Horror Game Designer Chapter 54: Torment

After looking around, Gao Ming could confirm that there was no one else other than him and the investigator in that room.

‘The Evil Ghost is not here. Why didn’t the investigator run away? He’s sitting on the chair, and his limbs aren’t even tied. He can easily leave.’ The chair was made from metal and leather. The seat and cushion were stained with blood.

“Help me, please!” The investigator sat frozen in the chair. He screamed for help, but he didn’t even dare to budge his body. It felt like he was luring Gao Ming over. However, based on his expression, he didn’t look like he was lying.

“What are you so afraid of? What is hidden here?” Gao Ming probed.

The investigator shook his head slightly. It was unclear whether he didn’t know or didn’t dare to say.

“Is there a ghost that I can’t see?” Gao Ming probed further. The investigator shook his head again. His eyes wandered to the side as if he wanted Gao Ming to be careful around the torture devices. Just as he did that, the normal-looking chair suddenly bound the investigator’s wrists. The torture devices moved on their own.

“Save me! Save me!”

The investigator’s body was tormented. He had eaten the meat, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t feel pain. Hearing the shout, the other devices were like sharks. They were pulled by red threads and rushed towards the investigator in the centre. The scene was so harrowing that Gao Ming had to turn his head away.

In just five minutes, the investigator was gone. His body disappeared. Only a beating heart covered in black characters remained on the chair. The board in the middle of the chair fell away. The heart fell into the chair. Then, the chair slowly moved towards Gao Ming. The room was small. Gao Ming’s body was soon bound by thin, red lines. He was fixed to the chair. There was no chair in the room, but it was scarier than any ghost Gao Ming had ever encountered. This was a theme park made by Evil Ghost. Pain and damage were real. The metals clunk together. The chains slithered on the ground like snakes. The chains were written with the victims’ past. They were stepped on and allowed others to use them freely. The thick chains cut through his skin. Gao Ming was tied to the chair. He still remembered what Situ An said. The Evil Ghost loved to torture his victims. The stronger the victims’ will, the greater the joy he’d gain from tormenting them.

“To survive, I can’t give up on hope.” Things were easier said than done. Sometimes, death was easier than life. The blood-red table moved in the table. After Gao Ming saw the things on the table, his pupils narrowed. Various blades were placed neatly on the table, like bone-paring knives, tattoo knives, skinning knives, V-shaped knives, U-shaped knives, carving knives, gouging knives…

The red threads tightened. The blades on the tables started to dance like they were controlled by some invisible string. They swayed on Gao Ming’s skin. Gao Ming’s injured left eye bled again. Each blade served its purpose. They were blades for the chef in the kitchen and also tools for the hunter. Different blades delivered different pain. Gao Ming’s face paled. He gritted his teeth so hard that it felt like his teeth were about to shatter.

“Resist it!” Fear would show weakness and cause a chain reaction. Despair had to be pushed down. Blood soaked his legs. The tip of the blade touched the bones. More wounds appeared to form a cruel picture. Gao Ming didn’t know when and if people would come to save him. He didn’t dare to dwell on it. He could only tell himself that help would come.

One second, two seconds…

Time had never moved so slowly. The speed by which the knives cut open his skin overlapped with the movement of the second hand on the clock. Many scary laughs slowly approached. Blood pearls dripped to the ground. The torture devices were like hungry wolves. They slowly flew to the chair. The room had all kinds of scary things. The bird trapped in the basement couldn’t open its wings. Its feather was pulled off one after another. Its beak was shattered. Its claws were pulled off. What the Evil Ghost wanted was not to stop the bird from flying. What it wanted was for the bird to fear the thought of flying. He loved to hear the winged birds beg him to cut off their wings!

The clock on the wall was the only thing unrelated to torture, but it was crueller than any of the devices. Time became despair’s strongest accomplice. Time came too slow, and death came too slow.

His fingers and legs were covered in blood. Gao Ming’s mind wavered. He could not tell if the knives were cutting open his clothes or his skin. The only thing he could feel then was his heart was still beating. He was still alive, and he had hope.

In the 19th minute, Situ An’s suppressed voice came from the room next door. Compared to Gao Ming, Situ An’s heart started to crack first. The devices became ‘excited’. They temporarily abandoned Gao Ming and disappeared through the dark to the room next door.

Tormented even further, Situ An’s determination cracked even more. He screamed. Gao Ming was reaching his limit too. He knew that if the investigator didn’t buy time for him, he’d be the one breaking down first.

“After torturing Situ An to his death, the devices would return. Now is my opportunity to escape!”

The Evil Ghost was not there. These devices were just part of his body.

“There are at least three paths in this room. One is the tunnel which I was dropped into. It was filled with sharp glass. The second path leads to Situ An’s room next door. The third path is behind the chair…”

Even when Gao Ming was being tortured, he still paid attention to his surroundings.

“I can’t wait anymore!” While the torture devices were busy with Situ An, Gao Ming pulled off the red threads. He wanted to run towards the hidden tunnel, but as he stepped on the ground, he fell over. He was too heavily injured to climb up the hidden tunnel that was about 90 degrees vertical.

The hidden tunnel was not possible; the devices were busy next door, so only the path behind the chair remained. Gao Ming crawled to the back of the chair. He saw a black iron door at the end of the corridor. He knocked on it heavily, but it wouldn’t move. Everything was as designed by the Evil God. Even if the victims tried to escape, it was not hope but despair that welcomed them.

Where could they run to?

Someone painted a smiley face on the lock of the iron door. It seemed to be mocking everyone who tried to escape.

Gao Ming turned around and saw the chair moving too. It wanted to bite Gao Ming back onto the chair.

“I can’t go back!” The blood on the iron was still wet. Gao Ming opened his bag and took out the picture with his parents. His bloody fingers called his family’s number. In this anomaly where all coms were off, only Gao Ming’s phone worked. The phone beeped. The shadows thickened. His parents in the picture appeared to hear Gao Ming’s voice. Their smiling and strange faces moved as they looked at Gao Ming outside the picture!