The countdown continued.
00:00:03…
Mei Ling stood frozen before the closet.
Her mind screamed for her to run, but her legs refused to move.
A sudden gust of icy wind rushed from the cracks of the closet door, carrying with it an overwhelming wave of jasmine fragrance so thick she almost choked.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
But this time, the knocks didn't come from the closet.
They came from inside her head.
00:00:02…
A soft voice whispered directly into her ear, though no one was there.
"Are you ready?"
00:00:01…
The closet door creaked open by itself.
Inside, there was no shadow, no ghostly figure.
Just darkness.
And at the center of that darkness—two faint, glowing white eyes.
A pair of pale hands emerged, long fingers curled and twitching unnaturally, as if adjusting to the light after centuries in the dark.
Mei Ling gasped and stumbled backward.
The timer hit zero.
Her phone screen went completely dark, and for a brief, horrifying second, everything around her seemed to collapse into silence.
And then…
Her phone lit up by itself.
The livestream app opened automatically.
But this time, the stream wasn't showing some distant haunted location.
It was showing her apartment.
The exact view from behind her, as if someone—or something—was standing right there.
She turned around in a panic.
Nothing.
But when she looked back at the screen…
The woman in white was there.
Standing directly behind her, smiling.
Blood dripped from the corners of the woman's cracked lips, and from her hands hung dozens of red strings—each ending in a tiny withered jasmine flower.
Mei Ling's phone vibrated violently. A final system message appeared:
[Thank you for accepting. Your livestream begins now.]
The next morning, her apartment was found empty.
Only her phone remained, left on the bed with the camera still recording.
The livestream had captured everything.
And her final moments played endlessly in the app's recommendation feed:
"Midnight Horror Livestream – Special Host Appearance"
The last frame showed Mei Ling tied to the old rattan chair, tears streaming down her face as the woman in white loomed behind her.
The final bullet comment scrolled ominously across the screen:
[Will you accept the next invitation?]
End of Chapter 9