Horror Game Designer

Chapter 12: I Had a Rather Bold Idea

In the dimly lit hallway, black stains marred the floor, evidence of past horrors, while eerie scraping sounds reminiscent of nails echoed faintly from downstairs, hinting at something sinister slowly making its way closer.

Gao Ming had just stepped out of Room 2706, his footsteps cautious and measured. He approached Room 2707 and knocked softly. “Teacher Yao? It’s Xiao Gao from Building 4. Remember, we once had a conversation about gardening?”

The investigator, who had been observing Gao Ming’s actions with growing alarm, couldn’t contain his anxiety. “Why don’t you ever heed warnings?” he exclaimed. He watched in dismay as Gao Ming not only traversed the dangerous hallway but now also dared to disturb a neighbor. “This corridor is perilous! Our neighbors could have been replaced by unspeakable entities. We might encounter bizarre dangers any second! Come back immediately!”

“But the elderly Teacher Yao in 2707 is gravely ill. I need to check on him,” Gao Ming protested.

“There are no ‘buts’ in this situation!” the investigator interjected sharply, grabbing Gao Ming’s arm with urgency. “Once entangled in an abnormal event, forget about rescuing others. Surviving and extracting with crucial information and rules is already a significant contribution to the safety of our entire city!”

He attempted to yank Gao Ming back with considerable force but to no avail. “Don’t let excessive compassion cloud your judgment! You don’t grasp the full horror of these abnormal occurrences. You’re risking all our lives!”

Gao Ming, however, was resolute, unwilling to engage in further debate with the investigator. Grasping the doorknob firmly, his tone icy, he called out, “Teacher Yao, I’m aware you’re in there. Open up, or I’ll be forced to break down the door.”

Initially intent on further dissuasion, the investigator was taken aback by Gao Ming’s stern approach, which seemed to deviate from a purely altruistic intent.

Then, the sound of the door lock turning broke the tense silence. As the old door creaked open, withered mugwort leaves scattered to the ground. Behind the door stood Teacher Yao, his bespectacled eyes meeting Gao Ming’s. “Come in,” he beckoned.

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“Don’t just recklessly enter a neighbor’s home!” the investigator warned, his voice laced with fear. “If the neighbor has been victim to some strange fate earlier, then confronting it…” His words trailed off as Gao Ming pulled him into Room 2707 as well, leaving the inspector to stare at the now-shut door, his mouth agape in shock.

Teacher Yao revealed his caution inside, showing that he had covered his phone’s camera with black gloves after disabling its microphone. “I got your message and took precautions,” he explained.

Gao Ming, urgency evident in his voice, quickly began, “We don’t have much time. Here’s Zhao Xi’s phone,” he said, presenting it. “I suspect that our seemingly normal neighbors in our group chat are impostors. They only seem to materialize in videos.”

The investigator, just realizing the existence of the group chat, interjected, “You formed a group without my knowledge?”

Teacher Yao, a quick-thinking police academy lecturer, struggled to make sense of the night’s bizarre events. “But aren’t you and I both real?” he questioned.

His eyes fixed on the group video, Gao Ming elaborated on his theory. “Imagine resurrecting a corpse is like a horror game. Then, the three of us are players, while the other neighbors in the chat might be other entities or mere illusions created by the phones to deceive us. Zhao Xi’s corpse is currently ascending to the fifth floor. Once he breaches Huang Mingming’s apartment in 2501, we’ll force open Room 2607. If the occupant, Jiaqi, differs from their video counterpart, it’ll confirm my suspicions.”

Teacher Yao’s face, deeply etched with wrinkles, displayed a mixture of concern and skepticism as he posed his question. “Are you seriously considering breaking down the door, mimicking the actions of that ghost?” Nearby, the investigator’s facial scars twitched involuntarily, a subtle but telling sign of his growing unease.

“Remaining hidden here will only delay the inevitable. Zhao Xi will find us eventually. If I must face death, I prefer to confront it while fighting for survival,” Gao Ming declared, his tone resolute yet laced with uncertainty. He harbored doubts about Teacher Yao’s true identity; if Yao was somehow part of these bizarre events, then Gao Ming’s entire theory would crumble. It was this suspicion that fueled his determination to revisit Room 2607 and gain a clearer understanding of Zhao Xi. Caution was a trait deeply ingrained in Gao Ming’s character.

The investigator, with experience in handling strange incidents in Xinhu, couldn’t help but express his concern. “Aren’t you being overly bold?” he questioned. He had encountered many ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations, but few displayed the kind of audacity that Gao Ming was showing. “There’s a real danger lurking out there! It could end your life in an instant!”

Teacher Yao, coughing slightly, voiced his apprehension. “I also find this approach too risky. Perhaps we should seize the opportunity when the corpse climbs into Room 2501 to make our escape downstairs. We should leave the Li Jing Apartments and seek external assistance. I’m certain there are experts in the city equipped to handle these kinds of crises.”

Gao Ming, unperturbed, glanced through the rain-soaked window towards his own residence across the building. “Those experts might exist, but aren’t they trapped here just like us?” he mused aloud. His thoughts then drifted to a peculiar idea. “I only brought a blank obituary photo with me this time. I wonder, if I had brought the ‘family portrait’ of my parents, would they have appeared to bring me cake in the middle of the night? Perhaps it’s something worth trying next time.”

Suddenly, another scream shattered the tense atmosphere emanating from Zhao Xi’s phone. Gao Ming’s gaze fell upon the device, where he saw Huang Mingming from Room 2501, his face contorted in sheer terror.

