Horror Game Designer

Luo Dong could no longer retreat. Small cracks appeared on the bus windows. Gao Ming’s corpses would soon enter the bus.

“The fuck am I supposed to do?” Luo Dong had no idea what happened at Everlasting Apartments. However, if he were given a chance to choose again, he would never have entered Prosperity Neighbourhood. Luo Dong entered the driver’s booth and took the seat. He twisted the key that was left in the ignition. The growl of the engine mixed with Gao Mings’ growls.

More Gao Mings congregated around the bus. They tried to stop Luo Dong from driving the bus away.

“They are all crazy. If this is the future, I’d rather be a ghost!” Luo Dong stepped on the pedal and gripped the steering wheel. The normally shy programmer was like a demon at that moment. He drove the bus and ran over the corpses!

“Move! Move!”

Luo Dong didn’t want to kill, even if they were corpses that had already died. He didn’t want to harm anyone, but he had no choice. The bus was like a wounded beast. Caught in the corner, it exposed its sharp jaws. The glass shattered. The headlights flickered in the dark, like light spots fighting against fate.

Luo Dong’s mind was blank. He gritted his teeth as he drove deeper into the dark. He had no idea what was waiting for him, but that was the only thing he could do then. The horrible-smelling wind blew into the bus. The summons from the bottom of Luo Dong’s heart grew louder like something was awakening.

The rain of corpses continued. The walls of the tunnel changed. A large blood capillary pierced through the corpses. It was like a dragon surging through the walls and floor.

“These things are trying so hard to stop me. This only proves that I’m on the right path!” Luo Dong’s eyes were bloodshot. He had to survive for himself and his family.

“It feels like something bad will happen if I go near it, but… I have no other choices!” The summons in his heart pounded in his ears. Luo Dong responded accordingly… Run through it!

Don’t care about what it is! Just run through it!

The bus was very fast, but the figurine was very special. It seemed to situate between existence and non-existence. When the bus approached it, the altar and the figurine turned incorporeal. The bus couldn’t collide with it, but the strangest thing happened. The thick capillaries under the altar started to wiggle. Blood that was rich with the fragrance of meat was forcibly injected into the altar. The altar became corporeal again, and the bus crashed into it!

The bus windows all shattered. Through the shower of shards, Luo Dong saw the figurine being run over. Shards of glass cut into it. Its human-like skin started to bleed. To his surprise, other than the figurine, the altar was suppressing a puppet made from flesh underneath it. The puppet had four faces and eight arms. Its heart was punctured by many nails. Its body was transfixed underneath the altar, turning it into a victim for the figurine above it to absorb and influence.

“The God of Flesh and Blood!”

The two parties resonated. Luo Dong took control of the bus to try to evade the wall. He jumped down from the bus and picked up the flesh puppet under the altar. The moment he removed the flesh puppet from the altar, all the clocks at Prosperity Neighbourhood froze for a few seconds. In these few seconds, Luo Dong got back on the bus and started the engine again.

As the puppet entered the bus, the bus started to change. It reverted to its form many years ago. It was then that Luo Dong realised that the bus trapped inside the tunnel was the carrier of Gao Ming’s memory.

“I’ve seen Gao Ming and his God of Flesh and Blood. This nailed puppet should be Gao Ming. All the corpses came from the tunnel, so they should be made through the power of the God of Flesh and Blood. Therefore, their memory couldn’t fully mimic the real Gao Ming yet.” Luo Dong predicted. Luo Dong drove like crazy. He turned back to look. The broken figurine was rapidly recovering. One had to be within its death realm to fully kill it.

“What to do now?” Luo Dong tried to communicate with the puppet, but he got no response. “Gao Ming’s parents wanted me to give the letter to the real Gao Ming…” Luo Dong didn’t know what else to do. He gripped the wheel with one hand and tore open the envelope with his bloody mouth.

The flesh puppet trembled once. Luo Dong looked inside the envelope. Inside were two things: a fading photograph and a key.

The picture was of Gao Ming’s family of three. Gao Ming sat beside the table, looking at the birthday cake. Gao Ming’s parents stood far at the corner of the living room. Gao Ming’s body turned from black-and-white to colour, while the reverse happened to his parents.

“This picture appears unfinished. There should be someone else standing in this picture between Gao Ming and his parents!”

He turned the picture around. A message was written on it.

“Don’t worry about us, and don’t come to find us. From today onwards, you’re the new parent. Take care of the key, and do not come back to this place.”

The message carried no meaning for Luo Dong, but the Life Face on the puppet slowly opened its eyes. The pattern of the blood city appeared on its trapped body. The consciousness that was forced to slumber was slowly waking up!

A drop of blood oozed out of the puppet’s heart. It fell to the ground. The face looked pained.

Luo Dong tried to pull the nails out of the heart, but as he touched the nails, his fingers started to wilt. Black lines tried to drill into his body. Luo Dong changed tack. He took out a knife and cut off the flesh.

“I’ve tried my best. The rest is up to it.”

Luo Dong focused on driving. He didn’t notice the blood that dripped to the ground had started to change. Meat fragrance floated on the air. Soon, bloody shadows appeared in the seats of the bus.