Đang tải thông tin quảng bá...
Next-Door Abuse: Chat Says Rescuing Gets Me Framed
NovelShort
new
Hoàn thành
Late one night, I was livestreaming a game. My viewers, who a moment ago had been arguing about my in-game plays, suddenly started spamming the chat: "Leo, Leo! Sounds like someone's getting beaten by...
Chương (4)
第1章
Foreword:
Late at night, I'm streaming a game. My viewers, who'd been picking apart my plays a second ago, suddenly start spamming the chat:
"Streamer, streamer! Sounds like someone's getting beaten next door. Go check it out, quick!"
"I hear it too. She sounds like she's in real trouble."
Being the hot-blooded type, I'm on my feet, ready to go help.
But the instant I stand, a line of text appears in front of me:
【Do not open that door!】
【You're an orphan who became a big streamer and makes a lot of money. They've had their eye on you for a long time.】
【The second you open that door, that woman rushes in half-naked, and after that you could have eight hundred mouths and still never explain your way out of it.】
I blink. This chat message isn't on my monitor. It's a glowing line of text, floating in midair.
Right then, a woman's sobbing cry comes from outside my door:
"Please, open the door and let me in, he's going to beat me to death."
1
Every viewer in the chat is spamming now:
"Go save her, man. What are you sitting there for? Don't tell me you're gonna pretend you didn't hear it."
"So you're just gonna let her die? Never thought the streamer was this cold-blooded. Unfollowing."
Somebody even changed their username to 【Trash Streamer】.
My palm is slick with sweat around the mouse.
My hero botches a move, the enemy pounces and takes me out solo, and my screen goes gray.
I just sit there in front of the computer, and it's only when my teammates start hammering the ping signals that I snap out of it.
But the chat doesn't slow down. It swells. The viewer count starts climbing fast.
【Bang bang Bang! 】
And then, out of nowhere.
A round of clear, sharp knocking, and with it a woman crying out:
"Please, I know you're home. Open up and let me hide in there, or my husband's really going to beat me to death!"
"He went downstairs to buy liquor. Just let me hide for a minute, that's all, just a minute."
I don't claim to be some saint. But a woman out there crying and begging me for help, I can't quite steel myself against it.
Just as I'm wavering, the text appears again.
【Her husband never left. She was never beaten either.】
【They're right outside your door right now, with a camera set up, waiting for you to open it.】
I grip the mouse, breathe deep a few times to steady myself, and say:
"I can call the police for you."
Outside goes dead silent for a second. Then the woman's crying turns bitter, hopeless:
"It'll take the cops ten minutes at best. Do you want to watch me die right in front of you?"
That shrill, agonized plea sets the chat off all at once.
Someone gets snide with me:
"Watching a streamer let someone die, live. Real fine young man of our generation. Come on, everybody, boost his numbers, let's get him on the front page so he can enjoy some nationwide praise!"
Others just go straight for the throat:
"What a piece of garbage. Streamer, I hope you walk out your door tomorrow morning and get run over by a car!"
"Everybody remember his ID. Report him every single time you see him. What right does scum like this have to make money online?"
The woman's hopeless voice, the viewers all raging as one, it leaves me dazed for a moment.
I'm only in my twenties. I stream games all day, sure, but I work out too. I'm at my strongest right now.
If there really is a woman being beaten out there, I figure that even if I can't save her, with my build I can at least protect myself.
Just as I lift off the seat, about to get up and open the door, more glowing text floats up in the air:
【There's a plant in your stream. Someone's steering all this.】
【The moment you open the door, that woman throws herself on you. Her man is a degenerate gambler. Once he's latched onto you, you'll never shake him.】
【Bang bang bang】
While I'm still staring hard at the text, the knocking starts up again outside.
This time, I get up and walk to the door.
The chat explodes instantly:
"Finally the streamer's conscience kicked in. This is the summoner I follow!"
"Yes! Boys, chip in what you can, money or muscle."
A huge wave of gifts floats up the stream, and the viewer count spikes again.
Meanwhile I've crept up to the door and slid back the cover over the peephole.
Outside, pitch black.
I wait a few patient seconds, then suddenly kick the door hard.
【Bang! 】
The crash sets off the motion-sensor light in the hallway.
And through the peephole, a woman's face appears, bloody, her head split open.
I frown.
The face is a little familiar, but it doesn't match any neighbor I can remember.
"Please, mister, hurry, open the door! My husband's coming up!"
She pounds frantically on my door, throwing terrified looks at the elevator beside her.
The display above the elevator is creeping closer and closer to my floor.
I clench my jaw and reach for the door handle.
【Click!】
I throw the deadbolt from the inside.
第2章
"Honey, hurry—why didn't you open the door?"
The woman's face lit up, then fell just as fast when she saw my front door was still bolted shut, not open at all.
I only gave a cold laugh. Now I understood.
Just like the chat said, this couple only wanted to trick me into opening the door.
