical post on the Zibuyu sub-forum of the Kyushu Forum. What excited him most was that the post was about someone from the same city as him.

As a streamer, he quickly realized the value of this opportunity; if handled well, it could significantly boost his fanbase. Therefore, he immediately stopped his popular VR game stream of "Tomb Raiders" and prepared for a real-life haunted house adventure…

"Hello everyone who follows Master Hua! In the past, Master Hua has always accompanied you to explore the supernatural world of games, but today, we're going to try something even more interesting!"

"I believe many family members have seen the announcement released by Master Hua yesterday. I also see that many new family members are still entering the live broadcast room... That's right, today, Master Hua is heading to the 'Mijiafang Haunted House Incident' that caused quite a stir on the Zibuyu Forum."

"I believe most of you have already seen that post on the Zibuyu forum, and you're all curious about what happened to the poster, 'Living Long Enough to See Ghosts'? Did he live or die? Is he trapped in the haunted house? Today, Master Hua will personally reveal the truth for you..."

"Okay, there are so many viewers in the live stream today, it's already surpassed 1! It seems everyone is very interested in this event... Hmm, I see someone asking what's going on... Hmm... This person probably didn't see the announcement the master posted earlier. So, during this short break, I'll explain the ins and outs of the event to everyone..."

..............................

"Okay, that's the whole process. Hmm... I have to say, Mijiafang is a rather winding area with many side streets. Although the master is a local, I must say he's not very familiar with this place either..."

As Xin Hao spoke, he lightly touched the electronic glasses on his face. These glasses are commonly used by many outdoor streamers, featuring eye tracking and real-time video recording capabilities. They can also project electronic maps onto the lenses, making them ideal for outdoor use. Therefore, in his live stream, viewers were seeing two screens: one displaying the real-time eye tracking from the electronic glasses, and the other showing Xin Hao's commentary and expressions captured by a selfie stick.

"But it's okay. I did my homework before coming here. I have an electronic map... Hmm... No. 356, Mijiafang. Yes, that's the address. I specifically investigated the address of the fire in the news. It should be this area."

"Okay, everyone, look, we've found it... It's still 500 meters from here, so let's go..."

"By the way, let me show you some other equipment I've prepared... Since it's a haunted house, we naturally need to be prepared. Look, this is garlic, rooster blood, this is a peach wood talisman, this is a silver-plated knife, and this is a mystical amulet..."

..............................

"It should be... somewhere around here. Let's look... Look, everyone, that's it! We've finally arrived!" Xin Hao excitedly pointed to a house shrouded in the night not far away.

"There's hardly anyone around, not even a single person leaving get off work..." Xin Hao exaggeratedly heightened the atmosphere, "There's a haunted house right next door. Honestly, if my family hadn't been with me, I wouldn't have dared to come here. It really does have a scary vibe..."

"The lighting here isn't very good, and the streetlights are quite far away, so some family members might not be able to see clearly..." Xin Hao quickened his pace, saying as he spoke, "But it's okay, I've prepared flashlights, essential for exploring haunted houses at night..."

As he spoke, he pulled a flashlight from a leather holster on his waist, turned it on, and shone the light on the three-story building in front of him: "Military version of Explorer 2 high-powered flashlight, powerful..."

"Everyone can take a look at this house. There's a wall around it, and you can't see any lights from here. Let's walk over to the gate and take a look..."

"This is the main gate, it's very wide... probably more than three meters high with iron bars. Hmm, you can see inside from here." Xin Hao stood in front of the iron gate and shone his flashlight inside.

"As you can see, there's a yard in front, but it's very dilapidated. It's overgrown with weeds and there's a lot of debris that hasn't been cleared away. It's been uninhabited for quite some time now..."

"It's a Western-style building, three stories high, and the roof tiles are still intact. We can see that even though it's nighttime, there are still many blackened marks from the fire..." Xin Hao said, frowning and sniffing hard. "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I smell a very strong burnt smell. I wonder if it's because there was a fire here, the smell hasn't dissipated..."

In the live stream room, the chat was constantly flooded with comments:

"It's kind of getting right..."

"The streamer is lying! This house was burned down at the beginning of the month, how could it still smell like this now!"

"That's pretty exciting, huh? I really wouldn't dare go in alone..."

"Where is that 'long-lived ghost' house? Streamer, can you find it...?"

"I want to see a ghost! Are there ghosts? Streamer, try to get in and take a look..."

Xin Hao carefully checked the comments in his live stream and then replied, "It really does, there really is a burnt smell, I'm not kidding anyone..."

"Of course, it could also be coming from somewhere else, but I can smell it very clearly here."

"As for the house of 'Living Long Enough to See Ghosts'..." Xin Hao looked around at the surrounding houses and said uncertainly, "I've seen the photos he posted on the forum. They were probably taken from the west window of this haunted house. Let's go around and take a look."

"Look everyone, this should be it. It's just like in the photo. There's a tree here too. Look, this should be the location." Xin Hao shone his phone light on another side, where a two-story bungalow stood. "So, this should be the home of that 'long-lived ghost,' or at least the photo should have been taken upstairs here. There are no lights on inside, so no one should be home..."

