My friend is a live streamer. She's good-looking, and the company is willing to put in the effort to promote her. In just six months, she easily gained over a million followers on the platform. But just yesterday, during her live broadcast, she was smiling sweetly one moment, wearing a super short skirt and dancing energetically. The next moment, her body was severed, and blood was gushing from her neck's carotid artery, splattering all over half the wall. The audience thought it was a scripted act and went wild with their donations. It wasn't until the platform urgently shut down the stream that everyone realized something was wrong. Someone had died. Weiwei was dead. At that moment, I was on-site.
Chapter 1
My friend was a live streamer. She was gorgeous, and her agency spared no effort in promoting her.
Within just six months, she effortlessly built a following of over a million fans.
And then-just yesterday, during a live stream.
One second, she was smiling sweetly, dancing in a tiny skirt.
The next, her head was gone. Blood gushed from her neck like a burst pipe, splattering half the wall.
At first, the viewers thought it was all part of the show. They flooded the stream with tips and super chats, thinking it was some kind of horror-themed performance.
It wasn't until the platform abruptly shut the stream down that people realized something was terribly wrong.
Monica Barnes was dead.
I was there when it happened.
01
We had applied for the job together when they were recruiting new streamers.
Streaming was just taking off back then.
The company was mostly hiring pretty girls and dressing them in barely-there outfits.
The job? Dance provocatively or flirt with rich viewers, giggling into the camera and playing the cute girl act.
Monica, with her stunning looks, stood out instantly.
I, unsurprisingly, didn't make the cut.
She comforted me at the time, saying maybe it was a blessing in disguise. The industry was chaotic anyway.
But not long after, she was constantly busy, and her clothes changed from budget fashion to high-end designer brands.
Out of curiosity, I looked her up on the platform, and found out she had over a million followers.
Whenever we spoke, there was always this smugness in her voice, this barely-hidden contempt.
Still, we'd been friends for years.
So when I got laid off and couldn't make my mortgage payments, she reached out and offered to help.
02
Monica asked me to be her assistant streamer.
Basically, I was there to make her look better, just a background prop.
Compared to her, I was plain-looking. That contrast only made her shine brighter.
On and off camera, she bossed me around, used me, drained me.
By that point, our friendship had already changed into something else.
But the pay was good. Too good to walk away from easily.
However, I wasn't giving up. I was preparing to apply for a steady government job in the city.
Once I made it, I planned to quit this life for good, and cut ties with her.
03
To keep growing, Monica leaned into a niche- seductive horror.
It sounded like a clever brand strategy. But really, it was just skimpy outfits in creepy locations-ghost towns, abandoned hospitals, supposed haunted houses. Singing. Dancing. Pretending to be scared. Acting cute.
At first, her team didn't believe in the concept. But Monica got lucky.
Around that time, viral trends like "haunted car drifting" and "graveyard raves" started blowing up online. Her content hit the zeitgeist perfectly.
The first few streams raked in views like crazy.
But things were never going to stay smooth forever.
After several ghost hunts, we finally ran into something we couldn't laugh off.
04
That morning, I already had a bad feeling when I left the house. An unshakable sense of dread weighed on me.
Monica was slipping into a pair of black stockings, tossing me a mocking glance. "If you're this scared, why even bother trying to make money?" she said.
I didn't respond.
I had grown numb to her constant jabs and snide remarks.
She was wearing a tight black mini skirt paired with garter stockings.
The sharp contrast between her pale thighs and the dark nylons made her look stunning, almost unreal.
The place we were heading to was out in the middle of nowhere. There had been a murder there just last month.
According to insider talk, the crime scene hadn't even been fully cleaned up.
No rideshare driver wanted to take the job. Every request I made was instantly canceled.
"No wonder you're still broke. You can't even handle something this simple. What else are you even good at? Is that why your boyfriend dumped you? Because you're dumb?"
As the livestream time crept closer, Monica grew more anxious. Her words got sharper by the minute.
I was just as stressed, staring at my phone screen, praying for some miracle.
And somehow, maybe answering that silent prayer, a taxi slowly rolled up in front of us.
