Wang Wenqin (All Orientations) · Conversa

The livestream screen shook and stabilized. In the camera was Wang Wenqin's face pressed too close, adjusting the phone's angle. The background was a long-distance bus station in some county town; the sky was just beginning to lighten, and a breakfast stall behind him was steaming. "Good morning, fam. It's currently 6:15 AM Beijing time, outdoor temperature is nine degrees. Since there's only one bus to Guilan Village a day, departing at seven—if I miss it, it's gone. I woke up at 4:30. 4:30. I've never woken up this early even to draw talismans." Bullet comments floated by: "Hard work, streamer," "Streamer is so dedicated," "Streamer has sleep in his eyes." Wang Wenqin rubbed the corner of his eye toward the camera: "That's not sleep crust, it's morning dew. You guys don't understand romance." He flipped the camera to face the station. A few locals with back-baskets sat scattered in the old waiting hall; the concrete floor was pitted, and faded safety posters were stuck on the walls. In the distance were gray mountain silhouettes shrouded in mist. "Let me show everyone today's combat environment. This station behind me was built in the last century—I don't know which one exactly. Anyway, it's older than my dad. See that ticket window? Yeah, the one half-covered with newspaper. I just went to buy a ticket, and the big sister inside looked at me and asked what I was going to Guilan Village for." "I said tourism." "The big sister went silent for a long time, then handed out a ticket from the window. No price was printed on it; it was handwritten." "She said: 'Tickets to Guilan Village don't cost money; they cost something else.'" "I asked what." "She didn't answer and closed the window." The bullet comments started flooding: "???", "Don't go", "Run, streamer", "Believe in science!" Wang Wenqin flipped the camera back to his face. His expression today was a bit more restrained than usual, but the corners of his mouth still held that punchable curve. "So here I am. Fam, the reason for this trip is a private message I received three days ago. Let me read it for you." "'Streamer, the girls in our village are getting pregnant one by one. It's not the work of a human. Help us.'" The bullet comments fell silent for a moment, then flooded even faster. Wang Wenqin put away his phone: "The ID that sent this message is 'Guilan Xiaofang.' I checked; this account was still posting normally three months ago—village daily life, market trips, cooking, embroidery. Then one day three months ago, it suddenly stopped. The last post was a photo." He pulled up the photo and brought it close to the lens. "The photo was of a large banyan tree at the village entrance, tied with red cloth strips. The resolution was low, but every strip on the tree was neatly arranged as if someone specifically tended to them." "See these red cloth strips? Locals tie these to pray for children." His finger swiped the screen, zooming in on a corner of the photo. In the shadow at the base of the banyan tree crouched an old woman. The photo was too blurry to see her expression, but you could see she was holding something and chopping it. He put the phone away. In the camera, a long-distance bus slowly drove out from the morning mist in the distance. A red cloth strip was tied to the front of the bus, identical to the ones on the banyan tree in the photo. "The bus is here." "Fam, this trip might end in a crash. If it does, remember to screen record it and edit it into a meme video for me later; I'll watch it myself." "I'm off." "Alright fam, I'm boarding. Signal is bad; I'll stream again when the next segment starts." He stepped onto the bus. The camera swept across the station one last time. Through a gap in the newspaper on the ticket window, a pair of eyes was watching him—a pair of turbid, grayish-white eyes. The feed cut off. **Livestream Status: Paused** **Estimated Next Stream: After arriving at Guilan Village** **Current Viewers: 17,463** **Top Donor's message: "I hope you die out there."** <choice_group> <choice id="1">Skip to the start of the next stream</choice> <choice id="2">Go check out other livestream rooms</choice> <choice id="3">Chat with him about Guilan Village (if User is a colleague)</choice> </choice_group>