Horror Game Designer Chapter 19: God of Flesh and Blood

“What is wrong with Manager Gou?” Gao Ming was confused. Ever since 5.41 pm, Manager Gou kept calling him, but his focus was on Xuan Wen.

“There have been more than one thousand downloads. Do you feel anything different?” Gao Ming didn’t have his own workplace. He moved a paper box and sat beside Xuan Wen, looking nervously at her.

“There’s a lot of noise in my head.” Xuan Wen lowered her head to look at her hands. She had maintained this pose for a long time already.

“Noises?” Gao Ming wrote down Xuan Wen’s ‘symptoms’. “Can you hear what they’re saying?”

“No. But these voices contain various emotions. They can make my consciousness more complete and isolated.” Xuan Wen grabbed the handle of the chair tightly. “Since I’ve opened my eyes, there would be black shadows around me that only I could see. They tried their best to drag me back to the original world as if trying to correct my fate. The voices from these players are like threads, binding me closer to the real world.”

“The info provided by the investigation centre did say that the ghosts from the ghost stories can grow control from feeding on negative emotions until they go out of control.” Gao Ming studied Xuan Wen, “Do you feel like losing control?”

“It’s annoying being bombarded by so many voices. It’s like schizophrenia. However, I believe I can get used to it.” Xuan Wen lifted her head. Her left eye was bloodshot. The crazy thing was the blood tried to crawl out of her socket.

“Big Sister, your face looks like you’re more than annoyed!” Gao Ming took the sleeping mask from the drawer and handed it to her.

“If you keep calling me your big sister, then I’ll lose control.” Xuan Wen took out a mirror from her bag. She put on the mask and dragged Gao Ming to the office.

“Don’t you want to go home to hide?”

“It’s fine.” Xuan Wen walked out of the office and stopped before the storage room. “If a horror takes over one thousand living humans in real life, tragedy will happen. As the core of the horror, I will lose control. The one thousand people will sink into despair as well. However, this is perfect.” Xuan Wen’s voice was low. “The game made from our experience is like my altar. The wedding portrait in the game is like my figurine. I can use this method to obtain some negative emotions. The players will not sink into real despair either.”

“That’s right.” Gao Ming nodded.

“I can feel myself slowly shaking away the influence of the shadow world.” Xuan Wen opened the storage room door. “We will make the complete version of the game tonight. Even if we lose money, we have to get more people to play it!”

“This feels so weird… to hear you say it.” Gao Ming’s impression of this woman was that she was a murderer who killed eight people in three days. However, in reality, this woman went to work at 5 am and would do anything to fulfil her dream.

“You should get back to work. I’ll join you after I’ve gotten my rest.” Xuan Wen closed the door, leaving Gao Ming alone outside the door.

“Xuan Wen is very clever, but she might be too close to see the truth. Since we’ve confirmed that normal games can help ghosts collect emotions, then I can use horrors to make money. And then use the money to fund the ghostly services.” Gao Ming opened his bag. He narrowed his eyes. “I should collect more death portraits like Zhao Xi’s.”

Since the end of the world was coming, why would he abide by old rules?

Gao Ming returned to the office and started to search famous haunted houses around Han Hai. At that moment, Wei Dayou carried Fa Cai and sneaked over. “Is there something between you two?” He raised his brows like he had seen through everything.

Gao Ming looked as helpless as Fa Cai. “There’s something, but it’s not what you think.”

“I knew it!”

“What do you know?” Gao Ming continued his research. They were not on the same frequency.

“I saw that you came out alone. Did you two argue?” Wei Dayou patted Gao Ming’s shoulders. “I’ve helped you order two milk teas. Go and apologise. Don’t make the girl sad. I saw her covering her eyes. Was she crying?”

“Sure.” Gao Ming chased Wei Dayou away. He compared the haunted houses he found to the games he designed in the past to crave the path for his future. Half an hour later, Wei Dayou’s milk teas arrived. Gao Ming walked out of the office unwillingly, but he met a familiar face. “Su Mo?”

The delivery man who delivered the rice for Gao Ming stood at the door with the milk teas. When he saw Gao Ming, he took a step back. “How did I run into you even though I’d swapped a different delivery area?”

“This is destiny.” Gao Ming accepted the two milk teas. He didn’t return to the office but walked to the storage room at the corner. Su Mo was ready to go, but he heard a woman’s painful moans from the storage room. The heart of justice compelled this university student to stay. After a long hesitation, he slowly approached the storage room.

Gao Ming closed the door behind him. He noticed Xuan Wen’s condition was much worse. Her left face was twisted, and many scratches were on her arm. “Are you okay?”
“There are more voices!” Xuan Wen’s eyes shook. She said intermittently, “I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Do you want to go home first?”

“No. I might tear myself open on the way home.” Even her voice changed. There was an unfamiliarity to it.

“You can’t lose control at the company either. They’re making your game.” Gao Ming raised his hands. “They even bought drinks for you. You can’t kill them all!”

“Go find a rope and tie me up.” Xuan Wen said in pain.

“Are you sure? Won’t that make it harder on you?”

“No.”

“Where should I tie you to?”

“The table? The bookshelf? Anything works!” Xuan Wen pushed open her phone. “We need to record this whole process. I need to know. We can study it together later or tomorrow morning at work.”

“Okay.” Gao Ming was highly alert. He turned around and heard footsteps outside the door. Gao Ming shushed Xuan Wen and silently grabbed the doorknob.

…

Su Mo felt like Gao Ming didn’t sound like a good man. He sidled up to the storage room door.

“Go find a rope and tie me up…”

Just that sentence made Su Mo’s expression change. “Bondage?”

He held his breath as a new voice came out, “Where?”

“The table? The bookshelf? Anything works!” Just hearing this caused Su Mo’s face to burn. Should people at work talk like this?

“We need to record this whole process. I need to know. We can study it together later or tomorrow morning at work.”

“Record the process and study it later?” Su Mo sucked in a cold breath. This was highly corrupting to this innocent young man. Su Mo walked back with burning earlobes. At that moment, the door opened. He and Gao Ming looked at each other.

“What have you heard?”

Su Mo’s hair stood on end. The man before him was not only possessed but also was a pervert!

…

Han Hai’s eastern city, Queens 16th Street, 3th floor of Fu An Private Hospital.

Wiping away the blood on his fingers, a large middle-aged man slowly rose. He stepped over the dead body and sat down on the chair.

“President Situ, the document is here.” The bespectacled, young doctor appeared to be used to everything there. “Congratulations on becoming Han Hai Investigation Centre’s Eastern Division’s Standing President.”

“Just standing?” The middle-aged man looked at the doctor. His voice had no emotion.

“Basically, you have no competition.” The doctor hesitated before finally asking, “But I’m curious. Why would you pay such a high price for this position that no one wants?”

“Doctor Lu, that doesn’t seem to concern you.” The light shone on the table before the middle-aged man, but the latter was fully in the dark. “Have you found the people?”

“There are seven of them. All of them are investigators who have experienced Level 3 Anomalies. They will explain to you how they survived.” The doctor placed the files before the man. Of the seven investigators, three were disabled, and one had a ruined face.

“Skip that. Tell them to move into the ghost building in the eastern city at midnight with me tonight. They will stay at the home of the family who worshipped The God of Flesh.”

“This.. doesn’t fit the rules. They belong to other divisions.” The doctor said with difficulty.

“Rules are made to be broken. Soon, you’ll follow new rules.” The man slowly stood up. He pushed his chair from the darkness into the light.