Horror Game Designer

Chapter 310: List

Gao Ming’s eyes glowed as he watched the videos. Zhang Ding had been trapped in the flood nightmare for a long time and still hadn’t found a way to become a dream ghost. Gao Yun’s videos offered a great path.

“The key to becoming a dream ghost is not with the ghost but with the normal people in the city. We need their will to shake off the shackles of fate…” Zhang Ding saw the videos as well. “He is not wrong. I can recreate the flood because of the trust I gain from my neighbours. They are willing to transmute their painful memories into power for me to control. As more water ghosts regain consciousness, my power is greater.”

“Collective… rules…” Gao Ming remembered Lu Zang saying that Han Hai was a dream and all the citizens were living in a dream. Only when everyone was woken up from this dream would they have the chance to kill fate.

“Han Hai is different from the other cities. Due to the presence of fate, we can’t rely on our constitution to achieve breakthroughs like the Red Spectres. Therefore, we can only rely on changing more people’s fates and borrowing their collective will to fight against fate.” Zhang Ding felt that he had come to a solid conclusion.

Granny Shen rolled her eyes and sighed. “Even if you want to die, do you need to drag others down with you? What is wrong with living a normal and peaceful life? Even if this city is a dream, what if the waking world is worse than this dream?”

“Even the worst reality is better than my dream.” The blind man curled inside the big dog. His skin started to grow the black fur again.

“The tragedy is coming. The peaceful days are gone. In this world where anomalies are everywhere, who can guarantee us peace?” Xuan Wen spun the teacup. “We have no other choices. If we do nothing, the normal citizens will be sacrificed to the shadow world.”

“It is necessary to help the common people get used to the anomalies beforehand.” Wei Dayou raised his hand. “Sending them into controllable anomalies is better than allowing them to be lost in the shadow world, right?”

Bai Qiao, who sat beside Wei Dayou, gave her opinions too. “The investigation centre has been sealed up the news about the shadow world. The consequences are evident. We are not sending the citizens to their deaths. We are merely giving them a chance to see the truth and make their own choices.

“That’s right. Most people in this world don’t possess the power of choice. They are merely pawns of the bigger powers. We are like angels, bringing the agency of choice back to the citizens.” Xia Yang turned around in his portrait. He burned off the last paper doll on his body as his eyes shined with hatred. “What kind of life do you live if you don’t even have the power to control it? That’s worse than an animal.”

Teacher Xia’s words silenced Granny Shen. A few people felt like they had been insulted. Only Zhang Ding’s son ran about freely in the living room.

“There’s no need to argue.” In the future Gao Ming saw, more than half of the people in Han Hai would be lost in the anomalies. Changing the future was not hard. One only needed to help those people survive instead of perish. “The future is crueller than we think. The tragedy is only beginning. We don’t need to purposely lead people into the anomalies. We only need to collect their will in the anomalies. If we encounter people with special will, we can invite them to join us.” Gao Ming opened the blood door and led everyone into the Home of Butchers. He stared at the number of families shown on the map. “We are far behind Gao Yun at the moment. We need to pick up the slack.” He enlarged the map of the old city. He assigned everyone their mission.

“Save those who need to be saved. Kill those who need to be killed. I’ll write everyone a new script. Hopefully, the next dream ghost will be among us.”

Gao Ming created a list. Every name on the list represented blood and murder. Crazy was not powerful enough to describe these people. They killed more than ghosts in the anomalies. In the future Gao Ming experienced, these people perfectly assimilated into the life of the shadow world. They had the ‘best lives’ in the shadows.

“We mustn’t let go of a single person on this list. We have to send them into my torture room.”

…

“Xiao Guo, is this your home?” Liu Jiaru was the class teacher of Da Zai Primary School Year One Class Three. Recently, she noticed that one of her students often appeared in class with mysterious bruises. She asked the child about it, but the child refused to say anything. She was worried that this was a case of domestic violence, so she decided to make a family visit.

“Hmm…” Xiao Guo lowered her head and kicked the pebbles on the ground mindlessly. She walked so slowly. She didn’t seem like she wanted to go home.

“Are your mother and father home today?” Liu Jiaru felt that something horrible had happened to this child. “Did they do something to you? You can tell teacher.”

“They didn’t do anything to me… Just…” Xiao Guo’s braids fell on her beck. The bruise on the back of her neck was very obvious.

“What is it? Don’t be scared. Teacher will help you.”

“They like to look at the mirror… If I tell them to stop, they…” Xiao Guo walked past the road with many holes and stopped before the gate to the residential area for the employees of Da Zai Electrical Company. This was a residential area before the electrical plant was built. The place was older than Liu Jiaru’s father.

“Why is there no one here?”

The place felt deserted. It gave off an uncomfortable feeling. Teacher Liu didn’t know how to describe it, but the place had no sense of life.

“My home is here…” Xiao Guo led Teacher Liu to the third floor of Block Five.

The windows in the corridors were bricked off. It was afternoon, but the place was pitch black.

Xiao Guo found the key from her pocket and opened the door with shaking hands.

The axle creaked noisily. The rust fell on her clothes. Xiao Guo looked at the dark living room and shouted into the room, “I’m home.”

“The food is on the table. Heat them yourself.” Her mother’s voice came from the bedroom. Her tone was rife with annoyance as if Xiao Guo had interrupted something important that she was doing.

Xiao Guo kept her head lowered as she moved to the dining table. She picked up the leftovers from the delivery. The plastic box radiated a rotting food smell. There was used napkin beside it.

“How can you eat these things?” Teacher Liu grabbed Xiao Guo by her wrist. She stomped into the living room and yelled at the bedroom. “Hello, Xiao Guo’s mom. I’m Xiao Guo’s class teacher. We need to talk!”

An unexpected sound appeared inside the home. The sound of stuff moving came from the bedroom. Ten seconds later, the bedroom door opened. A middle-aged woman appeared at the door with her back facing Teacher Liu.