“I heard my mom say that the prettier a woman is…”
Shen Yang followed in Jiang Wei’s footsteps and returned to the master bedroom. Fortunately, this time, the lights did not go out again, causing him to let out a massive sigh of relief.
Jiang Wei looked around. To her right was a charred, oversized wardrobe, and right in the center of the room stood a blackened double bed, its carbonized frame exposing steel bars and iron wire. It was said that the bodies were discovered right on this bed, having been completely melted by the time they were found.
Previously, a very famous spirit-exploration streamer had lain directly on this bed during a live stream, even claiming to have seen eerie flashes of fire.
Jiang Wei sighed inwardly: “Streaming is getting way too cutthroat!” Even if she had the guts, she certainly didn’t have the audacity for that. If she were to lie down on that thing, her newly bought trench coat would be completely ruined. She planned to just circle the bed once and call it a day.
Passing the foot of the bed, she arrived at the other side of the large frame. Sweeping her phone’s flashlight back across the space, she saw it: right beside the charred wardrobe, a child with a deathly pale face stood stiffly upright in the corner, completely motionless and without the slightest sound.
“Hiss!” Jiang Wei gasped sharply, every hair on her body standing on end.
“Shit!” Following her line of sight, Shen Yang also gave a start, nearly turning tail and fleeing in a panic.
The live stream room erupted in a flurry of exclamations:
“There’s a kid in the corner.”
“So creepy!”
“So terrifying!”
“How is there a kid in an abandoned building at this hour?”
“That’s not human, not human, not human.”
“Streamer, run!”
“Bullet comments protect me, bullet comments protect me!”
“It… doesn’t seem human,” Jiang Wei murmured.
“Not human!?” Shen Yang was startled out of his wits.
Taking a deep breath and mustering her courage, Jiang Wei stepped forward a few paces. The faint, sweeping beam of her phone’s flashlight illuminated the appearance of that “child” in the corner:
Its pale little face was daudebed with two patches of rouge, it wore a skullcap on its head, and it was dressed in a blue mandarin jacket—a full Qing dynasty costume. It turned out to be nothing less than a paper doll.
Standing all alone in the dim corner, it genuinely resembled a little boy.
“A paper doll… why is there a paper doll here?” Shen Yang’s voice trembled. He mustered the courage to film the paper doll in the corner, though the fear in his heart hadn’t subsided by even a fraction.
How could a brand-new paper doll be standing here in a room that had been ravaged by a fierce fire?
Jiang Wei pondered for a moment, and then suddenly chuckled.
“You’re laughing again!” Shen Yang exclaimed loudly.
“I am laughing. I’m really laughing this time,” Jiang Wei smiled. “Don’t be scared. I know where this paper doll came from.”
“Where did it come from?”
“Well…” Jiang Wei hesitated. “It’s not really convenient to say.”
“Please tell me, stop trying to scare me.” Shen Yang looked ready to cry. He kept the camera steady, but didn’t dare look over in that direction. He considered himself someone with a decent amount of guts, but far too many bizarre things had happened tonight.
“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you on the way back. Go ahead and film it close up; once you’re done, we can wrap up for the night.” Jiang Wei coaxed him in the tone of someone soothing a child.
In the live stream room, quite a few viewers had already pointed out the paper doll’s origin:
“That scared the life out of me! I thought it was a little ghost; turns out it’s just a paper doll. I feel like I’ve seen this paper doll somewhere before.”
“Haha, isn’t this the scare prop Tiger-ge set up? Tiger-ge brought it here when he came for a spirit exploration last time. He made a huge fuss over it, practically swearing brotherhood with the thing.”
“That can’t be Tiger-ge’s prop. The paper doll was already right here when Tiger-ge came.”
“Give me a break. Tiger-ge’s spirit explorations are famously scripted. If you actually believe that, your life is going nowhere.”
“Oh, you know everything, huh? Were you there watching when Tiger-ge placed the paper doll down?”
“I was there, I was right under the bed at the time.”
“I was on top of the wardrobe.”
“I was standing right behind Tiger-ge.”
“Tiger-ge” was also a spirit-exploration streamer—arguably the ” Big Brother” of this niche track. His “storylines” were always thrilling and exciting, never failing to disappoint his viewers.
Of course, Jiang Wei couldn’t possibly say in the live stream room that this lousy paper doll was a prop set up by “Tiger-ge.” Offending a “big shot” right after entering the industry would show a complete lack of emotional intelligence.
While secretly thanking the “big shot” for creating such wonderful broadcast material, she walked right up to the paper doll and observed it closely.
Hearing that they could leave as soon as they finished filming the paper doll, Shen Yang regained some spirit and slowly shuffled toward it.
On the live broadcast feed, the paper doll’s appearance became clearer and clearer. Shen Yang provided a massive close-up shot, allowing many viewers to confirm that this was indeed the exact paper doll from Tiger-ge’s stream—no doubt about it. Presumably, since paper dolls were cheap and couldn’t be repeatedly used, he had simply tossed it here and left it behind.
In an instant, the live stream room filled with a joyful atmosphere:
“Tiger-ge’s streaming room sends its congratulations! The paper doll is a gift left behind by my Tiger-ge, presented to the beautiful female streamer—please graciously accept it!”
“Hurry up and say thank you, Tiger-ge.”
“Thanks, Tiger-ge.”
“Thanks, Tiger-ge.”
