"A special mission is about to begin soon."
Chen Mo felt a sense of unease, though he didn't fully understand why. The woman before him was clearly human, yet she gave him the impression of a wandering spirit—one that could appear before him at will whenever she pleased.
From this, he deduced that Su Mu likely possessed more than just the Blood Jade Bracelet among her collection of items with strange abilities. Combined with the mysterious aura she exuded and the red-dressed female ghost in the hallway, this late-night meeting carried no hint of romance; instead, it felt eerie and even somewhat terrifying.
As for the "special mission" she mentioned, it was something Chen Mo had never heard of before.
"Special mission?"
Su Mu nodded. "Ordinary horror story missions can be seen by all listeners through the radio's preview images, but the preview for a special mission is only visible to the host."
As if reading his thoughts, she didn't wait for him to ask before clearing up his confusion.
"Unlike regular horror stories, a special mission will involve more than one program group."
That made sense. Chen Mo recalled that when he was first drawn into the Strange Tales Radio, he had heard her mention that the space he belonged to was called the Seventh Program Group. Since they used different numbers to distinguish them, it wasn't surprising that other program groups existed within the radio.
Hearing this, his curiosity piqued. "How many program groups are there in the entire radio station?"
"The number of program groups isn't fixed. When all listeners in a group die during a horror story, that group is marked as vacant until more than two participants simultaneously pass a novice script, at which point it reopens... As far as I know, there are currently two vacant program groups in the radio: the First Program Group and the Fifth Program Group."
"Excluding the vacant ones, that leaves seven program groups, including ours."
"You just said that a special mission involves other program groups. What kind of relationship do we have with them during the mission? I mean, is it cooperation, competition... or confrontation?"
"Cooperation, competition, confrontation—all are possible." Su Mu smiled. "As for which one it'll be, that depends on luck."
Chen Mo suddenly felt uneasy.
"Cooperation and competition... I can understand both. But if it's confrontation, does that mean the radio will issue missions where different program groups are forced to kill each other?"
"Exactly. That's what you're thinking. This Strange Tales Radio really is strict with us, isn't it?"
Despite her usual cold demeanor, a hint of resentment crept into her resigned tone.
Being dragged into these eerie events, no one could calmly accept the radio's life-and-death control—not even Su Mu, the host.
As for other participants, they likely hated it even more but were powerless. It was like a mysterious, detached existence, devoid of joy or sorrow, coldly observing people's struggles.
Its origins and purpose remained unknown. No one could say how long this mysterious radio had existed. For the Seventh Program Group, it had once been marked as vacant until Su Mu and Li Yan appeared. With their help, the group's membership grew steadily to over twenty people. Li Yan and Su Mu became the listeners with the most completed horror stories in the Seventh Program Group.
But compared to Li Yan, Su Mu, as the host, was far more mysterious!
Chen Mo suddenly thought of another question. "You said the special mission is about to begin. Is this mission targeting only our Seventh Program Group, or could all program groups be involved? Also... what's the frequency or interval for these special missions?"
"Chen Mo, you really have a sharp mind. No wonder Li Yan speaks so highly of you." Su Mu smiled. "Did you know? Li Yan once asked me to step in and help you if you ever faced danger during a mission."
"Step in?"
A flicker of surprise finally crossed Chen Mo's calm expression. Every horror story mission was an independent supernatural space. Could Su Mu, as the host, actually enter someone else's mission space and interfere with their task?!
That... was too unbelievable!
"That's right. I can interfere to some extent with others' ongoing missions, but it's not as free as you think. It's heavily restricted—at most, I can repel one supernatural attack. I can't communicate with the mission executor or help them complete the task."
"Also, such interference comes at a great cost. And after all, I'm just an ordinary person. There are many things I can't do either."
"I see." Chen Mo nodded, though inwardly he thought, *You're probably a big spender.*
"To answer your earlier question: special missions have no set release pattern or fixed intervals. However, before one is released, hosts of each program group do sense something. But this sensation isn't like ordinary horror stories, where preview images give participants hints and preview the mission content."
"In other words... for special missions involving multiple program groups, participants only receive the full mission details after entering the supernatural space. And as the recipient of mission prompts, the host... must become a participant."
"So, after becoming a program group host, you no longer enter ordinary horror stories but must participate in every special mission?"
"Something like that."
Su Mu shrugged. "But it's not absolute. If I wanted, I could still opt into ordinary horror stories, but completing them wouldn't count toward my tally."
In other words, after upgrading to host, the remaining five missions had to be completed through team tasks. It seemed Su Mu's role as host wasn't easy either.
Then came the question in Chen Mo's mind.
"I've only been in the Strange Tales Radio for half a year and completed just two missions. Surely the radio wouldn't pick me for a high-level team mission like yours."
"What do you think?" Su Mu chuckled.
___ PS: Two updates today. Going out for a meal; the second update will be posted in the afternoon.