NOVPUB
Chapter 380: Diary
Soon, the video darkened again. When it came back, the woman was standing. The woman looked scared. She looked around nervously. Based on the movement of her lips, she appeared to be calling someone’s name. Sadly, the video was mute.
“Look.” Jiang Cheng pointed at the table in the corner and whispered, “The table of people is gone.” In the video, only the woman remained in the cafe. It was clear that the woman was panicking. She shouted something as she looked around, but there was no response.
The travellers saw her grab the corner of her clothes and was ready to leave. However, her gaze slowly lowered, and her actions froze. Her eyes landed on the two cups on the table. She probably didn’t go because she was worried about the person who came with her. Just as she hesitated, the surroundings changed again. A light in the corner flickered and then went out.
The woman whipped her head to look at the light. Her expression shifted quickly from initial confusion to thick fear. They could even see the despair under her fear.
Darkness slowly approached her. The lights went out one after another. The darkness surged at her like a wave. Fatty, outside the screen, felt his breathing catch in his throat. Then, the travellers saw something horrifying. When the last few lights flickered, they saw a blurry silhouette in the dark. The shadow hid in the dark. Even though its actions couldn’t be seen clearly, it could be sensed that it was slowly moving towards the woman.
The woman retreated in fear. She cried helplessly. Her knees wobbled and she fell. She supported herself with her arms as she crawled away. The shadow was still far from her but whenever it appeared, it would send the woman into a panic.
Similar to the last video, it ended abruptly.
Banana Wolf closed the video and planned to start the next one, but Jiang Cheng shook his head. That was no longer necessary. The remaining videos would probably look the same. By then, the travellers had a guess of the woman’s identity. She was Lee Maoshen’s actual girlfriend, or at least, that was what the woman believed.
These haunted videos were the creations of Lee Maoshen and his supernatural exploration team. However, they didn’t collect their resources from exploring actual haunted locations, but by staging everything. They gained popularity, fame and money by scaring a poor girl.
The group was silent for a moment.
Eventually, it was the reticent Wan Xiaoning who spoke, “This woman probably didn’t know anything. She thought everything was real. What she didn’t know was all these were planned by her beloved boyfriend. He even set up a professional film crew to torture her.”
Even though the videos looked scary, for people who had faced actual ghosts, the travellers could tell the differences instantly. For example, the rough sets and the horrible acting of the ‘ghosts’.
The ghosts were probably played by Yu Youwei, Zhao Jiajiao, Song Jianyou and the rest. Lee Maoshen’s job was to bring the woman to the set and tried to ensure that she didn’t escape or else the videos wouldn’t be as impressive. n𝚘𝚟pub.𝚌o𝚖
After all, the despair from being inescapable in an enclosed space was eye-catching. Reality proved him right. Lee Maoshen became popular with these videos.
Fatty gritted his teeth. In the second video, the woman could have escaped, but she stayed because she was worried about her boyfriend. He could see the concern she had in her eyes when she focused on the cup across from her. Perhaps… that was the effect Lee Maoshen wanted.
He told her that he would be back shortly and went into hiding. He sat on the other end of the monitor and saw how this stupid woman suffered for him. Perhaps that boosted his twisted ego.
Fatty continued watching the video, hoping to find more information.
“Yu Yuwei’s colleagues also told us that they overheard Yu Youwei arguing with Lee Maoshen on the phone. It was intense. She said something about being given more money. She demanded money from Lee Maoshen, and she had to follow along or else she’d release his diary to the public.” Hua Luo frowned.
“Diary?”
“Yes.” Hua Luo nodded. “Yu Youwei did that as promised. She shared some screenshots in the chat group. And the content…” Hua Luo paused. His lips pursed together.
“However, she soon retracted them. Only one remained. Look.” Banana Wolf cut in. He took over the laptop to use it and then handed it back to Gao Ming. The monitor showed the notebook. Due to the cameraperson’s urgency, the picture angle was tilted, and only ⅔ of the diary page was shown. It looked like Yu Youwei snapped them when Lee Maoshen was asleep.
The handwriting was hard to read. Jiang Cheng read what he could.
“17th May. The team is set up. The venues are not ready yet, but we are not worried about that. The main mission is to deal with her.”
“21st May. She is very resistant to the idea. My direction is wrong. Perhaps I should listen to Song Jianyou.”
“23rd May. Women know women best! Song Jianyou’s right. As long as she loves me, everything else is easy. I can threaten to break up with her.”
“24th May. Damn, I was still too slow. I should listen to Qiao Yu and attend an online video recording class. If Qiao Yu dares to lie to me…”
“27th May. The thing really works! She is being obedient. Tomorrow, I’ll try making her not drink for a day…”
“31st May. This is annoying. She’s scared whenever I bring up the possibility of a breakup. That’s right. I need to tear open her wounds. I want to see what is hiding in her heart. I need to ensure that she is pliable during the recording. That is very important!” ṝ𝒶ɴǒ₿Ës̈
“5th June. She has not stopped crying for the past few nights. She begged me not to leave her. I’m a genius. It’s about time. She’s about ready. I can start preparing the venue.”
“7th June. We found the venue. I’ll leave that to Zhao Jiaojiao and Qiao Yu. They are the professionals.”
“10th June. It finally starts…”
