"Congratulations to the streamer! Your popularity score has reached sixth place in the Silver Hall, unlocking the second-tier recommendation slot in the Silver Hall!"
Viewers in front of their televisions were engaged in a heated discussion: "Why can this paper figure move? Is it due to his ability?"
"Here we go again! Each person can only have one card! Where does he get so many abilities? Besides, the streamer has only been to one dungeon, so it's impossible for him to learn skills in a dungeon!"
"How do you explain that? Does he really control paper figures? That's not scientific!"
"Bro, we're already in this game, and you're still thinking about science? Maybe he really is a Taoist!"
"Can a streamer continue live streaming after playing games? If you try streaming this on Douyin, you'll definitely become a sensation!"
"You're overthinking it. They'll just shut it down on the grounds of spreading feudal superstition!"
"Damn, are all the new recruits these days monsters? There's even a Taoist priest. I can't ignore them!"
After thanking him for the gift, Lu Shi casually instructed the paper figures, "You all search the room for me first, and tell me if you find anything suspicious."
The paper figures were very obedient, and taking advantage of their size, they quickly squeezed into various gaps and corners to search.
From Lu Shi's perspective, these prison guards were all infected and turned into monsters. So, there must have been a period of normalcy when they lived here.
Those prison guards might have left behind some useful information.
Lu Shi himself didn't just sit idly; instead, he joined the three paper figures in searching for clues in the room.
The paper figure did not disappoint him; within five minutes, it found a crumpled piece of yellow paper torn from a crack in a bed.
"What is this?" Lu Shi held the paper in his hand and saw the messy handwriting on it.
Simplified Chinese? Lu Shi was a little confused when the system's voice suddenly sounded: "Dear streamer, you only need 200 points to automatically convert text. Do you want to activate this service?"
Lu Shi's lips twitched; this was far too expensive, but he had no choice but to agree.
He finally understood what was written on the paper:
"Baishuihe Prison Management Log: February 13th. Recorder: Wang Qiang. Everything as usual. The new inmate who arrived today is a scumbag; I really want to shoot him on the spot!"
After a moment's thought, Lu Shi realized that the paper had been torn off.
"Look for something similar again," he ordered the paper figures once more.
However, a few minutes later, the paper figure had not received anything.
Just as Lu Shi was debating whether to use his skill, a paper figure suddenly screamed.
"mouse!"
A black mouse immediately ran to Lu Shi's feet. It tried to run away, but Lu Shi was faster and stepped on its tail.
Just when the rat thought it was about to be in big trouble, Lu Shi suddenly let it go.
Without hesitation, the mouse ran under the bed.
Lu Shi bent down and, following the direction the rat had fled, easily found a rat hole covered by a wooden board.
Despite his germaphobia, he reached inside and, after some fumbling, actually found a crumpled notebook that was bitten and not quite intact.
Chapter 11
☪ True Plague Prison
Lu Shi carefully opened the notebook; there were traces of torn pages inside.
Finally, he found the first page with writing on it:
"March 7th. Recorder: Liu Ming."
"Today's prisoner is a woman, which is quite rare, and she's quite pretty. Wang Qiang even joked that he'd save up money to bail her out."
"Later, when Wang Qiang learned that she had suffocated several children, he was almost scared to tears."
...
Lu Shi slowly flipped through the pages. The recorders were Wang Qiang, Liu Ming, and Liu Wenbin, who took turns recording.
Lu Shi guessed that these three people were the three prison guards in the dormitory who had been contaminated.
June has arrived.
The content on this page has finally changed.
"June 1st."
Recorder: Wang Qiang
"We hired a new person today, I heard he's a scientist. It's really strange, what would a scientist do in a prison?"
"But that scientist is really pretty; at first glance, I thought she was a woman."
Lu Shi lowered his eyes. Was this scientist the Dr. Liu that the system had mentioned?
He continued reviewing his notes, and the prison guards' attitude towards Dr. Liu changed from initial disdain.
"Dr. Liu is really amazing. Every time a prisoner is locked in his little dark room, they become exceptionally obedient after they come out!"
"Dr. Liu never tells us how he does it, but I secretly checked and the prisoners had no wounds. I guess that's the power of scholars!"
The following pages were filled with praise for Dr. Liu, who had gained everyone's trust in a short period of time.
"Today is the most shameful day in our prison history! That scumbag was actually released! He paid to have his life saved!"
"From death penalty to life imprisonment, and then continuous reductions in sentence, why is it so difficult to try a bad person!"
Lu Shi touched the increasingly thin notebook, feeling a bit anxious.
After looking for so long, he still hadn't found any useful information. Had he guessed wrong?
