Chapter 1: The Dead Are Watching
The night air in Casablanca was sharp, cutting through Adam's thin hoodie like a rusted blade. He stood before the iron gates of the "Black Villa," a crumbling mansion hidden behind overgrown weeds. For decades, the neighbors spoke of the screams that once echoed from its walls—a father who had lost his mind and slaughtered everyone inside.
Adam wiped the grime from his phone screen. His fingers were trembling, and not just from the cold. His bank account was sitting at exactly zero, and his landlord had threatened to throw his stuff on the sidewalk by Monday. This "Ghost Hunt" livestream was his last-ditch effort to survive.
He took a shaky breath and tapped the [LIVE] button.
"Yo, what's up, guys? It's Adam 'The Ghost' here," he whispered, forcing a grin that felt like a mask. "Tonight, we're not just talking about legends. We're going inside. The Black Villa. They say if you enter after midnight, the house claims your soul. Let's see if the house is hungry tonight."
A notification pinged.
[Viewers: 7]
User_X: Another fake clickbait. Leave if you're scared.
DarkNight: $5 tip if you go into the basement.
Adam's heart hammered against his ribs. Five dollars? It was barely a meal, but it was more than he had. He pushed the heavy oak door. It didn't just creak; it groaned—a long, agonizing sound that seemed to vibrate in his very marrow. The air inside was thick, smelling of wet dust and something metallic. Like old coins. Or dried blood.
"Check out this hallway," Adam said, his voice dropping to a whisper. The beam of his flashlight cut through the dark, revealing peeling wallpaper that looked like hanging skin.
Suddenly, the screen of his phone flickered. Violent static hissed through his headphones.
[Glitch... Glitch...]
"Guys? Is the connection dropping?" Adam asked, panic rising.
He stepped into the grand salon. In the center sat a massive, ornate mirror covered in decades of filth. As his flashlight hit the glass, the world seemed to freeze. For a split second, the reflection didn't show him.
It showed a girl.
She was standing directly behind him. Her skin was a sickly, bruised grey, and she wore a white nightgown drenched in fresh, glistening red. Her eyes were nothing but hollow, black pits staring into his soul.
"What the—!" Adam spun around so fast he nearly tripped.
Empty. The room was empty.
"Did you see that? Tell me someone caught that on the stream!" Adam's voice cracked. He backed away, his boots skidding on a loose, rotted floorboard. His heel caught, and gravity took over.
CRASH!
His back slammed into the mirror. The glass exploded like a gunshot. A jagged shard sliced deep into the palm of his hand. Pain flared—hot, blinding, and electric. Adam gasped, clutching his bleeding hand as he slumped against the broken frame. His warm, crimson blood smeared across the silver shards.
Suddenly, the world turned grey. The sound of the wind outside vanished. A cold, mechanical chime rang inside his skull, vibrating his teeth.
[Ding!]
[Ancient Blood Type Detected: Soul-Carrier Genes...]
[Initializing the "Ghost-Streamer System"...]
Adam stared at his phone. It wasn't showing the camera anymore. Instead, glowing crimson text burned through the darkness of the screen:
[Mission: The First Viewer]
[Objective: Survive the "Bleeding Maid" for 5 minutes.]
[Reward: Permanent Unlocking of the System & 100 System Points.]
[Failure: Permanent Soul Erasure.]
"System? Soul erasure?" Adam stammered, his vision blurring from the pain.
From the shadows of the hallway, the girl from the mirror emerged. This time, she wasn't a reflection. The sound of her wet footsteps—squelch, squelch—filled the silent room. She tilted her head at an impossible, bone-snapping angle, her jaw unhinging as she let out a shriek that sounded like grinding metal.
[Timer: 04:59... 04:58...]
Adam tried to scramble to his feet, but his legs felt like lead. The girl—the "Bleeding Maid"—wasn't walking; she was gliding, her feet barely touching the floorboards. With every second she got closer, the temperature in the room dropped. Adam's breath began to come out in white puffs.
"Help me…" a voice whispered. It wasn't the girl. It was coming from his phone.
He looked at the chat. It was moving so fast he could barely read it. But these weren't his usual viewers.
Ghost_Walker: Run to the kitchen, boy. Iron burns her.
No_Face: Look at his blood... it smells delicious.
The_Hanged_Man: Don't die yet, the show is just starting.
[New Feature Unlocked: Ghost Chat]
[Warning: The Maid is 3 meters away.]
The girl lunged. Her fingers, ending in jagged, broken nails, swiped the air where Adam's head had been a second before. He rolled across the floor, glass cutting into his knees, and scrambled toward the kitchen.
He grabbed an old, rusted cast-iron skillet from the counter. As the Maid flew through the doorway, her face twisted in a mask of pure hate, Adam swung with everything he had.
CLANG!
The moment the iron hit her ghostly skin, a hiss erupted like water on a hot stove. The Maid screamed—a sound of pure agony—and recoiled into the shadows, her form flickering.
