The Haunted Game Designer

Black stains lingered on the corridor floor, and faint scratching sounds echoed from downstairs, as if something was approaching.

Hoffa stepped out of Room 2706 and lightly knocked on the door of Room 2707: "Mr. Yao? I'm Xiao Gao from Building Four, we talked about gardening before."

"Why don't you ever listen to advice!" The investigator, seeing Hoffa not only stepping into the corridor but also knocking on a neighbor's door, grew anxious and agitated. "The hallway is dangerous! The neighbors could have been replaced by something. We could run into a specter at any moment! Come back!"

"The old man in 2707 is seriously ill, but....."

"No buts!" The investigator grabbed Hoffa's clothes. "Once you're involved in an abnormal event, forget about saving others. If you can survive and bring out useful information and rules, that's already a huge contribution to the entire city!"

He pulled hard, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't budge Hoffa. "Don't let your savior complex get the better of you! You don't understand the terror of abnormal events yet. You'll get everyone killed!"

Hoffa didn't want to waste time explaining. He gripped the doorknob, his voice gradually turning cold. "Mr. Yao, I know you're in there. If you don't open the door, I'll break it down."

The investigator was about to continue persuading him, but Hoffa's words made him pause slightly. This didn't sound like the attitude of someone trying to play the saint.

The lock turned, withered mugwort leaves falling to the ground. The old wooden door creaked open. Mr. Yao, wearing glasses, looked at Hoffa. "Come in."

"Don't enter a neighbor's house so casually! If the neighbor was killed by a specter beforehand, then what we'd face—" The investigator didn't even finish his sentence before Hoffa yanked him into Room 2707. He stood there, staring at the closed door, his mouth still half-open.

"I received your message and turned off the microphone and camera in advance." Mr. Yao slipped on black gloves and covered the phone's camera.

"The situation is urgent, so I'll be brief." Hoffa took out Zhao Xi's phone. "I suspect the seemingly normal neighbors in the group chat are all fake. They only appear in the videos."

"You guys created a group chat behind my back?" The investigator had just noticed the group.

"I don't quite understand what you're saying. You and I both exist, don't we?" Mr. Yao, a police academy instructor, was quick-witted and knowledgeable, but tonight's events were beyond his comprehension.

"If we liken the Soul Reanimation to a horror game, the three of us are players. The other neighbors in the group chat might be something else, or just fictional entities created by the phone to deceive us." Hoffa stared at the group video. "Zhao Xi's corpse is climbing to the fifth floor. Once he enters Room 2501, Huang Mingming's house, we'll go pry open Room 2607. If the owner, Jiaqi, is different from the one in the video, then my theory is proven."

"A ghost is prying doors, and now you want to pry doors too?" Wrinkles crowded Mr. Yao's face, while the scars on the investigator's face twitched slightly.

"Staying inside will only get us caught by Zhao Xi sooner or later. If I have to choose a way to die, I'd rather die trying to survive." Hoffa still couldn't completely confirm Mr. Yao's identity. If Mr. Yao was a specter, then his entire theory would be wrong. That's why he wanted to check Room 2607 and get a closer look at Zhao Xi. He was always cautious.

"Aren't you being a bit reckless?" The investigator had seen many ordinary people caught in abnormal events in New Hu, but none as daring as Hoffa.

"I also think it's unwise." Mr. Yao coughed. "Why don't we run downstairs while the corpse is entering Room 2501, leave Lijing Apartment, and seek help? I'm sure there are people in the city specialized in dealing with such matters."

"There are, but isn't he trapped here too?" Hoffa glanced at the investigator, then across the rain-soaked view at his own home.

He thought silently to himself: "I only brought a blank memorial photo. If I had brought the 'family portrait' with Mom and Dad, would they come in the middle of the night to deliver me a cake? Maybe I'll try next time."

A scream echoed from Zhao Xi's phone. Hoffa looked down—Huang Mingming in Room 2501 was breaking down.

Neighbors were dying one by one, the oppressive atmosphere climbing floor by floor. Every nerve in Huang Mingming's body seemed to be scraped by small knives. He screamed at the phone's camera.

2501 Huang Mingming: "I hear nails scratching at the door! Zhao Xi's head seems to be hanging on my door frame! Help me! We've been neighbors for over ten years—please help me!"

