Horror Game Designer Chapter 82: A Job

Gao Ming didn’t leave. As he took care of the woman, he became more familiar with the cellar. Everything seemed more real. His hearing and sight didn’t recover, but light returned to his heart. Even if he couldn’t see or hear, he wasn’t afraid. The familiar stench became heavier. The hand held Gao Ming weakly. She was bedridden, and Gao Ming had to do everything.

Gao Ming had one goal, which was to accompany the woman on the last leg of her life. However, he discovered the spots for many things in the cellar started to change. The woven mats were stolen as well. There were other people other than he and the sick woman in the cellar.

Gao Ming paid attention to this, and one day, he managed to grab a thin arm. Then, he was shoved to the ground by a bunch of kids.

“Are the village kids purposely causing trouble?”

Gao Ming chased after them, but suddenly, he knocked his head on the cellar ceiling. He was very close to the exit. He could leave if he wanted too. The sound of rain and approaching light were luring him to leave. When a normal person was trapped inside a soundless darkness and saw the exit, it would be like seeing hope. Their footsteps would involuntarily move forward. But at that moment, Gao Ming smelled something burning.

A fire was lit behind him. The thick smoke was spreading!
“Behind me is the cellar. My saviour is still in there!”

A new choice was presented to Gao Ming. Was he to leave or turn back?

Gao Ming had to make the decision immediately. He could only triangulate the woman’s location with his nose. Once the smoke became too thick, all the smells would be overshadowed. Gao Ming turned around. He raced in the dark and shouted soundlessly. He had no idea if the woman could hear him or not. He just wanted to make sounds so the woman knew there was a fire.

The flames might be an accident, or the kids lit something on fire. The thick smoke billowed. Gao Ming reached his hands into the flames, and he smelled burning flesh. If he turned back now, he could still escape. The barely-discernible patter of rain was calling him. The burning wooden stick fell on his shoes. The cellar was about to collapse. Gao Ming had no idea how the blind man managed to survive.

“I can’t panic!”

The many deaths trained Gao Ming mentally. Even if he was blind in a fire, he could force himself to calm down. He tried to remember the woman’s position in the cellar. Gao Ming resisted the smoke and fear and continued to push forward. Things kept falling on his head, but he didn’t slow down until he touched that familiar hand in the flame.

“Found you!”
Gao Ming picked up the woman as fast as possible. He turned and ran towards the rain. The world became clearer. When he made his final choice, the things that were taken from him were being returned.

“This should be the correct way to clear the game!”

The closer Gao Ming came to the exit, the faster his senses returned. However, the stench behind him kept weakening. “I’m already carrying her. Why is this happening?”

He rushed to the exit. When Gao Ming climbed up the wooden stairs, the stench fully disappeared. At that moment, Gao Ming’s hearing and sight returned. He turned back and saw a bamboo figurine on his back.

Before Gao Ming could be scared, he turned back and saw something scarier. There was a giant dog covered with black fur at the cellar exit.

It opened its maw to reveal sharp fangs. Deep inside its throat was a living human head. The human head had pupilless eyes, and his ears were burnt. He looked exactly like the blind man who was beaten to death in the Dog Cellar Case.

The mouth was opened towards the exit. If Gao Ming had run out before he recovered his senses, he would have run right into the big dog’s mouth. Holding the wooden stairs, Gao Ming stared at the human face. He slowly pushed the bamboo figurine forward. “I saved her.”

After a long time, the dog closed its mouth. A hollow voice came from its furry body, “You saved yourself.”

“I experienced your memory, right?” Gao Ming didn’t expect the blind man to mutate into this form through the shadow down. His presence was scarier than any neighbours in the Si Sui Apartments.

“The cellar is my home. It is filled with my memory.” The dog’s mouth didn’t move, but the voice became clearer. “I’ve been living in a silent and lightless world. You people entered my home, so naturally, you would become like me.”

“I came to look for a friend. His name is Wei Dayou. He is very muscular but very kind.” Gao Ming raised the bamboo figurine. “I always remember my debt.”

“Come out first.” The big dog moved to allow Gao Ming to crawl out of the cellar. Before him was the city and village covered by shadow. “Was it scary to lose your sight and hearing?”

“Every second was torture,” Gao Ming said honestly.

“That was my life since I was born.” Big Dog sat at the cellar entrance. “My childhood memory is blurry. I only know that my parents, with the flower fragrance, sold me to someone else. They didn’t appear to be my biological parents. I started to beg when I was young. For someone like me, the only thing I could do was to beg. That was until I met my ‘mother’. She taught me how to be a human.”

The big dog placed its paw on the bamboo figurine. The giant claw that could easily kill a man didn’t injure the bamboo at all.

“Back then, I could still hear weak sounds. She tried to use different methods to teach me how to live. She gave me hope, warmth and dignity.

“That was until mother died. Her estranged relatives buried her and took over her home. They chased me into the abandoned cellar.

“I lived here for a long time. I forgot the time. I only remembered one rainy day, someone lit a fire near the cellar. I ran to put out the fire, but someone knocked me down the hill.

“My head was bruised. I tried to wave my hands to get people to save me, but no one came.

“It was pain that woke me up. Many people were hitting me. I didn’t know what I did wrong. They didn’t seem to treat me like a human.”

Big Dog had no emotion, like it was talking about someone else.

Based on that, Gao Ming could guess the truth behind the Dog Cellar Case.

While the kids tried to escape after making the fire, they shoved the blind man down the hill. They thought the blind man died, so they ran back to the village to tell the adults. The villagers decided to kill the blind man and said he was a kid-kidnapping criminal.

“Those people are probably still alive. Do you need me to find them for you?” Gao Ming tried to touch the big dog’s fur. “I am a horror game design. I can make a game to help you walk out of the shadow based on your request.”

“There’s no need. I don’t hate them.”

“If you don’t hate them, why do you trap so many people in the black cellar? And make them experience your pain?” Gao Ming didn’t want to harm the innocent. “Perhaps we can have a talk. I am a validated psychiatrist. I can help you.”
The big dog looked at Gao Ming’s face. He thought Gao Ming was strange. It was like he was there for a job.