Chapter 102: The Risqué Streamer in the Shared Apartment (Part 19)

Skin Thirst Syndrome—

Shen Ke finally found an exact term to describe her strange illness.

It turned out to be Skin Thirst Syndrome, so that explained why she loved touching other people’s skin.

She gently closed her eyes and mumbled, “No wonder I love it so much.”

Yu Zhi pulled Shen Ke into her arms and asked in a hoarse voice, “Shen Ke, don’t you hate me?”

“I drugged you and made you faint.”

Shen Ke found a comfortable position in Yu Zhi’s embrace, which was filled with a cold fragrance. “Why would I hate you?”

“You didn’t hurt me.”

Yu Zhi didn’t answer. She stared at Shen Ke’s vague silhouette in the darkness and tightened her arms around Shen Ke.

Unknowingly, she had fallen too deep, too heavily. She couldn’t let go of Shen Ke.

Yu Zhi said softly, “Miss Shen Ke, you’re so cold.” She didn’t take her to heart at all.

No matter what she did, Shen Ke didn’t care.

“Why hate you” seemed like a tolerant statement, but it was actually indifference toward people and things.

Shen Ke didn’t ask why she had drugged her, nor why she had done that to her.

People were always greedy. Having gotten the body, they would want the heart too.

To obtain all the favoritism that belonged to others.

Even breathing sounded evenly by her ear.

Yu Zhi closed her eyes, rested her chin on top of Shen Ke’s head, and gently patted Shen Ke’s back. Her cold timbre gained a trace of tenderness in the night. “I might love you very much.”

No one had ever taught her what love felt like. Yu Zhi simply followed her instincts and believed that she deeply loved Shen Ke.

The next day, Shen Ke woke up close to noon. She was roused by a knock at the door.

Shen Ke tidied up simply and headed to the door.

“Who is it!”

“Miss Shen Ke? We’re the people sent by Lady Fu.”

Shen Ke sobered up a bit. Fu Ye? These people were surprisingly polite this time.

Shen Ke opened the door. Several men and women in black suits stood at the entrance. The woman in the lead smiled. “Miss Shen Ke, we’re here to collect our Eldest Miss’s things. May we come in?”

Shen Ke nodded and stepped aside to let them pass.

They moved quickly. In less than half an hour, Fu Enshi’s belongings were all packed up.

“Then we’ll take our leave. We wish you a pleasant life, Miss Shen Ke.”

Shen Ke stood there stunned for a good while before she came back to her senses. It seemed that little kid really wasn’t coming back.

Shen Ke suddenly thought of Song Lan. She walked over to the tea table and saw the shattered Jade Buddha.

Her eyes widened slightly. Shen Ke called out, “Song Lan? Song Lan?!” There was no response.

Song Lan had probably gone out, Shen Ke thought to herself. She collected the Jade Buddha, put it into a small bag together, and stored it in her room.

Being broken probably wouldn’t have much impact.

Shen Ke didn’t understand these things, but Song Lan was a very powerful ghost. There was no way she’d die just because a little Jade Buddha had shattered.

Close to noon, Shen Ke went into the kitchen. At a glance, she spotted the sticky note stuck to the fridge.

The handwriting was sharp and cold, reminding Shen Ke of her first glimpse of Yu Zhi.

—Miss Shen Ke, I’m going on a long trip for the next few days. Take good care of yourself at home and eat properly. Eat less takeout.

It was a short message, but Shen Ke knew it was from Yu Zhi. It felt like overnight, she was the only one left.

Shen Ke blinked, tossed the sticky note into the trash can. She could just message her. Writing an old-fashioned note like that.

But starting from that day, neither Yu Zhi, Song Lan, nor Fu Enshi appeared again.

Shen Ke took Song Lan’s shattered Jade Buddha to the last antique shop.

She had already checked many shops, but all the owners said the Jade Buddha was too thoroughly shattered to repair. Now, only this last rundown shop remained.

Shen Ke gripped the fragments in her hand and stepped into the store.

