The moment Yang Hexuan's bullet comment floated away, the livestream fell silent for two seconds.
The next instant, dense bullet comments boiled over like exploding water, completely blanketing the screen.
No one was hung up on how bizarre this rat in a burial shroud was anymore, nor was anyone wondering why they couldn't close the livestream.
Desire was the ultimate tool for making people let down their guard.
As if possessed, many people bit their lips and typed out their wishes, character by character.
Of course, there was no shortage of people making memes and joining in on the fun, the bullet comments scrolling past rapidly:
【I want a hundred million yuan! Cash! In my account immediately!】
【I wish for Eddie Peng to be my husband! Thank you, Great Mouse Immortal!】
【I want to drop to ninety pounds! The kind where I can eat forever and never gain weight!】
【Please let me pass my finals! I'm going crazy here!】
【Can my boss just explode on the spot? I have to take the fall for that jerk's kickbacks, and he's always trying to feel me up and take advantage of me, not to mention he talks with total boomer energy.】
【I want a burial shroud just like the Mouse Lord's. If I wear it, will I live a long life?】
【I wish to win the lottery tomorrow! If I win, I'll come back to fulfill my vow!】
【Be bolder! I want to become an immortal! Little mouse, do I look like a human or a god to you?】
【Can you make my rebellious son stop destroying the house? He's a husky.】
The vast majority of the viewers treated this as a joke.
After all, a ridiculous livestream had suddenly popped up on their phones in the middle of the night, and the host was a rat wearing a burial shroud.
Anyone's first reaction would be that a livestreaming company was pulling a stunt, or a hacker was playing a prank.
But gradually, more and more serious wishes began to appear.
Mixed in with the joke comments, every word carried a heavy, deep obsession:
【I want my mom's lung cancer to be cured. I'm willing to trade anything, no matter the cost.】
【Please let my little brother get out of the ICU, he's only twelve...】
【I want the people who bully me at school to die.】
【I want money, so, so, so much money, money I can't spend in a lifetime!】
【Give me money! As long as I have the capital, I can make a comeback this time!】
【I want to become beautiful. I want to become a superstar, loved and adored by everyone!】
【I want my mom to get better.】
【I want superpowers.】
【I want to save up enough money for my daughter's surgery.】
【Make the bastard who owes me money pay me back immediately!】
【I wish to get into grad school. This is already my third year taking the exam.】
【Let the people who bullied me get what they deserve. I'm about to reach my limit.】
【I want a stable job so I can support my grandmother.】
These comments didn't scroll by as quickly.
These were wishes they didn't dare speak of during the day, with nowhere else to voice them.
The Mouse Servant leaned back in the rattan lounge chair, slowly rocking it.
Its long, sharp claws reached out, slowly rummaging through the air like an old man picking beans from a basket:
“The second one.”
The elderly voice rang out, its tone as flat as if it were counting radishes.
Deep in the mountains, Yang Asha vanished on the spot. The embers of the fire pit slowly cooled, but the man's thunderous snoring continued unabated.
“The third one.”
In the spacious city-center apartment, Jiang Chen's pupils trembled slightly. Before he vanished, the final image reflected in his vision was the horrified expression on his girlfriend's face.
...
“The eleventh one.”
In the factory office, Lin Jianguo, who had just finished typing, vanished. The alcohol bottle in his hand fell to the ground, shattering with a crisp smash.
“The twelfth one.”
In the oncology ward, Ouyang Qiu's breathing turned rapid, and the monitors by the window began to beep frantically.
By the time the duty nurse rushed into the room, the hospital bed was already empty.
...
“The twenty-first.”
“The twenty-second.”
...
“The twenty-fifth.”
The Mouse Servant counted very slowly.
It only counted one every dozen seconds or so, its claws lifting and dropping at a leisurely pace.
It looked like a merchant carefully selecting goods.
And after every pause, someone in some corner of An Province would vanish into thin air.
Some disappeared in plain sight, others in total silence.
The people in the livestream room were still frantically spamming their wishes.
No one knew that among those spamming the comments with them, some had already gone missing.
...
Meanwhile, the emergency center of the An Province Cyberspace Administration had exploded into chaos.
The staff on duty immediately reported the issue when they discovered the abnormal pop-up windows across all platforms, and the technical team intervened at once.
Ban the livestream's IP?
They couldn't find the source.
Take down the related content?
They couldn't delete or block it.
Cut off the servers?
It was useless. The livestream pop-up didn't rely on any server at all; it was as if it had appeared out of thin air on all devices.
