Horror Game Designer

The winter morning was enveloped by a thin layer of mist. With Bai Feng watching, Gao Ming opened the manor door. The heavy wooden door slowly opened. The soaked Bai Feng entered the manor. There was mud on her sleeves. There were clear scratches on her fingers.

“Are you injured?” Gao Ming picked up the scent of blood on Bai Feng.

“That proves that I’m one of the living.” Bai Feng’s eyes were cold. She hadn’t eaten or drank since she entered the nightmare. She appeared to have thinned overnight.

The thick boots stepped on the wooden stairs. The stairs creaked louder than before. The manor owner ran to Bai Feng and aimed the barrel at her forehead. “It’s so cold here. The snow has sealed up the mountains. No one can survive for a night in the wild. Where were you hiding?”

Gao Ming noticed his choice of words. He didn’t ask where Bai Feng was but asked where she was hiding.

“How could you know no one could survive outside for a night? How many people have you chased out to survive on their own before? Did you go to find their corpses the next morning?” Bai Feng was forceful. Everyone nearby felt worried for her.

“Do you really think I won’t shoot?” The man’s finger slowly lowered. Gao Ming and Xu Deyi didn’t dare to move, afraid that they might cause the man to pull the trigger.

“The storage room used to keep the firewood beside the manor. I spent the night there.” Out of everyone’s expectations, Bai Feng suddenly answered the owner. Her previous action was more like a test.

“Why didn’t you just come back into the house?”

The owner’s hand conspicuously trembled. He slowly moved the rifle away. “There is frostbite medicine in Room 3009. I’ll help you with your wounds.”

Without giving the others the chance to respond, the man grabbed Bai Feng by her shoulders. As they moved up the stairs, the man shouted at Gao Ming and Xu Deyi, “Something strange sneaked into manor yesterday night. We have to find it before dark, or else none of us will survive tonight.”

The two disappeared down the corridor. Soon, the door to Room 2004 opened. Qian Jin carefully walked out with an axe. After confirming there was no immediate danger, he waved behind him. Yao Yao and Zhi Ge sauntered out.

“The three of you are amazing. So many things happened here yesterday night, but you somehow managed to stay in your room until the sun came up.” Xu Deyi was furious when he saw them. Yesterday night, he was frightened to death by the hikers. Then, he was forced by the manor owner to grab the toolbox. Out of fear, he went to ask the trio for help. He knocked on the door of Room 2004 for five whole minutes, but he got no response.

“Was that really you yesterday night?” Qian Jin looked at Xu Deyi with shock. “We thought it was a ghost, so we didn’t open the door.”

“The owner told us not to open the door and not to leave the room. Before the nightmare collapses, following the rules will help you live longer.” Yao Yao’s tongue was as sharp as ever. “I told you guys these newbies would only ruin things.”

Xu Deyi gripped his fists in anger. However, he thought about it. He only saw the hikers after Silly pulled back the curtain the night before and violated the rules.

“Don’t fight among ourselves.” Gao Ming patted Xu Deyi’s shoulder and stood before the trio. “Following the owner’s rules will only sink you deeper and deeper. If we hadn’t discovered them early, those corpses would have entered the manor through the opening in Room 2001 already.”

“The owner just mentioned that something dangerous had infiltrated the manor. In other words, your hard work still meant nothing.” Yao Yao placed her hands on the rails and leaned forward. “The safe zone will inevitably become narrower and narrower in the middle-layer nightmares. That reflects the collapse of the owner’s mental defence line unless you have the ability to heal one’s mental wounds.”

To do that, one had to find the source of the illness. However, the testers didn’t even know who the nightmare owner was.

“Mental traumas will often accumulate bad emotions.” When Gao Ming was in the kitchen yesterday, he saw the four keys the manor owner owned. They were pain, hatred, resentment and sadness. The pain key opened the door to the basement, “Each key should correspond to a door in the manor. Something behind those doors is attracting the snowman. Perhaps it is the owner’s body and memory.” Gao Ming entered the kitchen. Noticing this, the trio followed him.

Gao Ming yanked back the dirty carpet and examined the lid. The thick wooden slabs were perfectly encased into the ground.

“It’ll be impossible to crack this open without proper tools. If we use the axe to cut it down, we’ll definitely grab the owner’s attention.” Xu Deyi noticed the strange lock on the door. It seemed to be a large blood scab.

“I’ve seen similar doors at other parts of the manor.” Qian Jin walked over with a smile, “Why don’t we work together? Tell me what is hidden behind this door, and I’ll bring you to the other doors.”

“Yesterday night, a snowman entered the house. The manor owner was very nervous when he realised that. He used a key with the character of pain to open this basement door.”

“Did you see what was inside the basement?” Zhi Ge pushed away Xu Deyi. “Did you see a road?”

“Road?”

Zhi Ge radiated a presence that was different from before. He was like a sailor who had braved many storms. “The way to leave the middle-layer nightmares is often hidden behind the exits. The exits can be a window, a mirror or a dresser. However, most exits are doors.”

“Other than the fourth floor, we have found three other doors that are locked in the manor.” Qian Jin stepped on the wooden door. “This door is just one of them. The other two doors are behind the firewood storage room and inside Room 3009.”

Despite Yao Yao’s protests, Qian Jin really wanted to cooperate with Gao Ming.

“The manor owner entered the basement with his oil lamp. He was very wary of me. He didn’t let me get close to him. Plus, I saw that he had four keys. Therefore, there’s still one more door that you haven’t found in this manor.” Gao Ming shared the information honestly. He got Silly and Xu Deyi before rushing out of the manor. The snow had fallen thick enough to cover their ankles. The whole world appeared to be frozen.

The characters on the road signs were blurry. Gao Ming came to the firewood storage room based on his memory. He eventually came to a grey brick house. It had no window, and the walls were reinforced.

Gao Ming tapped the thick walls and frowned. “There’s no window and chimney. The walls are too thick for warmth. Could it be for sound insulation?”

The door of the brick house was built to the side. It was a red iron door. The Chinese character for bliss was pasted on the door. However, through months of erosion, only the squares remained. It was discomfitting.