Chapter 40: Clues

Chapter 40: Clues

Mr. Matsuki, whose consciousness was almost frozen by fear, stared intently at the figure in the forest behind him on the screen. He had no heart to read the bullet comments anymore. As he watched without even blinking, the figure remained motionless, a mere silhouette.

As time passed, a thought couldn't help but surface in Mr. Matsuki's mind: could this figure just be something that looked like that from a distance, or perhaps his fans deliberately trying to mess with him? He had, after all, announced his destination before the broadcast.

Just as he mustered the courage to turn around and check, the sight on the screen sent a chill down his spine, chilling his blood to the core.

Mr. Matsuki could swear he hadn't been mistaken or hallucinated; the shadow in the forest had vanished in an instant!

Coming back to his senses, he quickly checked the bullet comments and found that his live stream audience was also discussing it. However, unlike him, who was experiencing it firsthand, most of the audience actually thought it was still a script or prop. Of course, there were also people seriously talking about ghosts and spirits, though it was unclear if they were sincere or just playing along with the atmosphere.

Mr. Matsuki looked up at his two assistants, preparing to confirm with them, but as soon as he looked up, his expression froze. A human-shaped shadow was approaching from behind the two assistants, but... there was no sound of footsteps!

Thus, his two assistants still looked shocked, transitioning to disbelief. Upon seeing Mr. Matsuki's gaze, before they could even recover, they heard a voice behind them.

"You're truly brave."

Mr. Matsuki, whose heart was in his throat, suddenly froze. It was a person speaking! Realizing this, his fear turned into anger. He stood up, ready to reprimand them, but then the reflection of something bright cut him off.

"That... is a knife, right? It's fake, right? What era is this? Does anyone still carry a real knife when they go out?"

Looking at the figure, which was human but largely obscured by darkness, Mr. Matsuki couldn't help but recall another theory about the missing people here—a serial killer.

Why did a murderer feel even more terrifying than those ethereal ghosts? Mr. Matsuki forced a smile and said, "This... Mr., we're here for an online live stream. If we've disturbed you, how about we leave now?"

The photography assistant, however, seemed to have been overwhelmed by the previous fear. Upon realizing it was a human, he immediately cursed and prepared to turn around, but then he felt an iron-like arm grip the back of his neck, rendering him completely immobile.

"Don't turn the camera around. Didn't your mother tell you not to film others without permission? You should be polite."

Being gripped by the neck by one hand, almost lifted off the ground, he naturally dared not utter a word. The photography assistant was quite strong in build and weight, and he naturally understood what kind of being could lift him with one hand.

Mr. Matsuki grew more suspicious of his identity as a murderer. Even if he wasn't, he wouldn't be one of his fans or anything. He didn't want to be on camera, seemed very strong, and was carrying a weapon.

He swallowed, quietly pressing the other phone in his pocket to emergency dial, ready to call the police at any moment. He didn't act immediately for fear of provoking the other party to harm the three of them.

Mr. Matsuki tried to force another smile, feigning a scolding of his assistant: "He doesn't want to be on camera, so don't invade his privacy. This Mr. must be out for a stroll or an adventure, so we shouldn't bother you. We'll be leaving now."

Kamihara Hajime put down the man carrying the camera and patted his shoulder. He was puzzled by what the streamer said. What was this person talking about?

He had originally intended to just walk out, but then he thought that the streamer might record him during the live broadcast, and he was carrying two knives and appearing in this place late at night. To avoid unnecessary trouble, he moved to the blind spot of the live broadcast and camera and walked out.

The sound didn't matter, as long as he wasn't filmed. In fact, if it weren't for the nagging he'd get if something went wrong, Hajime even felt it didn't matter if he was filmed. He had another reason for coming out to find this streamer, but it seemed he had scared him just now?

"Wait."

Calling out to Mr. Matsuki, who was preparing to casually pack up and leave, the voice, which sounded like a death knell to the latter, then rang out: "Have you been doing these ghost-hunting live streams around here recently? And recording them with a camera? So, besides here, where else have you been?"

Mr. Matsuki swallowed: "No—" Under the intimidating gaze of the other party, Mr. Matsuki chose to tell the truth instead: "We've been to a few famous places nearby, but only here is the most likely place for ghosts to appear."

Mr. Matsuki, getting carried away, brought his usual live-streaming mindset into the present. Realizing this, he stopped and saw the person emerge from the shadows behind his assistant, which made him pause. It was a young man, or rather, a youth, who, in his opinion, could make a living from live streaming based on his looks.

