Horror Game Designer Chapter 28: Don't be Scared

“Hide here?”

“Yes. Inside the closet. It’s very big here.” The boy pushed the clothes away to make space. His skin was red with a rash. “I will not harm you. Many people can hide here.”

Strange noises came from the back of the closet. It sounded like muffled pleas for help. Zhu Suisui was worried that once she opened the closet door, she would see her colleagues folded up like clothes.

“My parents are almost home. They have a bad temper. You better come in.” The boy said softly. He never dared to raise his voice. “If my parents found you, you would be chopped up.”

It was hard to imagine a boy would say something like that. Zhu Suisui tightened her grip on the axe. It was the only thing to bring her security.

“My parents are very violent. They will destroy everything. They wish to kill everything.” The boy gestured at Zhu Suisui. “They are 3 metres tall. My dad is very strong, and mom likes to use sharp objects. They hate each other, but their bodies are joined together.”

The picture of a monster appeared in Zhu Suisui’s mind. The brutal male over three metres and a female waving a sharp knife was twisted together as it hunted down her colleagues. Once that thought entered her mind, she heard heavy footsteps in the corridor.

“Shush! My parents are coming!” The boy covered his mouth. Zhu Suisui was so nervous that she didn’t dare to breathe too loudly. As the footsteps approached, so did the sound of argument.

“Bitch! I’m going to strangle you!”

“Am I wrong? You are useless. Thankfully, the son is not yours.”

“I’m going to kill you!”

The curses made Zhu Suisui uncomfortable. It was not hard to imagine how the kid would feel hearing all these.

The shoes stepped on the broken glass. The woman’s nails scratched the wall. All the sounds disappeared when they passed by Zhu Suisui’s room door. With a sweaty palm, she lifted her head.

The decorative window on the frame was squeezed open. Strands of hair fell into the room. Zhu Suisui paled. She could barely stand. At that moment, there was the sound of a lock being opened. The black hair slowly receded. The monster was leaving.

Zhu Suisui didn’t dare to open the door. She carefully put down the axe and took out her phone. She eased her camera through the small gap in the window. She stood on tip-toe and glanced through the phone screen. It was just a glance, but her heart couldn’t stop beating.

The screen wasn’t clear, but she could see a mutated man about 3 metres tall standing on the other side of the next-door neighbour’s door. His arm was several times larger than normal, and a woman curled around him. They were grown together. Four eyes stared at the door that made a sound earlier. They were ready to kill.

“A monster!” The monster was similar to the one Zhu Suisui imagined. In fact, it felt like the monster had walked out of her imagination.

Zhu Suisui had to bite her lips so that she wouldn’t make any sound. Cold sweat slid down her forehead. Before she joined the centre, she knew she’d run into a monster, but she didn’t expect the day to arrive so soon!

Veins popped on her neck. She didn’t dare to move.

The corridor was silent. The person hiding next door probably thought the monster had left, and they wanted to check for an update.

The doorknob slowly turned. The old door opened a gap. The people inside had no idea the monster was waiting to ambush them. Zhu Suisui’s heart was at her throat.

“It appears to be safe.”

A familiar voice came out of the room. It was the voice of another newbie. The door opened up further. Her colleague’s face appeared. The scary monster moved as well. The man tightened his fist, and the woman held the knife. The knife was posed right above her colleague’s head.

“Be careful!”

Zhu Suisui couldn’t just stay idle. At the last moment, she raised the axe and shouted, “The ghost is at the door!”

The man and woman turned at the same time. Zhu Suisui’s legs wobbled. She didn’t dare to resist. Fear made her run. The people in the other room reacted as well. However, it was too late. The man burst the door down. He swayed unsteadily like he was drunk. In the kid’s life, this was how the man normally returned home. His habits remained the same after death.

“I’ll delay him! Leave!” The driver’s voice echoed inside the room. Then came the sound of shattered glass and something falling. The muscular investigator appeared to have been pushed down the window. While he distracted the monster, the other investigators and Bai Qiao ran out.

“Spread out and find rooms to hide in! Look for clues! The way to exit the anomaly is often hidden at the scene!” Bai Qiao wanted everyone to calm down, but the newbies who were consumed by fear didn’t pay her any heed. Their training was long forgotten as they rushed down the stairs.

“Do not leave the scene! If you enter the mist outside, you’ll lose yourselves and never be able to come back!” Bai Qiao’s warning fell on deaf ears. The newbies just wanted to leave. Fear had taken over their mind.

The corridor was filled with wails and footsteps. Everyone ran outside. The kid, originally hiding in the closet, joined the crowd. The newbies who just wanted to survive didn’t even notice there was an extra person among them.

“Come back! Do not let fear take over you!” Bai Qiao rushed out to warn them. Zhu Suisui was abandoned inside the building.

“What to do now?”

The first page of the centre’s manual was that one should never run around blindly when dragged into an anomaly. Once lost, one would never find the way home. However, if they didn’t run, where could they hide?

Zhu Suisui looked at the room opposite with despair. The giant monster tipped over the closet and tables. Everything he had his hands on would be destroyed. Stepping on the bloody ground, the mutated man slowly turned around. He and the woman on his back stared at Zhu Suisui. She felt alone in the building. When she was being stared at, Zhu Suisui shivered from fear. The monster grew in her sight. The grotesque body grew with her fear.

Zhu Suisui seemed to return to many years ago. She was trapped in a fire when she was just a child. Everything was burning around her. The heat stung her face, and her skin cracked.

“Save me. Is anyone there…”

The callused hands could barely hold onto the axe. However, Zui Suisui hadn’t given up. She aimed the axe at the monster.

“There’s nothing left I can do.”

The monster dominated Zhu Suisui’s sight. Indescribable despair filled her mind. Zhu Suisui felt the axe getting heavier in her hands. Just as the axe was about to fall, the sound of chains slamming against metal came from the end of the corridor.

The man’s head was right before her eyes, but that crisp sound had a special kind of magic that woke her up. She turned to the sound.

There was a young man not in the centre uniform standing there. He was racing her way. Black chains bound around her left arm, and there was no fear in his eyes.

The young man slammed into the monster’s back. With both hands on the chains, he strangled the monster’s neck!

“Don’t be scared!”

Hearing that, Zhu Suisui was brought back to when she was six. Just as the fire was about to consume her, a firefighter broke down the door and rushed into the fire.

Back then, the firefighter said the same thing.