Chapter Five: The Murderer Is Knocking—Stay Calm

“Is there anyone here who can reach the streamer? Tell him to run!”
In the live chat, a user claiming to be a police officer said this.
Unfortunately, it seemed not many viewers believed him.
“Come on, man upstairs, you’re going too far. Murderers? How could you say something so outrageous? There’s no way something so absurd could happen.”
“Brother, you should write a book—your story is so well made-up, I almost believed it.”
“Alright, cards on the table, I won’t pretend anymore. I’m Qin Shi Huang, send me money!”
Faced with these doubts, the self-proclaimed police officer fell silent.
But after a dozen seconds, he reappeared and typed another message.
“I just checked. The guy knocking on the door is Zhang Yong, a fugitive wanted for a major homicide case, with over twenty lives on his hands. The two big guys with him are brothers—one’s named Li Jun, the other Li Jian. They’re from the same village as Zhang Yong, and each has taken at least ten lives.”
“Everything I’m saying is true. If you don’t believe me, search online—there are photos. Go compare them with the stream; you’ll see for yourself.”
“By the way, the criminal knocking at the door seems extremely agitated. In my ten plus years as a police officer, I’d say he’s likely high on drugs, which is probably why he’s here.”
The message ended there, and in less than two seconds, the chat exploded.
“Holy crap, the three guys at the streamer’s door really are serial killers! They look exactly like the wanted posters!”
“No wonder they’d actually show up at someone’s door—it’s the drugs.”
“The streamer’s in real danger now!”
“Can anyone get in touch with the streamer? Tell him to run!”
At this point, Bai Qingming was speechless.
Run?
Where to?
Other than jumping out the window, there was nowhere to go.
But the problem was that his shabby rented apartment was on the sixth floor—jumping would be certain death!
Bang!
Another loud kick at the door. The lock was about to give way, and it had only been two minutes since Bai Qingming called the police. The station was at least ten minutes away.
It would be bad enough if they were just killers, but they were high too—who knew what they might do? If the door gave out and they burst in, it was likely the end for him.
He had to think of something!
Bai Qingming began to plot his own rescue.
He knew he couldn’t fight them off—three against one, opening the door would be suicide.
He could try hiding, but there was only space under the bed, and unless the men outside were blind, they’d find him. Then he’d be trapped and helpless.
After thinking it over, a flash of inspiration struck him. He came up with a clever plan.

At that moment, he calmed down.
Bai Qingming didn’t rush to act. Instead, he turned on his computer and logged into his streaming account.
Then, he started a live broadcast.
“Hello, everyone!”
He greeted his viewers.
“Wow, the streamer’s gone live. Is he leaving his last words on air?”
“Look at that background—is he at home?”
“Run, streamer! There are three murderers outside your door!”
“Yeah, like he can’t hear them kicking the door down!”
As soon as the stream began, viewers started frantically urging Bai Qingming to escape.
Faced with the worried crowd, he suddenly smiled.
“That’s it, the streamer must be scared senseless.”
“He’s given up.”
“Let’s observe a moment of silence for him.”
“Come on, streamer, pull yourself together! Go out there and fight the murderers; I’ll support you in spirit!”
[Lu Chuxue sent 10 rockets]
“A small gift, just a little token. I’m afraid if I don’t give it now, I won’t get another chance.” —Lu Chuxue.
At this point, the viewers were all baffled.
There were killers at his door and he wasn’t running? What the hell was he thinking?
“Thank you all for your concern.”
Such a great opportunity could not be wasted; Bai Qingming decided to use it to boost his popularity.
He glanced at the door—it looked like it would hold for another two minutes.
There was plenty of time. Bai Qingming remained unhurried and calmly said,
“As you all know, my current situation is pretty clear. Outside my door are three murderers trying to break in. Obviously, going out to confront them is certain death. I live on the sixth floor, and there’s nowhere to hide in here. So, let me teach you all how to save yourselves in this kind of situation.”
As he spoke, Bai Qingming changed the stream title to: “Murderers at the Door? Don’t Panic—Streamer Teaches You How to Survive.”
“I’m just here to watch the streamer show off!”
“I want to see how he’s going to save himself. If he survives, I’ll send ten treasure maps.”
“I’m new here. Can someone explain what’s going on?”
In less than thirty seconds, Bai Qingming’s stream had already matched last night’s peak viewership.

“Sorry about this!”
Seeing that the time was right, Bai Qingming muttered this under his breath.
Next, he took out his phone and dialed a contact labeled “Brother Wang from across the hall,” putting the call on speaker.
“Hello?”
The call connected, and from the accent, it was clear the man was from the northeast.
The viewers had no idea what Bai Qingming was up to.
Then Bai Qingming spoke.
“Brother Wang, you ordered takeout again, right?”
“How did you know? Did the delivery guy come to your door again?”
Brother Wang retorted.
Bai Qingming didn’t know exactly what Brother Wang did for a living, only that he rarely left his apartment and relied on takeout for all his meals.
The building itself was so run-down that the unit numbers were almost illegible, so delivery drivers often knocked on the wrong door.
After several incidents, they exchanged contacts so whenever there was a mix-up, a quick call and Brother Wang would come collect his meal.
Hearing Brother Wang’s reply, Bai Qingming grinned.
“That’s right, the delivery guy came to my door again. You’d better come get it—he seems to be in a hurry.”
Then, Bai Qingming added, “Oh, and by the way, Brother Wang, I noticed there are three of them this time. They seem a bit off, like they’re looking for a fight. Did you give them a bad review or something?”
“I get it now. Last time I ordered fried chicken, there was a piece missing. I saw crumbs at the corner of the delivery guy’s mouth—he’d obviously taken a bite. I was so mad, I left a bad review.
Damn, now they want to fight me? They think I’m easy prey?”
With that, Brother Wang hung up.
The viewers had heard everything clearly.
When Bai Qingming hung up, the chat exploded.
“No way!! Did that just work?”
“That was pure genius, streamer!”
“Murderers are at the door and you’re just calling the neighbor to get his takeout? That’s a new one for the books.”
“Streamer, you’re unbelievable!”
“Now you’ve really set Brother Wang up. Please, have a heart!”
…