The technical team exhausted every method, but they couldn't even graze the edges of this livestream.
It was like a ghost, parasitizing the entire network.
It was everywhere, yet completely untraceable.
“No! We can't block it!” The technical director's forehead was beaded with sweat, his shirt mostly soaked. “We can't find the source, there's no IP, no server. We don't even know how it's doing this!”
“How many devices in the province are affected?” the leader asked with a grim face.
“We're still tallying, but in Dingyuan City, almost every electronic device that is turned on has this thing popped up—”
The leader's face grew even grimmer.
An entire city's mobile devices had been compromised, and they couldn't even find the source of the signal.
This was no longer a common cybersecurity incident.
“Report this immediately! Contact the special task force!”
“Yes, sir!”
The An Province Provincial Public Security Department, the Emergency Management Department, and the police systems of various cities received reports one after another:
“Someone vanished into thin air!”
“Someone was watching a livestream in the hospital and suddenly disappeared! They didn't die, they just vanished!”
“No one in our family can turn off our phones, they're all stuck on that livestream!”
The emergency lines were flooded with calls, and the operators were run off their feet.
Police across all regions mobilized urgently, but even when they arrived at the scenes, they were utterly helpless.
The people had indeed vanished.
But there were no traces, no clues, only the devices still displaying the livestream.
They had never encountered such a case before.
A living person vanishing while watching a late-night livestream?
This sounded like some kind of supernatural horror story.
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night for An Province.
...
“This thing is handpicking people.”
Zhao Weilai watched the Mouse Servant's bean-picking movements on the projection screen, cold sweat breaking out on her back in waves:
“It only said that it can grant wishes, but it didn't mention what the price is—”
She was currently sitting in the meeting room of the Special Investigation Department.
The projection screen in the meeting room was synchronized with the livestream, and the agents of the Special Investigation Department were all sitting upright.
Some had their brows furrowed, some had grim expressions, and some were clenching their teeth tightly. No one spoke.
They knew the weight of the word "price" all too well.
If this bizarre livestream was indeed related to supernatural Instances as they suspected, then...
The people in the livestream room thought they were making wishes, but they were actually trading their lives with the unknown.
The members of the Special Investigation Department were practically driven mad with anxiety.
But no matter how they searched, they couldn't enter that strange livestream room.
It seemed only Players who had entered Instances before, like Zhao Weilai, Su Ya, and Deng Ziwen, were affected.
Zhao Weilai could only frantically send bullet comments, telling everyone not to make wishes.
But as soon as her comments were sent, they were swallowed by the sea of messages, failing to make even a ripple:
【Don't make wishes, everyone! This is a supernatural trap! If you go in, your life will be in danger!】
【Don't believe it, it's all fake! You'll be pulled into an Instance, people will die!】
【Stay away from your electronic devices immediately, don't touch the input box, and absolutely do not make a wish!】
But her comments sank like stones in the ocean.
...
“So what are the entry conditions for this Instance? Making a wish? Or just watching the livestream?!”
Zhao Weilai's mind raced. The agents of the Special Investigation Department had already locked onto the general scope of the supernatural outbreak based on the IP addresses of the bullet comment users:
“It's An Province! Most of the viewers' IPs are from An Province!”
“Connect to the An Province Cyberspace Administration Emergency Center and block the livestream!”
Sun Zhao, the chief of the department, immediately ordered, contacting the An Province Data Command Center:
“Make it quick!”
Zhao Weilai slowly exhaled, her back completely drenched. But the next second, someone knocked on the door anxiously, their face filled with bewilderment and horror:
“Su Ya, Lin Hao, and Wang Lei, who watched the livestream, are also gone!”
“?!”
Sun Zhao stood up abruptly, his entire body trembling.
The witnesses under protection had vanished from inside a heavily guarded, strictly watched building.
This was simply not something humanly possible.
Where did the vanished Players go?
What on earth was the Instance trying to do?!
Who would be the next to disappear?
Zhao Weilai's eyes flickered.
...
In the livestream room, the Mouse Servant slowly counted the last three numbers:
“Twenty-eight.”
“Twenty-nine.”
“Thirty.”
“Everyone is here. Ladies and gentlemen, we shall meet again in seven days.”
The rat-man's wide-open mouth curled up bizarrely to its ears, its entire face twisting with excitement as the image began to blur.
Finally, it returned to darkness.
Just as mysteriously as it had appeared, the livestream room vanished.
...
...
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