Horror Game Designer

Chapter 223: Home

The city model that collapsed when Su Mo entered the Home of Butchers was reconstructed after Gao Ming entered the same room. Those chosen to be parents by the shadow world seemed to possess something unique.

“Try to put your death portrait into the city. If you’re worried, you can put mine.” Xia Yang’s voice was gentle. Those who didn’t know would think he was Gao Ming’s friend.

“Shush. Let me think.” Gao Ming took out the birthday death portrait and put it on the growing city of blood and flesh. The flesh and bones that made up the city seemed to come alive as they pulled the portrait into the city. At the same time, a special bond was formed between Gao Ming and the city model. A lot of information appeared in his mind. Dark spots appeared in the model. Some of the darkness was still spreading.

“The normal city buildings are white. The dark areas represent the anomaly. The greater the danger, the darker it is.” Xia Yang explained it kindly, “Can you see the red dots moving in the dark areas? Those are ghosts. You can use your consciousness to approach them.”

Gao Ming frowned as he scanned the map. He chose the deep red Spring Apartments. Some unfamiliar and scary images appeared in his mind. His old classmate, Cai Meimei, crawled on the roof beams like a centipede. Behind her were the endless scapegoats.

“Each red dot represents a Big Ghost. You can use this map to obtain the perspective of the ghosts. Of course, the premise is that these ghosts have already been consumed by the shadow world.”

“How do you know these things?” Gao Ming didn’t expect Cai Meimei to turn into this monster. The girl who once loved beauty transformed into something she hated the most.

“Before you came, I’ve already attempted to use my own soul to connect with the map. However, I failed to gain its approval. The map soon crashed.” Xia Yang looked at Gao Ming with expectation, like he was watching the growth of a super monster. “Don’t recollect your death portrait in a hurry. Try to let your consciousness sink into the map fully, and you’ll see something amazing.”

With suspicion, Gao Ming did what he was told. When his consciousness fully combined with the map of Han Hai, he realised he had become the map itself. His eyes could look over the areas covered in shadow. A lot of information entered his mind, almost corrupting it. Gao Ming immediately retreated with fear. Xia Yang chuckled in his ears. “Wasn’t I right?”

Gao Ming didn’t argue with Xia Yang. He arranged the information in his mind. The city model was one of Situ An’s most important treasures. After the map recorded the anomalies, it would also show the rewards available and methods to trigger the anomalies. There were limitations between the real world and the shadow world. Other than blood sacrifices, one needed extreme emotions like anger, hatred or pain to trigger the anomalies. The embryo of the anomaly was an omen, and the owner of the map had to nurture the omen into a horror story.

“Rumours, omens, curses and horrors, these are similar to my game designs. My brain retains similar memories.” Gao Ming’s games were based on horrors that had happened before. This meant that he probably had obtained the map in one of his reincarnations. “Have I gotten to this step before?”

“Only the parents in the shadow world can be the owner of the map. When the parents complete the request shown on the map, they can obtain the rewards from the shadow world,” Since Gao Ming ignored him, Xia Yang continued the explanation on his own, “You saw it earlier. Isn’t the reward amazing?” Gao Ming still didn’t answer Xia Yang. He was thankful that the map didn’t recognise Xia Yang. The rewards of the shadow world were a bit over-the-top. Some of them included ways to create chaos, ways to nurture anomalies and methods to detect potential lunatics.

The Soul Transfer Drugs were the rewards given to Situ An by the shadow world. Doctor Lu was the present given to him after he managed to trigger his first Level 3 Anomaly. He was Situ An’s first family member.

Other than that, there were basic rewards for triggering a new anomaly every time. A level 1 anomaly would get the map owner the blessing of the shadow world. Ten blessings would improve one’s physical attributes greatly. A level 2 anomaly would get the owner negative emotion fragments. These were important to strengthen a ghost. A level 3 anomaly would allow one to gain partial memories of some ghosts. Digesting these memories was very helpful to both humans and ghosts. Starting from Level 4, the rewards were more related to horrors. Successfully triggering a Level 5 Anomaly might even cause the shadow world to provide the map owner with the right to use certain rules of the shadow world. The shadow world had done a lot to persuade Situ An to work for it.

“No wonder Qing Ge could still fight me after his senses were taken away,” Situ An’s subordinates were all superhumans. They had been to the shadow world to be modified by Doctor Lu. If Gao Ming hadn’t repeated his life and eliminated Doctor Lu and Qing Ge before Situ An realised anything, Situ An wouldn’t have been killed so easily.

“This map is very alluring.” The map of Han Hai was very precious. Gao Ming felt like with Situ An’s personality, he would attach a bomb to something so important. He’d detonate it after he died. Why would he leave something so good behind after his death?

“There has to be a purpose for him to do this…” It was not crazy for Gao Ming to think that. The map had a location that was marked. It was near the old city hospital.

Situ An marked the place with the word, ‘home’. It was like he was saying the hospital was his real home.

Gao Ming was interested in the ‘home’. He wanted to know how the homes existed in the shadow world, so he had to go to this place.

“Situ An won’t be so kind. He wanted other parents to enter the hospital.”

Standing before the city model, Gao Ming’s eyes were hollow. The temperature in the room dropped. Su Mo, at the corner, quietly took out the blanket and wrapped it around himself.