Horror Game Designer

“They seem to have left.” The normal Gao Ming crawled out from underneath the bed. He quietly opened the dresser door. The kind Gao Ming was curled up inside with guilt written all over his face.

“We can’t leave while carrying the dead body. This is already the best outcome.” The normal Gao Ming tried his best to console the other party.

“I’ve always tried to do my best and to satisfy everyone around me. However, problems keep happening…” The kind Gao Ming scratched his arms. Actually, he was not as optimistic and as confident as he seemed. Kindness came with a price.

“I know you want to save everyone. After we find a safe way out, I’ll help you.” The normal Gao Ming helped the kind Gao Ming out of the dresser. To distract the kind Gao Ming, he took out his diary, “If this didn’t happen, what was your original plan for today?”

“The school has organised a class trip tomorrow. I plan to buy some snacks so that I can share with everyone on the bus.” The kind Gao Ming sighed.

“A class trip?” The normal Gao Ming looked at his diary. “I will be participating in an event tomorrow too. Even though we made different choices in our lives, every one of us seemed fated to attend that event on the 15th of July.” He didn’t mean anything by it, but this observation prompted the kind Gao Ming to check the normal Gao Ming’s diary. Their diary entries were all different, but somehow, everything seemed to overlap on the 15th of July again. This appeared to be the intersection of all the different Gao Mings’ fates.

“Why is this so?” The kind Gao Ming thought back to what had happened. “The monitor’s appearance is different from how I remember him, but his personality hasn’t changed. He looks selfless on the surface and puts the class first, but he is actually highly jealous of others.”

The entries flashed through his mind. The kind Gao Ming suddenly lifted his head to look at the normal Gao Ming, “The monitor should be the same age as us, but he looks almost thirty now.”

“Has he somehow aged?”

The normal Gao Ming scratched his head. He didn’t get it. “Why?”

“All the rooms on the floor we were on had the number 0715. 0715 might not be the room number, but a hint: the 15th of July,” The kind Gao Ming took out the message the rebellious Gao Ming slipped into every room. “Someone told us that this place is haunted. The 15th of July is the Hungry Ghost Festival.”

“I still don’t get it.” The normal Gao Ming smiled bitterly.

“According to legend, the gates of Hell will open on the night of the 15th of July. The souls of the dead can return to the human world. Now, we are surrounded by monsters and ghosts.” The kind Gao Ming’s eyes shone. “The diary has clear date entries. Today is the 14th of July. Tomorrow hasn’t come, but we are already surrounded by ghosts. This means that we might be in the underworld! We are already dead, or we might be dying.”

“Huh?” The normal Gao Ming was stumped.

“The gates of Hell will open tomorrow. It might be the only chance for us to return to the human world!” The kind Gao Ming didn’t explain it further. “Each Gao Ming has a different life trajectory. However, every one of us will attend that group activity tomorrow. This means that we probably run into something during that event tomorrow. If we want to escape this dangerous realm, we probably need to attend that event again.”

“No matter what, we have to escape this apartment first.” The normal Gao Ming felt a headache. The apartment was already so dangerous. School was the last thing on his mind, much less the school activity. “Since Yuan Hui is here, our other classmates might be here too. I’m close to Wang Jie and his gang. They might be able to help us.”

“Not necessarily. What if we’re their cause of death?” The kind Gao Ming shook his head. He carried his bag and opened the living room door slightly. “Yuan Hui and his people have left.” The two grabbed some weapons and carefully left the room. They ran into the other corridor.

“Come. We’ll rush right down!” The kind Gao Ming led the way. The moment the lights went out, the two raced down the stairs. The numbers on the stairwell lowered. The corridors became more complicated. Sometimes, three or four safety exits appeared on the same floor. They finally reached the fourth floor after some time. At that moment, the kind Gao Ming suddenly heard someone crying for help. He slowed down involuntarily.

“Why did you stop? We need to go.” The normal Gao Ming pushed the kind Gao Ming’s shoulders.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“Someone is calling for help.” The kind Gao Ming hesitated.

“We don’t even have the ability to save ourselves, much less others. We can’t even defeat Yuan Hui, that madman,” The kind Gao Ming was anxious. It was not easy for them to get to the fourth floor.

“What if it’s another Gao Ming screaming for help?” The kind Gao Ming pressed his lips. “If you’re desperate, wouldn’t you be glad to see aid coming?” The kind Gao Ming’s mind was made up. Once the lights came back on, he turned into the corridor.

He was greeted by a giant ball of meat squeezed in the corridor. Limbs that belonged to different humans grew out of its huge body.

“I’ve seen this thing before. It was originally hiding on our floor. It should have escaped here with the other Gao Mings!” The normal Gao Ming didn’t choose to escape. He followed the kind Gao Ming, “But in my impression, this monster is supposed to move very fast.” Once he said that, the monster suddenly picked up speed. Its limbs gripped the walls, and the only head hidden among the layers of meat opened its mouth.

“Pause!” A coarse voice yelled. Somehow, the monster did slow down.

Hearing the man’s voice, the kind Gao Ming finally spotted a ‘middle-aged man’ with salt-and-pepper hair at the corner. He wore a set of dark uniforms and a strange watch around his wrist. He was protecting his two dying teammates. One of them had lost his legs. Strangely enough, a new pair of legs grew out of the monster’s stomach, wearing the man’s uniform.

“Leader, you’re the hope of Team One. Just leave us be!”

“You need to leave! We’ll stay to delay this monster!”

His two teammates begged. They wished for the middle-aged man to save himself, “Stop wasting your life force. We can’t access our ghost tattoos. Your sacrifice is meaningless!”

His hair turned white, and wrinkles started to appear on his face. The ‘middle-aged man’ said nothing and held fast.

Of the three, only he could still move. Once he escaped, the other two would die. Furthermore, he couldn’t hold on much longer.

“This anomaly seems to be targeting us. The Gods took away all the powers related to ghosts. We and the horror game players have lost our biggest reliance. Everything seems to be planned by the headquarters and the Gods.” When the middle-aged man’s sight blurred, the kind and normal Gao Mings rushed over. The two high school students moved to pick up the injured members.

“Come! We’ll go and hide!” The kind Gao Ming’s voice was soft, but his tone shocked the ‘middle-aged man’.

These three were the members of the security team one. The leading ‘middle-aged man’ was the leader.

“Gao Ming?” Their revenge target had appeared, but he showed up to save them.

“Do you know me?” The normal Gao Ming picked up the other injured member.

“The fuck! Why are there two of you?”