Horror Game Designer

Chapter 60: Unity of Eight Consciousnesses, The Ignorance of Four Aspects

As Situ An gazed upon the grotesque, blood-soaked figure of the Flesh Immortal, his eyes gleamed with an intense, almost insane fascination. He spoke in a voice laced with a disturbing, fanatical fervor, “The integration of the eight consciousnesses, the obliviousness to life’s four stages. Two decades of meticulous planning have led to this moment, the culmination of true devotion.”

Around the deity, the ground was soaked in blood. In a state of sheer terror, Gong Xi yelled out, “This monster intends to slaughter us all! Gao Ming, you must save my grandmother!” With no one else to turn to, Gong Xi’s hope for survival and the safety of his grandmother rested entirely on Gao Ming’s shoulders. However, Gao Ming’s attention was intensely focused on Situ An, not wavering for a second.

The thick, nauseating odor of decaying flesh permeated the air, deeply unsettling Gao Ming. His heart, now altered through a strange, unnatural mutation, was unlocking his deepest, latent abilities. This transformation turned his heart into a chamber of horrors, where each sensation of pain was not just felt but magnified, becoming a tool for excruciating torment.

Gao Ming’s body, already marred by numerous injuries, now exhibited sinister black characters spreading across his skin as if heralding disaster. These markings indicated that he, too, was under the sinister influence of the Flesh Immortal.

A streak of blood had appeared across his eye, creating a haunting image reminiscent of a blood-red arc cutting through the sun, encircled by malevolent spirits. Oblivious to everyone else, Gao Ming gripped a chain tightly in his hand, his expression one of grim determination to bring Situ An down with him, even if it meant his own death.

Upon witnessing the complete, horrifying manifestation of the deity, Situ An’s initial resolve to confront Gao Ming wavered. His plan had been to remove Gao Ming as an obstacle, but now, faced with more pressing, chaotic developments, his focus had dramatically shifted.

“Flesh Immortal!” he cried out in awe as the statue emitted a strong, almost intoxicating aroma of flesh that affected all those present.

Meanwhile, the liquid had begun to recede in the vast sea of blood, unveiling sinister pumping vessels that writhed forth from the shadows, merging with the statue and converging at the core of its eight limbs.

The culmination of Situ An’s twenty years of relentless dedication, marked by countless sacrifices, had led to this pivotal moment – elements of blood, remnants of souls, and the energy of devout faith were withering at the base of the deity.

As the blood infused into the statue, a translucent heart began to materialize at the center of the deity’s eight arms. It was an enigmatic sight – seemingly both there and not there, tangible yet ethereal, a heart that defied conventional understanding.

Situ An had lured numerous investigators into his deadly trap, using himself as the bait over the years. He had orchestrated this terrifying scenario, all in anticipation of the imminent convergence of the shadow world and the physical world.

“So that’s the Heart of Deity?” he wondered aloud, awestruck by the sight before him.

Both singularly focused on their objective, Xuan Wen and Situ An sprinted toward the shrine at this moment: to claim the ethereal, transparent heart perched at its summit.

“You want to kill me too, don’t you?” Gao Ming’s words were underscored by the haunting sound of chains whipping out.

Although not trained for combat, Gao Ming, a doctor familiar with the specter of death in his professional life, had long come to terms with his own mortality. On this fateful day, he was unyieldingly committed to preventing Situ An from achieving his goal.

Though lacking in formal combat skills, he had undergone a remarkable physical transformation due to the influence of the Heart of Mortality. Despite a momentary lag in his reaction, he surprised even himself by tackling Situ An to the ground with an unexpected burst of strength.

As their bodies entwined in a tangle of chains, Gao Ming grappled fiercely to pry the meat cleaver from Situ An’s grasp. Despite the struggle, Situ An’s face retained a chilling smile, giving the impression he had foreseen each of Gao Ming’s moves.

In a swift, unexpected maneuver, Situ An let go of the cleaver and thrust his right hand forward, revealing a razor-sharp boning knife previously hidden in his sleeve. This knife bore a blood-red talisman, its presence a sinister revelation.

With a tone of reminiscence mixed with malice, Situ An said, “When I was in my twenties, I was as fierce and reckless as you, but I learned my lesson the hard way.”

The boning knife pierced Gao Ming’s abdomen, and the talisman shattered instantly upon impact. The agony Gao Ming experienced was indescribable, like a wild lion rampaging through his gut, savagely ripping through his insides.

The wound, cursed by the broken talisman, defied natural healing. The blood seeping from it was an unnatural dark, ashy hue, intermingled with countless ash particles.

As the rhythm of the Heart of Mortality began to slow within him, the blood spilling from Gao Ming’s stomach seemed to drain his life force, leaving him perilously weakened.

Yet, despite this grievous injury, Gao Ming refused to yield. With a burst of fading strength, he lunged at Situ An, who was desperately trying to regain his balance. Gao Ming drove him back against a wall, their bodies bound together by the relentless grip of the chains.

