I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Lu Ban took off his clothes and pulled out a simple medical kit containing alcohol, cotton swabs, iodine, and bandages.

After disinfecting, he examined the wound.

The green that had been spreading and growing in the wound had withered, and instead filled the missing flesh and blood.

Lu Ban used tweezers to reach inside, picked up the still resilient branch, and pulled it out.

One, two, three... a total of twenty branches were pulled out of Lu Ban's body. These lifeless branches drooped, looking no different from ordinary plants.

He treated his wound, took a change of clothes, and went into the bathroom.

Turn on the tap to wash away the sweat and dirt.

Lu Ban rubbed the shampoo in his hair, rinsed off the foam with the showerhead, and saw himself in the mirror with a strange expression.

He wiped himself with a towel and smiled at his reflection in the mirror.

Lu Ban smiled back in the mirror.

The light from under the door dimmed again, and this time Lu Ban could clearly see a blurry figure standing just outside the door.

The figure wasn't very tall, and was slender, like a middle school student.

Lu Ban opened the door directly.

He saw something flash by outside the door, but he couldn't make out what it was. The living room was empty, with only the sound of water from the bathroom echoing in the space.

"..."

Lu Ban remained silent for a moment, then closed the door.

He continued showering, and finally picked up a towel and dried himself off.

While drying his hair, Lu Ban felt something cool brush against his abdomen.

He put down the towel; there was nothing around him.

After throwing his change of clothes into the washing machine, Lu Ban looked at the bathroom again and noticed that the drain seemed to be clogged.

Could it be contaminated blood that has coagulated?

Lu Ban casually picked up his phone and posted a message on "Did You Understand?".

What should I use to unclog a drain that's blocked by congealed blood?

A few moments later, there were several replies.

Dissolve it in drain cleaner; you can buy it at any store.

【Try adding some vinegar?】

【No, aren't you all wondering why there's congealed blood in the sewer?】

[I suggest the person who asked the question just turn themselves in!]

Lu Ban frowned slightly. People nowadays don't answer questions properly; they only think about being clever. That's unacceptable.

He crouched down and looked at the entrance to the sewer.

There wasn't much blood there, but rather a huge pile of hair clogging the drain.

"I've been under a lot of stress lately, and I'm even losing hair."

Lu Ban grabbed a handful of hair and saw that it was very long, much longer than his own, like a woman's hair.

I smelled it, and it had a light fragrance, just like Lu Ban's shampoo.

"They actually used my shampoo secretly."

Lu Ban frowned.

Chapter 049 Hair in the Sewer

After cleaning the hair out of the drain, Lu Ban threw it all into the trash can. He then put the shampoo cap back on and hid it behind the shower gel bottle.

He went to the computer, turned it on, and saw a folder on the desktop named "One Night of Revelry".

"A mediocre reward seems barely acceptable."

On the computer screen, the usual icon changes have become the system's style.

Lu Ban previously had 4036 Silent Points. Including the 4800 points already settled, he only has 8836 Silent Points, which is still a little short of the Essence requirement for [Last Words].

It's not a big problem.

After completing the career development tasks and editing and publishing these video materials, I should be able to earn some points; the "highlight" award is a certainty.

Lu Ban first checked the video footage.

The mediocre reviews are based on source material, and the image quality is indeed lower. Moreover, there are not many perspectives, such as Lu Ban's first-person perspective. Instead, there are more fixed third-person perspectives taken by the bus's surveillance cameras, interspersed with some close-up and long-distance shots inside the bus.

Overall, there aren't many ways to play.

Lu Ban did not see any unexpected scenes like the Lanlanlu doll on his shoulder in the first video.

"It's not suitable for making realistic videos, since monsters have already appeared. Forcing realism might ruin the atmosphere, but if it's made into a short film, the plot seems a bit disjointed."

Lu Ban thought for a moment and decided to look for inspiration on video websites.

He now has over 100,000 followers across the internet, making him a minor internet celebrity. However, Lu Ban is not proud of this and humbly learns from others.

He saw videos of several streamers exploring abandoned locations, and then searched for those kinds of supernatural short videos. He even watched reviews of horror escape room explorations and murder mystery games.

“Using a mockumentary approach might be a good choice. Minimize the shots of rats and fish, making them mysterious and unknown, which can better stimulate the audience’s imagination and let them fill in the blanks.”

"As for the grass and those plants, we can use fixed shots similar to those in movies. These images can make people feel a sense of aversion, which is a direct stimulus."

