Ai Shiping clearly caught Ming Po's signal.
He subtly tucked the gum away and bantered with the chat. "Oh, did you hear that? I'm a big strear now! Keep hating on , and see where else you'll find a big strear as down-to-earth as !"
Ming Po took out a piece and popped it into his mouth.
As he bit down, a familiar minty flavor instantly flooded his mouth.
Imdiately following it was a strange, biting chill.
The sensation was sowhat akin to standing in the snow on a winter day, ordering an ice-cold cola, and tipping your head back to gulp down a massive mouthful.
A freezing torrent seed to pour directly into his brain, bringing with it a faint, throbbing headache.
Along with that chill, the entire world warped and slowed down.
The world grew dim and yellowed. The light entering his eyes diminished drastically.
Sounds stretched out and distorted—much like a video playing at half speed. Ai Shiping's voice instantly dragged out, morphing into a sluggish, goofy drawl.
Ai Shiping slowly looked down at the tool bag by Ming Po's feet and bent over to pick it up.
"Let's see... what kind of legacy... the master left us..."
Ming Po responded reflexively, his own voice sounding equally drawn out: "You really are..."
Before he could utter the word "terrible," the world snapped back to normal in an instant.
Everything before his eyes brightened abruptly.
Ming Po squinted, unaccustod to the sudden light, and swallowed the rest of his sentence.
Ai Shiping had evidently used this gum before and knew exactly what Ming Po was experiencing. Thus, he didn't ask what had happened, simply rummaging through the tool bag on his own.
"Whoa, paper talismans and a wooden sword... What's this compass for? Bro, do you know how to use it?"
"Of course not."
Ming Po retorted, "If I knew how, why would we have hired him?"
"I'm guessing this isn't sothing you can just hold and use. Is this compass made of marble? It's way too heavy—not very practical to carry around."
Ai Shiping shoved the remaining paper talismans into his pocket. "Let's leave the bag here. Maybe he just had to pee really badly and he'll be right back."
He thought for a mont, then picked up the wooden sword and swung it through the air with great interest, providing his own sound effects: "Swish! Swoosh!"
"Alright, let's go."
Ming Po directed, "Let's go check the bathroom."
Ai Shiping's expression instantly froze. Ming Po captured the reaction perfectly on cara, even zooming in for a close-up.
Although Ming Po couldn't see the chat, he knew the viewers were definitely mocking this stinky Fox right now.
Ai Shiping didn't try to defend himself. He just brought his phone closer to his face, lowered his voice, and spoke with exaggerated intrigue: "Hey, did you guys know—
"I heard a few people died in this resort before. You all knew? But do you know the details?
"I heard that in the very beginning, a guest slit their wrists in the bathtub!"
"Really?" Ming Po asked skeptically.
"It's the absolute truth!"
Ai Shiping recounted vividly. "But they never found a blade in the bathtub. Do you know what that ans?"
"Homicide?"
Ming Po chid in, "The murderer took the weapon with them, then."
"Hard to say."
Ai Shiping spoke with deadpan seriousness. "There are security caras right outside the hotel room doors nowadays. But no one was seen going in, and no one was seen coming out. So say the woman swallowed the blade, but they didn't find anything in her stomach either. So tell , where is it?"
[Then the caras were broken]
[Where?]
[Where?]
[Strear, I'm done speaking]
[I know, it turned into an Aberration]
[There's a secret passage, it's always like this in neo-orthodox mysteries]
[What kind of hotel room has a secret passage? If there really was one, it wouldn't be the fire departnt showing up]
The number of concurrent viewers and incoming comnts on his end was climbing rapidly.
From over a thousand at the start of the stream, it had skyrocketed to nearly twenty thousand concurrent viewers.
While twenty thousand might sound low for a strear with a million followers, it was actually a staggering, almost abnormally high ratio in the streaming industry.
One had to rember that Fox hadn't stread in three months. Since they were short on cash, they probably hadn't bought much traffic. The promotional images couldn't have spread very far, either. The Weibo post announcing his return only got about two thousand replies—half of which were insults. Having a thousand viewers right at the start already ant his fanbase was quite loyal.
Now that it had surged to twenty thousand, part of the reason was likely that Ai Shiping was genuinely better at streaming than the original Fox. The other reason was probably the master's disappearance, which had made the stream go sowhat viral. Only with many people sharing it could such a strong compounding effect be generated in such a short ti.
"A locked-room murder, huh?"
Ming Po deadpanned, "Then you shouldn't be looking for a celestial master; you should be looking for a Detective. No, wait, where did you even hear all this? How co I haven't heard it? Did you just make it up on the spot?"
They had entered the instance at the exact sa ti. Ming Po hadn't found a single clue yet, but Ai Shiping was already telling ghost stories.
That was truly bizarre.
Ai Shiping leaned in mysteriously, lowering his voice but keeping it just loud enough for the stream to hear. "Actually, it's from the newspapers over by the front desk. You didn't see them, but I did.
"Probably not a dozen, but there have definitely been seven or eight deaths over the years.
"That really is a fire hazard. No one wronged them; they definitely needed to suspend operations and rectify the issues."
Ming Po frowned deeply. "Let's check the bathroom first, then show the newspapers when we get back."
"Oh please, of course I brought them with . Don't trust your brother?"
Saying this, Ai Shiping pulled several newspaper clippings from his jacket.
Ming Po honestly hadn't noticed when Ai Shiping secretly pocketed the items from the desk.
It seed it wasn't just him who missed it; even the two streaming caras hadn't caught him in the act.
He glanced at Ai Shiping's stream and saw nothing but question marks filling the chat.
"...You definitely have a side hustle going on."
Ming Po muttered, looking at Ai Shiping.
Could the Title Fox actually provide this kind of bonus? Foxes did seem prone to stealing things, after all...
Seeing that Ming Po's hands were full with the cara, Ai Shiping unfolded the newspapers for him and the viewers to see.
It wasn't a complete stack of a single newspaper, but rather several loose sheets.
They only contained the pages relevant to the resort, with all other sections missing.
Ming Po read them carefully.
"2008 News: A male traveler fell to his death from Building A of Water Mirror Resort. Local police ruled out foul play. Preliminary investigations suggest the deceased suffered a ntal breakdown and committed suicide following personal investnt failures."
"In 2013, a sudden fire broke out in a second-floor guest room of Building A at the resort, resulting in the asphyxiation deaths of a family of three. Following an inspection, the fire departnt determined that the ergency door release chanism had failed, hindering escape and rescue efforts. The resort was heavily fined for substandard fire safety facilities."
"In 2015, a female guest was found dead in her room's bathtub with sharp-force lacerations to her wrists. Police found no murder weapon at the scene. The dical examiner determined the wounds were consistent with self-inflicted injuries, but the family questioned the existence of blind spots in the security footage. The case remains open..."
"In 2016, a young girl suddenly choked while eating in the resort's restaurant. Security footage showed a waiter attempting the Heimlich maneuver but failing. By the ti dical personnel arrived, she showed no vital signs. The chef involved was held responsible for providing food inappropriate for her age group, and the resort compensated the family with 1.26 million..."
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