Suddenly, Lu Shi noticed that half a piece of paper had fallen out of his notebook.
The tattered paper slowly fell to the ground, quietly flipped over, and revealed a dark red palm print in front of Lu Shi.
Lu Shi picked up the paper without flinching, and frowned upon seeing the handwriting on it.
It's too messy; at first glance, it looks like scribbles.
It took him a lot of effort to finally read out the text: "Today, today should be January. Wang Qiang isn't here, so I'll write it down for him..."
“Dr. Liu is getting more and more terrifying... but Dr. Liu says he is just doing the right thing.”
“I told the warden, and he said he would try to persuade Dr. Liu.”
"Seven days! I've finally found Wang Qiang!"
"Oh my god, how could he be in the dark room..."
"That night... Wang Qiang... bit me..."
Too many words had been crossed out and blacked out, and Lu Shi had done his best to restore them.
He put down the paper and stroked his chin: "It seems that of these three prison guards, Wang Qiang was the first to turn into a monster."
"The 'little dark room' must be another name for the laboratory, right? It seems that whether it's the monstrous dog or the monstrous person, they were both his creations."
The viewers in the live stream were also quietly analyzing the plot as they listened to Lu Shi's words.
Unexpectedly, Lu Shi suddenly changed the subject, contradicting his previous statement: "But it's a bit strange. This Dr. Liu clearly hates the prisoners the most, so why are the prison guards the ones who end up being corrupted?"
After Lu Shi raised this question, he did not explain it to the audience, but continued to look at the rest of his notes.
The subsequent timeline actually connected to the bloodstained paper, and the content became much more normal, but Lu Shi frowned upon seeing it.
Because the subsequent recorder was all Wang Qiang! That Wang Qiang who should have already been corrupted.
"Liu Ming hasn't spoken for a long time, and the atmosphere in the dormitory is a bit stiff."
“The prison is very peaceful. The prisoners are much more obedient and they are very humble when they see us. This is the result of Dr. Liu and the warden’s efforts.”
"I've been feeling hungry lately, even though I ate three bowls of rice for dinner."
"Dr. Liu told me that it was because of the food I was eating that I was consuming the wrong food. He will prepare food for me every day from now on. Dr. Liu is so kind."
"The warden has disappeared, that's what Liu Wenbin told me. That guy has been getting closer and closer to Dr. Liu lately, and the prisoners are all trying to curry favor with him."
"Dr. Liu has moved into the warden's office. We all know that he is the master of this place."
"In May, the weather is getting hotter and hotter. Doesn't Liu Ming take a bath? He stinks! Liu Wenbin and I discussed that we should teach him a lesson."
"Dr. Liu discovered our plan. Damn it, nothing can be hidden from him! I almost...ate...Liu Ming."
"Liu Ming can talk now, and Dr. Liu's medical skills are getting better and better, except that he's getting more and more obese. I think Dr. Liu just eats too much and doesn't want to share any with us!"
The last page contained only one sentence: "A prisoner tried to escape, and I punished him severely. This scumbag who killed his wife deserves to be shot!"
In the live stream, viewers could clearly see the handwriting on the notebook.
Wang Qiang's clear-headed "diary" is chilling to read, and one feels fear upon deeper reflection.
The contents of the last page of the diary plunged many longtime viewers who had watched Lu Shi's previous story into disbelief and panic.
Plague Prison is one of the five new player dungeons, and many viewers have experienced it firsthand.
Therefore, they knew very well who the person mentioned in the diary was—the corpse they saw after waking up.
Some longtime viewers watched Lu Shi pass through the entire show; the character he played was the man from humble beginnings who killed his wife.
In other words, the corpse was themselves.
"If I were dead, what would I be now?"
"I'm completely confused, this hidden dungeon is terrifying!"
"What are you talking about? How come I'm the one who killed my wife?"
"Those who don't understand should watch the streamer's replay video!"
"The streamer is so calm, isn't he afraid?"
Lu Shi wasn't really afraid, after all, he was someone who had come back from the dead.
He silently put the notebook back in his pocket, feeling much better. This notebook had given him quite a few clues.
This also made Lu Shi deeply suspect that the reason he hadn't fully explored the previous instance was because he hadn't discovered that he was also a dead person!
"If I were to wake up and carefully observe that corpse, or even lie down on it for comparison, I would probably be able to see that I am very similar to him," Lu Shi said regretfully. "So, dear viewers, when you see a corpse in a dungeon, be sure to observe it carefully, and if possible, try to handle it."
The audience remained silent, clearly not having taken Lu Shi's kind reminder to heart.