"So, next, I'll try to find a way to get into the haunted house and take a look."

"Let's see how we can get in..." Xin Hao shone his flashlight and circled the house. The house had two doors, a front door with iron bars that they had just seen, and a back door that was tightly closed and also inaccessible.

"Look, everyone, the front and back doors of this haunted house are tightly closed. We can't get in through normal means right now..." Although he had already made up his mind, Xin Hao still said this to maintain his persona in the live stream, while checking the comments in the live stream.

Sure enough, the screen was flooded with comments:

"Climb in!"

"Hey streamer, let's use the VPN! Check what's going on inside!"

"Take a look inside!"

Seeing that the comments were almost all asking for a VPN, Xin Hao reluctantly nodded and said, "Since everyone is asking, I'll try to see if I can get in."

He quickly found a pile of rubble quite close to the courtyard wall. Stepping on the rubble, he easily climbed to the top of the wall, then grabbed it and hung down. With a quick release, he landed inside the courtyard.

However, just as he was about to land, Xin Hao experienced a strange feeling of slipping into thin air. Many people have experienced this feeling, like missing a step on a staircase in a dark stairwell. This caused Xin Hao's foot to slip, and he momentarily lost his footing. He then lost his balance upon landing, twisted his ankle, and fell to the ground...

"Hiss..." Xin Hao gasped, lay on the ground for a while, and then sat up, rubbing his ankle. He felt that his ankle had been twisted, but after rubbing it a few times, the pain gradually subsided, so it seemed that it was not sprained.

A faint mist began to rise around him at some point. Xin Hao looked up and was shocked to find that the three-story building in front of him, which had been abandoned, was now lit up, and clear rock music was coming from the abandoned building into his ears.

He could even recognize it as "Reincarnation Shout" by the Sky Band. It was originally a psychedelic and ethereal rock song, but to Xin Hao, it sounded strange and even terrifying...

Xin Hao stared in shock at the unreal scene before him. Upon closer inspection, he saw that not only were the lights on in the houses, but the yard, which had been overgrown with weeds and dilapidated due to neglect, the building's exterior walls with large areas of blackened by fire, and the windows that had been empty due to shattered glass, had all returned to their normal state.

The tidy yard, the neatly trimmed vegetation, the clean building facade, and the intact windows made it seem as if the abandoned house Xin Hao had seen just minutes before had never existed.

If Xin Hao weren't absolutely certain that he had witnessed it with his own eyes, he would have thought he had just seen a hallucination...

Is it real or illusory?

He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again. The scene remained the same, and Xin Hao confirmed once more that he hadn't misread it. A chill ran down his spine, and he suddenly noticed a yellow symbol popping up in the corner of the lens of the electronic glasses he was wearing.

"Huh? No signal?" Xin Hao was startled. The symbol indicated a loss of network signal, which gave him an immediate bad feeling.

I hurriedly groped for the selfie stick that had fallen to the side, but when I looked at the phone that was fixed on it, it also showed a loss of network signal.

If only one device lost network access, it could be a device problem. But since both devices are malfunctioning, it's probably something else entirely. Xin Hao suspected that some force in this strange environment might be influencing the network…

This place is too eerie… Xin Hao couldn’t help but have second thoughts. He realized that he had truly fallen into some kind of supernatural event. This was completely contrary to his original plan. He had only hoped to ride the wave of popularity by relying on this so-called supernatural event, but who knew he would actually encounter a ghost. If he had known there would be such a dramatic turn of events, he would never have come.

Thinking about that rumored "long-lived ghost sighting" that's supposedly disappeared, although it's generally circulated online as a joke, it now seems more like a genuine ghost encounter than a joke...

Xin Hao felt uneasy and couldn't help but look back. However, as soon as he turned around, he was shocked to see that the area behind him was shrouded in thick black fog. There was no courtyard wall anymore, only thick black fog that seemed to be unable to dissolve ink.

Shocked, Xin Hao abandoned his live stream and scrambled to his feet. He groped his way into the black mist, thinking that the courtyard wall was right behind him, since he had climbed over it to get in, and it should be covered by the black mist now.

He started walking quickly, reaching out his hands to feel around. Driven by fear, his walking quickly turned into a jog, and then into a run... But even as his breathing became rapid, he still couldn't touch the courtyard wall that should have been so close.

A chill ran through him. Xin Hao stopped, panting. The black fog ahead was still so thick that he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face. He couldn't help but take two steps back. Those two steps were all it took for him to escape the black fog.

Chapter 82 Master

He couldn't help but turn back again, and to his horror, he realized that he hadn't moved an inch further from the three-story building. He was still where he had initially landed after vaulting off the wall; in other words, all his running had been done in place…

"Being trapped in a ghost wall..." Xin Hao thought of a common ghost story in the folk tales of the Great Zhao Dynasty, and his mind was in turmoil, not knowing what to do.