Horror Game Designer

“I knew there were others, but how come I can’t find out anything about them?” Situ An’s eyes burned with ambitions. He was like a hungry wolf.

“Do you plan to kill them before they have the chance to grow? It’s pointless. The shadow world will not just choose one person. You can’t kill all of them.” Lu Zang knew Situ An well. “There are only dead Gods in the shadow world. Each parent is a spare vessel they’ve prepared for themselves. When the shadow world successfully unites with the real world, they will be reborn through the parents.”

“Then, will I be consumed too?” Situ An had never heard Lu Zang mention these before.

“That’s why it’s so important to choose which God to aid. They can’t be too weak or too powerful. They can’t be too kind or too evil.” The scars on Lu Zang’s face rippled like scales. After he said that, there was a loud struggle coming from the inner room. Someone slammed into the door.

“It sounds like your new colleague doesn’t like his job.” Situ An didn’t continue this subject. He headed to the door, holding the book. “I want to go see our new family member. What is his name?”

“Chen Meng. He has killed more than one person. Both his brain and his parents have been tricked due to some reason.”

After Situ An left, Lu Zang opened the door to the inner room. Figurines tumbled out. Black mist growled inside the figurines. When one met their eyes, one would be under great mental pressure.

“Move!” Gao Ming pushed Lu Zang brusquely away. A piece of a mud figurine flew into his left eye. There was a small scar on his face.

“Don’t worry. We mean no harm.” Lu Zang observed Gao Ming patiently as the latter stood in the eerie and scary shadow world. The human-skin books fell to the ground. The human faces made from lichen slowly breathed. Things crawled through the bricks. The ground pulsated like a blood vessel. “People” moved outside the door. Some of their heads had been replaced by tools. Others were strung up like puppets. They were all Situ An’s family members. In this strange hospital, Gao Ming didn’t look shocked. It was like nothing had changed in his eyes.

“Don’t come any closer! You are not psychiatrists! There are no drugs in that room!” Gao Ming backed away while holding his eye.

Doctor Lu came out of the room holding a broken figurine. “He didn’t take the drugs and broke the figurine of the God of Flesh and Blood.”

“God of Flesh and Blood? He chose the same God as Situ An?!” Lu Zang didn’t seek responsibility. If anything, his expression became kinder. “Do not tell Situ An about this.”

“Why? Situ An has worshipped the God of Flesh and Blood for two decades already.” Doctor Lu didn’t get it.

Lu Zang ignored Doctor Lu and walked towards Gao Ming. With each of his steps, the black mist in the room screamed. The walls bulged to form tombstones made from rotten meat.

“The real world is different from the world you see. You and your parents, as well as everyone around you… They only exist in a dream. The world you see does not exist.” Lu Zang caressed the human-faced worms that crawled out of the wall. However, in Gao Ming’s eyes, the ward had not changed. He couldn’t see any of the scary things. Even when the hands reached out from the books to touch his neck, he couldn’t sense anything.

“Reality’s existence and state are related to my personal perception. How the world looks depends on the world in my heart.” Gao Ming was a certified psychiatrist. He couldn’t be brainwashed so easily. The computer crackled. The ghost silhouettes laughed at Gao Ming. The eyeballs bled. The patients passing by noticed something interesting. The decaying face stuck to the door and windows. They stared at Gao Ming, but Gao Ming felt nothing.

“Everything in this world is preordained. It is a dream that one can’t wake up from. I’ve not even seen the thing that wrote the script for you. Or rather, no one in the dream has seen it. We have no idea if he is a human or something else. For the sake of this conversation, let’s call this unknown thing fate.” Lu Zang rambled on, “You live in the dream, but you almost woke up a moment ago. The choice given to you by fate encountered a problem. I have no idea when this problem was formed. It could be yesterday or ten years ago.”

“What are you talking about? Are you a patient here? Did you steal the doctor’s coat?” Gao Ming knew that something was wrong. He felt a chill wind blowing around him, and he shivered. He could not see the ghastly faces opening their maws at him.

“I am not a doctor. I came to this city to find people like you and Situ An. You possess fate’s loopholes. We need you to kill fate.” Lu Zang was like a madman, talking about things no one understood. “Fate’s loopholes have terrible lives. You’ll soon see that. You will face unimaginable plans until you are fully wiped away by fate. The only way you can survive is to cooperate with me.”

“Cooperate?” Gao Ming hadn’t even considered that. He agreed on the surface because he just wanted to leave.

Lu Zang knew that, but he didn’t expose Gao Ming, “How about this? Let’s make a bet.”

“I’m not a betting man.”

“It’s easy. You don’t need to do anything but wait.” Lu Zang’s smile slowly disappeared. The scars grew to cover half of his face. “Fate has assigned you a life, including details like your name. The one you use now is not your real name.”

“I’ve used this name for twenty years already. Do you want me to change my name now?”

“Changing your name is easier than changing your fate. The bet I’m making with you is that one day, your name will become Gao Ming.” Lu Zang’s eyes were as dark as the abyss. “One day in the past or the future, you will wake up, and your family, friends and yourself will refer to you as Gao Ming.”

“Is that possible?” ‘Gao Ming’ felt that Lu Zang was being very scary. “That is not my name. Even if my name changes in the future, how can my past change overnight?”

“Your current name is given to you by fate. Gao Ming is your name after you wake up from the dream. Then, you will believe me. You are all living in the dream. Reality is not reality. After fate is killed, everyone will wake up and see the true reality.” Lu Zang said that and turned to look down a corner. “Someone will deliver this video to you. I hope you still remember our bet then.”

Xuan Wen quickly paused the video. Her back was drenched in cold sweat. Lu Zang appeared to be talking to her earlier.

Xuan Wen’s fingers were white. Her heart tossed around. Through Gao Ming and Lu Zang’s conversation, she confirmed one thing. Gao Ming was not called Gao Ming in the past. As Lu Zang said, everyone, including Gao Ming, referred to Gao Ming as Gao Ming, like Gao Ming had always been his name.