She wasn’t sure if Song Lan had left or vanished. She wanted to get the Jade Buddha repaired to find out. If it got fixed and Song Lan still didn’t show up, then she wouldn’t bother with her anymore.

Song Lan was a ghost, and the Jade Buddha definitely wasn’t anything good, so she hadn’t taken it to a temple or a Taoist temple. Instead, she came to an antique shop.

Standing inside the shop, Shen Ke felt a chill rising from the soles of her feet. She couldn’t help but frown and call out, “Is anyone here?”

She called three times with no response. Shen Ke wrinkled her nose in annoyance. “Annoying! Where did the person go!” She had crossed the entire city to get here!

“Little girl, what do you need?” The voice came from behind Shen Ke.

Shen Ke wasn’t startled. She turned toward the source of the voice and saw a woman in a light green cheongsam standing there, though she didn’t know when she had appeared.

She wasn’t a young woman— she looked to be around sixty or seventy, her face marked by the traces of many years, but her spirit was still vibrant.

Shen Ke walked over, held out her hand, and showed the woman the Jade Buddha. “Can this be repaired?”

The woman didn’t look at the Jade Buddha right away. Instead, her gaze carefully scrutinized Shen Ke’s face.

Shen Ke got annoyed from being stared at. “Why are you looking at me!”

The woman smiled. “Sorry, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any young people. I was a bit surprised for a moment.” With that, she lowered her eyes to the Jade Buddha in Shen Ke’s hand.

A deep glint flashed in her eyes. She looked up, her voice somewhat hoarse. “A Ghost Jade Buddha. I can repair it, but little girl, are you sure you want it repaired?”

Shen Ke hadn’t expected her to identify the issue with the Jade Buddha at a glance. She nodded firmly. “Yes, repair it.”

The woman said, “Fifty thousand, three months. Are you sure?”

Shen Ke pursed her lips and placed the Jade Buddha into the woman’s hand. “Repair it.” After all, she had plenty of money now. She was a big streamer and could keep earning.

The woman smiled, deep wrinkles forming at the corners of her eyes. “Little girl, dealing with ghosts will make you die young.”

Shen Ke snorted coldly. “Just repair it.”

The woman wasn’t angered by Shen Ke’s attitude. She stepped close to Shen Ke and poked her forehead a few times at a speed so fast that even Shen Ke couldn’t react.

After poking, she quickly retreated to her original spot. “All done. I hope you can hold on until the day you come to pick up the Jade Buddha.”

Shen Ke glared at the woman angrily, paid up, and stormed out of the shop in a huff. She made it sound like she was about to die. Hateful!

Meanwhile, inside the shop, the woman in the cheongsam restrained her smile and gently stroked the Ghost Jade Buddha in her palm.

“A Jade Buddha from the Song Family of Profound Spirit Mountain. I wonder who lives here.” It counted as a pleasant surprise. She hadn’t expected to encounter something like this in her ninety-seventh year.

It had been a long time since she’d gone to Profound Spirit Mountain.

An eerie voice sounded by her ear. “Boss, why did you help that person?”

“Even if you help her now, she’ll still die soon.”

The woman carefully stored away the Ghost Jade Buddha and let out a leisurely sigh. “I shouldn’t meddle with someone who’s doomed to die.”

“But she gave me a good thing.”

Time seemed to hit the fast-forward button. In the blink of an eye, autumn had arrived.

At ten o’clock in the evening, Shen Ke started her stream.

—KK Baby, kiss kiss!

—KK Baby looks so cute today. Is that a little rabbit outfit?

—Haven’t seen the little assistant in forever. I kinda miss her. I even ship her and KK a bit, hehe.

Shen Ke puffed out her cheeks, her voice both coquettish and sweet. “No shipping allowed! I fired the little assistant. She was terrible at her job!” It had been nearly three months. In a few days, she’d go find that shop owner.

—Okay okay okay, no shipping. What dance is KK doing today, quack?

—I wanna see KK do that one from last time. It was super pretty!

—I wanna see KK play a horror game.

—Great suggestion! KK, play a horror game, pretty please.

Shen Ke agreed without much hesitation. She had seen a real ghost before—how could she be scared of a little game?

