But once the layout was fully introduced, Nan Yue felt that the audience wouldn't be satisfied with looking at the house over and over again.
Time passed quickly, and two hours went by. The person currently streaming was a male scavenger named Ma Junyang, who had a square face, large eyes, and an upright appearance.
He had already introduced the main hall, and he felt relieved that it wasn't his turn to introduce that strange lake.
He held the streaming equipment as he walked into the main hall, gave it a cursory glance, and then inadvertently looked up to find himself face-to-face with a ceiling full of divine statues.
"Whoa! That gave me a fright!"
"The beams of the Zhou residence's main hall are covered in Buddhist statues. It's quite strange; this doesn't look like a main hall but more like a temple or a prayer hall."
Regardless of why the Zhou family had done this, a place with Buddhist statues always felt a bit more reassuring, especially in such a gloomy environment.
Ma Junyang carefully lifted his equipment toward the beams, seemingly intending to spend some time here.
The bullet comments didn't rush him either; most were filled with wonder, while others offered guesses.
【The Zhou family actually has statues of all the Buddhas? These are suspension sculptures, right? They look like the work of Master Liu.】
【Indeed, only Master Liu could build suspension sculptures of this difficulty.】
【I didn't expect the Zhou family to be Buddhists.】
【Heh, Buddhists? I think they were just afraid of dying.】
【Given all the things the Zhou family did, no amount of statues could save them.】
"It seems someone knows the inside story."
Wen Xiang Yuan had been staring at the bullet comments, so she naturally didn't miss that sentence.
"But only the streamer and the audience can interact. We have no way to ask."
Nan Yue tried it herself. "It's probably because we've signed contracts. We're not considered part of the audience now, so I can't post comments either."
"Was the Zhou family Buddhist? If they were, could this be a religious-themed mission?"
Gu Xiang Kai and the others had indeed seen many enshrined Buddhist statues in the Zhou residence, even finding a wall full of Guanyin murals in the west wing.
The brushwork was delicate, and even after so much time, they remained lifelike.
"Unlikely. There is no divine light on their statues or murals."
Zhu Xi Ning couldn't feel anything from the statues. Back in Antswamp Village, although the villagers worshipped an evil god, she could still feel an ominous aura from the stone statue.
But here in the Zhou residence, she felt nothing from the statues or murals.
Generally, if statues and murals were enshrined for years and worshipped with sincerity, they would develop a spiritual nature over time.
But those in the Zhou family were dead, though she wasn't sure if it was simply due to the passage of time.
Nan Yue kept watching Ma Junyang's stream, not joining their discussion.
Gu Xiang Kai noticed Nan Yue's expression was off. "What's wrong?"
Nan Yue's gaze was fixed on a certain spot on the streaming screen. It was Jiang Siyan who answered Gu Xiang Kai.
"Here, this Smiling Bodhisattva."
Gu Xiang Kai looked at it for a long time. They had many hours of religious studies because religion was an aspect frequently involved in missions.
However, it was impossible to know every deity. There were many religions in the mission worlds, with various branches and evolutions, resulting in different images for different gods, so he couldn't recognize which one this was.
"Is there something wrong with this god?"
Jiang Siyan shook his head. "No. It's just that it moved just now."
The five of them were huddled together in the dim wing room watching the stream, and Jiang Siyan's words made everyone's skin crawl.
"It moved?"
Nan Yue let out a breath. "Yeah, it seems I wasn't the only one who saw it. It only moved for a second."
"When Ma Junyang's camera panned past, I saw that it was originally facing away from the camera, but then its head turned toward it."
After hearing Nan Yue's words and looking at that Smiling Bodhisattva again, everyone felt it looked increasingly eerie.
Ma Junyang hadn't noticed this situation, and apparently, no one in the bullet comments had seen it either, as everyone was still discussing the history of the Zhou residence.
"No one saw it?"
Wen Xiang Yuan frowned slightly. Two out of the five of them here had seen it, so surely others should have noticed as well.
Why hadn't a single viewer in the stream discovered it?
Fortunately, Ma Junyang finished his streaming session without anything happening, and the perspective switched to another person.
This time, it was Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan was a sunny and handsome young man, and the number of bullet comments increased as soon as he appeared.
He showed two rows of white teeth in a smile and greeted the audience.
"Next, we're at the third courtyard. Most of the rooms here are for the servants. The Zhou family had a very large population."
【Little hottie, you have no idea. Before the massacre, there were over a dozen people in the primary lineage alone. Their prosperity wasn't limited to this small residence.】
【In its later years, the Zhou family owned salt and mines; they were wealthy enough to rival a nation.】
【Even the most famous Liping Garden in Pingzhou was acquired by the Zhou family.】
Xu Yuan was clever. Unlike the previous streamers who just led the audience around the courtyard, he began fishing for information.
"The Zhou family had so many people? But it doesn't look like this residence could house them all. Besides, didn't only 44 people die when the tragedy occurred?"
【Only 44 bodies were found.】
【But only the most central members lived in the main Zhou residence. The others probably lived elsewhere in Xuan City, right?】
【Yeah, I remember there were members of the Zhou family all over Pingzhou.】
【Speaking of bodies, did you see that dry well in the courtyard to your right, streamer? Go take a look.】
Xu Yuan had naturally seen it. The third courtyard was overgrown with withered grass, so the well, which should have been hidden amidst lush flower beds, was now exposed.
Beside it was a withered tree so thick it would take two people to encircle it. Its leaves were all gone, leaving only menacing branches.
Xu Yuan swallowed hard. He glanced to the side; Xie Nanchen was not far away, staying out of the frame but accompanying him.
It seemed Xie Nanchen said something, because Xu Yuan flashed a smile at the screen.
"Do you all want to see that well? But your streamer is a little scared. Could you give me some tips to bolster my courage?"
"Smart,"
Nan Yue commented with praise while looking at the screen.
Actually, the key to this mission was not just avoiding danger and horror; for scavengers, it was more important to reach the goal of 4444 yuan in tips as early as possible.
But after three or four hours of streaming, no viewers had given tips yet. This was normal, as each streamer only had half an hour.
The audience hadn't even become familiar with their faces.
Therefore, Xu Yuan's approach was very clever.
Sure enough, the audience didn't reject it; instead, they all gave various amounts of tips, which looked to be around 70 or 80 yuan in total.
It wasn't a small gain and served as a good start.
A flash of a smile appeared in Xu Yuan's eyes. "Alright, then I'll take everyone to have a look."
He swallowed again, pushed aside the withered grass, and walked toward the well.
Unlike NPCs, the scavengers knew very well that some things couldn't be avoided, so it was better to exchange the risk for tips.
Xu Yuan stood with his legs apart, maintaining a posture that allowed him to run at any moment. Then, he leaned forward slightly and shone his flashlight into the well.
Rate on N.U.
