“At twelve noon today, a twenty-five-year-old resident died of dehydration under the scorching sun. The deceased was a streamer on a certain website… This station reminds everyone: The weather is hot, so be sure to stay hydrated…”
The news report showed a black-and-white photograph. He wore a faint smile at the corners of his mouth, looking young and handsome.
Yang Chaoyu stared fixedly at the news broadcast on television, breaking into a cold sweat despite the sweltering weather.
This person… she knew him.
Twenty hours earlier.
【CM Bank】 Your account 6688 will be charged 3616.62 Yuan on July 10, 2021. Your current balance is insufficient. Please deposit sufficient funds before the charge date…
Looking at this text message on her phone, Yang Chaoyu sighed.
Her grandmother, who depended on her for survival, was seriously ill. Because of her good credit, she had taken out forty thousand yuan in loans to pay for the surgery. However, the doctor said that the elderly person’s health was already extremely poor. With a success rate of less than ten percent, surgery was not recommended.
Yang Chaoyu was completely at a loss, and the doctor suggested stabilizing her condition first.
She hurriedly nodded.
But grandmother passed away after holding on for only a few days.
During that period, most of the forty thousand yuan was spent. After arranging the funeral for the elderly person, Yang Chaoyu had only enough money left for one packet of instant noodles a day.
Yang Chaoyu did not have a single penny to spare now. She had just graduated, and it was currently the peak hiring season, but she had barely passed all her courses and had not a single presentable work to show.
She had already hit a wall in numerous interviews, all because the salaries were unsatisfactory.
She had to repay four thousand Yuan every month, and even if she was as frugal as possible with food and transportation, that would still cost at least one thousand, right? So her salary requirement was five thousand. But she had just graduated, had not attended a good school, and lacked solid professional knowledge.
She simply could not find a suitable job!
Just before she was about to collapse, she received an interview invitation. It came from a small website—a livestreaming platform. The salary was negotiable, but the guaranteed minimum was five thousand.
Before the interview, she had to register on the website and submit the required application documents.
Yang Chaoyu’s heart leaped instantly.
Although Livestreaming was fiercely competitive, as long as there was a guaranteed minimum, making money while sitting down would be easy, wouldn’t it?! She thought she had everything figured out. The fans on the major websites had long since been divided up, and the scraps left over were not enough to live on. If someone wanted to make money quickly, they would most likely be exploited. Small websites were different; in order to obtain high-quality Streamers, they often offered especially favorable treatment.
Therefore, Yang Chaoyu felt that this “MN” livestreaming platform—just look at the name, it was simple and memorable, with the potential to grow big!
Moreover, their main focus was real-time Livestreaming—combining entertainment with eating and playing, allowing Streamers to work happily and make money easily. That was their advertising slogan.
Yang Chaoyu was tempted and filled in every required field. For her nickname, she wrote: Waves in the Rain.
After uploading her real-name identification documents, her phone rang.
【MN】 Congratulations! You have successfully submitted your streamer application. At midnight tomorrow night, please proceed to Liutang Residential Complex, 06-02-302, to attend the interview. Anyone who arrives, regardless of whether they are accepted, will receive a reward of 100 merit points. Those who arrive late will be deemed to have forfeited and will have 1,000 merit points deducted（ Those whose merit points are insufficient will have the corresponding relatives’ merit points deducted according to the closeness of their blood relationship）.
Yang Chaoyu’s heart skipped a beat, and she returned to the MN official homepage. Beside the avatar in the upper-right corner was a number: 0. Just as she had guessed, it was the website’s exclusive virtual currency—merit points.
What surprised Yang Chaoyu was that the exchange rate between merit points and RMB was actually 1:100!
Yang Chaoyu rubbed her eyes, making sure she had not misread it: 100 RMB could only be exchanged for 1 merit Point…
For a moment, Yang Chaoyu wanted to withdraw her application. MN was going too far—how could anyone demand that much money to recharge? But when she looked at the 100 merit points in the text message, Yang Chaoyu shamefully felt even more tempted.
Ten thousand yuan! With that money, she could repay a quarter of her credit card debt.
Even if she repaid it in installments, Yang Chaoyu could scrape by for two months.
She would not have to wash dishes and mop floors for others, nor go to a factory to repeat mechanical motions day and night. She only had to show her face there. How easy! Thinking this, and seeing that midnight was approaching, Yang Chaoyu hurriedly climbed into bed.
Before falling asleep, she still found one thing strange.
Why was this Livestreaming interview scheduled during the early hours?
Early the next morning, she already felt somewhat deflated.