Her face twisted, and she started hammering on the security door for all she was worth.
"Open the door! Hurry! My husband's coming back up any second!"
"What is wrong with you? Do you have no sympathy at all?"
I said calmly,
"I can call the police for you."
"You said your husband went downstairs, so my advice is you go home right now, bolt yourself in, and wait for the police."
Without waiting to see how she reacted, I quickly dialed the police, then went straight back to my computer and kept streaming the game.
But information travels too fast online.
The second I loaded into the match,
my teammates started throwing on purpose, feeding kills, typing like mad, all begging me to go save her.
Some said they'd carry me and hand me the win. Others said they'd send me a big rocket gift.
The enemy team even said that if I went and saved her, they'd surrender outright and let me win the match.
At that point, my stream just detonated.
Some viewers cursed me out.
"You animal! They're married, how could she not have a key? You tell her to bolt herself in, and when that abuser gets back he beats her to death?"
Others started whipping up the crowd.
"Everybody go report the streamer! Trash like this thinks he can make a living online?"
"I already called it in. Have the cops haul the streamer off! I bet he's staging this for content, stirring up drama."
I tried to explain.
"Guys, I'm just a small streamer. Stepping in to help only works when your own safety is guaranteed."
I thought carefully about the woman's face again, then added,
"I've lived here about half a year, and I've never once seen this couple."
"I have no idea what's really going on out there. Charging out blind would be stupid."
"And let me say one more thing to everyone watching: you should never let your guard down."
There was no way I could bring up the chat overlay, so all I could do was explain as best I could.
But the viewers in my stream weren't listening to a word of it.
"Ha. You think you're fit to lecture us? Who the hell do you think you are?"
"You don't have a mother? If your mom got beaten, would you sit there behind a locked door running your mouth like this too?"
The viewers weren't satisfied attacking just me anymore. Even my family got dragged in.
"Your mom gave birth to a thing like you? Should've just flushed you down the toilet back then."
Someone sent a fireworks gift.
"Streamer, streamer, your mom's the fireworks—look, she blew up!"
The screen lit up with the fireworks effect, throwing its glow over my grim face.
Out in the hall, the woman pounded on the door again and let out a hopeless wail.
"Leo, please, I'm begging you, open the door. I really am going to be beaten to death."
"Just open the door and I'll do anything you want. I'm only twenty-five, ninety-five pounds, and I clean up and put on makeup real pretty."
Hearing her voice, my stomach dropped.
Before I could get a word of explanation out, one of my old fans spoke up in the fan group chat.
"Streamer, did you hear that? Out there is a desperate woman begging you to save her!"
"All you have to do is open the door and you could save a life! Instead you locked it and cut off her only way out!"
"Streamer, I'll trade ten years of my life for you to die a terrible death!"
This person had watched my stream from way back, was always active in the group, and had plenty of friends there.
The moment she spoke, a swarm of veteran fans piled on.
"Yeah, streamer, just open the door and let her hide inside first, would you? It's one woman. What are you scared of?"
"Take him on! Aren't you always showing off your muscles? How come you go soft when it actually matters?"
"To think I sent you all those gifts. I must've been blind. I'm having my kid file for a minor's refund right now."
Watching the whole fan group turn on me, I quietly typed one line into the chat.
"I've never told a single neighbor my name or what I do. So how does the woman out there know I'm Streamer Leo?"
第3章
The fan group, loud a second ago, went dead silent.
And right then, there was noise outside the door.
"You filthy bitch! Giving me horns! I'll beat you to death!"
Outside, the sound of a bottle shattering, a woman's screams, one on top of the other.
My stream usually pulls around thirty thousand viewers a day.
But right now the live count was pushing past a hundred thousand.
The trending number had shot into the top ten across the whole platform. Even some big-name streamers I'd known about for years were sitting below me.
But every single one of them was a hater.
The screen was solid with cursing, so much I couldn't even read one full line before it scrolled off.
And the fan group, quiet a moment ago, blew up again.
"Leo! I've followed you for over three years. I always loved that you didn't trash-talk, didn't gloat when you won, didn't pass the blame when you lost. I never thought you were this kind of scum!"
"There's a woman out there getting beaten, and all you have to do is open the door to save her!"
"I'm begging you. In real life I'm a lawyer. If you go out and save her, I'll take on any legal consequences myself. I'll sign a contract with you right now!"
And she dropped a lawyer's retainer contract straight into the group.
The rest of the fans piled on one after another:
"Streamer, she's saying all that and you still won't go out?"
"I'm already on my way. I'm in the same city as you, I'll be there any minute! Being a fan of someone like this, I'm ashamed of myself!"
This viewer had me half-tempted. If she really was a lawyer, then even if this was a shakedown, with this much evidence I had nothing to fear.
When I rented this place I never imagined something like this could happen, so I never installed a camera by the door.
I thought it over for a long while, then dug through my stuff and found the action camera I'd bought ages ago and hung it around my neck.