No matter how much Huang Mingming screamed, none of the surviving neighbors responded.

Bulging veins appeared on his face as Huang Mingming grabbed the fruit knife from the coffee table. "You'll be caught by him too! You'll all suffer retribution!"

The lock on the security door seemed useless. Blood seeped in, and the door slowly creaked open. One by one, fingers squeezed through the gap.

The extreme terror sent Huang Mingming into a frenzy. Screaming, he charged at the security door, swinging the fruit knife in his hand wildly.

The investigator and Teacher Yao were both glued to the video, trembling with fear.

"Don't just stand there! Get ready to go to the sixth floor!" Gao Ming rummaged through Teacher Yao's toolbox. "We only have one chance!"

"Are we really going? Be rational!"

"I am being rational." Gao Ming led the two of them up to the sixth floor. In the phone video, Huang Mingming was still fighting with the corpse on the fifth floor, but the corridor remained eerily silent. Now, even Teacher Yao sensed something was off.

Without needing any further instruction from Gao Ming, he took out his tools and began prying open the door to Room 2607.

In the group chat video, Huang Mingming was driven to madness by fear. His phone had fallen onto the sofa, capturing him hysterically swinging the fruit knife.

"You're already dead! Why can't you just stay at peace? If you have the guts, go after the people who bullied you! No wonder you were doomed to be a loser your whole life!"

Black blood splattered across the living room. Zhao Xi's tattered body writhed on the floor as Huang Mingming gripped the knife with both hands, repeating the same frenzied motions over and over.

Clothes and skin were torn apart together, but no matter what Huang Mingming did, he couldn't stop Zhao Xi from approaching.

Bones scraped against each other as Zhao Xi's riddled corpse slowly gaped open like a fractured mouth.

The shadow spread, leaving Huang Mingming no room to escape. It was as if Zhao Xi's very skin had enveloped him.

The horrifying scene sent chills down the spines of the investigator and Gao Ming, who were watching the video. Trapped within the writhing flesh, Huang Mingming continued to struggle desperately, but all resistance was futile. His legs moved toward the balcony against his will, and Zhao Xi's skin crept over his arms.

"Let me go! Zhao Xi! I was wrong! I shouldn't have framed you for stealing goods from the port! I'm sorry! I really was wrong!" Fragments of shattered bone pierced his hands as, driven by an unseen force, Huang Mingming grabbed the window frame and pushed open the glass.

The pouring rain instantly drenched his face. He wailed for mercy, his expression twisted with pain and fear, yet his body slowly climbed onto the windowsill.

Perhaps, just days ago, the real Zhao Xi had done the same.

"Zhao Xi! Let me go! Let me go!"

As if responding to his pleas, Zhao Xi, still wrapped around Huang Mingming's back, plunged with him out of the window!

Watching the video, the investigator felt a chilling numbness spread through his limbs. The "entity" lurking in this building was far more terrifying than he had imagined. "In typical abnormal incidents, there wouldn't be such a clear presence of a 'specter.' This time, we're in serious trouble!"

Bang!

A sharp crack echoed as the door to Room 2607 was pried open by Teacher Yao and Gao Ming. Standing at the threshold, they peered inside.

A thick layer of dust covered the furniture. The room was shrouded in darkness, as if it had been abandoned for years.

"The neighbors in the phone video were all fake. The ones we saw being killed by Zhao Xi—fake as well. These were merely projections of the darkness in Zhao Xi's heart." Teacher Yao glanced at Gao Ming with admiration. "You figured it all out!"

"What's your next move?" The investigator also turned to look at Gao Ming.

Exiting the group chat video, Gao Ming scrolled through Zhao Xi's phone. It contained numerous personal recordings—his sister-in-law playing with her child, his elderly adoptive mother cooking in the kitchen. Zhao Xi longed to be part of those moments, but the rumors kept him at a distance. Deep down, his sister-in-law and adoptive mother never truly welcomed a disabled man like him.

Aside from these snippets of daily life, the lonely middle-aged man had also recorded himself. No one respected him, so he spoke only to himself. His phone became his confidant. Even the algorithms tailored themselves to his emotions. In some ways, his phone was more like his only family.

"I have a rather bold idea," Gao Ming muttered, staring at the dark staircase as if speaking to himself. "I want to have a heart-to-heart with the dead."

(End of Chapter)

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