Horror Game Designer

Chapter 64: I am Gao Ming

The walls were coated in a grim tapestry of blood and human flesh, creating a disturbing scene of death and horror. In this grotesque display, Gao Ming felt his mind beginning to unravel, teetering on the brink of insanity. That was until his hand accidentally brushed against the cold wall, triggering a flood of memories from the deceased as if he was being inundated by their life stories.

“Doctor, something strange is happening with the game I developed. It’s as if it’s taken on a life of its own,” Gao Ming admitted, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and confusion.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” the doctor asked, his voice laced with a touch of sarcasm. “In these difficult times, it’s quite an achievement to create a form of escape.”

“But you don’t understand, my expertise is in creating horror games. I’ve concocted 126 different murder scenarios and created countless psychopathic characters. For research, I’ve watched 95 thrillers, read over 400 horror comics, and delved into more than 2,000 traditional ghost stories. Now, it feels like all those terrifying stories have come to life!”

“Then do I look familiar to you?” the doctor asked cryptically.

In a shocking moment, Gao Ming felt a sharp pain as a knife plunged into his neck, his blood seeping into his medical records. A stark, terrifying realization hit him…

Gasping for air and clutching at his bleeding throat, Gao Ming stumbled backwards. He felt as if countless ghostly hands were gripping his mind, weakening his resolve to resist.

“Mom, we need to get out! There are ghosts in our house. I’m not making this up! I’ve seen them! Let me go; these evil ghosts are planning to destroy the city!”

“Focus on getting better, son. Home is the last thing you should be worried about.”

“I’m not lying to you! Don’t stay at home, it’s not safe!”

“I know you believe what you’re saying, but just because someone looks and sounds familiar, doesn’t mean they are who you think they are.”

Suddenly, straps tightened around his neck, making it nearly impossible to breathe. His face turned a sickly purple as he struggled futilely, his pleas for help ignored…

Gao Ming continued to be bombarded by a deluge of deathly memories, each one chipping away at his resolve.

“I joined the Investigation Bureau willingly, to uncover the truth, to protect people!”

“That’s noble of you. From today, you’ll be working alongside Qing Ge.”

“Team leader, the massacre in the apartment wasn’t the work of a ghost, it was a person!”

“I know, and that person was me.”

As a cleaver swung down towards his neck, severing his head from his body, Gao Ming’s reality completely shattered…

Tormented by these relentless memories of death and a maze of difficult decisions, Gao Ming raced through the tunnel in a panic.

“Trust is a luxury in this world. Anyone could be masquerading as a ghost. I have to master all the games, harness the power of these ghosts to defeat them!”

“Gao Ming, you’re well-known among the players of the City of Evil Spirits game. We’ve decided to work together.”

“Why are you following me instead of hunting ghosts?”

“Because we all agreed that taking you down is more rewarding than chasing ghosts!”

His body eventually collapsed, blood pooling around him, his skin withering away. The only thing still vividly alive were his eyes, reflecting the images of other players walking away…

“The catastrophe is upon us! We must fortify our community, systematically creating a safe haven within our neighborhood.”

“I’m engulfed in fear, just like everyone else! These stories of ghosts have spiraled out of control. It’s high time someone took charge and led us.”

“I beg you to join forces with me in this effort!”

As malevolent ghosts brutally tore him apart, Gao Ming looked back in desperation, only to see his own shadow, alone and unsupported…

“Director Gao, ever since you took charge, our Lishan Investigation Division hasn’t encountered a single Level-Three anomaly. But, there have been reports of you communicating with spirits.”

“What are you implying?”

“We need you to come with us. The higher authorities have requested your presence.”

While traveling to the Eastern District, Gao Ming’s vehicle was suddenly attacked. He barely escaped the blazing car, only to be impaled by a sharp knife…

“Stop! Please, enough! Stop killing me!”

With each death, Gao Ming’s torment grew worse until his mind began to fracture. Eventually, a realization dawned upon him – his indifference towards death was a result of his emotional and identity erosion caused by endless cycling deaths.

“AHHHHHHH!”

Tearing open the wound on his bandaged head, he pounded at himself in desperation, hoping to remove those haunting faces from his memory.

“Why is death everywhere? Why do these bodies all end up here?”

Trapped in what seemed like an unending cycle, Gao Ming saw no way out.

“I have only three days left to live. Is it too late for change? Will I end up as just another body in this tunnel?”

Consumed by terrifying memories of death and torment, the sound of footsteps suddenly echoed in the tunnel, intensifying his spiral into madness.

“Who’s there?”

He spun around, trying to locate the source, but the footsteps cleverly moved, always staying just out of sight as if they were echoes from a distant past.

“Who is in this tunnel!”

Suddenly, a hand slammed Gao Ming’s head against the tunnel wall, followed by a mysterious voice emerging from the shadows.