"The last piece of information about the ratmen can be cut out, leaving only Stone's chilling smile, and that's the end of it."

Lu Ban sketched out a rough storyboard on paper and quickly got an idea.

"I should buy a graphics tablet."

He stretched and checked the time: 11:30.

"Let's go downstairs and grab a late-night snack."

Although only a few hours had passed in real time, Lu Ban had spent almost nine hours on the road to the ruined capital. The rat meat he had eaten seemed to have been digested, and he was quite hungry.

Grabbing his keys and phone, Lu Ban planned to take the opportunity to throw the trash containing his wet hair into the garbage dump at the late-night food stall to avoid having to leave it overnight.

But when he got to the trash can in the living room, he found that the clumps of hair in the trash bag were gone.

"..."

Lu Ban turned back to the bathroom and saw that the sewer entrance was empty, with nothing there.

After checking himself, he walked out of the house wearing slippers.

The moment the door closed, Lu Ban seemed to hear the sound of rushing water.

He unlocked the door with his key and strode into the bathroom.

There was no one in the bathroom.

However, the shampoo bottle hidden behind the shower gel had somehow been taken outside, and the cap had been opened.

Lu Ban silently covered it up, squatted down, and glanced at the entrance to the sewer.

A tuft of hair was tangled in the drain.

Lu Ban reached out and picked up the tuft of hair.

Just as he withdrew his hand, Lu Ban saw an eye staring at him from below the drain in the sewer.

Lu Ban blinked, and the drain in the sewer was empty again; even the hair in Lu Ban's hand was gone.

tick-

Hearing the sound of water, Lu Ban stood up and turned on the faucet.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Ban picked up the shampoo, walked out of the house, and placed it in the water meter room in the stairwell, which is usually where deliverymen put their packages.

After confirming for a moment, Lu Ban closed the door to the water meter room.

Downstairs, Lu Ban ordered two skewers of grilled gluten, half a dozen lamb skewers, grilled chicken wings, grilled mushrooms, grilled broccoli, grilled green peppers, grilled chicken feet, grilled stinky tofu, grilled eggplant, a plate of egg fried rice, and a bottle of iced cola. He enjoyed his late-night snack while scrolling through his phone.

The nights in Jiangcheng are always lively. People eating and drinking in the neighborhood haven't left yet. At the next table, a few college students dressed as men and women are drinking from bottles while eating skewers, squandering their youth. The TV in the barbecue stall is playing a football match, and several middle-aged people with almost no hair are staring at the screen, forgetting to eat the skewers in their hands.

Lu Ban enjoyed his meal alone, the night breeze was cool, and he felt particularly comfortable.

Compared to the night in the ruined capital, Lu Ban felt that this world was so wonderful, and he couldn't help but feel hopeful for the future.

He saw that the advertising slogans on the Coca-Cola bottles were distorted, forming a system of cold, hard text.

[Career Development Tasks]

Try out different creative methods and test your creative theories—a new world is opening up for you!

[Task Requirements: Submit your work to different sections and obtain 500,000 likes and 100,000 coins, or other items of equivalent value.]

[Likes received: 0/500000]

[Coins earned: 0/100000]

"I'll definitely do it next time!"

"500,000 likes and 100,000 coins...that's a bit difficult."

Lu Ban hurriedly opened his phone and checked the likes and coins on his previous videos.

Two videos with over five million views each. The first one only has around 300,000 likes, while the second one has a slightly higher number, around 400,000. With a little more effort, we can achieve our goal of 500,000 likes.

As for coins, the difference is huge. The first video only had a little over 20,000 coins, while the second video had a little more, less than 40,000 coins.

This data is typical and follows the growth pattern of videos that suddenly become popular when they are in the spotlight.

Every user can click "like" countless times a day, so clicking "like" randomly will inflate the data.

However, regular users can only obtain one coin per day, and they can also exchange it for items such as website pendants and name change cards on the Old Video Network, so the number of coins that can be inserted will be relatively small.

When a viewer likes, comments, and favorites your video—a gesture commonly known as a "three-in-one"—it signifies the viewer's genuine appreciation for the video.

On a short video platform like Tomorrow Online, 500,000 likes is also an excellent number. It's possible for only one out of ten thousand short videos to reach 500,000 likes. Moreover, Lu Ban checked and found that the system's evaluation criteria for Tomorrow Online were 500,000 likes and 300,000 followers, while he currently only had over 10,000 followers on this platform. Reaching 500,000 followers would be extremely difficult.

This time, without Song Yunyan's help, I have to rely on my own strength.