20demayo Chapter 27: Lin Xiaomei and Dr. Gao
Chapter 27: Lin Xiaomei and Dr. Gao
"Ding~"
"Customer number 037 has a new order!"
As the announcement came on, the energetic receptionist expertly prepared a bowl of instant noodles, added an egg and a sausage, and delivered it to the corresponding computer.
Inside the private room.
Zhang Ze tapped his fingers on the keyboard, repeatedly clicking to close many video websites, and even bypassed the Great Firewall to access foreign websites, but he still couldn't find any information about the lost media with the number 021.
It's as if this is just a baseless urban legend.
No one has ever seen this thing in real life.
In the live stream room on the phone, comments scrolled by.
"666, the streamer can't find this video. It doesn't seem like acting. Could we be part of this too?"
"No way, I seem to remember that there are indeed these lost media, numbered starting from 001, but I don't know the exact number."
"Stop talking nonsense. I've been online for 20 years. Back when I used to stay up all night in internet cafes, they were still playing Jay Chou and Wang Leehom's songs outside. I've never heard of any lost media."
……
Zhang Ze glanced at the time in the lower right corner of his computer screen; it was already midnight.
Clearly, he failed.
The reason why lost media are called lost media is that they obviously cannot be found again through any channel.
During this time, Zhang Ze even logged into some websites that specialize in publishing online gossip and scandals. He was greeted by all sorts of images of steamed buns and peaches, which forced him to temporarily turn his phone screen away to avoid having his live stream shut down again.
He saw a video numbered 021.
Upon clicking through, a seductive moan came through the headphones.
"Ah~ Yama disc~"
Zhang Ze: ?
So it's this number 021, right?
He was so frightened that he immediately closed the webpage.
I searched for a long time, but to no avail.
Just when Zhang Ze thought the system would notify him that the mission had failed.
However, they found that they did not receive a notification that the task had failed.
"The mission didn't fail?"
Zhang Ze was stunned for a moment.
The Nightmare Mission required him to watch a live stream of the lost media, number 021, at midnight. Even though he couldn't find the video, the mission proceeded normally…
In other words, he had actually watched the real video number 021.
How could that be?
It can't really be a video from that Japanese website, can it?
If that thing were a lost media outlet, Zhang Ze would have to consider just how bad it could be, since even the vast majority of male netizens, who each have dozens of gigabytes of resources, have never seen it.
"Family members, the live stream continues."
"We actually found the lost media number 021, but we may have overlooked it and failed to pay enough attention to it."
"In other words, the lost media item numbered 021 is right here on these web pages on my computer!"
As Zhang Ze spoke, he kept his eyes on the middle of the webpage.
He only has three web pages running in the background.
One is his own QQ account. He usually logs into his QQ account when he goes online. This is his online habit and he doesn't need to think about it at all.
One was a short video platform that Zhang Ze hadn't had time to close. When Zhang Ze clicked on it again, he saw three boys with shockingly different hair colors standing in a train station square.
"Hey Tiger, you're not at the zoo at all! Where have you been hiding?"
"I'm coming to arrest you right now, you just wait!"
……
This……
This thing is as widely spread as the Xinhua Dictionary. Zhang Ze doesn't think that a video with tens of millions of views has anything to do with the word "lost".
Only one website remains.
For your safety, please do not actively search for or watch any lost media. The number of people missing related to this content has reached 167!
It was the very news article that Zhang Ze had initially found, written by the Mystery Tracking Studio, and dated several years ago.
"Um?"
Hovering the mouse over the webpage automatically triggered the video embedded in the middle of the document.
In the video, Lin Xiaomei sits directly in front of Dr. Gao, focuses the camera on Dr. Gao, asks him a few questions, and then hands the microphone to Dr. Gao.
Dr. Gao then shared his own perspective.
"There are many reasons why lost media are lost, one of which is that they contain elements of blood and violence, as well as some uncomfortable plots, such as abuse, verbal manipulation, PUA, or other levels of sensory impact."
"Such images can easily trigger mental illness patients with underlying mental health issues to recall unpleasant events, leading to emotional breakdowns, illness, and ultimately, a tragedy."
"Even for mentally sound adults, it is not recommended to consult lost media alone, let alone to disseminate them again."
……
……
wrong.
Zhang Ze watched the video again and noticed something was wrong.
In the last video, when Lin Xiaomei first asked Dr. Gao a question, she made a minor slip of the tongue and mispronounced a word. Zhang Ze remembers it clearly: Lin Xiaomei immediately corrected her mistake after making the slip of the tongue.
But this time the video was played.
Lin Xiaomei did not make a slip of the tongue.
Judging from Lin Xiaomei's expression, it seems that Lin Xiaomei knew she would make a slip of the tongue when reading a certain line, so she prepared in advance and read the line correctly.
Something's not right.
"How could the person in the video possibly correct a slip of the tongue?"
Zhang Ze refused to believe in superstition.
Drag the progress bar back to the starting point and start playing again.
Lin Xiaomei: "Hello, Dr. Gao, there's been a lot of buzz online recently about 'lost media,' which is reportedly linked to 167 missing persons cases. One theory is that these videos possess a special meme. What are your thoughts on this type of media?"
Dr. Gao: "The reason for the loss of media..."
It's exactly the same content as the last time it was played.
Zhang Ze was stunned.
What puzzled him was not the normal content of the video, but its length.
The original video is 2 minutes and 30 seconds long.
However, this time, the total video length became 2 minutes and 17 seconds.
To be precise, after Dr. Gao finished speaking, the video continued, as if it had frozen. The two of them sat in their respective positions for more than ten seconds before the video ended.
"Are you kidding me?"
"The video length was shortened, but there was no fast-forwarding in the middle. I only felt that... Lin Xiaomei and Dr. Gao's fluency in speaking had improved, as if they had prepared their speeches in advance."
"No, it's not just that they prepared a script in advance, it's more like they rehearsed it beforehand, they're too skilled."
"What exactly happened?"
A chill ran down Zhang Ze's spine.
Even if he were slow to realize, he would have noticed something unusual about the video.
Drag the progress bar back to the starting point.
The video plays normally.
Lin Xiaomei: "Hello, Dr. Gao..."
Dr. Gao: "The reason for the loss of media..."
Just like before.
But this time, Dr. Gao finished reciting his lines at 2 minutes and 13 seconds.
For the remaining ten seconds or so, the two remained seated, but their expressions became noticeably strange, a fact that even Zhang Ze, watching from outside the screen, noticed.