Horror Game Designer Chapter 64: Death, Life

Blood coagulated on the cold wall. Each dead Gao Ming was different. Gao Ming’s mind wavered as his faces stared at him. His body touched the wall. When the flesh touched, he saw the carcasses’ memories.

“Doctor, the games I made seemed to become a reality.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? Nowadays, people have such pressure in life. You can escape all that and live your dream life in a gaming world that you’ve shaped.”

“But I’m a horror game designer. I’ve constructed 126 murder cases and built up more than ten psycho-killers with varying personalities. For the sake of inspiration, I’ve watched 95 subgenres of horror movies, read 400 horror comics and collected more than 2000 urban legends. But now, they’ve all become real!”

“Then… Do you find me familiar?”

The blade pierced into his neck. Blood dyed the patient’s list. This memory felt so real. Gao Ming held his neck and walked away from the body in the patient’s clothes, but his mind and consciousness were grabbed by many hands.

“Mom! Run! The ghost is inside the house! I’m not crazy! I saw it! Let me go! The ghosts are coming. They want to destroy this city!”

“Child, focus on your illness. Leave the rest to us.”

“I’m not lying to you! Do not stay at home. Leave!”

“I know you are not lying. I might have her voice and face, but I am not your mother.”

The belt was tied around his neck. His hands waved up and down, but no one came to save him. More death memories came to Gao Ming, tearing his soul apart.

“I’m willing to join the investigation centre and use my life to protect more people.”

“Very good. From today onwards, you’ll follow me, Qing Ge!”

“Leader, the people who killed our brothers are not ghosts but humans!”

“I know. I was the killer!”

The knife cut through his head. Gao Ming’s head fell, and he saw an upside-down world. The death memories and different choices followed Gao Ming as he ran down the tunnel.

“No one can be trusted. Everyone can be a ghost in disguise. I will clear all the games and gain the ghost’s power to fight ghosts!”

“Gao Ming, every player in the city knows you. Everyone has united to do something.”

“Why aren’t you out hunting ghosts? Why are you following me?”

“Because we have all agreed that killing you is more beneficial than killing the ghosts!”

His body collapsed in the pool of blood. His flesh shrivelled. His eyes reflected the shadows of the other players.

“The tragedy is coming! We will stay in this neighbourhood to guard it and slowly clear out a safe zone.”

“I know you are afraid. I am afraid too. Someone has to stand out before the horror stories lose control!”

“I hope you can follow me!”

His body was slashed by ghosts. Gao Ming turned around. Other than shadow, there was no one behind him.

“Captain Gao, ever since you took over, Li San District hasn’t had a level 3 anomaly. However, some investigators saw you talking with ghosts.”

“What are you trying to say?”
“Come with us. A few superiors want to meet you.” The car was attacked on its journey to the east city. As Gao Ming crawled out of the sea of fire, he was pierced in the chest by a sharp knife.

“Enough! Stop killing me!”

Each death memory was harrowing. Gao Ming grabbed his hair and screamed. He lost his mind. Gao Ming finally understood why he was so detached to death. His emotions were destroyed after dying so many times. The tunnel had many dead bodies with pale faces and murky eyes. Gao Ming’s left eye shed blood, and right eye shed tears. Due to the power of the God of Flesh and Blood, he could see the other person’s memory once he touched the other party’s flesh.

The fresh bandage was torn open again. He smacked his head, but the faces would not go away. “Why are there so many deaths? Why are all the dead bodies transported here?” Everything was like an endless cycle. Gao Ming couldn’t find the exit.

“I only have three days left in my life. It can’t be changed anymore. Will I be buried in this tunnel too?”

The death memories crushed Gao Ming’s rationality. His brain was filled with memories of pain and despair. Just as he was about to lose his mind, footsteps came from the tunnel.

“Who? Who is there?” He kept looking around. However, the direction of the footsteps would always change. Gao Ming noticed the footsteps would come from behind him. The sound seemed to come from his past. The person came closer, but he could not see their face.

