Chapter 99

【Hahahahahaha, I’m sorry, but I really can’t hold it in—this streamer is totally exploiting a bug!】

【Milking these two little lambs for all they’re worth. (thumbs up)】

【I used to think these twin girls were super creepy—angelic faces, devilish hearts—but now I feel like the streamer is even scarier. Why am I weirdly starting to pity them? PS: Just kidding】

【How could the streamer treat two kids like this… Absolutely brilliant!】

【Is there no justice? No law? No way to get the streamer’s contact info? Please send it to me.】

Old fans in Shi Jian’s personal livestream: Teacher Shi Jian taught us today that being uneducated is a disadvantage.

The twins’ current predicament is a direct result of being uneducated.

If they could recognize their own names, this wouldn’t have happened.

The other streamers watched in disbelief as Shi Jian tricked the kids, and the faster-reacting ones even started trying to learn from her—hoping to get another treasure chest fragment.

After handing over four fragments to Shi Jian, the twin sisters finally sensed something was off.

“Jiejie, I’m dizzy.”

The younger twin urgently called for a stop. The older sister didn’t look much better either.

She puffed her cheeks in frustration and glared at Shi Jian. “We’re tired! Not playing anymore!”

“Alright.”

Shi Jian shrugged, showing no objection—she wasn’t planning to keep playing anyway.

After that, no fifth fragment dropped. Shi Jian didn’t believe it at first and played the guessing game again with the twins, but still didn’t get a new fragment.

She figured there was likely a limit to how many could be earned this way.

Since there was nothing more to gain, she had no interest in continuing such a childish game of “Guess Who I Am.”

With time to kill, she figured she might as well get some beauty sleep.

Only a few streamers got treasure fragments; the majority suffered serious ear damage.

Later, it became clear that the damage wasn’t limited to temporary hearing loss—many had suffered irreversible hearing injuries.

...

Shi Jian didn’t get her beauty sleep after all.

As a female celebrity capable of sleeping even in a horror game instance to maintain her energy and glow, this time she didn’t fall asleep—not because of the unfamiliar environment.

She had already washed up, changed into soft and comfortable silk bedding, and was ready to drift off to the smiling face of SpongeBob—when suddenly, a loud broadcast blared.

The announcement was high-pitched and energetic, reminiscent of a school morning exercise routine—except in the dead of night, it sounded oddly eerie.

The broadcast said, “The large-scale game ‘Hide and Seek’ is about to begin. The children are already hidden in various parts of the orphanage. Volunteers, hurry up and find them! The more kids you find, the better...”

The orphanage was quite modern and well-maintained, with living conditions better than Shi Jian had expected.

Each room was shared by two children, and next to it was a small private room where the assigned volunteer stayed.Now, upon hearing the broadcast, Shi Jian immediately opened the door beside her—only to find that the twin sisters had already vanished without a trace.

But Shi Jian hadn’t heard any movement of them leaving at all.

Instead, the hallway was filled with noise and chatter.

Shi Jian stepped out and saw that other streamers had come out in response to the broadcast as well.

Being among the crowd made Shi Jian feel much more at ease—otherwise, things were starting to get a bit creepy.

“Are the kids you’re responsible for still in the room?”

All the answers were negative.

The children had all mysteriously disappeared. According to the broadcast, they were supposed to be hiding, waiting for the streamers to find them.

“Does this game of hide-and-seek mean we can collect treasure chest fragments in bulk now?” one of the streamers guessed.

As always, someone acted fast. As the broadcast added, “Five-minute time limit,” a streamer had already bolted ahead.

Seeing others take the lead, no one was in the mood to keep chatting.

What are you waiting for?

Get moving!

If you're late, you might end up with nothing.

The streamers quickly scattered, each heading off toward where they thought the children might be hiding.

...

Shi Jian also perked up and started looking for the hidden kids.

This all-streamer game was scheduled at night, and what had been bright lights now turned dim and flickery, like the power supply was unstable.

But Shi Jian wasn’t afraid—she had a high-wattage flashlight.

Wherever she pointed it, the area lit up brilliantly.

Of course, she didn’t have time to be scared—she was already getting annoyed by how difficult the kids were to find. She’d searched several places based on memory but hadn’t seen a single one.

In contrast, other streamers were already having some success.

One nearby streamer summoned a dog-shaped spirit pet made entirely of bones. Shi Jian had seen this skeletal dog before in the pet shop at the transfer station, but this was her first time seeing it in action during an instance.

What could it do?

The owner of the skeletal dog first took out a child’s jacket and let the dog sniff it.

“Where is he?”

Given the command, the skeletal dog dashed off toward a nearby spot.

Shi Jian had actually already checked that area—she was sure she hadn’t seen any kids there. The space was far too cramped for a child to hide in anyway.

Before Shi Jian could open her mouth to offer a friendly heads-up, the skeletal dog had already made a discovery.

