“Like to trash talk? Then I’ve muted you!”
In real life, Sun Xiaohui didn’t feel quite so cheerful anymore.
Xu Bei realized his worries had been unnecessary.
Although Sun Xiaohui was a bit of a goofball in real life, she was far from a novice online.
Most people with autism spectrum disorder are extremely skilled at navigating the internet.
Because of autism, we spend most of our time surfing online.
Sun Xiaohui secretly observed her classmates every day, watching them stream live broadcasts and listening to their commentary about how a certain top streamer cheated yesterday, and today another veteran streamer got exposed.
Her male classmates would celebrate a victory in an e-sports tournament for weeks on end.
Her female classmates would agonize over a male celebrity’s marriage for weeks.
She had long been aware of the stench that live streaming could produce, as well as the joy it brought—it was the sharpest double-edged sword of the internet age.
The one who doesn’t understand anything! That’s you, Xu Bei!
“Mic check, one two three, three two one.”
Xu Bei left the safe house with the little parrot and continued on their adventure.
“So dark! So scary! What is this place? It feels like a horror movie set… Mic check successful, I can hear Brother Xu talking.” The little parrot circled back and forth on Xu Bei’s shoulder, adjusting its gaze and chirping excitedly into his ear.
Compared to an ordinary laptop, this so-called Sea Wolf exclusive streaming rig number two had the added feature of a controllable first-person perspective.
Other viewers watching the stream could only see the streamer from a third-person view, and there was a delay—about ten seconds behind real time.
Streaming rig number two provided a live feed, originally meant to help monitor enemy movements and act as rig number one’s third eye.
“There’s another barrage of insults in the chat about my Brother Xu! I’m gonna kill, kill, kill!” The little parrot’s malevolence was strong, the clicking of a mouse echoed from its beak.
Sun Xiaohui outside was going wild with muting!
She deleted all the toxic messages, banning them for seventy-seven years max.
Is this what having power feels like?
Being able to casually kick out all the annoying people!
(Moderator’s gone mad)
(So ruthless)
(Kill kill kill)
(Does the streamer even have mods?)
(The streamer’s this bad but still has a rig number two?)
(Seems like)
(Going crazy)
After this, the chat atmosphere in the Unfilial Son’s livestream room immediately became much more harmonious.
At least no one dared to openly curse, but sarcastic remarks were still allowed.
“Keep your voice down, keep your voice down, don’t disturb the neighbors.”
Xu Bei felt like there was a fly buzzing in his ear, giving him a slight headache.
But with the parrot’s company, the oppressive atmosphere around him vanished like smoke.
The grim vibe of this torture game was quite authentic. Especially entering the virtual game era, being in an abandoned factory was immersive—claiming not to be scared would be a lie.
But that was about it. Just this little thing to scare me, Xu Bei?
What a joke. I’ve seen every kind of monster on Meteor Street.
“Click click click~”
As he walked, the camera-shaped flashlight hanging from Xu Bei’s waist flickered, acting a bit glitchy.
He picked up the camera and checked it, thinking it was out of battery.
But the display showed plenty of power…
“Da! Da! Da! Da!”
Just as Xu Bei was puzzled, footsteps came from the floor, nearly right in front of his face.
Even Xu Bei’s hairs stood on end, his senses sharpened.
Because his ability to locate sounds by ear was extremely strong, the sudden footsteps were directly in front of him.
Within one step, a humanoid silhouette appeared.
A special jumper factory girl zombie leapt right at him, baring teeth and snarling.
“Ahhh!” The little parrot shrieked in fright.
Her voice was the scariest of all, making Xu Bei tremble.
But startled, Xu Bei’s reaction speed peaked; he raised his hand in time and landed a right hook straight to the jumper’s head, sending her flying.
The jumper zombie crashed to the ground, killed with one punch.
“Huh? One punch kill?” Xu Bei felt something was off.
Damage fluctuated, and light punches and heavy punches did different damage, but not by that much.
Generally, jumper zombies took three punches to die.
But this one was killed by a single hit, making Xu Bei suspicious—how did its HP suddenly drop so low?
Upon closer inspection of the corpse, Xu Bei realized this jumper zombie was different from the ones he had killed before—not the same type.
First, her skin was extremely pale, with a different skin tone, and no weapons—she had just clawed at Xu Bei.
The previous groups of jumper zombies, including the overseer, all had a sickly dark purple or dark blue complexion.
Her clothing was also slightly different—she wore a cooler outfit: a tight tank top and shorts, barefoot and silent, similar in exposure to the bikini-wearing female overseer.
Soon, Xu Bei also read her real name: 【Invisible Jumper Girl】.
“Brother Xu, what are you staring at? Do you really need that long?” Sun Xiaohui’s complaints came quickly from the little parrot’s mouth.
“Uh…” Xu Bei was momentarily speechless.
This was exactly why he hadn’t wanted to bring his sister into the game, let alone his girlfriend.
After all, most players were male, and this action-adventure torture game was filled with many elements pandering to male otaku fantasies.
“Ahem, I’m observing the monster, I’m not that kind of guy. This monster can turn invisible. You, rig number two, keep a close watch. You did well just now—you alerted me with your cry before I punched.” Xu Bei quickly defended himself.
“Really? I was busy muting the chat just now, suddenly the screen scared me. Hehe, well done me, I earned merit.” The little parrot began to boast.
While chatting, Xu Bei’s ears twitched several times as he heard faint footsteps again, but nothing was visible in front of him.
“Click!”
Suddenly, the iron door not far ahead was flung open.
Yet no monsters came crawling out.
The empty corridor instead gave Xu Bei a strong sense of oppression; he dared not step forward.
Although he couldn’t see anything, he could sense something was definitely lurking in this hallway.
Footsteps appeared a few seconds ago…
The door was flung open a few seconds later…
Then everything fell silent.
The more he thought about it, the creepier it got. Something felt seriously wrong.
Even a reckless guy like Xu Bei dared not rush in, a virtual cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
He focused completely, activating his demon senses, ready to defend against any sudden attack.
“Above you! Brother Xu, watch out for the ceiling!”
Suddenly, the little parrot on his shoulder shouted a warning.
“!?”
Xu Bei snapped his head up.
On the ceiling above, a faint, non-human shadowy silhouette clung to the surface, right over his head.