Crack—
Crack—
The corpse sitting upright in the morgue began to slowly move, its body stiff like a zombie as it climbed down from the gurney.
The chilling scene sent shivers down the spines of the live-stream audience.
Even those accustomed to shocking visuals couldn’t help but feel their skin crawl as they watched the screen.
Seeing the barrage of comments filled with variations of “[Protect me with these comments],” a malicious smirk appeared on Qing Li’s lips.
To enhance the show’s effect, she quickly formed a hand seal, igniting a talisman at her fingertips that burned to ash. An invisible wave of eerie energy swept through, and suddenly, hundreds of ghosts appeared in the live stream without warning.
These ferocious-looking spirits stood behind the stiff corpse, manipulating its movements step by step as it inched closer…
[What the heck.]
[Grass (a type of plant)] (This really means “Fuck”)
[Genius upstairs. Even at a time like this, you’re adding footnotes in parentheses.]
[Oh my god, where did all these ghosts come from?]
[They’re all standing behind the corpses. So… are they controlling them?]
Someone in the chat had already figured it out.
“Miss Qing Li, shouldn’t we… run?” Lin Zizhou was nearly in tears, his legs trembling uncontrollably.
Qing Li’s face remained calm and collected, a serene smile gracing her lips. She replied unhurriedly, “Don’t worry, this is nothing.”
Wasn’t it just a few hundred corpses and ghosts?
[Hey, village girl, stop talking big. If you decide to run, I promise no one will judge you.]
No sooner had someone sent this comment than Qing Li raised her slender, delicate hand. Five dark yellow talismans, painted with unknown patterns in cinnabar, appeared in her grasp.
Even through the screen, countless viewers could feel the overwhelming power radiating from those talismans.
Suddenly, all the corpses froze, as if the scene had been paused.
With her lips moving slightly, Qing Li began reciting an ancient, cryptic incantation. As the words spilled forth, the seemingly ordinary talismans burst into dazzling, blinding light, almost searing the viewers’ eyes.
“Destroy.”
A single whispered command broke through the radiance like a drumbeat striking home.
With a deafening boom, thick bolts of lightning tore through the morgue’s oppressive darkness, crashing down in a blaze of glory. The shrill, ear-piercing screams of the ghosts turned to ashes in an instant.
Chunks of shattered corpses flew through the air, scattering in every direction.
The sight stunned everyone watching the live stream.
For a long moment, the comment section was silent. Then, one word appeared amidst the stillness:
[Miracle.]
It pierced straight into the hearts of everyone present.
They seemed to have witnessed a real—god!
As the lightning subsided and the dust settled, the state of the morgue appeared before everyone’s eyes.
All the ghosts had turned to ashes. The cracked concrete floor was littered with scattered limbs, not a single complete corpse in sight.
“All done.”
Qing Li chuckled sweetly, casually dusting off her little cotton jacket as she kept up her nonchalant demeanor.
Noticing the eerie quiet in the live stream, she pouted in dissatisfaction. “Don’t forget to send gifts, everyone.”
She had burned through five Thunder Talismans in one go for this effect. If she didn’t get a proper return, wouldn’t that be a huge loss?
At Qing Li’s reminder, the stunned viewers snapped out of their shock. Gifts flooded the screen like there was no tomorrow.
Popularity value: 30 million+
Popularity value: 50 million+
Popularity value: 100 million+
For a first-time live streamer to break one hundred million in popularity and still climb higher—this shattered all previous live-streaming records.
Even the usually arrogant system couldn’t remain calm. It subtly hinted, “Friendly reminder: popularity points can be spent in the store to purchase items.”
“I remember the first time I exterminated ghosts, you generously gave me an item as a reward. Why not this time?” Qing Li raised an eyebrow, her tone deliberate and measured.
She strongly suspected the system had shortchanged her prizes.
The system quietly logged off: “…”
It wasn’t withholding rewards; it simply had no precedent for someone wiping out 438 ghosts in one go. The main system hadn’t prepared anything for such an occurrence.
Just then, Qing Li’s gaze shifted sharply, her eyes gleaming coldly. “Trying to run?”
The massive axe in her hand was flung casually, smashing into a concrete pillar supporting the morgue.
The entire morgue trembled slightly as clouds of dust rained down.
“Ahhhhh—”
A pitiful scream echoed as the missing little boy suddenly reappeared beside the pillar. His body had been cleaved in two, and as his upper half squirmed, his internal organs spilled onto the ground.
His once sinister, venomous eyes were now filled with terror. He had never encountered such a terrifying human.
“Got—you.”
Qing Li walked forward step by step, her innocent, youthful face seemingly pure and harmless, yet more frightening than any ghost.
Her lips stretched into a wide grin, revealing her neat, white teeth.
“Run. Let’s see where you can run now.”
“No! Please, no—”
The little boy screamed in panic. The arrogance he once had was now replaced with utter disgrace.
“Don’t worry. I’m a good person who respects the elderly and cherishes the young,” Qing Li said, her smile as warm and gentle as she could make it.
The audience stared at the boy who had been cleaved in two, falling into a contemplative silence: …
Hmm, the “village girl” is truly someone who “respects the elderly and cherishes the young”!
A talisman was slapped onto the boy’s forehead. His eyes gradually dulled, and his body slowly disappeared into nothingness.
“Is it over?”
Lin Zizhou wobbled toward Qing Li, his steps hesitant.
The once bustling morgue was now silent, leaving only Qing Li and him as the two living beings in the room. He let out a long sigh of relief.
But Qing Li remained expressionless. With a light tug, she pulled the massive axe embedded in the concrete pillar free, holding it firmly in her hand.
“It’s not over yet,” she said in a chilly tone.
Lin Zizhou, who had just relaxed, tensed up again. He swallowed hard and obediently followed behind her.
That slender, seemingly fragile figure ahead gave him an inexplicable sense of security.
Qing Li walked deeper into the morgue. The emergency lights above flickered incessantly, their glow reflecting off the cold, sharp edge of the axe like streaks of frost cutting through the air.
“It’s cold… colder now,” Lin Zizhou muttered as he wrapped his coat tighter around himself.
Even though the protective talisman on his chest radiated warmth, the bone-chilling cold seemed to seep into his very soul.
Qing Li suddenly stopped, and Lin Zizhou hurriedly halted as well.
Before them stood a cement wall.
The dark gray cement wall starkly contrasted with the surrounding pale white walls. Was something hidden behind it?
Bang!
Without hesitation, Qing Li swung her axe. The cement wall cracked and crumbled, and the secret it concealed was revealed.
A corpse.
More precisely, a headless, mummified corpse.
The corpse was small in stature, dressed in a loose, tattered hospital gown, sitting in an eerily obedient posture. Thick cobwebs wrapped around its body, with faint traces of insects that thrived in damp darkness burrowing into the dried flesh.
But what truly caught the eye…
Lin Zizhou’s gaze froze on the corpse’s hands. Those withered arms were tightly clutching a fresh, intact head.
The face was identical to the one in the case photos he had seen in the office.
It was—Mu Qing’s head!
“Found you,” Qing Li repeated softly, her tone carrying a chilling gentleness.
Her hand gently caressed the head’s face, as if stroking something precious.