Horror Game Designer Chapter 48: Home

After spitting out a piece of bone, the building manager put the mask back on and sauntered away. Wan Qiu sighed and put down his hand. Instantly, a horrible stench assaulted him.

“This place is so smelly. It’s like people have been dead for days.”

He turned around to examine the trash can and shoe rack. They were very clean. There were only some waste papers. Wan Qiu smoothed out the papers. They seemed to be torn from a day.

“This is the 30th day since I’ve moved to 505. A beautiful and gentle single mother lives across from me. She often goes out to do grocery shopping at night. I will always run into her in the corridor when I work the night shift.

“She is really beautiful. She has long black hair. However, she always wears the same clothes, and a strange odour lingers around her. At first, I didn’t mind it. But one day, the landlord told me something.

“He said that the unit across from mine was finally rented out. I would have company soon. But what about the single mother? Every night, I could hear the sound of children laughing and smell the increasingly heavy stench coming from the room opposite.”

“A stench?” Wan Qiu’s brain spun. “The dairy’s owner stayed in Room 505. I’m now in Room 506.” The weak light shone on Wan Qiu. He saw the red footprints left in the living room’s cement floor.

“It’s a mixture of blood and mud.” Wan Qiu slowly knelt down. He followed the footprints until a pair of pale legs appeared in his sight. They appeared to be there from the start. Even though Wan Qiu was prepared, he was still scared until he fell to the ground. He looked up and saw a girl standing between the living room and the kitchen. The girl wore all black. Her skin was frighteningly pale because she hadn’t seen the sun for a long time already. Everything in the room was contaminated by the stench, including the girl. However, other than that, she looked no different from a normal child. Her clothes were very clean, and she had two cute pigtails. She carried a strawberry bear doll in her arms.

“Mom, someone’s here.” The girl said hoarsely. She seemed to be scared of outsiders. When she saw Wan Qiu, she called for her mother immediately. There was no response from the kitchen. The kitchen was dark, and Wan Qiu couldn’t see what was inside. Moments later, a girl about 5 walked out of the kitchen.

She carried three bowls. She cried and said, “Mom is not talking and answering me again.” The girl placed the bowls on the table. The stench on her was greater than the girl in the living room.

“Big sister, let’s eat.” The little girl wiped away her tears. She ran to her sister’s side and then looked at Wan Qiu. “Do you want to join us? My mom is a great cook!”

The knife slammed against the cutting board. The sisters’ mother was in the kitchen.

Wan Qiu moved so fast to the table. He sat honestly and didn’t say anything. The atmosphere at the dining table was scary. The big sister, hugging the doll, kept her head lowered and said nothing. The younger sister was very lively and she would stare at Wan Qiu occasionally.

“My name is Yuan Yuan. She is my big sister, Xian Xian. We’ve stayed here for a very long time, but some bad people kept wanting to chase us away, saying that this house isn’t hours.” Yuan Yuan was quite angry as she told Wan Qiu, “You’re not here to chase us out, right?”

Wan Qiu shook his head. He looked between the sisters. His lips opened, but he said nothing. The sound of cooking came from the kitchen. Soon, the fragrance of food joined the overall stench. The kitchen curtain was pulled back, and a plate of stir-fried cabbage was pushed out. The white cabbage was placed on a pure white plate. The plate was being held by five rotten fingers.

“I’ll go take the dish.” Yuan Yuan offered. She ran to the kitchen door and ran back to place the dish on the dining table. ‘Mother’ inside the kitchen didn’t show herself. The curtain fell, and the fingers disappeared. ‘Mother’ started cooking the second dish. Then, there was the smell of cooking meat.

When he saw the rotten fingers, Wan Qiu’s eyes twitched. The horror story became true. The two girls’ mother died, but to prevent themselves from being chased out of the apartments, her soul stayed in the rotting body. She cooked, washed and combed the girls’ hair every day. The younger daughter, Yuan Yuan, didn’t understand death. The older daughter, Xian Xian, knew the truth, but she was unwilling to leave because her mother was her mother.

The second dish was soon ready. Wan Qiu was under a lot of pressure.

From the third dish onwards, the illusion would disappear. Death traps were everywhere. Wan Qiu could see the ways he’d die. The older daughter would go to fetch the second dish, and then it was his turn to grab the third dish. Then, he’d be grabbed by the mother and made into the third dish; If he didn’t volunteer to help carry the dishes, he’d be killed by the sisters; If he escaped, mother would come out of the kitchen to chase after him; If he didn’t do anything, he’d stay there forever. Blood tears leaked out of his eyes. Wan Qiu hugged his head and didn’t dare to look at the kitchen.

The smell of meat intensified. The bloody meat was cooked. The rotting fingers handed the dish out. The two girls became excited when they smelled the meat. The older daughter was about to stand up when Wan Qiu made a decision. He ran before the older daughter and came to the kitchen. When he held the plate with both hands, Wan Qiu had exhausted his courage. With bloody tears on his face, his legs weakened, and he fell to the ground. “Why everyone wants to bully me… Mommy, where’s my mommy…” His sad past flashed through his mind. Wan Qiu was so scared, and the only person who promised to help him had disappeared. His mind was blank. He was so scared. He knew that he was about to die.

At that moment, the sound of cooking stopped. Xian Xian slowly raised her head, and her expression was strange. The younger daughter jumped down from the chair and came to Wan Qiu. Sensing people coming towards him, Wan Qiu curled up.

The younger daughter reached out her hand. Since Wan Qiu didn’t react, she whispered something to the kitchen. The kitchen curtain waved. Five fingers pulled it back. A face covered by black hair reached out. The stench dominated the room. Wan Qiu saw a bloodshot eye through the curtain of hair.

“Mommy?”

The ghost mother’s hand that held the giant knife raised. Her eyes were fully red. Wan Qiu’s heart pounded. He closed his eyes, but he didn’t feel the pain. Wan Qiu slowly opened his eyes. He saw that the ghost mother was ruffling his hair.

“You can’t fight us for our mother, but if you’re in pain, you can tell us.” The girl said in a mature tone.

They returned to the table. Everything felt so surreal to Wan Qiu. He could see death, but death wouldn’t do anything to him. Ghost mother carried the third dish out herself. The family of three started to eat. Wan Qiu didn’t pick up the chopsticks. He felt like he had cheated ghost mother.

“Actually, I came from outside.” Wan Qiu didn’t lie and told them everything.

In Wan Qiu’s unfortunate life, this was the first time he had experienced home. He even accepted the ghost mother as his family. Perhaps he had experienced many sins, Wan Qiu grabbed onto the smallest bit of kindness.

After knowing Wan Qiu’s friends were lost in the building, the kind little daughter said, “We’ll go to Granny Busybody. She knows everything!”

“The building manager will catch you.”

The big sister glared at her sister. The little sister huffed, “Then, we’ll catch the building manager. There are so many of us. Why should we be afraid of him?”

“The building manager represents the God of Blood and Flesh. Stop saying nonsense.” The big sister lectured the small sister.

“I saw the building manager’s real face.” Wan Qiu said weakly. “He’s actually a rat. He has eaten something, and that’s why he’s scary.”

Wan Qiu didn’t believe in ghosts and Gods. He’d pray for God to help him every time he was bullied but help never came. This strange world might have Gods but they were not his Gods.