“You can’t kill me, but I have a way to kill you,” Situ An sneered, his voice oozing with malice. The stab wound he had inflicted on Gao Ming had conspicuously avoided the heart, likely because the malevolent spirit within Situ An was wary of damaging the Heart of Mortality. This hesitation suggested a conflict of intentions within him. But now, regaining his composure, Situ An revealed another boning knife, this one also adorned with a powerful talisman.

Granny, a mysterious figure in their saga, had provided Situ An with three such talismans. He had already used one in the murder of Yan Hua and had saved the remaining two specifically for Gao Ming.

With a swift lunge, Situ An attacked with his knife. He anticipated Gao Ming to dodge in a predictable manner, which would expose the heart to a fatal strike.

However, Gao Ming, expecting this move, swiftly used his chain to entangle Situ An’s wrist, effectively immobilizing him.

“Zhu Miao Miao!” Gao Ming shouted out.

Below, on the ground floor, the scene was chaotic. Investigators and residents who had ingested flesh were locked in brutal combat. Zhu Miao Miao, however, stood apart, not engaging in the fray. As a member of the Investigation Bureau, she was bound by a stringent set of rules. Despite the monstrous transformations around her, she hesitated to use her axe against them.

The question of who the real monster was in this situation hung heavily in the air.

“Kill Situ An!” Gao Ming urged, his voice strained, blood seeping from his mouth. He knew that Zhu Miao Miao possessed a talisman, one given to her by Granny.

Situ An, sensing the looming threat, shouted in desperation, “Your husband and child were killed by ghosts, and now you want to help them? The Bureau sacrificed so much to create ‘flesh’ that can fight ghosts! Don’t listen to him! With ‘flesh,’ we can save the entire city!”

“Zhu Miao Miao! Kill him!” Gao Ming, increasingly bloodied and weakening, persisted, “Flesh is poison! If you consume it, you forfeit even the possibility of becoming a ghost!”

Situ An, his desperation escalating, proclaimed, “Without ‘flesh,’ countless investigators will continue to fall victim to anomalies! I am your savior!”

His words were a frantic attempt to sway Zhu Miao Miao, to maintain his grasp on the situation that was quickly spiraling out of his control.

Zhu Miao Miao, her hands gripping the axe with a newfound resolution, was haunted by the memory of her husband and child, cruelly taken by the monstrous entities. Her determination manifested physically as her hands tightened around the axe handle, her knuckles whitening and emitting a faint crack. She then affixed the talisman onto the axe, the process drawing blood from her fingers. With a deep breath fueling her resolve, she lifted the axe high above her head, targeting Situ An’s neck. As she brought the axe down with formidable force, she shouted, “Die, you madman, for forcing people into such unspeakable acts of cannibalism!”

Situ An, cornered and immobilized, let out a scream that was barely human. In that moment, two spirits burst forth from his body, tangling in the air. One bore the likeness of Situ An himself, while the other resembled the ghost haunting Building B, both twisting in excruciating pain.

As Zhu Miao Miao’s axe made its deadly descent upon Situ An’s neck, the talisman on it detonated with a violent force, reducing the madman’s body to nothingness. The backlash of this powerful act caused Zhu Miao Miao to collapse, visibly drained and aged, the talisman having extracted a significant toll on her vitality.

Meanwhile, the ghost, now howling with frustration and rage, cursed repeatedly, “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” In a final, desperate maneuver, Situ An, or what remained of his twisted spiritual form, snatched the last talisman from the ground and hurled his spectral self toward the summit of the statue.

As this chaos unfolded, with Situ An and Xuan Wen navigating through the morass of sinking corpses in the blood pool, an unexpected figure appeared. Wu Bo, his coat tattered, emerged from behind the eight-armed statue and shockingly pushed Gong Xi, who was desperately trying to save his grandmother, into the blood-drenched pool.

“Grandmother!” Gong Xi cried out, panic seizing him. He struggled to drag the elderly woman toward safety, but it was as if the pool, teeming with vengeful spirits, clung to their feet, impeding their escape.

In a heart-wrenching instant, Gong Xi’s grandmother was swallowed by the blood. Frantically, he dove after her, only to be met with an endless, red abyss devoid of any trace of her.

It was in the aftermath of this tragedy that one of the statue’s previously featureless faces began to transform. It developed distinct features and opened its eyes, which seemed to embody the collective suffering of humanity, radiating a serene, life-affirming warmth.

Sequentially, the faces representing the living, desire, death, and karma each opened their eyes.

Standing beside the statue, Wu Bo, now devoid of his coat, mirrored the Flesh Immortal’s four faces. His voice carried a profound, haunting echo as he spoke, “When you worshipped me, you knelt in utter devotion. But when the flesh ripened, you became more savage than beasts. What exactly are you worshipping?” His words resonated with a deep, philosophical weight, challenging the very nature of their beliefs and actions.