Her brain must have rusted in the middle of the night for her to impulsively submit the application. But thinking it over carefully, something felt wrong everywhere.
First, this sort of interview invitation was sometimes just something human resources clicked at random to meet performance targets. It might also be intended to increase the website’s fame, with the salary and benefits exaggerated even though they never truly intended to hire anyone.
Second, although some private companies operated out of Residential Complexes, a place that looked like a private residence always felt rather improper.
Furthermore, giving someone ten thousand yuan just for showing up—no matter how she looked at it, it seemed fake!
And most importantly, going there during the early hours.
She was a young woman, and running around alone in the middle of the night was not a good idea. Although Dragon Nation’s public security was much better than that of other countries, it was better to be safe than sorry.
While she was wavering, the bank called to remind her that her payment was due and that she should deposit enough money in advance.
Listening to the gentle voice of the customer-service young lady, Yang Chaoyu agreed repeatedly while breaking into a cold sweat.
Today was July 1. In ten days, she had to pay 3,600 Yuan.
And she still did not have a job!
She hung up, took a deep breath, and decided to give it a try after all. The odds were fifty-fifty. Maybe she could Make ten thousand yuan a day!
Clinging to a sliver of hope, she took a cab to Liutang Residential Complex at half past eleven that night.
The driver asked her why she was going there.
She said she was going for an interview. The driver’s face immediately turned ashen.
Curious, she asked a few more questions and only then learned that there was something strange about Liutang Residential Complex.
When Liutang Residential Complex was built, it was advertised as “the most luxurious and tasteful place in the city.” It truly lived up to its price. The decoration materials were excellent, the basic household appliances provided were all brand-name products, and the landscape design was beautiful as well.
But after becoming popular for a year, all the residents of one particular building suddenly moved away, claiming that there were unclean things there. Around the same time, a child from one household suddenly fell from a building, and the incident quickly became a major uproar.
“An investigation was opened that very day, but there were no suspicious traces at the scene, and the child had no reason to commit suicide either. Yet the family insisted there was something wrong with the house and demanded compensation from the real estate company. But without evidence, the company refused to pay. The whole farce dragged on for ages. I stopped paying attention to what happened afterward.”
When the driver said this, his voice suddenly dropped.
“Still, it was strange. After that, people in Liutang Residential Complex kept saying it was very cold inside. Summer was still tolerable, but once winter came, no matter how warm the heating was or how thick the quilts were, the bone-chilling cold never went away. Many residents moved out because of it, and tenants never stayed long either. The residential complex is practically deserted now.” The driver clicked his tongue twice and said, “It was once so grand and imposing, yet declined in less than two years. It really makes you sigh.”
Yang Chaoyu nodded and echoed, “Be careful when buying a house.”
After getting out of the car, she was still thinking about the driver’s words. The more she thought about them, the more wrong they seemed.
What could a Livestreaming interview even involve? Wasn’t it just appearing on camera? The rumors about Liutang Residential Complex were so sinister. Could the company’s interview simply be breaking into a mysterious haunted residential complex at night?
Yang Chaoyu, who rarely watched horror movies and did not like watching the news: Is it still too late to leave now?
But just as she took out her phone to call another cab, she saw the CM Bank icon on the homepage and remembered that only three digits remained in her account.
She clenched her fist and decided to meet the person in charge as quickly as possible, then turn around and leave. Leaving directly was impossible; being late meant a deduction of One Hundred Thousand Yuan. She did not want to fail to repay the forty thousand yuan and then end up ten thousand yuan further in debt.
The buildings were hidden in darkness, with only the streetlamps illuminating the area near the main gate. There was not a single person in the surroundings. The few blackened residential buildings stood like tombstones, radiating a deep chill. The stark-white electric retractable gate resembled the skeleton of a gigantic monster, lying silently in wait.
There was an opening in the retractable gate just wide enough for one person to pass through, but she did not dare approach it.
She always felt that the retractable gate would suddenly move as she squeezed through, then clamp her inside… How socially humiliating that would be!
A gust of wind passed by, seemingly carrying the faint wailing of a woman.
Yang Chaoyu shuddered and began to reconsider.
Her phone rang at the perfect moment: 【MN】 The interview will begin in twenty minutes. If you fail to appear, 1,000 merit points will be deducted（ Those whose merit points are insufficient will have the corresponding relatives’ merit points deducted according to the closeness of their blood relationship）.
Going further into debt was impossible. Not in this lifetime!
Yang Chaoyu shook her head, casting aside her chaotic guesses. Gritting her teeth, she squeezed through the gap beside the retractable gate.