6:00 PM. The clock had just ticked over to 18:00. In a Southeast Asian country, the top 100 most popular livestreams—once filled with laughter, product promotions, singing, and dancing—were suddenly interrupted. The livestream screens simultaneously switched to a murder countdown. Thick, blood-red text flickered on the screens, while a cold, mechanical female voice repeated a chilling question:
"Zhao Ba, where are my legs?"
"Zhao Ba, I've come to claim your life."
Beneath the text was a rapidly ticking countdown clock. Twenty-four hours remained.
For five full minutes, this terrifying murder warning played in all 100 livestreams, in front of over 60 million live viewers. Platform staff frantically tried to restore the original broadcasts, but their efforts were in vain. After five minutes, the eerie images vanished, and the usual lively content resumed in all the streams. But by then, viewers were in an uproar. Across all the different streams, the comment sections flooded with the same questions:
"Who is Zhao Ba?"
"What did Zhao Ba do?"
"Who wants Zhao Ba dead?"
The last question was one Zhao Ba himself was curious about.
In the capital city of the same Southeast Asian country, Zhao Ba sat in his luxurious villa, his face dark and stormy. A phone lay in pieces at his feet, shattered in a fit of rage. Just five minutes ago, he had received concerned messages from his buddies, who had forwarded the bizarre murder countdown to him, half-jokingly asking:
"Hey, Brother Ba, what's going on here?"
"Who's bold enough to come after our Brother Ba?"
Furious, Zhao Ba had smashed his phone. Though the screen was destroyed, the speaker still worked. That same cold, robotic voice continued to play on repeat:
"Zhao Ba, where are my legs?"
"Zhao Ba, I've come to claim your life."
Each repetition sent Zhao Ba into a deeper rage. He leaped to his feet, stomping violently on the phone.
"Claim my life? I'll see you try!"
Finally, the phone broke into pieces, and the voice disappeared. Zhao Ba collapsed back onto the couch, his chest heaving.
Just then, a well-dressed woman descended the spiral staircase, her phone also playing the same video. Zhao Ba immediately confronted her:
"Didn't you say all this information was deleted? What the hell is going on now?"
His mother's face was grim. "And now you're blaming me? I told you not to mess with that family again, but you just wouldn't listen. Now look what you've done! This has gotten out of hand—watch out or your father's discipline will come down on you hard!"
Zhao Ba growled impatiently, "That family only has an old hag left. Killing her wouldn't make a sound. There's no way it's her. Get your people to investigate this and find out who's stirring things up!"
Zhao Ba's mother set her phone down, exasperated. "You think I haven't tried? They traced it, and guess what? The source is an overseas IP. The signal came from some deserted island—there's not a soul in sight!"