"What is the most terrifying thing you have ever experienced?"
The mature and beautiful face of the woman in the dimly lit shop appeared unusually pale.
Facing her question, I was slightly stunned. Various imaginations flashed through my mind, but none seemed as terrifying as my current situation.
That is, being broke.
My name is livai, and I make a living by running this Feng Shui shop left by my old man. I help people with fortune-telling, exorcism, and Feng Shui, but I don't have any real skills. It's all about talking my way through, and I can't even be considered a half-baked expert.
So, there are almost no customers, and I haven't opened for business for a long time.
Survival has become my primary challenge.
"For me, the most terrifying thing is being forgotten by people."
The woman raised her head, and her messy hair revealed an eye filled with bloodshot veins. She spoke as if answering her question, seemingly indifferent to whether I would respond.
"You exist in this world, but no one around remembers you. All your family, friends, and even enemies have lost their memories of you."
"You are alive, but it's as if you are already dead."
"The most terrifying part is that you have even forgotten yourself!"
"Sorry for the interruption." I cleared my throat. "Miss, may I ask what this has to do with you coming to me?"
I was not interested in her inexplicable words.
If it weren't for the fact that I hadn't opened for business in two months, I wouldn't have bothered with this woman who seemed like a mental patient.
"I want you to help me find out what's going on with all this, and most importantly, who I am." The woman looked at me with her reddened eyes, tightly gripping my hand.
"Miss, for matters of amnesia, you'd be better off consulting a detective or a doctor! My business scope is fortune-telling and analyzing good and bad luck!" I pointed to the old, curled-up poster on the wall.
"I've tried, but it's useless. They can't see me at all," the woman said dejectedly, shaking her head.
"You're not a ghost, how could they not see you?" I had already concluded that this woman was not normal. She looked pretty, but unfortunately, she seemed to have mental issues.
"Miss, go home and take your medication early. I'm quite busy."
Today's weather was clear, and I saw her walk in under the bright sun. If she were a ghost, I'd perform a handstand while urinating.
"I'm not crazy! I'm looking for you because only you can see me!" The woman became anxious, grabbing my hand forcefully. Her haggard face was close to mine, and she said, "As long as you help me, any amount of money is fine!"
Her hand was cold, unlike the warmth of a living person.
"How much money do you have?" When I heard the word "money," my attitude softened. After all, even small mosquitoes are meat. I needed money for this week's meals.
"I only have this much on me." The woman awkwardly searched and finally pulled out three crumpled banknotes.
I took a glance and couldn't help but twitch my mouth.
A total of two hundred and fifty yuan!
"Don't worry, once we find out who I am, I'll give you everything I have!" The woman reassured me repeatedly, nervously looking at me as if I were her last straw of salvation.
Two hundred and fifty it is, mosquitoes or not. At least I had some money for meals this week.
Putting the money in my pocket, I scrutinized the woman with a headache.
In her thirties, she was very pretty, wearing a red dress that outlined her well-proportioned figure. However, her eyes were dark, and her face looked weary as if she could collapse at any moment.
I knew nothing about mental issues, and for a moment, I didn't know how to proceed. After some thought, I asked, "Have you encountered anything strange recently? Any peculiar people or events?"
"I only have memories of one thing, and that's this phone." The woman took out a black phone and placed it on the counter, her eyes revealing a deep fear.
A large 7.9-inch screen phone, nothing special on the surface, but holding it felt like holding a piece of ice, bone-chillingly cold.
No password and the lock screen was easily lifted.
The vast screen was empty, with only one lonely app.
The icon was a black and white square, resembling a photo frame for memorial pictures. It looked somewhat eerie, but the inside was empty, with the words "Strange Tales Live Room" written below in small letters.
A live streaming app?
Just by the name, it seemed like a paranormal exploration kind of curiosity-driven live broadcast. Did she watch too many of these and scare herself silly?
How terrifying could the content be?
I was curious and decided to open the app and take a look.
The moment I touched the icon, I felt a slight bite on my finger, as if something had bitten me. However, the sensation quickly disappeared, and I didn't pay it much attention.
I clicked several times, but the app wouldn't open. There seemed to be an issue.
"Miss, your phone—" I looked up, but the woman who was sitting across the counter just a moment ago was nowhere to be seen. The seat was empty.
Did she sneak away?
"What a lunatic!" I muttered, throwing the black phone into the drawer.
However, with two hundred and fifty yuan in income, my mood improved, and I decided to go out for a hearty meal.
Pulling down the roll-up door, I went to the familiar braised chicken and rice place.
"Did you guys hear? Another person died in that house near the Eight Immortals Bun Shop! The way they died is exactly the same as the previous ones, throat cut, blood everywhere, and dead."
"Daring old Zhang took a look and said there was blood everywhere, not only soaking the bed but also the walls and floor."
"Come on! Don't talk about such bloody things while eating."
The house they were discussing I knew about. It was a short-term rental, right on the outskirts of our village, run by an old couple in a self-built house, quite well-known in our area.
The old couple used to run a bun shop, and it was said that the business was booming. However, someone once found a human finger in a bun, and no one dared to go there again.
Unable to sustain the bun business, the old couple converted the house into short-term rentals.
Strangely, every six months, a female tenant would die in a gruesome way. All of them were said to be young women with black long hair, wearing a red dress, and they always stayed in room number four.
Logically, after such brutal murders, no one should dare to go to that short-term rental, and at the very least, they wouldn't stay in room number four.
But strangely, every six months, a woman would meet a tragic end in that room.
The elderly couple usually kept to themselves and rarely interacted with others. Especially the old lady, no one had seen her since the bun shop closed.
Some said they were the culprits, luring black-haired, red-dressed women to rent the room and then cruelly killing them.
However, the police denied this because the investigation revealed that these women all committed suicide by cutting their own throats.
Others said there was something wrong with the bun shop, requiring the sacrifice of a beautiful woman every six months.
True or false, opinions were divided, and there was no definitive conclusion.
Originally, I thought about checking out the Feng Shui there and earning some commission, but I dismissed the idea. Every time I approached that house, I felt an exceptionally chilling atmosphere, and my eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
Those of us in this line of work tend to believe in the supernatural, but we avoid getting involved in strange matters whenever possible.
At night, after a day of noisy commotion in the village, everything quieted down.
I closed the door and, as usual, sat alone in the shop, watching the game live streams on my phone.
After a few games ended, it was already late at night.
I stretched lazily, getting ready to sleep, when suddenly, in the quiet shop, the sound of a vibrating phone echoed.
Buzzing...
I felt a shiver down my spine. My phone was in my hand, so where was this sound coming from?
For a brief moment of panic, I noticed the drawer on the counter flickering with light. Then I remembered—the crazy woman's phone was still in there.
Could she remember her phone was with me and came to take it back?
I opened the drawer and checked the phone, but I was stunned.
"Anchor identity linked. First live broadcast location: Eight Immortals Bun Shop. Open live room?" The phone kept vibrating, and a row of blood-red words flashed on the screen.
Below the blood words were two options.
Yes, No.
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