Horror Game DesignerChapter 5: To Our Transient Love

As Hen Shan Penitentiary’s criminal psychiatrist, Gao Ming was under a lot of pressure every day. Making games was a way for him to relax. He would put the horrible things he heard and imagined into the games. It was a way for him to share his fear with others. In a way, he was a kind person.

“My greatest dream in the past was to turn all of my ideas into games so that everyone in the world can experience the charm of thrillers…” Making dreams into reality should be something happy, but Gao Ming did not expect his dream to happen like this.

Gao Ming carried the box with his documents into the bathroom and took out a lighter. The flame consumed his effort. Gao Ming’s dream went up in flames. After cleaning up the ashes, Gao Ming returned to the office. He hoped that Manager Gou would allow him to delete all the soft copies on the computer. The games that had not been invested were deleted easily. However, some were already in the process of programming. One such example was the dating sim discussed earlier. The game was called ‘To our Transient Love’. Manager Gou used his connections and a lot of effort to fight for this. He valued this game a lot, seeing it as the tool to help the studio shift its focus.

“Gao Ming, it’s fine to delete the other games but not this dating sim.” Manager Gou put down the thermal cup and frowned sadly, “Our studio depends on this game. We’ve cooperated for years already. You don’t want us to lose our jobs, right? I’m already over 40. I have a family. I’ve signed the contract. If I don’t finish this game, my family will be homeless.” Gao Ming could understand Manager Gou, but he still shook his head. Manager Gou only signed a contract with the investor. If this game were made, he would sign a contract with the King of Hell. Other games wanted money from the players, but his games wanted the player’s souls.

“How about this?” Gao Ming turned to the computer. “Most of To our Transient Love was designed by Dayou. I merely provided him with some ideas about the crimes. We can leave eight of the plotlines alone. However, we must delete the ninth story that I was involved in.”

To our Transient Love was about an otaku male who overcame life’s difficulties. He met nine different women in his life. There was a sick childhood friend, a hard-to-approach superior with a kind heart, the bitch Li Luxin and so on. The previous eight female characters were designed by Wei Dayou. Since the romance experience of everyone at Nightlight Gaming Studio was pitiable, and the plot was very dry and common. Gao Ming thought that the game needed a kick, so he suggested Wei Dayou add the ninth storyline with the psycho criminal, Xuan Wen.

Xuan Wen was a highly intelligent and dangerous woman. After being conned by another man, Xuan Wen’s understanding of love was twisted. She always knew where the main character was and watched his move. Due to this addition, the game changed drastically.

When Gao Ming said to remove the ninth storyline, Manager Gou was so happy. “Of course, we’ll delete it now and make a normal dating sim!”

“I’ll say one more thing.” Gao Ming reminded him. “Don’t design that many female characters. One is enough. It’s best if they don’t interact that much.”

“How is it a dating sim if there’s minimal interaction?” Wei Dayou was confused.

“Nowadays, people want a simple gaming experience. The main character doesn’t even need to interact with the outside world.” With his previous experience, Gao Ming wanted to be as careful as he could.

“Okay.” Wei Dayou had no idea what Gao Ming was saying, but he believed that the ninth plot was the core of the game. After deleting it, the game was nothing. Wei Dayou turned to the computer and was about to edit the storyline, the glass door of the Nightlight Gaming Studio was pushed open.

As if sensing something, the fat cat, normally lying under the table lazily, suddenly jumped behind the bookshelf. Its hairs stood on end, and it shivered.

“I’m so sorry. It was raining so hard that I couldn’t fetch a taxi.” A gentle voice came from the door. Everyone turned over to look. A woman who had her shoulders wet by rain stood by the door. She wore a white shirt and a short skirt. However, the simple style accentuated her presence. She was casual and welcoming. She didn’t seem to realize how gorgeous she was.

“It’s fine. We know it has been raining heavily.” Manager Gou waved his hands and introduced Gao Ming to her. “She is Xuan Wen. She just joined us. It’s a coincidence that she has the same name as the character you designed.”

With Nightlight Gaming Studio’s current situation, they couldn’t hire anyone too expensive.

Gao Ming studied the woman. She was dressed casually, but it couldn’t hide her impressive presence. Gao Ming, who dealt with killers daily, could sense that she had the confidence of an apex predator.

“Xuan Wen?”

“Yes. Nice to meet you.”

“A psycho killer?”

“Hmm?” Xuan Wen was confused. Manager Gou hurried over to smooth things over with a joke.

All the employees greeted Xuan Wen happily. Only Gao Ming and the fat cat stood from a distance to observe.

Standing the furthest away from Xuan Wen, Gao Ming took out his phone. There was no news about Xuan Wen on the internet. Then, he keyed in the names of all the other female characters from To Our Transient Love on the web. When Gao Ming tried Li Luxin’s name, a few articles popped up. Two nights ago, Li Luxin died of an unknown circumstance at her boyfriend’s manor. It was suspected that she killed herself.

“It’s another person with the same name… Is it suicide?” Gao Ming glanced at Xuan Wen. He felt like it was not a coincidence for her to appear at the studio. “Could she be here for me?” Gao Ming’s skull was numb. He grabbed Wei Dayou and told him to quickly delete all the game info. He had to personally witness Wei Dayou delete the copies.

They worked through the afternoon. All the ideas provided by Gao Ming to the gaming studio were deleted. Those that couldn’t be deleted were edited. Looking at the empty folder, Gao Ming felt better. He walked out of the office with a cup of warm water. The fat cat sneaked out with him. It moved faster than its size could suggest.

“Did you sense danger too? You’re quite clever.” Gao Ming came to the office’s rest area. He found a quiet space and rubbed the kitty.

About five minutes later, the cat suddenly froze like a statue. Gao Ming instantly noticed something was wrong. He stood up. He smelt a fragrance in the air. It was light but was filled with a dangerous attraction.

He turned around and was shocked to see Xuan Wen standing there. Her fingers landed on Gao Ming’s shoulder, and she cornered him. “Hubby, why do you pretend not to know me?”

Hearing that, Gao Ming’s expression froze. His hand over the paper cup fumbled, and the cup fell to the ground, splashing the two with water.

“Hubby?” Gao Ming stuck to the wall. He hadn’t even had a relationship, so how could he be someone’s husband?

“You want to delete all the games, but everything started three days ago. The nightmare inside your heart is already part of reality.” Xuan Wen leaned in. The smile on her face was sincere. “Have you forgotten what happened that night inside the tunnel?”

Xuan Wen lowered her voice to a whisper. Only Gao Ming could hear her. “If you need a memory jog, you can come to my place tonight.” Xuan Wen reached out to help straighten Gao Ming’s collar. It was like they had been together for a long time already.

“You don’t need to worry about dangers because those bad women who are after you…” Xuan Wen leaned to whisper in Gao Ming’s ears. “I’ve already killed all of them.”