Horror Game Designer

“Han Hai Investigation Centre Security Teams 7 and 9 are here. I’m leader K.” The members from Xin Lu wore bloodred bands. The leading man had long hair and a full body of tattoos.

“Is your captain not here?” Jing Tuoshen was a bit disappointed. He desperately needed to stabilise the situation.

“The captain and three other teams are still on the way here. The longer the players are in the Perfect Life, the longer they will take to exit it. However, they will also obtain more stuff.” K didn’t look like a security member but a mafia gangster.

“I’ll tell you the mission location and goals when your captain is here…”

“There’s no need for that. You only need to tell me where the haunted building is.” K said evenly. He was not a careless person. He merely thought what he suggested was enough.

There were not many who dared to interrupt Jing Tuoshen. His face was dark.

“We’ve experienced things you couldn’t have imagined in Perfect Life. Therefore, you shouldn’t order us around like normal members.” There was a trace of disrespect towards Jing Tuoshen in K’s words, even though their stations were different. As if sensing the danger, a pair of ghost hand tattoos on K’s neck came alive. The ten fingers opened up like a lotus to reveal a ghost eye in the palm.

“I need you to head to Li San Hospital in the old city.” Jing Tuoshen didn’t confront K. “The east city investigation centre’s temporary chief, Situ An, has betrayed us. He perished recently, but he released a video and told the Han Hai citizens that he had hidden one set of his last effects in this city. Now, people suspect they are at Li San Hospital.”

“Situ An’s last effects?!” K heard about Situ An. “Is that our goal?”

“Those idiots don’t even know Situ An. That madman will not leave anything good behind for anyone. It’ll only cause tragedies.” Jing Tuoshen scoffed. “There’s a higher chance a latent anomaly is hidden at Li San Hospital. The danger rating is at least Level 4.”

“Level 4…” K became serious.

“Situ An didn’t dare to trigger high-level anomalies in the past because he was still alive. Now that he is dead, with his personality, he’ll drag the whole city down with him.” Jing Tuoshen gritted his teeth. “Of course, he might have seen through the headquarters’ main plan and decided to side with the shadow world.”

“We need to go there as soon as possible to confirm everything.” After K accepted the mission, he didn’t stay and headed to the old city.

“They have the power of the ghost tattoo and the persona. No wonder their presence is so different from the normal investigators.” Jing Tuoshen’s expression softened. “At this moment, the power of the investigation centre is absolute. Han Hai will be fine.”

…

When Su Mo returned to his rental room, it was already in the afternoon. He took a long detour and lost the bike he used to make his deliveries.

He was so tired, but he couldn’t sleep. Once he closed his eyes, he would see those newbie investigators being shoved into the door.

The rapid knocking suddenly appeared. Su Mo was so scared that his face was pale. He didn’t dare to speak and grabbed the fruit knife on the table. However, he didn’t think it would help him.

“Su Mo! Are you home?” Lee Ding’s voice came from outside the door. He was Su Mo’s best friend and university buddy.

“Is he not in?”

“Should we look for him somewhere else?”

Hearing his friends’ voices outside the door, Su Mo’s heart slowly lowered. He hurried to open the door.

“The fuck! Why do you look so weak?” Lee Ding acted like he had seen a ghost. “Wasn’t you fine yesterday? How did you age a decade in one night?”

“Su Mo, if you face some difficulties in life, you can share it with us. We can’t guarantee much, but we can make sure that you are fed.” Brother Xiong was their hostel leader. He looked after them a lot.

“That’s right. Why don’t you move back to the hostel?” Old Sao, or Lee Shubai, was a handsome womaniser. He often borrowed money from others for various reasons.

“Thank you, but I’m fine.” Before Su Mo could finish speaking, Lee Ding carried the beers and boxed food into Su Mo’s house. Seeing this, Su Mo didn’t say anything. His friends often held parties at his place.

“You didn’t answer our calls. We thought something bad happened to you. You know how unsafe it is at Han Hai now.” Old Sao grabbed Su Mo’s shoulders. “I bought some good food for you to strengthen your body.”

“Where did you get the money?” Su Mo knew better than anyone how hard it was to earn money.

“I know you need money too, so we all came here today to share a shortcut to wealth with you.” After everyone entered the room, Old Sao closed the door, opened a can of beer and finished it in one gulp. “Fuck! That’s good!”

Human emotions were not connected. Su Mo only thought they were being noisy. “Just say what’s on your mind.”

Seeing how frayed Su Mo was, Old Sao stopped hiding it. He showed Su Mo the bank account on his phone and took out a bloody ring from his pocket.

“Did you rob someone?” Su Mo was shocked. His friend was on the path of crime.

“Don’t be stupid. I picked these up.” Old Sao didn’t hide anything. He really treated Su Mo as his good friend. “Last night, there were many rumours about anomalies and ghosts on the internet. Some of them appear to be real. Some of the buildings became empty for no reason. So I went in them to find some goods.”

“You are crazy!” Su Mo thought back to what he had experienced the night before.

“Yes. I’m crazy for gold and money!” Old Sao took out his phone and showed Su Mo the videos he had taken at some of the locations. “A few of us are desperate. Lee Ding’s mother is sick, and his father is working three jobs, but it’s not enough. Brother Xiong’s family factory is going under. His father was beaten up by the employees recently. I owe a lot of online debt.”

“No. Those buildings are too dangerous!” Su Mo shook his head.

“Listen to me. If those things on the internet are just rumours, we won’t run into any danger. If they are real, then since tragedy is here, it’s only wise for us to get used to them earlier than others, right?” Old Sao came up with a list. “We’ll go somewhere far away from the school. The old city’s Li San Hospital has the medicine Lee Ding’s mother needs. Furthermore, medicine will become very important during the tragedy. We plan to transport some out tonight.”