“Each person is tied to their destiny from birth, with fate controlling everything. The natural cycle continues endlessly, unchanging. Everything is predestined.”

“Who are you?!”

“Despite dying at my hands time and again, you still don’t recognize me. Yet, you’re condemned to return here repeatedly, caught in this never-ending cycle of death.”

As Gao Ming tried to turn, agonizing pain shot through him. Something pierced his skull, scattering his memories into nothingness.

“No matter how hard you try, you can’t escape your fate. Your struggles only amplify your suffering. I will be your constant pursuer at death’s final destination, eternally hunting every version of you.”

The once vivid colors of his past began to fade, transforming into dull shades, while the names that had once been etched in his memory started to vanish one after another. This terrifying sensation of losing his memories and his very identity was overwhelmingly intense.

“WHO ARE YOU?!!!”

“No one can escape their destined path. Any fate that strays from its set trajectory will be forcefully corrected. Thus, you are doomed to continue this endless cycle of despair in the depths of this abyss!”

In that critical moment, as a sharp spike pierced through his skull, right before the flicker of life was about to be snuffed out, Gao Ming’s heart beat with an intense fervor. His Deity and Mortality Heart, a unique aspect of his being now, activated, protecting precious fragments of his memories deep within him.

His blood seemed to catch fire with life. Tapping into the deepest wells of his strength and resolve, Gao Ming managed to turn around. There, amidst a torrential downpour, he saw the glaring headlights of an oncoming bus slicing through the rain.

“This is…”

Using the one eye that still functioned, Gao Ming looked towards the bus window and caught sight of another version of himself sitting inside, wearing headphones exactly like he remembered.

One version of himself was on the bus, and the other stood outside in the rain before the blaring horn of the bus and the blinding intensity of its headlights consumed Gao Ming completely.

In the violent collision, Gao Ming felt an excruciating sensation as his bones shattered. His world spun into a maelstrom of confusion and chaos, with everything simultaneously fading into oblivion and surging towards him in a rush.

…..

“Did an accident occur?”

The bus was hauntingly vacant. He took off his headphones and looked out the window, only to be greeted by pitch-black darkness and his own reflection in the glass.

A sharp pang in his heart caught him off guard. Clutching the laptop in his hand, Gao Ming cautiously exited the bus.

“Why is there no one else here? And why did it have to happen during the Ghost Festival?”

He moved towards the front of the bus, using the flashlight on his phone to light his way, casting eerie shadows on his surroundings. Eventually, he found himself standing in front of the bus after exiting. Raising his eyes to the tunnel walls grotesquely decorated with corpses, Gao Ming quickly recognized each corpse was a different version of himself, each having met a gruesome end.

His mind swirled with overwhelming sensations as forgotten memories flooded back with each heartbeat, revealing various scenes of his own death.

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

Veins on his face throbbed as Gao Ming felt his brain might explode. He stumbled back, collapsing against the wall lined with his deceased selves.

The corpse he leaned on was marred with wounds, with only one eye intact and a spike impaled through its skull. Despite its grisly state, it seemed as though it was trying to convey a message.

Gao Ming’s heart pounded furiously, feeling as though his blood was set ablaze. He grasped the still-warm hand of one of the corpses, a former version of himself.

Invisible strands of blood, like spectral threads, began to flow into him. The tunnel echoed with the pulsations of countless hearts, each belonging to a different version of himself, each having fought valiantly against their inevitable fate.

Memories buried within these past incarnations began to resurface. Gao Ming clenched his fists so hard that his nails pierced his flesh, and tears streamed down his face as he looked upon the countless lifeless versions of himself scattered throughout the tunnel.

A profound insight struck him.

“I wasn’t merely succumbing to death over and over. Each of my deaths was a step towards striving for a new beginning!”

His every attempt was marked by unwavering determination, a defiance against the fate laid out for him. Though each attempt ended in death, he never gave in.

He began to wonder if these repeated cycles were clues. He had no special luck, no miraculous powers, nor any outside help – it was all his own determination.

Just an average man, but one driven to break the chains of a fate as unchangeable as the sky.

“Even an ordinary person can change the world’s course, but to do so, they must repeatedly face and overcome their past selves through death.”

“I found myself becoming numb to the concept of death, growing increasingly wary and distrustful of those around me. In the midst of this transformation, I lost touch with the essence of genuine happiness, destroying the person I used to be.”

“The pain I suffered might be because I simply couldn’t accept the destiny that was chosen for me!”

As these memories coursed through his body, Gao Ming was overcome with emotion and began to cry. The numerous deaths he had experienced had led him to this moment of awakening. He realized he hadn’t forgotten his past; for the first time, he could truly feel the vitality coursing through his veins.

As the countless bloodlines from his past selves converged upon him, his heart seemed to blossom open, like a flower bursting into life, ignited with an intense and fiery passion. This moment marked not just a realization, but a profound transformation, reigniting his spirit and sense of self.

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