Shen Ke said coquettishly, “Alright then. What game do you all want me to play?”

The comments flooded in with app names one after another.

[Crying sent a Carnival: Play Evil Eye.]

—What’s Evil Eye? Never heard of it.

—Me neither.

—Probably some indie game. Nothing much to it.

Shen Ke cleared her throat lightly. “Okay, we’ll play Evil Eye.” As she spoke, she searched for it on her computer. The blank page stalled for a long time, suddenly blacked out for an instant, and only lit up again after a moment, finally loading the page.

A small icon of a massive eye filled the entire screen.

—This game looks so creepy.

—I think so too. KK, maybe don’t play it.

[Crying rewarded a Carnival: Yeah, just click the first one.]

Seeing the reward money, Shen Ke said sweetly, “Crying sis rewarded so much. I’ll play this game for sure.” With that, she clicked the link and started the download.

Once installed, a tiny icon with an eye appeared on her desktop.

Shen Ke thought for a moment and aimed her camera at the computer screen. “Everyone, play along with me.”

—Okay, Baby!

—Okay, Baby!

—Okay, Baby!

—…

Shen Ke opened the game software. What loaded first was a dilapidated school campus, paired with eerie music—it was indeed a bit scary.

A line of small text appeared at the bottom of the screen.

[Students died one after another in the dorms. Police miss, please uncover the truth.]

[1: Head to the classroom.]

[2: Head to the cafeteria.]

[3: Head to the dorms.]

[4: Head to the warehouse.]

—Students died in the dorms, so obviously go to the dorms.

—No, if it were that straightforward, what would be the point of the game?

—KK, which one do you wanna pick?

Shen Ke directly chose to head to the dorms. It was first-person perspective; following the camera’s rotation, she arrived at an empty dorm corridor.

There were no more prompts this time, but it seemed like every dorm door shown was clickable.

Shen Ke clicked one at random. The view zoomed in on the door crack, peering into the pitch-black interior through the gap.

[Can’t see clearly. Need to get closer.]

Shen Ke moved her mouse to zoom in. Suddenly, an eye full of red bloodshot veins burst into view, accompanied by a sudden spike in the music—utterly terrifying.

—Fuck! Scared the shit outta me! No warning at all!

—Baby, stop playing! I can’t even search for this game!

—Me too! Baby, get out quick!

The screen crackled with static, and the stream suddenly went black. Shen Ke couldn’t see the comments anymore.

But she had already sensed something was wrong. She felt that familiar chill, and goosebumps rose all over her in an instant.

The temperature in the room was slowly dropping, but Song Lan hadn’t returned.

Shen Ke looked at the eye on the screen. That eye suddenly curved up, as if smiling at her, then the eyeball abruptly burst open. Blood flooded the entire display.

Shen Ke’s eyes widened in fright. She panicked and jumped to her feet.

No—there was a ghost—

Something even more terrifying happened. A pair of pale hands slowly stretched out from the screen, their sharp nails gleaming with a cold, ghostly light.

A piercing, shrill voice rang right in Shen Ke’s ears. “Save me.”

“I’m trapped inside here.”

“Just touch my hand. As long as you touch my hand.”

Shen Ke’s face went deathly pale. She tried to run away in a panic, but the moment she took a step, a pair of hands clamped tightly onto her shoulders.

Her blood seemed to freeze. Her heart pounded wildly, and she didn’t dare turn around at all.

A cold breath sprayed against Shen Ke’s ear. It whispered softly, “Just touch my hand.”

Shen Ke’s eyes turned red-rimmed. She trembled all over from fear. That voice seemed to have some kind of magic power—Shen Ke’s hand lifted uncontrollably, as if to touch whatever was behind her.

In the System Space, the System panicked hard upon seeing this scene.

It stopped chanting the numbers and called out directly by name. “Shen Ke! Don’t touch it!”

This world was too terrifying. For a tasker, it was practically a death sentence.

Yin ghosts and evil people lurked everywhere.

But the System’s voice couldn’t pierce through the barrier of space-time. It was powerless to stop what was happening.