"Sisters, I think... He Zhaoming isn't so bad after all." Viewers watching the live stream suddenly changed their opinion of him.
Those words, though harsh, felt like a well-intentioned reminder from a stubborn child. Having spent too long in the complex and hypocritical adult world, I occasionally feel a strange sense of goodwill towards someone who is tough on the outside but soft on the inside.
Many viewers expressed their agreement.
Judging solely from the two days of 24-hour live broadcasts, He Zhaoming doesn't seem like that kind of person. He is indeed a bit arrogant and sarcastic, but not vulgar or despicable. Compared to the various opinions circulating outside, they are more willing to believe their own eyes and judgment.
Of course, some people still couldn't stand it. Seeing his live stream getting noisy and chaotic again, another group shouted, "Quiet down! Shh—the mukbang has started!"
"A mukbang streamer?" The two fighters stopped fighting. "Who?"
Inside the villa.
Ren Yifei had originally intended to replenish his energy with a melancholic and resentful demeanor, but the moment he tasted the sizzling, golden-brown honey-grilled pork chop… 'What's mere melancholy? I'm going to devour this whole plate, and nobody's stopping me!'
As a child, he was restricted from eating sweets, and as an adult, sweetness became an obsession. It was as if obtaining sweetness meant obtaining freedom in eating. Therefore, Ren Yifei is an absolute sweet tooth. He cannot resist not only desserts but also sweet dishes.
"It seems to be pork ribs made from plum blossoms, with a perfect balance of fat and lean meat. When you bite into it, the juices burst in your mouth." He savored the moment, not forgetting to cut it with the knife in his hand.
"Actually, I don't really like eating meat so early in the morning."
He took another big bite of pork chop while saying this, which made his statement completely unconvincing.
However, he really enjoyed his food, and his appetite was so good that it made him feel incredibly happy.
That's why some people who don't understand are attracted by the way he eats and think of it as a 'mukbang' (eating broadcast).
And there are indeed mukbang streamers who imitate him, but once such a demeanor is imitated, it becomes a mere imitation.
After eating breakfast until he was about 80% full, Ren Yifei covered his face with a towel and let out a small burp. He rubbed his stomach with one hand and opened the envelope with the other.
"Hmm." He instantly understood the nausea the others felt.
"Don't look, don't look, kids shouldn't look." Ren Yifei covered the photo with his hand to prevent the live stream camera from seeing it. "Not suitable for children, 18+."
The photos are indeed of the victims, so real that they instinctively evoke a phantom pain of sympathy for those in the same boat.
It hurts so much.
This is a face with extremely severe burns, second-degree... no, at least third-degree burns, the skin is almost peeling off. But the most terrifying thing is that this corpse only has severe and fresh burns on its face, the rest of its body is completely unaffected.
He was wearing a light blue bear pajama set and a thin chain around his neck. Judging from the condition of his neck and hands, he was no more than thirty years old.
In addition, Ren Yifei also found bluish strangulation marks on both sides of the back of his neck, as if... someone had used great force to press the deceased's head into boiling water.
The facial burns were too severe to determine if the person died of suffocation. However, judging from the strangulation marks on the neck, the deceased was likely still alive and struggling intensely at that time.
His face came into contact with the scalding water first, and his skin instantly became red and swollen, severely burned, blistered, and even peeled off.
On this face, the eyelids were burned, the skin was peeling off, and the eyes were red and swollen. But the most serious injuries were to the breathing area, namely the nose and mouth.
Scalding water entered the respiratory tract with rapid breathing, causing varying degrees of damage to the mouth, nasal cavity, throat, bronchi, etc., resulting in severe burns.
He didn't die from burns, but from... drowning in boiling water.
"A beautiful day begins with breakfast." The unwelcome voice appeared again at the long table, and the contestants frowned as soon as they heard it, but that did not stop the owner of the voice from maintaining a good mood.
"Breakfast is over, and everyone is refreshed and ready to begin a new journey."
The contestants all stared blankly at the source of the sound: "Full of energy?"
The voice seemed oblivious to the resentment on everyone's faces, continuing to say, "We have a whole day to solve the mystery today, plenty of time."
"Today's task remains the same: to find the culprit in this case. As for where the crime took place, everyone can try to find clues. Detective Town is so small, we'll find out after searching around."
This sounds a bit like a prank show tormenting the guests, making people forget the contestant who collapsed yesterday and think that maybe they were overthinking it, and that it was just an ordinary variety show.
"Hey, director? Or what? Oh well, I'll just call him director." Ren Yifei's voice suddenly rose, as if he were really acting disrespectfully towards the director on a variety show. "Director, where did the eliminated contestants go?"
The restaurant was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
After a long pause, the sinister voice appeared again: "You can try to guess."
"Let me guess, let me guess..." he drawled, glancing at the others. They were all staring intently at him, as if they had something to say, but the words stuck in their throats, turning into sweat on their faces.
"I guess they're still alive," Ren Yifei cautiously probed, while trying to appear nonchalant.
