Horror Game Designer Chapter 55: Heart

Gao Ming, with a missing left eye, held his phone. He placed his last hope on his ghost parents. Shadows gathered madly. Gao Ming prayed like it was his birthday. This time, he didn’t voice his wish.

When the shadows surrounded the torture room, something knocked on the black door before Gao Ming. At the same time, the phone was answered. Through the static, the mother asked, “Gao Ming, did you miss home again?”

The knocking became more insistent. More and more parents disappeared from the picture. The metallic door slowly caved in. The red threads bound around Gao Ming’s wounds. The giant chair wanted to pull him back.

Gao Ming pierced his fingers into the ground. When the last parent disappeared from the photo, the bloody metallic door was fully enveloped by shadows. The axle snapped, and the door was forced open!

The strange parents had strange smiles. They carried Gao Ming’s favourite cake. Even though their bodies were bent out of shape, the cakes were perfect.

“Happy birthday!”

“Yes, happy birthday!” Gao Ming raised his bloody hands to grab his strange family. “I’ll eat the cakes when we escape.”

His parents knew that he would come home, so they had been waiting for his call. The chair didn’t understand the warmth of home. It was just a piece of furniture. Even though it contained many human hearts, it couldn’t understand human connections. Blood leaked out from underneath the chair and pierced through the ghost parents. It tried to drag them to the chair, but when the ghost parents were damaged, they melted back into the shadow. The parents didn’t have offensive power, but they couldn’t be killed completely. Gao Ming put the picture back into his bag. He forced himself to stand up.

The Evil God avoided the fatal blow to prolong the torture time. Gao Ming didn’t know when the Evil God would return. He didn’t want to take any chances. He hurried forward. The scent of blood thickened. Strange blood capillaries grew on the wall. Gao Ming knew he might be walking into danger, but he had no other choice. The dirty water rose to cover his ankles. Gao Ming could hear something calling him. It was not calling his name but something deep within his blood and flesh.

“I had this feeling when I first entered Building B. They said I’d worshipped the God of Flesh and Blood before. Is it calling me now?” The sound of fighting came from above him. Situ An’s screams never ceased. Gao Ming didn’t want to give up this chance. He left a trail of blood behind him. His wounds were torn open. He felt like he was racing against death. “I can’t stop. If I do, I’ll lose all hope.” His determination forced him forward, but his body wouldn’t listen. As he was about to fall, his ghost father carried him. “Look at how dirty you are. You never stop causing us worries no matter how old you are.”

The paths that connected to the torture room were like a maze. There were many traps too. Normal people couldn’t survive in this place. Even normal ghosts couldn’t. However, with guidance from ghost parents, Gao Ming escaped!

Following the smell of blood, the ghost father carried Gao Ming to the centre of the underground torture chamber. The capillaries of varying sizes ended here. The pipes poured out dirty blood and misfortune. This was the most negative place in Building B. The bodies of ghosts were placed orderly. Some of them belonged to investigators, and some came from the shadow world. The blood pooled in the middle. Sitting in the mountain of carcasses was a figurine with four faces and eight arms. It was made from mud but had a beating heart of flesh.

“Is this whole place constructed to cultivate this?”

It appeared to be the heart which had been summoning Gao Ming. Once the ghost parents approached the pile of bodies, they would melt into the shadows. Gao Ming had to do this alone. The Evil God sensed something, and the mud figurine opened its eyes. Gao Ming showed no fear. He seemed to have seen worse inside the tunnel.

The sound of killing above him intensified. Something was rapidly approaching from the maze. More ghost parents returned to the death portrait. Gao Ming’s body was about to break. He climbed on the dead bodies and grabbed the figurine with his hand. His blood pumped. Gao Ming seemed to have seen this in his dream.

“Once I eat the meat, my life is over.

“If I don’t eat the meat, I can’t even move.”

The heart of flesh beat at the same time as Gao Ming’s heart. The person chasing after Gao Ming also appeared. The bloody Situ An walked out of the path. He raised his head to show his eyes, which were flowing with black characters. He only shared a look with Gao Ming, and both parties made their move.

Situ An rushed at the figurine with his knife. The ghost parents were easily killed.

Gao Ming bit at the figurine’s heart of flesh. Both parties didn’t hesitate at the last moment. When the last ghost parent returned to the picture, Gao Ming finished eating the heart.

A pain ten times stronger than before spread through his body. Gao Ming felt energy pulsing through his veins. His heart was mutating!

At the same time, black characters crawled out of his wounds. Gao Ming stumbled back. He looked at his palm. The strange words were like a curse but also a message.

Gao Ming stared at the shifting words until he made out the character, “Ming.”

Situ An put down his knife. He seemed to be talking to himself, “If I cut open his chest and eat his heart, will I gain the God of Flesh and Blood’s power?”

His lips moved, but an unfamiliar voice answered, “You can try, but I suggest you eat his entire body to be safe!”

Gao Ming held the chains. After he heard the two voices coming out of Situ An, he had a hypothesis. “Did you let the Evil Ghost possess your body?”

“I have to thank you. If you didn’t find your way here and cause the human-eating ghost to worry, it wouldn’t make a deal with me.” Situ An studied the ghastly wounds on his body and then turned to Gao Ming. “19 minutes. I’ve survived 19 minutes of the ghost’s torture! I was waiting for you to break. Once I had the chance, I would consume all the meat I had hidden. But I didn’t expect you to hold on longer than I did!”

“It was the human-eating ghost that tortured you. Why does it sound like you hate me more?”

“Hate?” Situ An chuckled. “I will never be blinded by hatred. Even my tormentor can be my cooperative partner. I do not care about human emotions. I only have goals to complete. There is no good or evil. If you are willing to help me, we can be best friends. If you don’t, I will do everything to kill you.”