Horror Game Designer

“I cannot be further from perfection.” The normal Gao Ming smiled bitterly. His parents were normal. They would argue over the smallest thing. His result was average. He was always in the middle of the pack. He felt like his life would always be average. The kind Gao Ming carried the dead Gao Ming and left the room. Carrying a dead person and a living person was completely different. A corpse might be heavy, but it was easier to carry because it gave no resistance.

“It’s fine that he’s clever. Why is he also so fit and muscular?” The normal Gao Ming followed, carrying the two bags. He had the same face as the kind Gao Ming, but somehow, the kind Gao Ming was more handsome than he was. “Maybe this is the power of positive aura. I feel so comfortable being around him.”

“We need to leave this floor before the lights go out! Quick!” The kind Gao Ming grabbed the chance and started to run. “Follow me! I saw how to leave this place from studying the others from the peephole earlier!” The kind Gao Ming was a good person. He didn’t hide the information. He shouted the way to leave as he raced down the corridor and told the other Gao Mings. It did not matter if they wanted to leave or not. It mattered that they knew how to leave if they wanted to. The kind Gao Ming didn’t ask for anything in return. He merely provided them with a new choice.

In thirty seconds, before the lights went out again, they ran down the corridor and entered the old stairwell. The scent of the air changed. The normal Gao Ming felt like he had just swum out of the deep sea. The comfortable feeling he had earlier lowered. He looked up, and the corridors shifted. The floor they were on had disappeared.

“The floor with Rooms 0715 should be a hidden floor of this building.” The kind Gao Ming gasped for air. He didn’t let go of the dead body. “There’s a Gao Ming living in each room. We should be the differing choices of a singular person but split and trapped on that floor.”

“How come I don’t feel any fear from you?” The normal Gao Ming was shaking. He didn’t dare to get close to the spots without light.

“Actually, I’m very scared. However, I believe that since the bad guys had to split us into different parts, it can only mean that they cannot handle us when we are together.” The kind Gao Ming was optimistic. “When we find the way to exit this place, you’ll leave first. I plan to come back here again.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Are you crazy? Why would you do that?” The normal Gao Ming didn’t get it.

“I want to save the other Gao Mings.” The kind Gao Ming continued on with the corpse. “The elevator appears to be broken. We’ll have to use the stairs.”

They moved down two more floors, and the normal Gao Ming’s heart started to pound. It affected his breathing.

“This won’t do. We’ll have to change our route.” He held the rusted rail and stopped.

“Do you not feel good?” The kind Gao Ming quickly checked his condition. At that moment, a low growl came from the corner room right underneath the staircase they were on.

“It’s too painful! I can’t stand it anymore! I should have killed all of you!” Nails scratched the door. A voice familiar to Gao Ming came out of the room.

“Is that Yuan Hui who is crying? That’s the voice of our monitor!” The two Gao Mings shared a look.

“Should I go take a look?” The kind Gao Ming rose when the normal Gao Ming pulled him back. “I don’t know why, but my heart is racing! This place is too dangerous. Something bad will happen if we continue to stay here. We have to go back upstairs!”

“The exit is downstairs. How can we go back upstairs?” The kind Gao Ming winced hearing Yuan Hui’s wails. “Find a room to hide with him. I’ll be back after I take a look.”

The normal Gao Ming didn’t say anything when he saw how determined the kind Gao Ming was. He dragged the corpse and finally found an unlocked room after a long time.

“Yuan Hui, is that you?” The kind Gao Ming moved down the corridor slowly. Strangely enough, when Yuan Hui heard his voice, he stopped crying and shouting. “Monitor, are you trapped here too? Why does your voice sound so hoarse?” The kind Gao Ming noticed something was wrong. He paused when he was about three metres away from the door.

The door slowly creaked open. A bloody hand gripped the door tightly.

“Did you call me your monitor? How dare you?” Yuan Hui’s demented voice entered the kind Gao Ming’s ears. Yuan Hui resisted immeasurable pain and walked out of the room with malice. A long gash appeared on his bloody arm. The fragments of the picture crawled into Yuan Hui’s flesh. Half of his face was ruined, like he had been splashed by acid. His ghost tattoo was gone.

Seeing Yuan Hui like this, the kind Gao Ming took a step back. “Monitor, what happened to you?”

“What happened to me?” Yuan Hui glared at Gao Ming. He scratched his wound, but he couldn’t reach the picture fragments with his fingers. “Is it not because of you?”

“Me?”

“Stop acting! You’re even wearing our old school uniform. Your fake concern makes me want to vomit!” Yuan Hui’s ghost tattoo was suppressed by the apartment’s God. He was more like a crazed murderer at that moment. “When we were at school, I hated you the most.”

“Can you please calm down? Are you possessed?” The kind Gao Ming didn’t understand why his best mate and roommate had become like this.

“Possessed?” Yuan Hui, who lost his ghost tattoo, was triggered by Gao Ming’s words. “We share the same hostel room, but you always ostracise me. Wang Jie’s family is rich and powerful. I’m humiliated daily. Xi San is loved and admired by so many girls. He looks down on me. What about you? You have nothing, but you always blow me off. What gives you the right?”

“I didn’t mean anything by that. If I have offended you, I can apologise.” The kind Gao Ming took another step back. “We share the same room. There’s no need for us to harm each other.”

“Is that what you think?” Yuan Hui raised his bloody arm. “The woman I loved the most and the woman who loved me the most have been killed because of you. They were murdered by your horror game players!”

“Have you lost your mind? What are you talking about?” The kind Gao Ming couldn’t reconcile the madman before him with the monitor whom he respected.