450!
For a brief moment, Yang Chaoyu wanted to exchange all these virtual currency into RMB immediately. Then she could not only repay her bank debt but also keep five thousand in reserve.
This sent her into a frenzy of joy.
A red dot appeared on the bell mark after 450, which should indicate a notification.
She clicked it, and a pile of messages immediately popped up.
Yang Chaoyu read through them one by one. They were notifications from MN Corporation.
The first stated that she had successfully checked in and received 100 merit points.
The second congratulated her on surviving and luring the impostor to its death, awarding her the impostor's 300 merit points.
Only then did Yang Chaoyu remember that when MN announced the scores, it seemed to have indeed mentioned Number 520's death and stated, “The merit points will be distributed among the survivors.”
In the message, the term “impostor” was bright red. When she moved the mouse over it, the triangular cursor changed into the shape of a hand finger—meaning it could be clicked.
After she clicked it, an explanation box appeared below.
Impostor: A monster disguised as a streamer or interviewee. They are generally cunning and difficult to identify. Killing them can earn a large amount of merit points.
The third congratulated her on becoming an outstanding player in the debut and stated that MN had officially hired her.
The fourth was about the guaranteed salary. It explained that Streamers' guaranteed salary was paid at the beginning of the month for the entire current month. Any merit points obtained in the “vortex” were not included in the guarantee and would be transferred after each mission was completed.
Yang Chaoyu looked at the blue-highlighted word “vortex” and clicked it with the mouse.
Vortex: An unstable region formed by an anomalous magnetic field, existing outside reality. It is also the place where Streamers complete missions and livestream. MN assigns Streamers missions with different time limits according to the size of each vortex.
Yang Chaoyu thought that the Liutang Residential Complex they had entered last night should also be a vortex of this kind, right?
She felt that it was somewhat dangerous. Just as she was wondering how to break away from MN, she saw the fifth message.
【MN】Taboo: 1. You cannot ask viewers for help; 2. You cannot tell people in the present world about MN Corporation; 3. After joining MN Corporation, you may not quit.
The word “join” was highlighted in blue.
Join: Anyone officially accepted by MN is considered to have joined.
Yang Chaoyu: …I should have known better than to fight for that optimal rating.
She thought about it carefully. Technically, she had not really been fighting for it. She had merely been suspicious about Wen Shaoqiao's situation. If anyone had the strongest desire to win, it should have been the person in the baseball cap—Sandao.
Still… when she thought of how she had tricked him at the end, she suddenly felt a little worried.
As a senior, he should not have fallen for it, right?
Sandao seemed quite strong and had plenty of experience. Even the cuties who entered her Livestream Room seemed to know Sandao's name.
On the other hand, she did not really believe his claim that he had only participated in three interviews.
Could someone really become this popular after only three interviews?
She glanced at the television again.
The news on the television had changed, now reporting the death of an elderly person living alone. The elderly person had no children or spouse and died after a sudden heart attack without receiving timely rescue. Because of the hot weather, the corpse had become unbearably foul. After the neighbors complained, the property management opened the door, only to discover that the person had been dead for quite some time.
It seemed that grandmother's nagging voice rang in Yang Chaoyu's ears:
“When you grow old, life will be very difficult if you don't have a companion.”
She blinked and closed the notebook.
She had never been interested before, and now that she had been caught up in such a strange incident, how could she possibly have the time or inclination to date?
Since she could not quit, she could only do her best to stay alive.
Otherwise, she might end up like the man in the news.
So first, she needed to learn more about MN.
She returned to the homepage and clicked on the livestream recommended there. The streamer seemed to be a young woman. Her voice was soft but listless, and she was streaming a recently popular competitive game. Her gameplay was average, her commentary was average, and there was nothing remarkable about it.
In the lower-right corner, the “Viewers”: single digits.
Yang Chaoyu: …
So there was a reason MN was not popular!