The window came down, and the driver, wearing a mask, grinned at us. "Hey ladies, where you headed?"
05
Relieved, I quickly stepped forward and told him the destination.
The driver's eyes went straight to Monica's legs, lingering far too long. He looked completely hypnotized.
He didn't seem to care how far or isolated the place was. He unlocked the doors and motioned us in eagerly.
Monica looked pleased.
Thinking her beauty had done the trick, she flashed a proud little smile and sweetly asked the driver, "Can you drive quickly, please? We're kind of on a tight schedule."
Men usually ate that kind of thing up.
The driver chuckled, clearly enjoying himself. "With you in the car, who could focus on driving?"
His comment crossed the line, flirting openly.
Monica didn't even blink. She heard worse on a daily basis and played along effortlessly. "Oh, stop it," she said, her tone playful.
The driver glanced at the gear and lights in the backseat. "You two livestreamers? Why are you heading out there? It's the middle of nowhere, and there's nothing to see."
Monica played with her hair and smiled charmingly. "We're going to explore a haunted house."
The driver nodded, as if everything made sense now. "You girls are really brave. There was a murder there just last month."
He lowered his voice. "People say it's haunted. You two aren't scared?"
"There's no such thing as ghosts. That's just old superstition." I said, "Being broke is way scarier."
That got a loud laugh out of him.
He drove smoothly, keeping his eyes on the road while chatting with us. "Not many people your age have guts like that. That family... it was brutal." Grinning, he said, "That whole building's pretty much emptied out by now."
Monica's eyes lit up.
Ignoring my worried expression, she leaned in eagerly. "Tell us, what happened?"
"I don't know everything. But I heard the wife had a lover. One day they were at home together, and her husband came back early.
Of course the guy flipped out. He grabbed a knife and tried to attack. The lover panicked and fought back.
The husband couldn't overpower him. The lover ended up pinning him to the floor, choking him. I guess the husband cried out to his wife for help."
The driver said with a creepy little chuckle. "And she did help-by helping the lover strangle her husband to death."
Each twist was more shocking than the last.
The driver sighed, shaking his head. "They say the man died with his eyes wide open, staring at the two of them."
Monica and I were completely hooked, listening in silence.
"The two of them stuffed his body in the trunk, planning to get rid of it the next day.
But that night, while they were sleeping... The door creaked open. The wife got up... and saw her husband standing there."
06
We both screamed at the same time, instinctively rubbing the goosebumps on our arms as we turned to look at each other.
The driver was fully immersed in his story and went on without pause. "The next day, when someone finally found them, their heads had been cut off and stuffed into a cooker."
Monica's face turned pale. She was visibly shaken.
The company had told her the location was great, and that other streamers were fighting for the chance to go there. She hadn't looked into the details. All she knew was that there had been a murder there last month.
She thought using it as clickbait would drive traffic through the roof.
She never imagined the backstory would be this gruesome and disturbing.
Her voice trembled as she asked, "So... what happened to the ghost?"
"Who knows?" the driver's eyes fixed on the road. We could only see the back of his head as he continued, his tone lowering.
"You know the type. She was messing around with some guy behind her husband's back. Brought him home, too. Can you believe that? And in the end, the whole family wound up dead.
Guess people shouldn't do things they'll regret."
Suddenly, I broke the silence.
"There are no such things as ghosts," I said. "The husband's body was never found, was it?"
The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror but didn't say a word.
Monica clung tightly to my arm, her grip so tight it hurt.
I pulled her hand away and tried to comfort her. "Don't worry. It's just a scary story. Or maybe it's just meant to cover something up."
Monica looked confused. "Cover what up?"
"When someone's strangled, they can go into a state of suspended consciousness. The husband probably passed out and got tossed into the trunk.
After a while, he came to. Fueled by rage, he broke free... and came back for revenge."
I said, "This was a human crime, nothing supernatural about it. Right?"
The driver let out a low chuckle.
"That's not something you should say out loud." He said, "That building is nearly empty now. Most people moved out. A bunch of young women have gone missing while heading back there at night.
When they were found, their bodies looked just like that wife's. You sure that's not some kind of revenge from beyond the grave?"