It barked twice—“Woof woof”—at a specific spot.“You were really well hidden,” the streamer with the skeletal dog exclaimed in surprise.

Shi Jian and the viewers in her livestream saw it too.

One of the legs supporting the table was actually made from a real human leg.

That spot was so cramped it seemed impossible for a child to hide there, and even if one did, it would be easy to notice.

But—what if it wasn’t a whole child, but a dismembered one?

This kid had separated all the parts of his body and scattered them across various places: one leg disguised as a table leg, his head installed in the ceiling light as the bulb...

Shi Jian: “…”

While her mind reeled at the grotesque sight, she couldn’t help shooting a look of envy at the skeletal dog.

...

【Babe wants one again, huh?】

【I volunteer to sponsor that longing gaze—give the streamer one already!】

【Not many streamers have spirit pets, actually.】

【Shi Jian does have one, and it’s very strong. The only issue is it constantly wants to stab her.】

【??? I’m new—can someone explain this lore to me?】

The self-dismembered child returned to normal after being found by the streamer, and Shi Jian noticed a treasure chest fragment appeared in the skeletal dog owner's hand.

This game of hide-and-seek was a large-scale event for all participants—and a hunting ground for chest fragments.

There were 40 children in the orphanage, which meant there were at least 40 fragments to be found in this round.

Aside from skeletal dogs helping track the fragments, Shi Jian also saw a streamer who had a tool that alerted them whenever a ghost or anomaly appeared nearby.

Shi Jian refused to walk away empty-handed—she couldn’t lose.

She couldn’t count on her ghost bride, and she didn’t have any usable items in this instance.

But even so, through sheer effort, Shi Jian managed to catch one.

...

The child she caught was someone she recognized—the headless boy who’d been searching for his head in the art room.

His name was Hou Xiao, and he’d also chosen the dismember-and-hide tactic. Shi Jian had been paying special attention to that method and managed to find him.

By the time she caught Hou Xiao, nearly half of the five-minute limit had passed. Hou Xiao was clearly confused and unhappy that he’d been found.

He muttered nonstop:

“How did you find me?”

“That doesn’t make sense—I hid really well…”

Most of the children who were caught ended up asking the same thing, and Shi Jian heard several others questioning streamers the same way.

They all truly believed their hiding spots were flawless.Of course, none of the streamers answered them—everyone was rushing to make progress. The faster they went, the better their chances of getting treasure chest fragments.

Shi Jian’s attention was all on the newly appeared fragment in her hand.

Why was he discovered?

Because everyone had ended up with the same idea—dismembering and hiding the body parts. Their methods accidentally overlapped.

Plus, Hou Xiao's head was just too big—not suitable at all for posing as a lightbulb.

That was another reason Shi Jian had been able to spot him.

After securing the chest fragment, Shi Jian was ready to move on and continue her hunt.

But for some reason, she paused in her tracks. A thought struck her, and she turned to the confused Hou Xiao.

“You don’t get along with William?”

The question came out of nowhere. Even the viewers in her livestream had no idea what she was getting at.

What did this have to do with hide-and-seek?

But very quickly, they understood exactly what Shi Jian was plotting.

Hou Xiao, who still didn’t understand how a volunteer had managed to find him in such a hidden spot, suddenly had a revelation after hearing her question.

His little face turned red with anger as he stomped his feet.

“Did William snitch on me?!”

“He’s a total scumbag!”

“I knew it—I couldn’t have been found otherwise.”

“It’s fine,” he muttered to comfort himself, then added bitterly to Shi Jian, “I know where William is too. I’ll tell you everything…”

Hou Xiao, intent on getting revenge for the so-called betrayal, spilled the beans about William’s hiding place and how he had hidden himself. Shi Jian didn’t even need to coax him further.

Thanks to Hou Xiao, Shi Jian easily found William.

William: located. √

Treasure chest fragment: +1.

And it didn’t stop there. After that initial breakthrough, all Shi Jian had to do was drop the line—

“You don’t get along with [insert name]?”

The orphanage kids would instantly start filling in the blanks, then turn around and take revenge without hesitation.

Some of the bolder ones even personally led Shi Jian to their “enemies.”

Shi Jian, in her Barbie-pink heels, followed these vengeful little kids as one of them pointed out a spot with three others hiding in it.

She marched straight over for a major haul.

While jotting down names on her “Kindergarten Feuds” list, Shi Jian couldn’t help but hum a little tune.

Originally, Shi Jian had been falling behind in this game—but with this approach, she quickly turned the tide.The owner of the skeleton dog had quite a harvest. At the corner of the corridor, he saw a child pointing the way for Shi Jian to charge ahead.

“They’re over there.”

The skeleton dog’s owner was astonished: A... cub-type tracking spirit pet?

Shi Jian: Even though she didn’t have a skeleton dog, the kids seemed way more useful.