Horror Game Designer

Chapter 259: Fixed in the Present

Opening his arms, Gao Ming looked like he was about to give the monster a big hug. His insouciance and gentle gaze caused the pupils of the monster to narrow.

“Are you shy?”

Gao Ming stood two metres away from the monster. The monster seemed to sense something. It paused. The next moment, eight large arms reached out of Gao Ming’s back. The monster was held in place. No matter how hard it struggled, it couldn’t get loose. The fragrance of meat entered its body, and the arms sank into its flesh. The God of Flesh and Blood embraced its soul. It slipped into God’s embrace until it became one with the flesh.

“Any monster with flesh mutation will be oppressed by the God of Flesh and Blood until they become a part of Gong Xi.” The God of Flesh and Blood was very satisfied. When he let go, the monster was already gone. Only a tattered patient’s outfit remained on the ground.

“I shouldn’t have slept for long.” Gao Ming’s clues related to Xuan Wen ended there. However, he felt that Xuan Wen was trapped in the same building as he was. “Lu Zang can only appear in places where the two worlds overlap heavily. The back building of Li San Hospital has been modified by them. This is not only Situ An’s home but also the channel to the shadow world.”

Gao Ming saw many patients in his dream. They were collected by Lu Zang and Situ An over the years. They were part of Situ An’s assets.

“Situ An told me about the east city investigation centre. Through his three core underlings, I gained the map, which got me the location of his home.” Situ An wouldn’t help Gao Ming out of kindness. He did so much to lure Gao Ming to the hospital. It meant that there was something there that could help him regain freedom. “Who would put the most dangerous thing in their own home?”

The clues disconnected. Gao Ming left the psychiatry counselling ward and entered the corridor. The back building radiated anomalies. “When the whole world is abnormal, normal people will be seen as monsters and common thoughts will be seen as crazy thoughts. Clearly, that is what I’m experiencing.”

Gao Ming sighed. After he woke up, he felt a lot more relaxed. He walked down the twisted corridors. He was like a gardener, pruning flowers in his master’s garden. The shoes that chased him had disappeared. Gao Ming perked up his ears to listen to his surroundings. Without knowing it, he arrived at the seventh floor. Compared to the dream, this place was darker and scarier. Many personal effects that the patients didn’t have time to pack were left on the ground. The wilted flowers were stepped on. The music box toppled over, and the heads of the spinning figures were snapped apart. Only their bodies swirled with the unending music.

He pushed open the door to Ward 7001. The sticky blood smeared the room. Blood dripped from the ceiling. Irregular footprints covered the ground. The giant bed was overturned. The white mattress cover was sliced through by a blade. The IV bags that hung in the room had been pierced. The rotting medicine mixed with blood. Gao Ming picked up the sleeve that contained the symbol of the investigation centre and stood before the bed.

“The patient of Ward 7001 hadn’t left the hospital. He stayed here until recently. He died before I entered the back building.” Looking at the familiar IV bags and the intertwining feeding tubes, Gao Ming felt they were familiar.

“My dream about the past is scattered. Lu Zang didn’t tell me everything. He hid the most important pieces to lure me to find him.” Gao Ming put the sleeve back. He returned to the corridor. He wiped away the blood from his shoes and turned to Ward 7002.

The door was left open. In the dirty room, a female corpse lay in the middle of the room. Her wounds were actively healing. Her body became stronger with every metamorphosis. However, her mind had been fully broken.

“This group of security members has no sense of mercy.”

Perhaps it was fate trying to rectify the mistakes. All the patients Gao Ming met in his dream had all been killed.

“I wonder if Mr. Question in Ward 7003 is still alive. He should have already escaped from this hospital.” With anticipation, Gao Ming pushed on the door of Ward 7003.

Gao Ming frowned when he saw blood spilling all over the walls and ceiling. There were also cuts and gouges everywhere.

“This room should be filled with Question’s calculations. However, they have been deliberately covered up by the investigation centre. What are they afraid of? Why did they cover up these things? Was Question telling the truth?”

Gao Ming stood in the middle and slowly turned around. He studied the walls. There was an empty space on one of the walls. Something was pasted there, and it had been recently taken down. Thinking back to his experience with Question, Gao Ming walked to the bed. He peeled back the bedsheet, and his fingers wandered among the bed frame until they paused at the seventh gap.

“It’s like my dream.”

Gao Ming yanked the board back and took out an old handpainted map.

In his dream, after Gao Ming promised to help Question, the latter took out a map from this place. He swore that if Gao Ming brought back the pills, he’d help Gao Ming wake up from the dream.

Gao Ming’s eyes blinked as his expression changed. He stared at the note at the back of the map. The note appeared to be written half a year ago, “Live in the dream! Do not wake up! There is no hope in the waking world!”

“Lu Zang is doing everything he can to get more people to wake up from the dream and return to the real world. Now, Question is warning me from waking up. Is this his message for me?” Gao Ming held the wrinkled map. He was confused, “What did he see after he woke up?”

No one would claim they were good or evil openly. Everyone in the city was working towards their own goal. Fate, Lu Zang, the investigation centre and the shadow world…Gao Ming was squeezed in the middle. He had no idea what kind of future was the best future.

“Now, I’m even more interested in the world after waking up.” Gao Ming turned the map around. It was a mini-map of Li San Hospital. It marked out five exits. Three of them had been crossed off with a red X. The underground morgue of the back building was marked with a red question mark.