The Ultimate Horror Live Stream - Chapter 32 - The Red Dress

“When did you figure it out?” Xiumu asked hesitantly after a few seconds had passed.

“I started suspecting from the moment I saw the four of you,” I replied, stepping back to the doorway to put some distance between myself and Xiumu. “The area around Xinhu High School is all wasteland. No matter which direction you come from, your shoes would definitely be covered in dirt. Yet, in the corridor where we met, it was spotless, with only my footprints visible.”

“From this, I deduced that you didn’t come from outside; you were already part of the campus.”

“So whether it’s the three of you or Yingzi, I won’t believe any of you.”

Xiumu’s face turned somber, his head lowering gradually. The dim light made him look even more frightening. “You knew we weren’t human all along, so why did you choose to join our game? Why help us find Shen Meng?”

“Life is a stage, and it’s all about the performance. As an ordinary person without any special skills, the only way to survive here is to use my wits.” I smiled, “By not exposing your identities and playing along, I gained the upper hand, made you careless, relaxed, and found it amusing, so you wouldn’t have the heart to kill me.”

As long as I could stay alive, playing a few games with ghosts was a small price to pay.

Xiumu’s expression grew increasingly grim, and patches of decay began to appear on his pale skin. “So, you’ve been deceiving us all along?”

“What? Are you angry now?” I waved dismissively. “It’s not deception, just playing along with you little ghosts.”

Who knew my attitude would be so brazen, like a tough nut to crack.

Upon hearing my words, Xiumu started walking towards me, his clothes becoming tattered, and blood seemed to seep from his feet.

“Xiumu, in my opinion, you’re the smartest of all the ghosts. Don’t do anything foolish. Since I’ve laid everything out, I’ve naturally left myself a way out.”

“Remember when I asked your father’s name? Your surname is Wang, full name Wang Xiumu. The school uniform on the second bed in the healthcare room is yours. And Xue Fei and Shen Meng, traces of you can be found throughout this school. You are the victims from five years ago, cursed by Guo Junjie, unable to reincarnate even in death.”

“Poor souls, forever wandering this eerie ghost school, living eternally in Guo Junjie’s fear.”

“I actually sympathize with you. The sins of the past have long been atoned for, yet your souls find no peace. Compared to the mistakes you made, this punishment is excessively cruel.”

Perhaps my words struck a chord, as Xiumu paused in his tracks. “We don’t need sympathy. You’ll soon become just like us!”

His voice was raspy, as if he were chewing on something.

“Cooperation benefits both; conflict harms both. You can kill me and trap my soul here, but before that, I have a proposal.”

“Speak.”

“Let me help you find release, assist you in achieving enlightenment.”

“You?”

“How will you know unless you try?”

Seeing Xiumu deep in thought, the decay on his body began to fade, and I finally felt a sense of relief.

This life-or-death negotiation seemed to have gone in my favor.

Since receiving the notification for the optional task from the Underworld Showroom, I had been puzzled. Why did the task require playing games in the school?

What games? With whom? How to play?

In a place filled with Yin energy, it’s impossible for any living person to exist, so the answer is simple: I have to play games with ghosts, and the more I play, the better.

Initially, I followed the instructions, but as the mystery of the campus slowly unraveled, I discovered that there were more than just one or two ghosts, and there might be irreconcilable conflicts among them.

One side is the perpetrator of the whole tragedy, while the other side is merely the victims trapped here.

If my guess is correct, the one pulling the strings behind the scenes is Guo Junjie. Xiumu, Shen Meng, and the others are like clowns, existing solely to perform for Guo Junjie, endlessly repeating fear and despair to cleanse their sins.

This unequal relationship gave me a whiff of opportunity, and I decided to take the initiative and confront the ghosts.

“The mistakes you’ve made, the torment day and night for five years is enough to repay. If you don’t resist now, are you prepared to be enslaved forever, to be his puppets for eternity?”

I’ve participated in civil lawsuits and worked as a mediation lawyer. Although it was initially just to make a living, at least those experiences taught me how to persuade others.

“You don’t need to hesitate. You can kill me anytime, but if you miss this opportunity, you’ll never change your imprisoned fate.”

Xiumu was eventually swayed by my words and returned to his normal appearance. “I can trust you, but if you haven’t broken the curse by dawn, then stay with us forever.”