She then searched for a few Streamers in each category and discovered that their livestreams were practically scenes of tragedy.
Yang Chaoyu understood at once.
This official MN website was merely a leather bag; its real business had nothing to do with legitimate Livestreaming.
What had she gone to all that trouble for just now?
She closed the computer, thought for a moment, and decided to go out.
There were no buses in the middle of the night, so she had taken a taxi yesterday. But now it was broad daylight. Although she had suddenly become rich, she did not dare spend recklessly and pinched every penny by taking the bus.
By the time she swayed her way to Liutang, it was three in the afternoon.
She stood at the familiar back door, yet she did not dare approach it.
Some elementary schools had let out by then, and the children returned in groups, tugging at one another. They had to swipe their access cards to enter, one person at a time. Some children could not be bothered to take out their access cards and slipped in close behind their companions.
The security guard glanced at them a few times and let them through as well.
Yang Chaoyu: So why was she being so stupid? She had spent two hours swaying all the way here, only to be unable to get inside…
The grandfather sitting beneath a tree by the entrance to enjoy the shade saw her standing there for so long and beckoned her over with the fan in his hand.
The grandfather asked, “What are you here for?”
“I… I came to see someone?”
“Have them come out to get you. Our residential complex does not let people enter casually.”
Yang Chaoyu thought for a moment and said, “Actually, it’s like this. I’m a fourth-year journalism student, and I have to submit my graduation thesis this year. I want to write a paper about Wen Shaoqiao. Do you think you could provide me with some information?”
As she spoke, she took out her phone and opened a sticky note, putting on a serious expression.
The grandfather looked her up and down, narrowed his eyes, and asked, “You came here last night too, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I got carried away and rushed over last night. It really wasn’t appropriate. But it happened so long ago, and so few people know about it, so I wanted to come and try my luck.”
The grandfather looked at her and thought for a while.
“You have a kind and refined appearance, and you don’t look like a bad person. That little girl hasn’t appeared for a long time. I assume the whole family moved away, so I don’t have to worry about saying too much,” he said. “That family was rather mysterious. They protected the little girl as if she were the apple of their eye and wouldn’t let anyone look at her for long.”
The elderly person seemed to remember something and pursed his lips.
“According to their neighbors, the family didn’t get along very well. They quarreled all the time.”
Hearing this, Yang Chaoyu knew that he did not know Wen Shaoqiao was very likely already dead, and that she probably could not get any useful information from him.
But remembering what the master driver had said last night, she asked, “Was there a murder case in this residential complex two years ago?”
“You even know about that?”
“I study journalism, so I’m sensitive to things like this.”
“It was a child. I guess the parents failed to keep an eye on them, and the child went up to the rooftop and accidentally fell.”
“Wasn’t one of the buildings rumored to be very haunted before that?” she asked cautiously.
The elderly person’s expression changed immediately upon hearing this.
“Don’t say things like that. We all still live in this residential complex.”
“But I heard that the residents of one building all moved away?” She sensed an opportunity and hurriedly continued.
“That’s not true. One household in Building Six thought it was too noisy and insisted on buying all five floors above and below them. The building has more than twenty floors, and they bought half of it in one go. Only half of Building Six is empty. Don’t the rest of us still live here as usual?”
Yang Chaoyu also remembered the driver's words about the house being “very cold,” but seeing the grandfather's unpleasant expression, she did not ask about it.
“The news you saw may all have been fabricated by unscrupulous media,” the grandfather sighed. “It isn’t easy to buy a house these days. Prices keep rising, and though they say every year that they’ll control them, I haven’t seen them come down. Liutang Residential Complex is good quality, and its prices are relatively high. Someone must be jealous and deliberately spread these rumors.”
Yang Chaoyu, however, felt that things were not so simple.
She asked, “Which floor does the owner who bought half of Building Six live on?”
The grandfather thought for a moment and said, “I think it was… the fourteenth floor.”