Horror Game Designer Chapter 81: Regret

After entering the black cellar, Gao Ming met four hands. The first hand probably belonged to the blind man. He dragged Gao Ming deeper into the cellar and into the shadow world.

The second hands belonged to a middle-aged couple. They appeared to be the blind man’s parents. They kept beating him, chasing him away.

The third hand probably belonged to a human trafficker. They wanted to turn the kid into a beggar.

The fourth hand brought the blind man security. It was the fourth hand that raised the blind man.

She cooked for him and taught him how to earn money. She was probably not related to him. She was probably being kind. In this colourless and soundless world, the hand was like the straw for the drowning man. While he learned how to weave bamboo baskets and rugs, Gao Ming kept trying to imagine the person. This kind person did not appear in the records of the Dog Cellar Case.

“What happened after that?”
The hand tapped his shoulders. It was anxious and forced Gao Ming to learn faster. It was nervous about something. Gao Ming had a bad feeling. He tried to identify the stench. The smell was light. It was not the smell of body odour or dead body. It smelled more like ammonia.

Gao Ming thought of a possibility. Patients with kidney illness couldn’t secrete body waste normally. Water-solvent toxins might circulate through the body with the blood. When she breathes or perspires, she might release the smell of ammonia.

“Her illness could be serious.”

For the blind man, this rope from heaven might be pulled back at any moment.

“What can I do?” In the memory made up of smells, Gao Ming couldn’t do anything. The hand taught Gao Ming how to survive in the dark and silence. The stench from the woman thickened too.

“There is only the smell of food at home and never the smell of medicine. Did she sacrifice herself to save the blind man?”

Gao Ming couldn’t see her face or hear her. Gao Ming could only remember her kindness and her light stench. Until now, he didn’t know her name and voice. Slowly, Gao Ming realised he became like the blind man and developed a reliance on the hand. At that moment, the hand let Gao Ming go. She wanted Gao Ming to do something for her.

Finding tools in the house for the handicraft, this game’s missions were very simple. Gao Ming repeated it many times. Whenever he fell, the hand would appear. Whenever he smelled the stench, Gao Ming felt secure because the hand didn’t leave him. After repeating this many times, Gao Ming could do everything smoothly. He was finally used to the silent darkness. Gao Ming waved his hands and wanted to share the joy with the hand. He realised the stench was fading away. He tried to chase after it, but his shoes fell in the mud. He tripped on something.

The mud covered his face, and his hand was cut. Gao Ming lay on the ground, but the hand didn’t show up again. Gao Ming climbed up and looked around. He felt alone in the world.

“Are you not coming back?” Gao Ming wanted to scream, but he couldn’t hear himself. He became desperate. He thought after his many deaths, he could deal with anything calmly, but he had underestimated the pain of humanity.

Gao Ming stood there for a while and then slowly moved back with his hands on the stone walls, like how the hand had taught him. He opened the door and returned to the home of the bamboo weaver.

This was the stench’s home, but now he was alone.

“Do I have to stay here forever? In this despairing darkness?”

The negative emotions appeared. Gao Ming tried to weave the bamboo. He reached forward but touched a leg.

The stench didn’t appear. This meant that the person inside the house was not the original owner. The person kicked Gao Ming. Gao Ming fell and knocked into another person. There were so many people in the house. They smelled of sweat, grain, cow dung and so on. The only smell missing was the stench familiar to Gao Ming.

“Are these the other villagers?”

These people grabbed things in the house. They didn’t care about Gao Ming. If he tried to stop them, he would be attacked. The familiar home was ruined beyond recognition. The furniture was all stolen. That was not the worst. Someone grabbed Gao Ming and threw him out. He took over Gao Ming’s saviour’s home.

“What can I do? What can a person who cannot see and hear do?”

Gao Ming had no idea he had been blind. He tried to suppress the despair.

“Did the blind man grab the villagers’ children to take revenge on them? But from his experience, the blind man was not crazy. He also didn’t have the ability to kidnap the kids.”

While his mind became desperate, the familiar stench reappeared. The hand held Gao Ming’s wrist.

“It’s her!”

The person wanted to bring him to a place. She moved very slowly, and the stench on her was heavy. Gao Ming could feel the ground under his feet changing. They were moving up the hill. Then, Gao Ming touched the bricks at the entrance of the cellar.

“Is this the cellar entrance?”

Memory and reality finally overlapped. Gao Ming started to hear the rain, and there was a little light in the dark.

“After the house was taken, she found the blind man another home?”

The hand let go of Gao Ming. She lightly pushed Gao Ming towards the light and sound. This was the chance to escape the blind man’s memory. Most trapped investigators would choose to leave. Gao Ming was moved too. However, he knew his role. Would the blind man abandon the hand and leave?

Perhaps for the blind man, the hand was the real world.

Gao Ming contemplated it. There were three possibilities. One, he could leave if he followed her instructions. Two, stay in the darkness with his saviour. Three, the woman might already be dead. This was part of the blind man’s illusions.

Gao Ming decided to follow his heart. He didn’t leave. He grabbed the hand and entered the cellar.

More overlapping occurred. The silhouette of the black cellar was being restored. The stench became more stingy, but Gao Ming didn’t reject it. He used his hands to touch the everyday objects in the cellar. After he familiarized himself with everything, he tried to look after his sick saviour. He couldn’t see and hear, but he could feel.

Gao Ming might be doing something that could rectify someone’s biggest regret.