[Timer: 00:10... 00:09...]
Adam stood there, panting, gripping the skillet until his knuckles turned white. His blood was still dripping onto the floor, but it was glowing now, a faint gold light.
[00:01... 00:00]
[Mission Complete!]
[Reward: 'Ghost-Eye' Skill Unlocked. 100 System Points Granted.]
The Maid vanished into a cloud of black mist, leaving only the smell of burnt hair. Adam slumped against the wall, his heart finally slowing down. But the screen of his phone didn't go back to normal.
[New Mission Detected: The Owner's Secret.]
[Current Viewers: 1,042 (1,030 are Deceased)]
Adam looked at the camera. "I... I'm still alive," he whispered.
A new comment appeared in blood-red text, pinned at the top of the chat:
The_Admin: "Welcome to the real world, Adam. Keep the camera running. They want to see how you die.
Chapter 2: The Eye of the Dead
The smell of burnt ozone and rotting meat lingered in the kitchen. Adam's breath came in ragged gasps, his hands white-knuckling the rusted iron skillet. The 'Bleeding Maid' had vanished into the shadows, but the cold—the unnatural, bone-chilling cold—remained.
He looked down at his phone. The screen was glowing with a sinister, pulsing red light.
[Mission Complete: The First Viewer]
[Reward: 'Ghost-Eye' Skill Unlocked.]
[100 System Points have been credited to your account.]
"Ghost-Eye?" Adam whispered, his voice cracking.
Suddenly, a searing pain shot through his left eyeball. It felt like a hot needle was being driven into his pupil. He dropped the skillet, clutching his face and screaming into the empty, dark kitchen.
"Argh! My eye! What did you do to me?!"
As the pain faded into a dull throb, Adam opened his eyes. The world looked different. The darkness was no longer pitch black; it was swirling with grey mists. In the corner of the room, he could see faint, glowing footprints on the floorboards—the trail of the Maid.
But more importantly, he saw a translucent blue box floating in the air, right in front of his face.
[Active Skill: Ghost-Eye (Rank F)]
[Description: Allows the Host to see spirits, hidden traps, and 'Soul-Points'. Cost: 1 point per minute.]
"This... this is like a video game," Adam muttered, his shock slowly turning into a grim realization. He looked at the chat on his phone. The numbers were jumping.
[Viewers: 1,540]
Old_Grave: The kid has potential. He didn't die in the first five minutes.
Shadow_Lurker: Did you see his eye? It turned gold for a second.
Dead_Vesta: Use the points, boy! Buy something from the shop before the Owner finds you.
"The Shop?" Adam swiped his screen. A new menu appeared.
[System Shop (Level 1)]
Basic Exorcism Salt (50 Points)
Old Man's Flashlight - Never runs out of battery (80 Points)
Ghost-Repellent Spray - 30 seconds of safety (100 Points)
Adam looked at his bleeding hand, then at the 100 points he just earned. He didn't have time to hesitate.
"System, buy the Ghost-Repellent Spray!"
[Purchase Successful. Item stored in Inventory.]
A small, silver canister appeared out of thin air, falling into his hand. It felt cold and heavy.
CREAK.
The sound came from the hallway. Not the light, wet footsteps of the girl, but something heavy. Something that made the very foundations of the villa groan.
[Warning: High-Energy Entity Approaching.]
[The Owner is curious about his guest...]
Adam's blood ran cold. The girl was just a maid. The "Owner" was the one who had committed the massacre. Through the kitchen doorway, using his Ghost-Eye, Adam saw a massive, towering shadow approaching. It was at least seven feet tall, dragging a heavy, jagged object behind it.
Scraaaaape. Scraaaaape.
"I need to get out of here," Adam hissed, looking at the windows. They were barred with iron. The only way out was the front door, and that shadow was standing right in his path.
"Where are you going, little bird?" a voice rasped. It didn't come from the hallway. It came from his phone's speakers, but it sounded like a thousand dead leaves crushing together.
The shadow stopped at the kitchen door. Adam raised his phone, the camera lens trembling.
"Don't come any closer!" he shouted at the darkness.
The chat exploded:
No_Face: HE'S HERE! GIVE US THE JUMP SCARE!
Soul_Eater: Look at the ceiling! LOOK AT THE CEILING!
Adam slowly tilted his camera upward. Hanging from the ceiling, right above his head, were dozens of invisible silken threads. And at the end of each thread... was a human ear, twitching as if listening to his heartbeat.
[Mission Detected: Escape the Web of Silence.]
[Reward: 200 Points.]
[Penalty for Failure: Becoming a permanent part of the collection.]
"You've got to be kidding me," Adam whispered, gripping the repellent spray. The towering shadow stepped into the light of his phone, revealing a man with no face, just a giant, vertical mouth filled with jagged yellow teeth.
"Smile for the camera," Adam growled, his fear finally snapping into survival instinct. "Because this is going to be a long night.