“Tiger-ge, get over here! How could you leave your little brother behind?”
Unlike standard paper offerings from funeral supply shops, this paper doll was crafted quite exquisitely, with body proportions closely resembling a human and facial features painted with lifelike precision. Jiang Wei couldn’t help admiring that top-tier streamers really knew how to spend money to put on a good show.
Suddenly, the paper doll moved and actually raised its head. Its painted eyeballs stared straight at Jiang Wei, and then abruptly swiveled to lock onto Shen Yang.
“Ah!” Watching this happen right before her eyes, Jiang Wei let out a terrified shriek and backed up repeatedly, nearly sitting down hard on the bed.
The flashlight strapped to Shen Yang’s arm went out once more, plunging the room into absolute darkness.
In the dimness, Shen Yang’s pupils dilated and his mouth hung wide open, but not a single sound came out. He was hit by a wave of ringing in his ears, completely paralyzed by fright.
“Shen Yang, Shen Yang!”
In a daze, he heard Jiang Wei’s voice calling out to him, sounding as though it came from a very distant place, carrying echoes and a strange, distorted pitch.
“The paper doll… the paper doll is looking at me…” Shen Yang pointed in the direction of the paper doll, breathing heavily.
Jiang Wei was utterly stunned too, temporarily incapable of speech. In all the time she had spent watching horror movies recently, she had never experienced such an intense wave of terror.
That was an undeniable impossibility playing out right in front of her eyes. The paper doll had genuinely, truly raised its head to look at her, then looked at Shen Yang, and right after that, Shen Yang’s flashlight had gone dead.
This scene and setting could not be explained by a single shred of scientific knowledge.
Did supernatural forces genuinely exist in this world?
Could it be that this paper doll really wasn’t a prop set up by “Tiger-ge”? Or had Tiger-ge’s prop-crafting skills reached some mind-boggling, unfathomable level? If he was that formidable, why even bother being a streamer?! And if I’m this formidable, why am I forced to be a streamer…
Jiang Wei’s thoughts were in utter chaos. “Reality” seemed to collapse before her eyes, and the sense of the “absurd” even eclipsed her fear.
She squeezed the phone in her hand. Being someone who had seen some big storms after all, she took a breath, mustered her courage, and shone her light toward the paper doll—only to see it standing motionless in its original spot, completely still.
She even activated her [Domain] to observe it carefully, but from inside out, the paper doll was nothing more than a paper doll.
Everything that had just happened felt like nothing more than an illusion.
The live stream room had also exploded into utter chaos:
“Did I see that right? Did the paper doll just move?”
“Not only did it move, it looked right at me! Scared me to death.”
“Bullet comments protect me, bullet comments protect me.”
“Shit, that scared me right out of my bed. That paper doll genuinely glanced at me.”
“Nine Heavens responding to the thunder, universal transformation of the heavenly lord!”
“Crap, another flashlight blew out? There’s a ghost for sure!”
“It’s all scripted!”
“Right before the light went out, I think I actually saw the paper doll raise its head.”
“F*** f*** f***, I literally just threw my phone across the room.”
On the broadcast feed, Jiang Wei looked pale as she forced an explanation: “It must have been the wind, right? Everyone needs to believe in science, let’s not engage in feudal superstitions.”
“Haha, a spirit-exploration streamer telling me to believe in science.”
“Streamer, that paper doll definitely moved on its own. How could there be such a strong gust of wind inside a room corner, and how could wind make it stay entirely still except for lifting its head?”
“Even its eyes moved! You’re calling that wind?”
“Is anyone screen-recording? Go check the playback!”
“Heh, today’s special effects are really something else.”
“Little sister, run! Don’t stay there anymore, I’m terrified!”
“That wraps up today’s live stream, everyone good night.” Feeling uneasy in her heart, Jiang Wei rushed to wrap up and quickly ended the stream.
Exchanging a glance with Shen Yang, the two of them tacitly bolted out of the room and hurried downstairs together.
As they walked down, neither of them uttered a word, yet they pushed each other forward, walking faster and faster like a race, until they were practically sprinting. Finally, they burst out of the stairwell together.
Still feeling unsafe, the two dashed straight toward the main road outside the neighborhood, paying no mind to the rain soaking through their clothes.
Throughout the entire dash, neither of them dared to look back, terrified that the moment they turned their heads, they would see the paper doll standing on the balcony staring straight at them—or perhaps something else entirely…
Jiang Wei jogged all the way to the avenue outside the neighborhood, finally coming to a halt beneath a bright streetlamp, resting her hands on her knees and gasping heavily for air.
Jianghai City truly deserved its reputation as a city that never sleeps. Even at midnight, traffic was still rushing past on the road, bringing her an incomparable sense of safety.
Shen Yang, his wits still not fully returned, asked, “We didn’t see things, right? That paper doll…” He abruptly clamped his mouth shut, glancing left and right as if fearing the paper doll might catch up to them.
“Huff… huff… probably not!”
“Are you about to blow up in popularity?”
“Huh?” Jiang Wei abruptly raised her head.
“Was all of this something you planned out from the start? I heard my mom say that the prettier a woman is, the better she is at lying.”
“That was Zhang Wuji’s mom!”
“Sigh!” Shen Yang let out a long breath, still finding it somewhat hard to believe.
Jiang Wei finally caught her breath and asked, “Still want hot pot?”
“Let’s eat.”
“…”