In the video, Lu Ban checked underneath the bed, took the toys away, turned off the light, lay on his bed, placed his hands by his sides, and wore a calm expression as he slowly closed his eyes.
It was evident that the video had undergone some editing since there was quite a long interval between these two actions.
Seeing this, Lu Ban immediately paused the video and searched the footage for any hidden cameras but found nothing.
"Looks like it was the work of the System..."
Lu Ban continued by pressing play.
The room's lights were off, yet the video was comparatively clear, though the quality was a bit poor, occasionally exhibiting the flickering unique to surveillance cameras.
From the silent video, the sound of a heartbeat started emanating from the phone.
Thump——
Thump——
Thump——
This heartbeat sounded incredibly real, and for some inexplicable reason, it was synchronized with Lu Ban's current heart rate, as if it were coming from his own chest.
As the heartbeat sound gradually slowed, Lu Ban's expression softened, and he seemed to relax significantly.
At that moment, the wardrobe door beside Lu Ban's bed was slowly pushed open by some force, and amidst the soothing heartbeat, an unnatural creaking sound emerged.
Yet, Lu Ban couldn't see what had appeared inside the wardrobe.
It was as if the clothes in the wardrobe had moved, as if something was pressing down on the quilt, as if something was brushing against his clothes.
All of these were unclear, shadowy, fueling a creeping anxiety.
Suddenly, a scratching noise exploded from the phone.
Even though Lu Ban had experienced it firsthand, the abrupt sound of scratching still startled him, nearly causing him to toss the phone away.
Scratch scratch scratch——
The sound of scratching was even more authentic than the heartbeat, as if some indeterminate creature was attempting to tear through the screen and burst out of the phone, to the point that even the phone's case, upon which Lu Ban's palm rested, began to vibrate at a high frequency.
The Lu Ban in the video seemed to be affected as well, his expression turning grave as he attempted to get up.
"This is..."
Recalling the situation from that time, Lu Ban drew in a sharp breath.
It was the moment when he was fully conscious but unable to move a muscle!
Now, he could clearly see that his body was slightly twitching, and on the exposed parts of his body—his ankles, wrists, neck—several dark handprints had abruptly appeared!!!
It was as if several invisible entities were lying on top of him, pinning down his limbs.
Upon seeing this scene in the video, Lu Ban glanced quickly at his own wrists, and while there were no signs of bruising, they throbbed faintly, though it might just be psychological.
"That should be about right..."
Lu Ban figured it was about time for him to wake up, so he watched carefully while keeping an eye out for the kind of scare that comes with a sudden appearance of a face.
In his memory, the next thing Lu Ban should be doing was getting up to grab the crowbar and check under the bed.
"He's up...?"
Lu Ban noticed that the version of himself on the bed was getting up, but the movements were extremely stiff, resembling a long-dead zombie with rigid joints.
The Lu Ban in the frame, holding a crowbar, moved slowly towards the edge of the bed.
At this point, the video's perspective switched, turning into a view from behind Lu Ban, as if the cameraperson was standing inside the wardrobe, secretly filming.
Lu Ban's head gradually lowered, and the shot moved accordingly.
Meanwhile, the video's heartbeat continued, now slightly quicker than before.
The camera revealed the gloomy space under the bed, the accumulating dust, and the doll that was staring dead at Lu Ban!
Crrrritch, crrrritch, crrrritch——
The heartbeat that had been serving as background music suddenly came to a halt, replaced by an even more intense scratching sound exploding from the phone. Lu Ban felt as if his phone were vibrating, and he instinctively threw it away. The phone landed on the table, its speaker buzzing as the entire phone trembled wildly, making a buzzing sound on the table.
From a side angle, Lu Ban saw that as the scratching sound peaked, the entire video also reached its end.
After a brief black screen, where only the reflection of his own face was visible, the screen lit up again, and Lu Ban awoke from the bed as if all that had happened was just a nightmare, and reality remained safe.
The lens followed Lu Ban as he looked around, and then under the bed.
There was nothing but those boring garlic cloves and crucifixes. Besides that, it was utterly empty.
The Lu Ban in the video seemed to relax, the persistent heartbeat sound that had been echoing in his ears also disappeared, and the Lu Ban outside the screen gradually steadied his emotions.
At that moment, the lens zoomed out, slowly returning to the original perspective.
In this slowly widening shot, Lu Ban saw the comically sinister Bluelu doll perched on his shoulder, its painted eyes staring at the lens, and its open mouth seeming to laugh wildly.
Click——
The video abruptly stopped.
Cold sweat had broken out on Lu Ban.
He vaguely felt something pressing on his shoulder; he didn't look back directly, but instead used the computer screen's reflection to check.
There was nothing there.
"...Almost felt like I was going to lose my sanity again."
Finally, Lu Ban calmed down.
This video, perhaps because he had personally experienced it, or maybe because it was well-edited and effectively rendered, had given him a good scare, quite thrilling.
"Is this one of my rewards for clearing the game?"
Lu Ban thought that this kind of supernatural-themed short video was always very attractive; after all, the public has a curious mindset. Seeing such videos, they would unconsciously click in search of thrills.
Whether this video could reach five million views, Lu Ban was unsure, but the content of the video itself was not an issue. If he was lucky enough to catch some trending wave, it might just take off.
However, the video was somewhat on the lengthy side, almost forty minutes long including the buildup.
In the realm of short videos, the optimal duration is within two minutes, and the most exciting, attention-grabbing gimmicks need to be deployed within the first fifteen seconds.
After all, the patience of short video viewers is low, and they are in search of quick, intense stimulation—a forty-minute video is too long.
Therefore, Lu Ban decided to upload this video to the Olden Days Video Website.
However, he had done some editing and color correction, cutting out the tedious parts, focusing on displaying the horrifying and bizarre imagery, and also increased the volume for a period of time, removed the details of playing the mini-game to prevent others from imitating, and shortened the video to about six minutes.
His account name on the Olden Days Video Website was "Motionless", where he had previously uploaded a few different types of videos. Among them, the one on video editing got the least views, a typical example of a dead-end MAD route.
The video with the highest number of views had just broken ten thousand, and it was simply a casual footage of the cat downstairs.
Lu Ban did a quick search for supernatural videos on the Olden Days Video Website and found that there were quite a few. However, most were old clichés from the last century; after all, photographic equipment has advanced since the new millennium, and ghosts have been too scared to show up.
Lu Ban entered the video title "Don't open at night!!!" and then selected the Everyday category in the Life section. The website automatically took a thumbnail from the content and he clicked upload.
Once it entered the review process, Lu Ban stretched lazily, ready to take a nap and then think about how to ride the trending wave.
Lying on the bed, Lu Ban closed his eyes, trying to summon sleep when suddenly an inspiration flashed through his mind.
Being unable to move in bed, seeing the Bluelu doll underneath, hearing the scratching sounds that made one's sanity crumble—these should all have been part of his dream.
So, how was this video... filmed?
*
Newbie here, please recommend and collect~