My House of Horrors

“Staying at the killer’s place?” Both Fan Chong and Fan Dade turned to look at Chen Ge in unison.

“The most dangerous place is also the safest place.” Chen Ge clicked on the dead man’s body madly. When the cursor fell on the man’s shirt pocket, a chat box popped up—’You ransacked the dead man’s clothing and found a room card in the man’s blood-soaked pocket.’

“You really found something!” Fan Chong leaned forward to the screen, and his face was colored by curiosity.

Putting the card in the backpack, Chen Ge kept clicking until the sound of a human head banging against the door became louder in the background. With regret, he walked down the stairs. “There’s no weapon. An opportunity like this is not going to come again in the future.”

Chen Ge clicked on the backpack to look at the room card. The pure black card was dyed with blood, and there was a number four written on the back. “Fan Chong, how many hostels and hotels are there in this town?”

“There’s only one. The small hotel that I told you earlier where the owner is a killer and the chef is mental. All of the other tenants have been killed.”

“Is the hotel far from the residential area?”

“Not far, it’s just a street away, but are you sure you want to go there?” Fan Chong did not quite understand Chen Ge’s thoughts. “Haven’t we just killed all the murderers at the residential area? All we need to do now is stay put and wait until dawn breaks.”

He saw that Chen Ge was still hesitating. He reached out to touch Chen Ge’s shoulder. “Don’t tell me… you’re planning to use this little girl to deal with an entire hotel of crazed people?”

“How are we supposed to do that without even a fruit knife?” Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to walk down the stairs. The weird thing was that the banging sound in the background did not soften due to the distance but instead became louder.

“Then why are you leaving?”

“Focus on the background music. The tapping sound is made by the ghost; it has become more rapid. This means that after we lured the murderer into the neighbor’s home, the ghost inside it has gone rampage.” Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to come to the ground floor. He looked at the dark street. “Why would you die when walking down the street at night? When you were playing, was there any warning before you die?”

“There was no warning. You just die like that, like that is an invisible killer roaming the streets.”

“Invisible killer?” Chen Ge shook his head. “The many scenarios of this game are inspired by things that happened in real life, so it shouldn’t be too fantastical.”

“Bro, the whole town is filled with ghosts and killers, isn’t that fantastical enough?”

“That is still acceptable. At the very least, it doesn’t go against the game designer’s setting.” Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to walk back and forth between the landing of the first floor and second floor. Fan Chong really did not understand what Chen Ge was up to. After holding it in for quite some time, he finally asked, “Boss Chen, what are you doing this time?”

“Things are not looking great.” Chen Ge looked at the screen and commented, “A game’s control normally decides how it will scare the player. Did you notice as the time of survival increases, the speed of Xiao Bu’s movement increases?”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Fan Chong looked at Xiao Bu running back and forth and realized that she did move a little bit faster.

“The creator won’t be so kind for no reason. This is a game where you can’t run away from despair. The increase in Xiao Bu’s speed means that we will run into something faster and scarier later.” Chen Ge held his chin with one hand. “If I’m not mistaken, we’ll be running away from more than murderers after midnight.”

What Chen Ge said chilled Fan Chong’s heart. “Killers, ghosts, traps, and death mechanisms that will trigger randomly, the creator doesn’t want any player to clear the game.”

“Don’t just see this as a mere game, try to figure out why the creator created this game. Only by understanding what the creator is trying to express and by following his train of thought will we be able to find the answer.” Chen Ge had been trying to do that. Fan Chong was playing the game, but he was trying to see things from the creator’s perspective.

Every game would express an emotion, be it rage, resentment, or sadness. However, to his surprise, even though the game was deeply despairing, there was no emotion; Xiao Bu was like an emotionless robot. She would not feel fear or pain, nor did she worry about her family. She was very detached.

This main character, Xiao Bu, is very interesting. After seeing her step-father’s body, she even thought of changing him into a doll; this isn’t a normal child, but what exactly happened to her that made her this way? Is what I’m experiencing a reflection of what Xiao Bu experienced before?

Chen Ge was deep in his thought when Fan Chong drew him back to reality. “Then what should we do now?”

“Our most important mission is to survive this night. The stairwell is temporarily safe, so we should stay here for now. After the ghost from the neighbor’s home comes out, we’ll go to the hotel.” Chen Ge’s mind was sharp. “The only thing that worries me now is triggering the death mechanism when we cross the street.”

“Do you really think that way? How come I feel like you’re waiting for the ghost to come out and use your own body to lure it to the hotel?” Fan Chong asked softly.

“Well, you gotta do what you gotta do.” Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to walk back and forth; he had mastered Xiao Bu’s speed and walking method. “This is an open world game, so we can’t stay here the whole night. After luring the ghost away, this area will be safe, and we can come back if necessary.”

Through the background music, the sound of banging increased. Chen Ge moved the cursor to a comfortable space. “She should be coming soon.”

As he finished, on the screen, a woman holding her own head appeared on the second floor’s corner, and her shirt was red with blood.

A Red Specter? Chen Ge controlled Xiao Bu to run out the stairs. He did not forget to adjust the angle to observe the female ghost holding her own head.Counting the woman in the red raincoat, this is the second Red Specter in this town.

In the game, the ghost moved fast. Chen Ge became serious and controlled Xiao Bu to run crazily. Chen Ge managed to escape the residential area in a few seconds. There was no light on the street. Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, and he managed to see the roads with the use of his Yin Yang Vision.

He controlled Xiao Bu to run toward the hotel. When she passed a window, the window suddenly opened, and an arm reached out, attempting to grab Xiao Bu. Thankfully, Chen Ge had Yin Yang Vision. When he saw the arm, he changed direction immediately and escaped narrowly.

“The danger is lurking in the dark!” Sweat slid down Chen Ge’s face. Fan Dade and Fan Chong saw the dark screen and could not understand why this man was crazily moving the mouse and typing madly on the keyboard.