Horror Game Designer

Xuan Wen’s tone was clearly different from before. It was evident that she cared deeply about this. Be it the real world or the shadow world, there were not many things that could affect Xuan Wen. Only her confusing relationship with Gao Ming could give her things to worry about. She believed that those emotions were fate’s shackles and not what she really felt.

“Focus on money, future even troubles are better than focusing on relationships.” Xuan Wen’s words silenced Su Mo. As someone who had zero romance experience, he had no idea what was troubling Xuan Wen so much. He just wanted to know whom the voice on the phone belonged to.

“The people from the investigation centre are coming soon. We need to leave this place. We’ll meet them after we gather enough power.” Xuan Wen walked out of the room. She was so calm before she answered that man’s phone.

“What a scary woman.” Su Mo grumbled and walked to the back of the group while holding the pair of heels.

The late afternoon light was slowly swallowed by the dark clouds. The night was like giant hands covering everyone’s eyes. Footsteps echoed all around the building. The patients were doing the final preparation for the night. Xuan Wen’s group was also no different. The ICU was the most dangerous floor. Most highly mutated patients were there. However, most of them would only appear after dark. Those who were willing to move around during the day were the ones who had not been fully corrupted by the darkness. In other words, the patients who walked around during the day were considered 60 percent human.

“The other patient I’m bringing you to see is also an insomniac. However, his symptoms are much more serious than mine. I hope you won’t be scared by him.” The insomniac with the long head led Xuan Wen down the corridor. At the end of the corridor, there was a stack of white doors. It was like a few sick rooms were laid on top of each other. Shadow spread around like tentacles. Someone connected the white doors with threads that were hung with bells. If one looked through the gaps between the doors, one could occasionally see white eyeballs.

“This feels more like a haunted house. Are we finally going to meet a big ghost at the hospital?” Xuan Wen returned to normal. The walls that led down the corridor started to tilt. Xuan Wen lifted her hand to push open the doors. At that moment, all the threads shook, and the bells chimed. The white paint on the wall peeled off. Bugs crawled out of the floor. The darkness spread rapidly. Xuan Wen looked like she had stepped into a nightmare. The doors opened. The door axles appeared to settle between the two worlds.

“This patient does have a heavier symptom.” Wearing the bloody coat, Xuan Wen slowly entered the room.

The plaque hung inside the door--First ICU Ward.

There were no medical devices or doctor’s equipment. There was only a giant, white bed inside this slanted room. The room looked empty, but strange sounds kept coming from the corners. There were sounds of teeth grinding, sawing, hammering, munching and crows.

When the whole group entered the room, the doors behind them closed on their own. Then, they opened on their own again. After this was repeated a few times, more sounds appeared inside the room, as if more people had joined them. Su Mo was the first to feel that something was wrong. He had difficulty breathing like he was being crushed in a crowd. Even his heartbeat slowed down.

“Hang on a little bit more.” Xuan Wen walked to the bed, peeled back the bedspread and looked under it. A young man was hiding under the bed. His eyes were bloodshot, like he hadn’t slept in a long time. To make things more frightening, he seemed to have cut off his own eyelids so that he couldn’t close his eyes forever.

“She is a new doctor. She’s here to help you.” The other insomniac said carefully.

“Mr Yi, thank you for remembering me, but my situation is different than yours.” The man with no eyelids hugged his head. He didn’t want to interact with anyone.

Mr Yi appeared to be the name of the insomnia with the mutated head. The two of them bonded over the same illness.

“Trust me. She is different from the other doctors.” After some coaxing from Mr Yi, the young man finally climbed out of the bed. Xuan Wen gave the man a quick sweep. She couldn’t find anything mutated on the man. The symptoms should be psychological.

“Did you cut off your eyelids yourself?” Before Xuan Wen entered this ward, she saw many white eyeballs in the gaps between the doors. However, the man’s eyes were so red, like they were about to explode.

“Yes.” The man sat on the bed. He was very anxious, like he was surrounded by ghosts.

“Do you suffer from insomnia too?”

“It’s not that I can’t sleep, but I don’t dare to sleep.” The man yawned. “Once I close my eyes, the ghosts will appear. Once I open my eyes, they will be gone.”

“Ghosts? How do they look like?” Xuan Wen walked to the man and looked him right into his eyes.

“Just… I can’t say. They have all kinds of appearance. I can’t see them when my eyes are open. However, when I plan to go to bed, the ghosts will appear. Some of them kneel in the living room, others crawl onto my bed. Some lay on the rooftop, and others were hanged from the rope. No! No! I can’t keep going. They will hear me!” The man shook his head like crazy. Blood seemed to leak out of his eyes. “They are still here! They are around us! I know! I know they are here!”

“Is that why you cut off your eyelids?” Xuan Wen grabbed the man by his head. “How long have you been awake?”

“A long time. I haven’t slept since I was registered at the hospital. I’m so scared. Am I going to die?”

“It’s fine. All of us will stay in your room. We’ll stay guard beside your bed. You can try to sleep now.” Xuan Wen handed the man a sleeping mask, “Lie down and close your eyes. Let me see the world in your slumber.”

The man wanted to reject her, but Xuan Wen pressed him to the bed. He instantly felt so sleepy.

“Are you asleep? Did this ward appear inside your mind?”

“It did! I can’t sleep! The ghosts will be here!” Even though the man was so sleepy, he tried so hard to stay away.

“Can you see us in your dream?” Xuan Wen looked around.

“Yes. You are all here! Be careful! Something is coming!” As the man screamed, the door was knocked open. “Ghosts! There are ghosts everywhere!”

Pairs of eyeballs appeared at the gap in the doors. The horrifying things that the man imagined would appear after he closed his eyes.