There was no other option. When Zuo Si hailed a taxi again, he could only provide another address: “Xuan Yi Street,” which was still three kilometers away from Dejing Middle School. Even so, the taxi driver took a moment to consider before agreeing.
“Young man, what are you going there for at this late hour? Not many people live around that area,” the driver couldn’t help but ask once they got in the car.
“Just for fun! It’s precisely because there are fewer people that I want to go there! It’s both safe and thrilling!” Zuo Si replied, adopting a somewhat rogue demeanor. He raised his hand and pretended to make a phone call, saying, “Hey, Xiaoli, I’ll be there soon. Don’t forget to bring that lace piece I like!”
Upon hearing Zuo Si’s words, the taxi driver immediately looked enlightened, thinking to himself, “So it’s a wild adventure! These young folks really know how to pick their spots.” After a moment’s hesitation, he kindly reminded him, “Young man, I advise you to choose another place. That area isn’t exactly peaceful.”
“What’s wrong, driver? Isn’t there a big brother watching over to keep things in check?” Zuo Si feigned indifference.
“There’s no big brother, but that place is not clean!”
“Not clean? No worries~ We’re all in tents, not out in the open,” Zuo Si replied casually.
“Hey~! It’s not that kind of unclean! There are ghosts!”
“Qi~! Spare me, I don’t believe in that stuff!”
“Don’t dismiss it! We night shift drivers avoid going there,” the driver insisted.
“Have you seen anything unclean there?”
“I haven’t seen anything.”
“Then you’re just talking nonsense.”
“Tsk!~ I may not have seen it, but my colleague did, just a week ago!”
“Oh? There really are ghosts?” Zuo Si suddenly became interested. “Tell me more.”
“This story goes back a week. My colleague was driving at night, passing by Dejing Middle School, when he saw a woman waving at him from across the street. He thought she was hailing a ride, so he drove over. But when he stopped and got a good look at her face, he nearly died of fright!”
The driver looked visibly shaken, taking a deep breath. He continued, “That face was terrifying! It looked like it had been scalded with boiling water, not a single patch of normal skin. She even asked my colleague if he had seen her son! Her voice was so eerie, it sounded like it crawled out from hell!”
“My colleague was so scared that he floored the gas pedal and ran straight home. The next day, he came down with a high fever and has been bedridden on an IV ever since, plagued by nightmares every night!”
The driver spoke with such vivid emotion, as if he had experienced it himself, wiping the cold sweat from his brow after finishing his tale.
“Is it really that sinister?” Zuo Si finally understood why these taxi drivers avoided Dejing Middle School; it turned out there was more to the story.
“And that’s not all. There are more strange occurrences related to Dejing Middle School,” the driver said, taking a sip of water to clear his throat.
“After Dejing Middle School was abandoned, the nearby residents could hear the sound of a boy crying coming from the school every night. In the middle of the night, they could even see heads bobbing in the upstairs classrooms!”
“This school isn’t a boarding school; it’s for day students. Even before it was abandoned, there was no one there at night, let alone after it was closed down.”
“Everyone knows there’s something unclean inside, so no one dares to go in, and nothing has happened so far.”
“As the city developed, the nearby residents gradually moved away, and this matter was slowly forgotten.”
“It wasn’t until my colleague’s incident that people started talking about it again. Just thinking about it sends chills down my spine!”
“So I say, young brother, if you don’t have anything important to do, don’t go over there. If you run into something dirty, it won’t be worth the trouble!”
The driver cast a meaningful glance at Zuo Si.
“Alright, I got it, brother. But let me tell you, superstitions like this can’t be believed!”
“I…” The driver was left speechless and chose not to engage with Zuo Si any further, remaining silent until they reached their destination.
After Zuo Si paid the fare, he said lightly, “Brother, to prove to you that all the monsters and ghosts are just paper tigers, I’ll be staying overnight at Dejing Middle School tonight. Don’t forget to pick me up tomorrow morning when the sun rises; I’ll pay double the fare!”
“Little brother, you’re courting death!”
“You’re right, brother; my name is indeed Courting Death!”
“Listen to my advice! Don’t go to that school!” The driver, a decent man, tried to dissuade Zuo Si, feeling a bit regretful for having said anything to him.
He had initially intended to scare Zuo Si away, but instead, he had piqued Zuo Si’s curiosity.
“Don’t worry, brother; just remember to come pick me up at Dejing Middle School tomorrow morning!” Zuo Si said, not looking back as he walked ahead.
The driver scratched his head, shaking it helplessly, before turning around and leaving.
Walking along the silent, deserted road, there were no streetlights around. There were houses on both sides of the road, but they were almost all slated for demolition and uninhabited.
Zuo Si glanced at the time; it was almost ten o’clock. With three kilometers to go, he could reach Dejing Middle School in half an hour—plenty of time.
He took out his live stream phone and adjusted the new camera. After some fiddling, it connected perfectly with the phone.
Since he was walking anyway, he might as well start tonight’s live stream early. Zuo Si activated the live stream and sent out a notification, then checked his subscriptions—over five thousand people were already following him.
Soon, viewers began to enter the live stream, and a comment caught Zuo Si’s attention.
“Host, I watched your last live stream; it was really good. Are you interested in collaborating with our guild? If you join us, we’ll help promote your stream and get you a good spot. A quality host like you can easily become popular.”
“Sorry, I’m not interested,” Zuo Si replied directly, as he was somewhat familiar with these guilds.
While they might help promote the stream, which was a key point, it was only a possibility. They would also take fifteen percent of the stream’s income.
The platform already took half, and taxes had to be paid; now, he would have to give away another fifteen percent.
To Zuo Si, this was simply not worth it. Moreover, he didn’t want to become too popular.
That’s right; he really didn’t want to become too popular right now. The type of live streaming he was doing was too sensitive—spirit exploration live streams could easily get banned if he wasn’t careful.
Of course, the most important reason was that most guilds were scams, only taking a cut without providing any real help. This guild was likely just interested in the gifts Zuo Si received during his streams, which was why they approached him.
“Right, the host doesn’t need to join a guild; I’ll take care of the popularity of this live stream. As long as you go live, I’ll send at least five Wolf Head Rockets; isn’t that better than your lousy guild?!”
It was Jade-faced Flying Dragon; he had come again! This was a big spender who had sent a whopping six thousand yuan in gifts last time!
Zuo Si’s heart instantly filled with joy, and he quickly greeted him.
“Welcome, my brother Jade-faced Flying Dragon, to this live stream.”
“Host, you’re too polite. Why didn’t you stream yesterday? I waited the whole night.”
“Oh, did you wait for Ge Hong the whole night, Flying Dragon?”
As soon as Jade-faced Flying Dragon finished speaking, a teasing comment appeared below.
System: User has been muted by the administrator for sixty minutes.
“Damn it, I told you not to make fun of me.”