The situation was growing increasingly dire. One after another, the neighbors were meeting horrific fates. Huang Mingming’s nerves felt as though they were being shredded by countless tiny knives. His desperate screams filled the phone’s camera.

Huang Mingming, the terrified resident of 2501, cried out, “The sound of nails scraping against my door is unbearable! Zhao Xi’s head seems to be hanging ominously on my door frame! Someone, please save me! We’ve been neighbors for over a decade! Help me, I beg you!”

Despite his frantic pleas, there was no response from the other surviving neighbors.

Driven to the brink, veins protruding on his face, Huang Mingming seized a fruit knife from his coffee table. “You’ll all suffer the same fate! You’ll face your own retribution!”

The locks on his security door appeared useless as blood began seeping through the cracks before the door slowly creaked open, fingers eerily squeezing through the narrow gap.

In a state of extreme terror, Huang Mingming lunged towards the security door, brandishing the fruit knife in a frenzied attempt to defend himself.

Both the investigator and Teacher Yao watched the horrific scene unfolding on the video, their faces a mix of fascination and horror.

“Don’t just stand there, we need to get ready to head to the sixth floor!” Gao Ming’s urgency was palpable as he located Teacher Yao’s toolbox. “This is our only shot!”

“Are we actually going through with this? Think rationally!” the investigator implored.

“I am thinking rationally,” Gao Ming countered firmly, leading them towards the sixth floor. On the phone’s screen, they could see Huang Mingming desperately battling the corpse on the fifth floor, but the hallway around them was eerily quiet. Now, even Teacher Yao began to sense that something was amiss.

Without further hesitation, spurred on by Gao Ming’s resolve, Teacher Yao readied his tools, prepared to force open the door of Room 2607.

In the chilling video feed from the group chat, the camera, accidentally left on the sofa, captured a scene of utter despair and terror. Huang Mingming, driven to the brink of madness by fear, was seen frantically waving a fruit knife in the air.

His voice, tinged with hysteria and regret, echoed through the room. “Even in suicide, there’s no escape! Why didn’t you stand up to those who tormented you? You deserve a coward’s fate for all eternity!”

The scene was gruesome – black blood spattered everywhere as Zhao Xi’s mutilated body convulsed on the floor. Huang Mingming, his hands trembling, gripped the knife with both hands, repeating his slashing motions with desperate ferocity.

Despite his frenzied efforts, his clothes and skin were torn to shreds, yet nothing he did seemed to hinder Zhao Xi’s relentless advance.

Zhao Xi’s corpse, its bones grinding grotesquely against each other, seemed to open up like a grotesque, gaping mouth.

As shadows enveloped the room, Huang Mingming found himself unable to escape, almost consumed by Zhao Xi’s enveloping skin.

This horrific spectacle sent shivers down the spines of both the investigator and Gao Ming, who were witnessing this nightmare unfold on the video. Huang Mingming, wrapped up in the chaos, struggled violently, but his efforts seemed in vain. His legs, as if possessed, dragged him uncontrollably towards the balcony, his arms ensnared in Zhao Xi’s flesh.

His voice, filled with terror and regret, resonated through the room. “Let me go, Zhao Xi! I admit my guilt! I falsely accused you of theft at the port! I’m sorry, truly sorry!” As broken bones pierced his hand, Huang Mingming, seemingly compelled by an unseen force, grasped the window frame and thrust open the glass window.

The torrential rain instantly soaked his face. His wails were filled with agony and desperation as he slowly climbed onto the window sill, mirroring a fate that the real Zhao Xi might have suffered just days before.

“Zhao Xi! Please, let me down! Let me down!”

It was as if Zhao Xi responded to his pleas. Clinging to Huang Mingming’s back, they both plunged from the window in a chilling descent.

The investigator, witnessing this through the video, felt a deep chill. “The anomalies within this building are more horrific and dreadful than anything I’ve encountered,” he realized. “In most abnormal events, entities like this are rare. We’re facing a truly grave situation this time!”

With a sharp “crack!”, the door to Room 2607 was forced open by Teacher Yao and Gao Ming. They peered inside, only to find the room shrouded in darkness, covered in a thick layer of dust as if it had been abandoned for ages.

“The neighbors we’ve seen in the phone videos are all fabrications. Even those being systematically eliminated by Zhao Xi are nothing but illusions, reflections of his troubled psyche,” Teacher Yao observed, his gaze admiringly fixed on Gao Ming. “Your deductions were spot on!”

“What’s our next move?” The investigator, too, turned to Gao Ming, seeking guidance.

Exiting the group chat, Gao Ming scrolled through Zhao Xi’s phone, which contained numerous personal videos: his foster brother’s wife playing with the baby, his aging foster mother cooking, scenes of everyday life that Zhao Xi longed to be a part of, yet felt alienated from due to rumors and the clear disdain from his brother’s wife and foster mother towards his disability.

These snippets of life contrasted sharply with videos of Zhao Xi himself, alone and ignored by those around him, speaking into the phone as if it were a trusted confidant. In his loneliness, the phone had become his sole companion, a repository for his thoughts and emotions, almost akin to a family member.

Gao Ming, his eyes fixed on the dark, ominous staircase, shared his plan in a voice that seemed to echo his deep contemplation. “I have a rather daring plan,” he announced. “I intend to have a deep, heart-to-heart conversation with the deceased.”