I Do Science Popularization Live Streams in the Supernatural World - Chapter 3

Inside Atheist Xiao Qi’s Paranormal Appraising Case Files live room, the camera shook with every step as Wang Qi climbed to the fourth floor of Hongqi Apartments. The building had four stories in total, and this was the top floor.

“Meow! Meow!”

The moment he got there, Wang Qi started acting up, making rough, drawn-out cat noises. He figured if he imitated a stray cat, any real cats lurking around would mistake him for kin and come out on their own.

Unfortunately, even after he called for a long time, there was no response.

“That doesn’t make sense…” Wang Qi seemed a little confused.

The comments rolled in at a frenzied speed.

[Shut up! Whose cat meows like that?]

[Lol this sounds like Teacher Feng singing Learn to Meow.]

[Host, stop asking for death, just leave already.]

[I heard that a murder happened here before, and it was on the fourth floor!]

[Not sure what’s scarier—the haunted apartments or your meowing.]

Wang Qi glanced at the barrage, and a smug smile appeared on his face involuntarily. This was exactly the effect we wanted. In fact, he didn’t know if the sound upstairs had really been a cat or not; the meowing was just a deliberate stunt.

As a host, he had to keep things lively to keep everyone engaged. Now the atmosphere in the room was buzzing, and with viewers flooding in, the follower count climbed steadily, and the platform’s popularity index shot upward.

“The cat that made the noise must have run off.” After circling the dark, gloomy corridor of the fourth floor and not finding any wild cats, Wang Qi turned to his viewers with a disappointed tone, “Then let’s follow the old routine and check the rooms one by one.”

“Still going to comb through every room on the fourth floor? Isn’t this Master too dedicated?” Old Chen, watching the stream from the courtyard below, was sincerely moved.

They had gotten trapped in a maze after reaching the third floor, but Xiao Qi walked straight to the fourth floor like it was nothing.

“With our professional training, we exorcists rarely get scared. But watching this livestream, I can’t help feeling terrified,” Linlin whispered, her voice shaky as she stared at the screen.

“I’m scared too, but it’s exciting!” Old Chen had already become a fanboy. “I’m dying to see what Master will do when he runs into a ghost.”

Xiao Gao was equally tense. “The ghost in Hongqi Apartment is lurking on the fourth floor. But Brother Wang is so strong, maybe it won’t dare show itself…”

They had investigated thoroughly before coming and determined that the spirit was bound to the fourth floor. Although ghosts were often driven by resentment and obsession, they still had enough awareness to avoid danger and knew how to seek good fortune.

Xiao Gao had barely finished speaking when Wang Qi, on the livestream, lowered his voice and deliberately made it sound eerie, “We all know that the Hongqi Apartments is haunted, but friends, do you know how the story came to be? I researched this place before coming…”

The shaky camera panned through one dilapidated, trash-filled room after another. In that oppressive, bone-chilling atmosphere, Wang Qi narrated in a haunting tone.

The chat exploded.

[Telling ghost stories in a haunted place? Unbelievable!]

[Crap, my bladder’s bursting, but I don’t dare leave my blanket!]

[This is scarier than watching a horror movie at the office with headphones on!]

[I hereby call you the boldest streamer!]

[Please stop talking!]

[Fine, how many in-gifts will shut you up?!]

Wang Qi peeked at the chat and grew more animated.

Three years ago, Hongqi Apartments had been lively and full of tenants. Although it was an old building with worn-out hallways, the community had been harmonious. But that liveliness ended one fateful night. A woman in unit 402, heartbroken and dressed in a red dress, stepped into the corridor deep into the night and hanged herself with a clothesline.

The next morning, neighbors found her body swaying gently, though no wind stirred the corridor. Each swing brought her feet into contact with the railing, producing a steady thunk, thunk—just like the sound they had heard earlier.

Her pale face was stretched in a smile so strange and chilling, it made the skin of anyone who dared to look at it crawl.

“Just like this.”

The shaky camera suddenly swiveled away from the hallway and zoomed in on Wang Qi’s own face. The flashlight, shining up from under his chin, cast fractured shadows over his features.

[Fuck me!]

[Scared me to death!]

[Damn it, I just pissed in my bed…]

The chat had been immersed in Wang Qi’s story, but when his grinning face suddenly filled the frame, they were all frightened.

The effect was too great! Being a host does require acting skills!

Wang Qi nodded in satisfaction and pulled the selfie stick back to show his upper body in frame. Even as an exploration streamer, he still had to appear on camera occasionally. And hey, he wasn’t bad-looking either. But then—

[Ghost!!]

[He’s done for!]

[There’s really a ghost!]

Wang Qi’s face darkened. What the hell? I don’t look that bad, do I? Everyone usually said he was handsome. He’d even been hoping to reel in some fangirls!

The exorcist trio all gasped sharply.

Wang Qi’s upper body was on camera, but right behind him loomed a scarlet figure.

It was a woman with disheveled hair, wearing a blood-red dress. Under those messy long hairs, her face was deathly pale with an impossibly grotesque smile twisting her features. The ghost had shown itself!

“I see!” Xiao Gao suddenly understood something. “Brother Wang deliberately retold the spirit’s story to stir up her obsession, luring her to attack him!”

Many viewers also saw the ghost. Normally only those with high spiritual energy could perceive such things, whether in real life or through recordings. This ability was called spirit sight.

But under extreme conditions, like with environments that were oppressively depressing and terrifying, or when a ghost chose to reveal itself, even ordinary people could faintly perceive it. But the ghosts they saw were often blurry and difficult to identify. That’s why photos and videos were often brushed off as visual illusions.

Now that the ghost had made its appearance, many viewers in the livestream could just make out its vague form, yet Wang Qi remained completely oblivious. He struck poses for the camera, tilted his head, and pouted.

I’m really handsome, take a closer look!

The red-dressed specter slowly drifted toward him, her messy hair fluttering even without a breeze. Thin strands of hair extended towards Wang Qi, silently falling on his body.

The exorcist trio was suffocating.

Some viewers in the broadcast room were also suffocating.

The hair seemed to be alive as it slowly crawled along Wang Qi’s arms, inching up to his neck, grazing his cheek, and then his nose—

“Achoo!” Wang Qi sneezed.

Old Chen, Linlin, and Xiao Gao watched in astonishment as a pale golden wave of qi erupted from his body, causing the female ghost to instantly shatter into fragments and scatter like smoke in the wind.

“…Weird, why’s my nose itchy all of a sudden?” Wang Qi rubbed his nose in confusion.

The exorcist trio: “…”