But before he could think of anything else, the full view of the knife at the person's waist and in his hand came into his sight. Having previously used knives and swords to ward off ghosts, he had some understanding of this. In his opinion, the unsheathed knife in his hand was very likely a genuine weapon, meaning that if it were sharpened, it could be used as a murder weapon.

Still not daring to be negligent, Mr. Matsuki recounted all the places they had explored for ghosts in the past few days. Who knew if the person who came to such a place in the middle of the night with a weapon was a murderer or someone with mental problems? Weren't those who came to commit suicide already broken and disgusted with this world?

If this person was one of them, and if he wanted to take a few people with him before leaving, wouldn't they be out of luck? They really should have brought some self-defense tools. It was all Mr. Shin'ichi's fault; he suddenly felt unwell, and because of him, many things weren't prepared...

Kamihara Hajime reached out and tapped his live-streaming phone, signaling him to turn it off. Sweat seeped from Mr. Matsuki's temples; he almost thought the other party was about to make a move. But after thinking about it, he still lowered his head and quickly said a few words to the screen, then, ignoring the various bullet comments from the audience, turned off the live stream.

Then he heard the young man ask, "Have you encountered anything strange these past few days? Think carefully."

Mr. Matsuki wanted to blurt out: You are the strangest thing we've encountered these past few days, but the knife in the other party's hand cut off those words. However, he still breathed a sigh of relief. The other party's questioning and his behavior of wandering around after he had turned off the live stream and camera.

At least he didn't seem like a murderer, since aside from initially grabbing his assistant's neck, the person hadn't forced them to do anything. If he were a killer, he would have tried to incapacitate them to some extent.

So, he cooperated with the other party's questions and began to ponder deeply, but he really hadn't encountered anything strange or supernatural. Although he did ghost-hunting live streams, he had never encountered any supernatural events in his years of working. It was said that some of his colleagues had, but he scoffed at it, believing that those people made up those half-truths for hype.

Just as he was getting anxious because he couldn't think of anything, his other assistant, who was in charge of props, spoke with difficulty: "Brother Yuya, if we're talking about strange things, does Mr. Shin'ichi count?"

Mr. Matsuki had a flash of inspiration and quickly said, "Oh, oh, oh, there was such a thing, but it doesn't seem that strange..."

"Quickly, tell me."

Hajime, who was wandering around checking some of the props they had set up, seemed to have found a clue upon hearing this. He turned his head and stared at him, urging him to continue.

Mr. Matsuki then fully explained the matter he was referring to. His team actually had another member, primarily responsible for various miscellaneous tasks within the team. That person was Mr. Shin'ichi. The day before yesterday, after they went to the only famous mountain nearby with an abandoned temple on it, Mr. Shin'ichi developed a high fever and persistent delirium. However, they initially only thought Mr. Shin'ichi might have caught a cold.

So they packed up and took him to a nearby hospital, then returned to continue their ghost-hunting live stream. After all, he had already released the live stream announcement; if he stood them up, his livelihood would be affected.

Hajime pondered, "Delirious talk... What exactly did he say? Were you with him at the time? Didn't you feel any discomfort?"

Mr. Matsuki shook his head with a bitter smile. He understood a bit now. This person in front of him seemed very interested in ghost stories, seemingly wanting to hear him recount some supernatural events. Unlike his fans, who just watched stories, the other party wanted "the real thing." But where are ghosts in this world?

"Is that so."

Such a thought flashed deep in his mind, but the current situation left him no time to ponder. He roughly repeated some of the delirious talk Mr. Shin'ichi had when he had a fever.

Then he watched the young man opposite him lost in thought. In the eerie silence, the other party spoke again after a while.

"So, was your camera recording the entire time?"

Mr. Matsuki paused: "Mostly, yes. This is mainly for us to cut some behind-the-scenes footage or supplementary material later..."

Hajime nodded and said in an undeniable tone, "Let me take a look."

Mr. Matsuki actually wanted to say that there was a lot of material, and it might take a while to watch it all. How about we leave first, and then find a place to watch it slowly, preferably at a safe police station, which would also be good.

But the words that came to his mouth were just a short "Okay." Kamihara Hajime then took the camera and started reviewing the recordings inside. To save time, he even used a Technique to quickly scan through the contents.

Then, under Mr. Matsuki's puzzled gaze, he returned it to them.

"Thank you."

Hajime politely thanked him and then added, "Go home quickly. Goodbye."

He then turned and left. Mr. Matsuki breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "Never again."

Then he quickly signaled his assistants to prepare to leave. He still had headaches to deal with later, but being able to return safely was already a blessing.

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