“Who is in the tunnel?”

Someone pressed their hand on Gao Ming’s head. His body was slammed into the tunnel wall. An unfamiliar voice came from behind him. “Everyone’s fate is written when they are born. Fate decides everything. Destiny repeats itself. Everything has its own place.”

“Who are you?”

“You’ve been killed by me again and again, but you still do not know what I am. But you will still come back here in the future and repeat this fate.”

Gao Ming wanted to turn back, but he was under impossible pain. Something pierced into his skull to jumble up his memory.

“You can’t change it no matter how hard you struggle because the ending has already been decided. Everything you do is merely adding pain for yourself. I will always wait for you at the end until I can kill you every single time.”

His past faded away. The names slowly disappeared. The feeling of losing his self was extremely scary.

“Who are you?”

“No one can escape their escape. The fate that derails will be corrected. Therefore, please continue your revival in this abyssal despair!”

His head was punctured. At the last moment, Gao Ming’s heart beat once. The heart of God and flesh united. Part of his memory was hidden inside his heart room. His blood burned. Gao Ming used the last part of his power to look behind him!

The headlights of the bus shone on him. A bus in the storm zoomed over.

“This is…”

Gao Ming’s single eye looked at the bus window. He was sitting inside the bus with a pair of headphones on. One was inside the bus, and the other was outside. The shrill honk sounded. The bright headlight consumed Gao Ming. In the intense collision, Gao Ming felt his skeleton shatter. His world spun. Everything was fleeing.

…

Gao Ming landed on the ground and opened his eyes. He was on the bus. The glass shards were scattered on the ground. The laptop was still running a mini-game focused on family bonding.

“Is there an accident?” There was no one else inside the bus. He removed his headphones and looked out the window. It was completely dark outside the bus. He could only see his reflection in the window.

His heart jumped heavily. Gao Ming held his laptop and exited the bus.
“Where are all the other passengers? Why does this happen on Hungry Ghost Festival?”

Gao Ming walked to the front of the bus. He took out his phone. The light shone around. Gao Ming, in front of the bus, looked up. The dark tunnel was filled with dead bodies of himself. His brain was triggered. The memories that should have been deleted gushed out of his heart room. With each heartbeat, he saw a death memory.

“Xuan Wen, Qin Tian, Yan Hua and… Situ An!”

Blood capillaries popped on his face. Gao Ming’s brain almost exploded. His body tumbled back and leaned on the dead bodies on the wall. The carcass was covered in wounds. He only had one eye left. His brain was punctured, but his head was turned back. Gao Ming reached out to grab the dead body’s warm hand.

Invisible blood threads crawled into the bodies. The hearts in the tunnel beat at the same time. There were more than one dead bodies who wanted to use the God of Blood and Flesh’s power to retain their memory. Even though they didn’t have complete heart, each heart represented one version of Gao Ming, who tried their best to escape fate.

The memory hidden in the blood returned. Gao Ming tightened his fists until his nails jammed into his skin. He looked at all the dead versions of himself with tears. He finally understood something.

“I didn’t experience death again and again, but I used the many deaths to exchange for a real start!”

Every time, he yelled at destiny! He was destined to die every time, but he never backed away. All the games were a hint. He didn’t have incredible luck or talent. He only had himself. He was a normal man who wanted to tear down the web of fate.

“A normal person can change the world, but he has to kill himself again and again.

“He starts to get detached from death and lose trust in humans. He becomes very careful and is hostile towards everything. He loses true happiness. He smashes his past selves.

“He lives in pain because he doesn’t want to surrender to fate!”

Memory flowed through the blood. Gao Ming’s face was covered in tears. His deaths traded for a start. He didn’t forget anything. He felt his heart beat so authentically for the first time.

All the blood lines gathered on him. His heart room was like a blooming flower or a burning fire.