In the quiet restaurant, the sound of someone swallowing could be heard. They were all waiting for an answer, their breathing slowed down, afraid of disturbing their ears and preventing them from hearing the answer.
Ren Yifei maintained his smile, his eyes unblinking.
"You guessed right." After what seemed like an eternity, the voice finally appeared.
Upon hearing this answer, the contestants immediately relaxed, even though they weren't sure if it was true or not, they decided to assume it was.
"Some are still alive." The voice added a second later, and the contestants' hearts jumped again, even higher.
Are you satisfied with this answer?
"Thank you." Ren Yifei still smiled, as if he had asked casually and the other party had answered casually.
"Find the murderer before dinner. Wishing you all the best."
The contestants lowered their heads and began searching for clues in the photos, one by one, their mentality seemingly on the verge of collapse.
Ren Yifei also held up a photo, but with one hand holding a small fly in the live stream: "Don't look around, just look at my face. The photo is too fierce, you won't be able to handle it. ... What? Everyone else is allowed to look? Can anyone compare to me? Me, such a handsome man, you won't lose anything by looking."
The other contestants were almost amused by his antics. They were all worried, wondering why his style was so different. He could put on a show for the live stream camera all by himself.
"That's what celebrities are like," an ordinary person remarked, "they're incredibly carefree."
"No, we artists are perfectly normal." Everyone in the entertainment industry waved their hands, indicating they wouldn't take the blame.Entertainment Center
Actually, this banter eased the atmosphere a bit. The few who were silent were looking at Ren Yifei with meaningful glances: he had also eased the atmosphere yesterday by talking nonsense, which was no coincidence.
"Hey, let's go, let's go. Time waits for no one. Every second we rest, the murderer will get away with it." Ren Yifei stood up and walked out.
"Shouldn't you look for clues before you leave?" one of the contestants called out to him.
"I'll go ask around, otherwise I'll just sit here. Clues aren't going to fall from the sky." Ren Yifei waved his hand as he walked away, without turning his head.
Several contestants listened and thought it made sense, so they ran out to ask the NPCs.
Looking back, Ren Yifei saw that the contestants had actually surrounded an NPC who was sweeping the streets in the early morning. He couldn't help but cover his face and said, "The contestants are quite naive."
He lowered his hand and couldn't help but say to the live camera, "Promise me, first, be a good observer, and second, be a modern person who makes good use of tools."
After saying that, he took out his phone, swiped his finger to the contact number 'Officer Zhang', and clicked to make a call, demonstrating on the spot how to make good use of the tool: "Hello, Officer Zhang, I am a detective assistant who has been asked to assist you."
"What case?" Officer Zhang asked gruffly, his voice tinged with impatience. If this were a game, Ren Yifei would already hear the "favorability rating -1, -1" notifications.
"Oh, so it's the case of the young designer who suffocated in hot water." Ren Yifei held the envelope. He remembered the thin chain around the deceased's neck as soon as he saw it. There was a young designer with a medal in the oil painting in the corridor.
There was a long silence on the other end before someone said, "I just found out about this myself. Who told you? Never mind, I'm going there anyway, you can come with me. When you get there, you can't talk or touch anything inside."
"Okay!" Ren Yifei immediately agreed, not giving him any chance to back out.
Officer Zhang gave him an address and instructed him to arrive within fifteen minutes. Ren Yifei had no idea where the place was, and he was told he had to be there in fifteen minutes…
"Hmm?" He stared at the cleaning lady's electric garbage truck.
This car looks like it has two seats.
The contestants were still pestering the cleaning lady, trying to persuade her to take them to the nearby site of the murder. However, the cleaning lady said she didn't know anything about it and felt it was bad luck.
"You should call the police for this kind of thing, but you don't even know where to go, how am I supposed to get there?"
The contestants almost cried. They also called the police, but the call was disconnected immediately, failing to trigger any key plot points, and the other party completely ignored them.
Oh dear, what should I do?
"Auntie, saving a life is like building a seven-story pagoda!" Ren Yifei ran over and swept aside the other contestants who were still asking for clues.
"W-what?" The aunt was a little confused, and for a moment thought she had wandered onto the wrong film set.
"Auntie, my friend and I had a fight. He said if I don't come over right away, he'll kill himself in front of me. He's at XX building, XX street. One dead, two bodies, Auntie!" Ren Yifei blurted out, his face showing a particularly alarming expression.
"How come there's one dead and two bodies? Was she pregnant?" one of the contestants asked instinctively.
Ren Yifei turned his head and said quietly, "If he dies, I will not live, so it's one death and two corpses."
"…Well, we really have to get there now." The aunt tried to keep up, attempting to understand the thought process of young people these days. "Let's hurry and go save your friend."
It seems that as long as there is a specific address, the aunt's accessibility features are easy to trigger.
Without saying a word, Ren Yifei sat down in his seat: "Thank you, Auntie."
With lives at stake, the aunt stepped on the gas, and the electric tricycle sped off like a gasoline-powered tricycle, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye, leaving the people behind with only the rear of the vehicle visible around the corner.
The remaining contestants suddenly realized: "He must know the address, hurry and chase after him!"