Horror Game Designer Chapter 20: Milk Tea

Su Mo had always been a hardworking person. He was always at the front of the class ranking. He studied seriously and then took a part-time job when he was free. Su Mo didn’t have unrealistic hopes. He only wished to get into one good company after graduation and help share the burden of his family. Even though Su Mo hadn’t graduated, he did think about his future work life…

“Did you hear me?”

Gao Ming’s tone chilled. Su Mo shivered. The young man’s life flashed before his eyes.

“No!” Su Mo immediately shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything!”

“Don’t be too curious.” Gao Ming used his body to block the door. “This world is more complicated than you think. Go home early. Don’t work too late.”

“Yes. Yes.” Su Mo grabbed his helmet and ran. He was faster than last time. Su Mo rushed into the elevator. He pressed for the door to close. He only sighed when the grey elevator doors closed.

“The workplace is too crazy.”

The office building’s air-conditioning was strong. Su Mo wiped away the sweat on his forehead. In the booth, two men, one tall and one short, whispered to each other. “The night before last, there was a programmer on the 11th floor who died from overtime. His colleagues thought he was asleep. They left his body there for a while before they realised something was wrong.”

“That’s so scary. This industry is too much. The salary we get is not enough to pay for medical bills.”

“Do you know what’s scarier?” The young man lowered his head. “I heard from my friend that when he left that office last night, he saw someone working in the office. He wanted to leave the lights on. But the person suddenly said, it’s alright. I can see without the lights.”

“The fuck? Did the dead programmer come back?”

“I have no idea! My friend was stunned. Then, he realised that person was sitting at the victim’s table, and the monitor was filled with random codes!”

The elevator shook. The two men walked out, and Su Mo was alone. He stared at the numbers on the panel. The story he heard echoed in his mind. The numbers changed until it was 11. The elevator doors slowly opened, but there was no one outside. The chilling air seeped through the collar. Su Mo looked at the empty corridor, and his heart pounded nervously. Several seconds later, the door was about to close, and suddenly, a male employee ran into the elevator booth carrying a laptop bag.

Su Mo sighed in relief when he saw another man join him. He hugged his helmet, and he took out his phone to pick up the next order.

Staring at the phone screen, Su Mo felt weird. He tilted his phone slightly and turned on the camera. He realised the male employee had been staring at him since he entered the elevator. His throat moved. Su Mo sneaked a look at the man. The man’s pupils kept staring at him. Su Mo slowly moved back. The male employee didn’t move, but his mouth slowly opened. “So, you can really see me.”

…

Gao Ming didn’t chase after Su Mo. He guarded the storage room door and drank his milk tea silently.

As more people downloaded To Our Dying Love, Xuan Wen’s conditions worsened. As her self-consciousness grew, she might go insane from consuming too many negative emotions. At 9.30 pm, most of the rooms had their lights off. The last employee bus left.

Other than Nightlight Gaming Studio, only the fifth studio under Magic Map Tech, Unicorn Gaming Studio, which was still open. Nightlight had very few people. They didn’t have overtime normally because they didn’t have much work. Now that they had something to do, everyone was working hard.

Unicorn Gaming Studio had several times the number of employees compared to Nightlight. It took up the entire third floor. Their studio was the most taxing one under Magic Map Tech. Everyone worked a crazy hour. They normally got off work at 9 pm.

“Do they not want their lives anymore? Even the prison would have allowed the prisoners to go back to the cells at this hour.” Gao Ming was worried about Xuan Wen. He hoped that everyone would go home and leave, but everyone was working overtime.

“Gao Ming, our demo has reached more than 15000 downloads!” Wei Dayou was excited. He ran to the door to share the joy with Gao Ming. “There hasn’t been much promotion. The players shared it with their friends. There’s a chance for this game to succeed!”

“That’s good.”

“Your insistence was right! We should be able to continue with this game!” Wei Dayou brewed a cup of coffee. “The studio hasn’t seen such activity in seven months already. Everyone is so excited.”

“They don’t say it, but they do care about Nightlight.” Gao Ming worked with Nightlight for a long time already, so he knew this studio had a glorious history.

“This time, we’re going to bounce back hard!” Wei Dayou didn’t mean to leave at all. Gao Ming was troubled.

“Dayou, you should get everyone to go home and rest. It’s getting late.”

“We’re not leaving! We’re staying to fight!” Wei Dayou drank the coffee and then returned to his seat.

“What a group of stubborn people.” Gao Ming looked at the rising download numbers and knocked on the storage room door. “Xuan Wen, are you ready?”

Gao Ming was worried since there was no answer. He opened the door a gap.

The light twisted. There was no light in the room. The shadow flickered.

“Xuan Wen?” The woman in the OL outfit was wrapped in shadow. Her eyes were closed. Black and small capillaries came out of her skin. The blood was connected to the shadow.

“This is like the chains that connected Zhao Xi and me.”

Zhao Xi had been made into a ghost by the unknown world. His strange power came from the other world. His memory, regret and obsession turned into black chains.

Zhao Xi came from real life, but Xuan Wen was designed by Gao Ming. She was not related to reality, but after more than 10,000 people knew of her existence, her body was pulsing with thin black capillaries too.

“Perhaps strong emotions will carve the horror stories in people’s hearts. No wonder ghosts like to spread fear.” Gao Ming entered the shadow. He looked at Xuan Wen’s fair neck. All the blood vessels gathered there until they formed something like a chain. This was the core of Xuan Wen’s memory.

“If I destroy the chains, Xuan Wen might be sent back to the shadow world, or she might lose control; If I connect to the chains, I might snatch away her power.”

The chance to kill and control Xuan Wen appeared before him. Gao Ming slowly raised his hand but only took the unopened milk tea beside Xuan Wen.

“It’s too cruel to destroy the self-consciousness once it’s formed.” Gao Ming opened the lid and sipped the tea. “Room-temp milk tea is not good.”

Gao Ming exited the storage room with the milk tea. After he walked away, Xuan Wen opened her eyes.

“I gave you a chance and you only chose to drink the milk tea?”