RNP Chapter 26: Lost Media
Chapter 26: Lost Media
"Accept the Nightmare Quest".
Zhang Ze immediately accepted the Nightmare mission.
[⑥ (Nightmare): Have you ever heard of lost media? You once watched a video or heard an audio clip online, and you remember it vividly. But many years later, when you want to watch it again, you find that you can't find it no matter what you do, as if the video never existed. You are certain that this is not the Mandela Effect or a collective memory fabricated by the brain. You try to find that video again, but you find that the content in the video is not the same as what you remember...]
There are many examples of lost media: "Friday the 13th," known as the "murderous music," the surveillance footage of Soviet sleep deprivation experiments, Squidward's suicide... Now that you know ghosts really exist, aren't you curious about why these films were lost and what they contained?
[Please be alone in a room at midnight, find the lost media item numbered 021, and watch the live stream.]
Lost media? This concept is not new.
Zhang Ze remembered that when Chen Ge first completed the Black Phone mission, the reward music "Black Friday" was a lost media. Now, it seems that the system and the Black Phone are somewhat similar.
As for the lost media numbered 021.
Zhang Ze's first thought was the videotape he had just won from the roulette draw, numbered 009, not number 021.
It does not meet system requirements.
I glanced at the time; it was a little past 7 p.m., still some time before midnight.
Zhang Ze thought for a moment. He didn't have a computer and couldn't watch videos while streaming, so he searched for nearby internet cafes online.
Speedy Internet Cafe.
Hmm... this name seems a bit unlucky.
But it doesn't matter anymore.
Zhang Ze packed his things and took a taxi to the internet cafe.
Hanjiang City, western suburbs.
At the entrance of the Speedy Internet Cafe.
As soon as Zhang Ze got out of the car, he smelled secondhand smoke, and heard the sounds of games playing in the lobby from time to time, with people shouting passionately like uncivilized apes.
"Nanny! Nanny! Mommy!"
"Holy crap! This kid's definitely unleashed his power. He jumped up, shot me in the head through the smoke and through the wall, he's even giving me that spinning top act now!"
"Mid-lane Azir, do you think you're Faker?"
……
Zhang Ze went to the front desk, where a young woman with short hair and an earring stood out.
"How much for a private room overnight? Okay, I'll pay by scanning the code."
"Betel nut? Cigarettes? No, no, let's just buy a bottle of soda."
Zhang Ze drank a bottle of soda and ate a bag of spicy strips. Suddenly, he felt like he was back in his childhood, with a sense of déjà vu, like a Chinese dream. But he quickly returned to reality.
The internet cafe is very large.
The lobby is divided into Area A and Area B.
Section C mainly consists of single and multi-person private rooms, while Section D is the exclusive private room with a bed for Mr. Fu. It is very clean and well-equipped, but unfortunately it has already been fully booked.
Zhang Ze brought soda and spicy snacks to Zone C.
I looked up and glanced at the private room number.
021.
Wow, what a coincidence.
Zhang Ze turned on his computer, hung his phone on a stand behind his chair, adjusted the angle so that his back and the computer screen could be seen, and then started the live stream.
"Beep~"
The phone rang again.
Zhang Ze glanced at it and saw that it was sent by Yue Pan. He looked away and pretended not to see it.
"Hello everyone, it's great to see you again. My live stream room was banned for so long last time, but it's finally unbanned. I'll be bringing you the most thrilling and terrifying live stream experience as always."
"Please give this a like, everyone! If you come to my haunted house through the live stream, you'll get a 20% discount on tickets."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the number of viewers in the live stream quickly exceeded one thousand, and Zhang Ze got down to business.
Have you ever heard of lost media?
"There was once a type of media that circulated through public channels. It might have been an audio clip, a video, or even a picture, but it later completely disappeared from the internet and could not be retrieved by any means. It only exists in people's memories."
"This time, I'm here to help you find a lost media outlet, numbered 021. I will use all available search methods to find that video for you. If you're easily scared, you can listen to my live stream from the back end."
Zhang Ze spoke while typing on the keyboard.
He first tried searching for the phrase "lost media number 021" in his browser.
Only a few news items popped up.
Zhang Ze glanced at it and discarded the GG compiled automatically by the system, leaving only one valuable one.
For your safety, please do not actively search for or watch any lost media. The number of people missing related to this content has reached 167!
The news source is...
Mystery Tracking Studio?
Zhang Ze was taken aback.
Click to view the news.
"According to statistics, there are many cases of people going missing nationwide due to the loss of certain media... These media have certain special psychological effects and mental influences, and are currently known to cause potential mental illnesses and even endanger lives."
"We interviewed Gao Ming, a well-known psychologist in Hanjiang City, and asked him for his opinion on this type of lost media."
Zhang Ze: ?
Dr. Gao?
Zhang Ze was dumbfounded; he actually saw Dr. Gao in such a place.
A video was embedded in the middle of the news article. When you click on it, the video is two minutes long. Reporter Lin Xiaomei is interviewing Dr. Gao and handing the microphone to Dr. Gao.
The doctor in the video looked rather young, even somewhat immature, and it was clear that he was from one of the earlier versions of the doctor. Zhang Ze couldn't even reconcile this with the image of the strange man carrying a coffin that he had imagined.
Dr. Gao: "There are many reasons why lost media are lost. One of them is that they contain elements of blood and violence, as well as some uncomfortable plots, such as abuse, verbal manipulation, PUA, or other levels of sensory impact."
"Such images can easily trigger mental illness patients with underlying mental health issues to recall unpleasant events, leading to emotional breakdowns, illness, and ultimately, a tragedy."
"Even for mentally sound adults, it is not recommended to consult lost media alone, let alone to disseminate them again."
Zhang Ze watched the video.
The remaining news articles were basically a repetition of what Dr. Gao had mentioned. Zhang Ze closed the webpage, opened a video website, and typed "number 021" into the search bar.
The videos that popped up were basically unrelated.
It doesn't even include video tags.
Time passed second by second, from 7 pm to 8 pm, then 9 pm.
The number of viewers in the live stream remained unchanged.
Zhang Ze tried several video websites repeatedly.
From the most popular Douyin, Kuaishou, and PiliPili, to Baidu Tieba and Zhihu...
The keywords kept changing.
No message for number 021 could be found.
As the time approached 11 p.m., getting closer to the system's required midnight, an announcement rang out in the corridor of Zone C of the internet cafe, signaling the start of the all-night session.
Zhang Ze unconsciously became a little nervous.
Could it be... that we really can't find this video?