But just as I worked up the nerve, even grabbed a cleaver from the kitchen, and started toward the door, that glowing message appeared again:
【Don't go. That lawyer viewer is the woman outside the door.】
【They're monsters. They're doing everything they can to trick you into opening it.】
I stopped cold, cleaver in hand, standing at the door.
Damn it!
What did I ever do to this couple, that they wanted me dead like this?
The viewers had no idea what was going on and started tearing into me:
"Open the door, streamer! Why'd you just freeze up again?"
"The hell? You messing with us? I already spent next month's living money on you, and now that it's crunch time you're chickening out?"
Some even went and doxxed me right there online, dumping all my personal info out in the open.
There were even top-tier streamers requesting a call with me, using the outrage to squeeze me and pull traffic to their own rooms, all telling me to go save her.
And me, I just stood there at the door holding a cleaver.
It was quiet outside.
Quiet enough that I could hear my own heartbeat.
Right then, a low man's voice came from just beyond the door:
"Big streamer. I know you can hear me."
My hair stood on end, every muscle drawing tight.
The man went on:
"Wire me five million right now. I'll let you come out and beat me up, and this whole thing wraps up nice and clean."
"You reap your traffic, I take the money and walk. Everybody wins."
"Five million's nothing. You'll earn it right back. You've got two minutes to think it over."
I swallowed, pulled out my phone, and checked the time on my call to the police. Five minutes had already passed.
Given the distance from the nearest precinct to the complex, five more at most and the officers were sure to arrive.
"Why would I give you money? Because you're out there beating your wife at my door?"
I said it loud on purpose.
The man just gave a cold laugh.
"Heh. I tested it out on purpose. The mic setup on your stream can't pick up my voice at all. Don't waste your breath."
"Make up your mind fast, or with this pile of dirt on you, you'll never earn another cent off streaming again!"
第4章
I was so furious I could barely see straight. Every part of me wanted to go out there right now, throw that animal to the ground, and beat him senseless.
"Aaah!!!"
A woman's shrill scream tore through the night, and it startled me.
"Help me!!! Leo, please, save me!!!"
She kept screaming while she pounded on the door like a lunatic.
I stepped up to the door and looked through the peephole.
The hallway light that had been on a moment ago was dead now.
Outside was pitch black. Except for the woman's screaming, I couldn't see a thing.
I whipped my head around to look at the computer. The stream chat was scrolling so fast my eyes couldn't keep up.
I still had the knife in my hand, but my mind was made up. I was absolutely not opening that door.
Whatever was happening out there, even if the sky fell in, I was not going out.
While the woman screamed and the man roared and the chat went wild, the elevator indicator light in the dim hallway suddenly started moving.
1… 2… 3…
Someone was coming up.
The elevator stopped on our floor fast, and a group of uniformed officers charged out first, their flashlight beams flooding the dark hallway with light.
There she was, sitting on a little folding stool, wailing at the top of her lungs, while the man stood at my door with a weapon in his hand.
My heart shot straight into my throat. Thank God I hadn't gone out.
If I had, the second I opened the door, a blade would have come down across my face.
"Nobody move!"
The lead officer barked the order and pinned the man, whose eyes were still full of murder, to the ground.
The woman froze for a second, then shut her mouth.
Seeing that, I put the knife back in the kitchen.
I wanted to hop on the stream and explain, but when I checked, the stream had gotten so hot it had already been shut down.
Just as well. Saved me from stirring up more misunderstandings.
The officers outside had the scene under control, so I finally opened the door and stepped out.
"You the one who called it in?" the lead officer asked, looking at me.
I nodded and pointed at the man pinned to the floor.
"He's abusing her. His wife was out here begging me for help just now, so I called the police."
The officer nodded, scanned the scene, then walked over to the woman.
A building security guard had come up with the officers and gone to check the electrical box. He pulled a fresh bulb out of the toolkit he carried and screwed it in, and the hallway lit up again.
The officer in charge had dark, weathered skin, with a sharp tan line at the cuff of his short sleeves. Clearly a veteran who'd spent years on the street.
He looked the woman over a few times, then gave a small nod to the policewoman beside him.
The policewoman was young, but she knew what she was doing. She took a single-wrapped makeup wipe out of her breast pocket and swiped it straight across the woman's face.
The woman didn't even have time to react before the policewoman scrubbed her face several times, good and hard.
When the wipe came away, it revealed a face that looked a little sickly but was actually fair and clear.
I was speechless.
So all that misery I'd seen through the peephole had been makeup the whole time.
"Take them both in!" the veteran officer said, seeing this, and waved the order.
Just like that, both husband and wife were in custody.
"Leo! This isn't over! You know what I mean!" the man snarled, still pinned, his eyes locked on me.
I said nothing and looked at the veteran officer.
His tone toward me softened a little.
"Come back to the station with us. There are a few things we need to verify with you."