“Deal.” I said I’d help Xiumu purely on a whim, without any certainty, hoping to buy some time.

After all, it’s a dead end either way, so why not take a gamble?

“To show your sincerity, can you make the female ghost in the red dress at the door leave? These little tricks don’t scare me.”

“Red dress?” Xiumu’s expression was peculiar. “That’s the first time I’ve seen that thing in the school.”

“Isn’t she Shen Meng?!” Things weren’t exactly as I imagined.

“Shen Meng is already dead, or rather, she died tonight.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Sighing, Xiumu wore a bitter expression. “We’re just weak remnants of consciousness, released every night by Guo Junjie to experience unbearable fear, like a nightmare repeating endlessly. When the consciousness is tortured and can’t endure, its dispersal signifies death.”

“You said it right, we’re just clowns dancing in Guo Junjie’s palm, without any freedom, never able to escape.”

“If Shen Meng and Xue Fei won’t appear tonight, could the red dress be another classmate of yours?” I wasn’t sure if Xiumu was lying, so I probed for more information.

Shaking his head, Xiumu revealed a crucial point. “Cursed students wear school uniforms, only outsiders are different, like Yingzi. I’ve never figured out her origins.”

Silent and seemingly living in a dream, Yingzi is also an outsider?

“When did she appear?”

“About a year ago. She said she was here waiting for someone. But don’t be fooled by her innocent appearance; she’s got a heavy aura of resentment, even we avoid her.”

As an adult, my way of thinking differed from Xiumu’s. My actions were driven by purpose. Xinhu High School was teeming with ghosts; what was their goal?

“There must be something valuable to ghosts in this school, which is why trouble has been attracted here.”

“I’ve never heard of any treasures in our school. When the school was first built, a madman pointed at the front gate, claiming it was built over his family grave, and cursed for three days and nights before the security guard took him away,” Xiumu shrugged. “You seem curious about everything. You should ditch streaming and narrate ‘A Hundred Thousand Whys.'”

I coughed to hide my embarrassment, feeling awkward being lectured by a little ghost. “Back to the point, since you’re all cursed by Guo Junjie, finding him should solve many problems.”

“You won’t find him. We’ve wandered this school for five years without a trace of him. We know he’s watching us from the shadows, but we have no idea where he’s hiding.”

I could somewhat empathize with Xiumu’s despair. “Don’t worry; I’m an expert at finding people and bodies.”

The mass death incident at Xinhu High School wasn’t made public. Handling so many bodies discreetly meant incineration was the safest option.

“Let’s check the water treatment tank where Guo Junjie drowned, then head to the incineration trench.” After reaching an agreement with Xiumu, I pocketed the dormitory keys. “The red dress might have left; let’s hurry and get out!”

Grabbing the handle, I twisted the lock and swung the door open, picking up the camera and sprinting towards the stairs.

“Run! She seems to be following us!”

I didn’t need to look back to know who Xiumu meant. I dashed down the stairs, taking three or four steps at a time, and finally made it out of the girls’ dormitory unscathed.

“Let’s go! Head to the water treatment center, don’t let her catch up!” I instinctively picked up Yingzi, who was sitting idly by the roadside, and ran.

“Don’t panic; she doesn’t seem to be following.”

Looking back, the red figure stood at the second-floor window of the girls’ dormitory, seemingly waving at me.

A chill ran down my spine as I realized she wasn’t wearing a long dress but a blood-red wedding gown.

“Why does her figure seem familiar?”

I shook off the strange thought and, guided by Xiumu, arrived at the water treatment center.

Opening the door, the small room was filled with water pipes, with a boiler at the far end, connected to several large water tanks.

“He drowned in here.” Climbing onto the water tank, I opened the narrow inlet, releasing a foul stench.

Using my phone as a flashlight, the massive tank was dry and pitch black, revealing nothing.

“You two wait outside; I’m going in to check.” The narrow inlet barely allowed me to squeeze through. Crawling inside, the dark, enclosed space filled me with dread.

The tank hadn’t been opened for a long time, and the air was thin. I fought the suffocating sensation, using my phone to search for anything useful.

The floor was slippery, and I crouched as I moved. Soon, I spotted a tattered school uniform in the corner.

Just as I reached for it, a boy’s voice echoed in my ear, “Why did you kill me?”

“Who!” I turned, but saw nothing. At that moment, the only exit, the narrow inlet above, slammed shut from the outside!