The Ultimate Horror Live Stream - Chapter 25 - The Four Corner Game

“Are you joining us?” The oldest boy tilted his head to look at me, his eyes bright in the darkness. For some reason, his gesture reminded me of the black cat I had encountered at the door earlier.

“Since you’re all going to play, adding me won’t change anything, right? If not, I’ll just record you guys playing.”

“Xue Fei, with him, we can finally have four people to play that game we’ve been wanting to try.” The slightly younger boy squeezed in front of me. “Hi, I’m Xiumu, and he’s my brother Xue Fei. The girl with short hair is my classmate Shen Meng, and the youngest, quiet girl is Yingzi.”

Xiumu was small and thin, looking like a gust of wind could blow him over. Yet, he was the most active and daring among the four.

“We’ve already played a few games earlier, like the pen spirit and the saucer spirit, but they were useless.”

“Playing the pen spirit here? You really know how to give yourselves a thrill.”

“Well, we only found out they were fake after playing.” Xiumu spoke casually, but I noticed the other three were giving me cold stares.

I felt a bit uneasy. “If you know they’re fake, why not just go home?”

“No, no, there’s one more game we haven’t played. It’s a four-player game, and we’re short on people.”

“Short on people? Aren’t you four already?” Xiumu’s words were filled with mystery, making me feel uneasy.

“Yingzi doesn’t play games. She’s very timid and never wants to join us.”

I looked past the three in front to Yingzi standing at the back. She was shy, always keeping her head down and not speaking much.

“Alright, I’ll play with you this time. Remember, once we’re done, head home quickly. Sneaking out this late, your families must be worried.”

“Great, finally got enough people.”

I couldn’t share Xiumu’s excitement, only wanting these kids to leave safely so I could thoroughly search the campus.

“This game is called the four corner game, and here’s how it works.”

“At midnight, in a rectangular empty room, turn off all the lights. Then, in each of the room’s four corners, one person stands facing the corner, and absolutely do not look back.”

“When the game starts, one person from a corner walks to another corner, lightly taps the person in front on the shoulder, and stays in that corner. Then, the tapped person walks to another corner in the same manner and taps the third person.”

“Everyone continues clockwise, but if you reach a corner with no one there, you must cough once, then continue past that corner until you find the next person.”

After hearing the rules, I didn’t find the game particularly scary. “That’s it? But according to what you said, one corner is always empty, so the game can’t end.”

Xiumu pressed his face against the window, peering into the classroom. “Not necessarily.”

“Friends who’ve played before say that when no one coughs inside the room, it means there’s someone in every corner, yet there’s still someone walking, because you can hear footsteps!”

“This is a game for four people, but as you play, a fifth person might appear.”

After his explanation, I suddenly felt a twinge of regret. “Why does this sound even scarier than the pen spirit?”

“What’s there to be afraid of? It might just be a friend’s tall tale,” Xiumu said, patting his head. “If it gets too scary, all four of us can close our eyes and say, ‘Game over,’ to exit. But remember, it has to be all four of us saying it together. If even one person disagrees, the game continues.”

I glanced at my phone. The Water Friends in the Live Room were egging us on, with some even threatening to send tips.

“Alright, should we play in this classroom?”

“No, this classroom is too small,” Xue Fei chimed in. “There’s a special classroom in this building. Let’s go there.”

“Special?” I squinted. “Judging by the door signs, there are five classes per grade, three grades should mean fifteen classes. But this building has four classrooms per floor, four floors in total, so there is indeed one classroom left empty.”

We walked up to the top floor and stopped at the door of the last classroom on the left.

Looking through the window, the classroom was cleared of desks and chairs, leaving only a blackboard, a podium, and a rusty fan hanging overhead.

“Rumor has it this classroom was left empty because of a girl. Her family was very poor, and her parents had to work several jobs just to afford her tuition. Compared to other students, she was extremely diligent, always studying and reading. She listened attentively during the day and stayed in the classroom at night with a flashlight, unwilling to leave.”

“A week passed, then two weeks, until one night, the girl staying late in the classroom caught the attention of some rich kids. After being tormented several times, she couldn’t bear the humiliation and jumped from the fourth floor, dying instantly.”

“Though her body perished, it’s said her spirit returns to this classroom every night to read and study.”

“Stop it, Xiumu!” Shen Meng screamed, cutting off Xiumu’s increasingly enthusiastic storytelling.

“Are you scared?”

Shen Meng pouted defiantly, “No way, I’m just worried about scaring Yingzi.”

Yingzi, who always kept her distance from me, remained silent, her head bowed the entire time.

“Enough arguing, let’s start now,” Xue Fei, the oldest, spoke up, silencing the others. “And you, the room needs to be completely dark, not a single light. Leave the camera outside and let Yingzi watch it for you.”

I nodded, placing the camera on the windowsill, swiping my phone to appear locked, but actually keeping the camera function on so the Live Stream wouldn’t be interrupted.

“Alright, let’s assign positions,” Xiumu gathered us together. “I’ll go in first and stand in the bottom left corner, then you, the Streamer, go second to the top left corner, followed by Xue Fei in the top right corner, and finally Shen Meng in the bottom right corner. Once everyone is in position, Shen Meng will cough to signal the start. I’ll begin walking first, and everyone follows clockwise. When I tap the Streamer’s shoulder, it’s the Streamer’s turn to walk. If you reach an empty corner, cough and keep going, don’t stop.”

“Everyone remembers the rules, right? Okay, let’s begin.”

In the pitch-black classroom, there wasn’t a hint of light. The heavy darkness felt like a thick pool of ink. After Xiumu had been inside for about ten seconds, I took a deep breath and reached out my hands, feeling my way into the room.

It was truly dark inside, with visibility no more than half a meter. I stood upright, unable to even see my own shoes.

Slowly moving forward, my arm finally touched the wall. In the darkness, this small corner offered a strange sense of psychological comfort.

I turned my head to scan the room. It was large, and I couldn’t see anything. The only bit of light came from the window, where the signal light on my camera was blinking, and next to it was Yingzi, her head lowered.

Before long, Shen Meng’s cough echoed from within the classroom.

I knew then, the game had begun!

“Tap, tap, tap…” The footsteps behind me grew clearer. Facing the wall, I knew it was Xiumu coming up behind me, yet I couldn’t help but feel tense.

“Tap.” A light pat on my shoulder signaled me, and I moved clockwise to the next corner.

Unexpectedly, time seemed to pass exceptionally slowly in the darkness, as if I were on a path leading to an unknown destination.

Gradually, I saw a black silhouette. It was so dark that even up close, I couldn’t be sure it was Xue Fei.

“Finally here.” I raised my hand and gently patted the shadow on the shoulder, stopping at the corner, watching as the figure slowly moved away and vanished into the darkness.

The waiting was long. In this classroom, the concept of time felt blurred. I silently counted the seconds, listening to my own heartbeat.

About a minute later, the first cough came from the classroom. “It’s Shen Meng.”

Soon after, someone else walked over in the darkness, and my shoulder was lightly tapped again.

I stepped forward once more, feeling like I was caught in an endless cycle.

The second cough sounded, very low, and I couldn’t tell who it came from.

But based on my deduction, it was likely from Xue Fei.