Master of Kaidan
Chapter 344: Ausikus·Stepping Stone

Chapter 344: Chapter 344: Ausikus·Stepping Stone

As soon as Bert’s opening remarks came out, the livestream room instantly exploded, although the audience had already seen how "lucky" the streamer’s life was during this period.

Now facing an evil ghost powerful enough to kill a ghost-catching expert, the viewers naturally began to doubt whether the streamer’s luck was sufficient.

Watching the barrage in the livestream room scream not to go, and a few encouraging the streamer not to be a coward, Bert, however, curled his lips.

Or rather, this was exactly his intention, and also where the real value of Ausikus’ death lay.

Why do people fear ghosts?

It’s a very complex psychological issue, combining fear of the unknown, fear of death, education passed down through words and deeds, and guidance from social and cultural customs, all stacked up to form the cognition that "ghosts are terrifying."

But this kind of "fear" is essentially quite insubstantial, because it’s compounded by multiple factors, and it becomes frightening due to the multitude of elements; however, if you single out one factor, it’s not so scary.

Thus, when a ghost is given a "form" and "definition," people’s fear of it is gradually peeled away.

This is an irreversible problem. Once the veil of the unknown is lifted, the sense of fear will decline. Bert moved freely among ghosts, so the intensity of the ghosts necessarily declined as well, which naturally led to a decline of the "Bert" viewers saw, initially they might still exclaim "He’s really lucky," but later it would become "That’s it?" or "I could do that too!"

So, how to avoid this situation and enhance the viewers’ perception of Bert’s strength?

The answer is simple, by comparison.

In movies, games, or anime, how do you showcase the strength of a character who has just appeared?

Naturally, you set up a known strong character as a stepping stone.

And Ausikus, at this moment, served as that stepping stone. His death greatly stimulated the viewers’ senses and redefined the intensity of the ghosts.

At the same time, it shifted the focus of the ghosts from Japanese-style horror that mainly attacks psychological fear to American-style horror that mainly stimulates the senses.

It changed from self-inflicted psychological fear to physiological fear of life being threatened.

...

No Man’s Land number 33 had turned into a death zone by now; if a few days ago it was merely a gambling house too scared to operate, since the death of Ausikus, no one wanted to come here anymore.

Looking at the desolate former "Gambling City," Bert’s lips curled upwards, declaring with a commanding air:

"Look, look, this is the harm of superstition, such a large district, even without a casino, turning it into a commercial street, a tea or coffee bar, could make a good profit, right? Abandoned just because of a legend of a ghost killing people, I have reason to suspect that this is someone’s conspiracy to acquire this area at a low price!"

Watching Bert assume a "disillusioned mortal" stance, the audience exploded again. Some tried to explain that it really was an evil ghost killing people, some taunted with "Ha-ha," "Yeah right," and others kept typing phrases like "If you’re not afraid, you do it."

Feeling a massive wave of "Identity" converging towards himself, Bert adjusted his mentality and silently recalled the script in his heart, then followed the navigation to the casino where Ausikus was killed before, and marveling:

"Wow, such a large casino, the daily turnover must be over a million, right? To shut it down like this is really stupid. This old trick has been around for hundreds of thousands of years, it’s 2077 and people still fall for it..."

[Streamer, you’ve already set so many flags, stop setting up more flags!]

[Exactly, even the old generals on the stage don’t have as many flags as you!]

[Will Gambling has opened the betting: Streamer remains unscathed until the end 1 to 5, Streamer gets scared and runs 1 to 2, Streamer dies 1 to 1.5]

Seeing this comment, Bert suddenly stopped at the entrance of the casino and didn’t move until someone asked him why he wasn’t going inside. Then, he responded,

"I’m waiting for you guys to place your bets!"

With that, he opened his visual terminal and bought 100,000 credit points on "Unscathed" at Will Gambling, using a tone full of righteousness,

"I just don’t believe it, it’s 2077 and people still fall for these old tricks!"

[Damn, I was going to bet on ’Unscathed’ too, but the streamer just jinxed it; I might as well bet on ’Flee in Panic’.]

[What? You’d be better off betting on death than on being scared away!]

[How do you know the streamer didn’t secretly bet a few million on escaping?]

[Damn! You’ve got a point!]

...

As the discussion about the bets grew, Feng Xue cheerfully stepped forward, never underestimate such a tiny detail, but know this: where interests are involved, the level of attention people invest is worlds apart.

Take soccer, for example. Can the attention level of someone who bets a million on a game compare to that of someone who watches for fun without spending a penny?

With all these bets placed, the spectators’ concern for Bert’s life and death was about to skyrocket to a whole new level.

Wrapped up in such high attention, Mr. Bert Wall began his self-directed ghostly comedy.

...

At this moment, the casino was excessively dim. It was at least somewhat lit when Ausikus had visited before, thanks to the surrounding buildings, but now, all the lights in No Man’s Land had been extinguished. Counting on the outside light for illumination worked outdoors, but once inside the casino, it was pitch black.

"It’s pitch black... turn on the lights!" Bert snapped his fingers, and the lighting module immediately activated, casting a beam of light from a drone used for filming that illuminated the surrounding area.

Seeing the comments in the barrage telling him to just turn on the lights, Bert calmly said,

"See, this is what I mean by lack of common sense. How could a casino like this have easily accessible switches? They either directly use a power box or integrate the switches inside the main control room. Otherwise, what if a gambler, upset about losing money, just hits the switch? Can you imagine the financial loss? Not to mention this dump is out of business. Do you think a closed-down casino would still pay for power, or the utility company would supply power for free?"

As the audience, who were familiar with the utility company’s nature, chuckled at Bert’s words, it was at this moment when a fleeting shadow in the field of view made them tense up.

[Streamer! There’s something weird!]

[To the left!]

[Protect with the barrage!]

...

Various comments flooded the screen, yet Bert sighed and said,

"Can we be a bit calm, guys? I didn’t see any shadow."

Though he said this, he still walked toward the direction the audience pointed out, and under the light, a gambling table appeared before him.