Horror Game Designer-Chapter 673: I Saw Them in My Future

The old lady’s voice was laced with sadness. “My daughter and son-in-law have fallen. They touched something dirty at an unknown place. They lost their minds when they reached home. They revealed an expression different from normal. They were in the other room, discussing excitedly how to kill me…”

The wrinkled hands tightened. The lady released a breath and said, “The investigation centre took them away, saying that they had been replaced by the shadows. I didn’t get any more news about them. About a week later, I went to work as a cleaner at the cleaning company. Then, I saw their corpses at the trash centre.”

“Cleaning company and cleaners?” Gao Ming was confused. “What is your connection to the investigation centre? I’m not with the investigation centre. I will not do anything to you.”

After Gao Ming gave many promises, the man finally dared to speak. “Han Hai is in complete chaos. The investigation centre headquarters are too busy dealing with the black mist to care about people like us. Now, it’s the local branches that are fighting the anomalies, but they are greatly understaffed. People trapped in the sick zones, like us, are not allowed to leave. We have no talents. To survive, we had to join cleaning, medical and transportation companies set up by the investigation centre branches. We work underneath them, performing dirty chores that are not so dangerous.”

“Why are things so chaotic?” Gao Ming thought to himself. “I’ve caught Situ An and Xia Yang. The Blood City’s lingering spirit is with Ah Fang in my torture room. There shouldn’t be anyone else to limit the headquarters and Jing Tuoshen. However, based on the looks of things, they appeared to have run into other troubles, and they still haven’t gotten control of the situation.”

The man had well-hidden annoyance towards the headquarters. However, the child didn’t have such caution. He grumbled openly, “If the investigation centre headquarters didn’t hide the truth, we would have been ambushed. So many people died for no reason.”

“If only Director Situ were still here… He risked his life to broadcast the truth to the city and warn us of the impending tragedy. After he disappeared, East City was the first to collapse. The investigation centre headquarters did it on purpose. They abandoned the citizens of East City to take revenge on Director Situ.” The man, called Uncle Qi, was agitated.

“Do you mean Situ An when you said Director Situ?” Gao Ming was uncertain because the person the man described was different from Situ An, whom he knew.

“Yes. That’s him. I came from East City. When Director Situ was still around, East City was the busiest zone in Han Hai. However, after he disappeared, the situation spiralled out of control.” The man missed Situ An, but he didn’t know East City’s biggest threat was Situ An.

The old lady didn’t say anything, but her expression showed that she agreed with Uncle Qi. Gao Ming was stung by irony. Situ An, who had been going around creating anomalies and sacrificing live humans, became a hero. After he was cornered by Gao Ming, his last method was to pull the investigation centre down with him. He exposed the truth so he could put all the blame on the investigation centre. The black mist was approaching, so the investigation centre had to reveal part of the truth. This inadvertently verified Situ An’s warnings.

“This is annoying. If I don’t correct them, Situ An might have altars erected for him at Han Hai.”

Gao Ming walked to the three cleaners. They were used to Gao Ming’s presence. They stopped being cautious around him.

“Are the investigation centres the only party resisting the tragedy? Are there no self-rescue organisations?” Gao Ming blinked. “Have you heard of the horror game players?”

“Of course!” The boy was excited. His eyes glowed. “They are the strongest and the most mysterious group outside the Han Hai Investigation Centre. They are active in most sick zones. They hunt down ghosts and collect curses. Many citizens dream of joining them, but they have stringent membership requirements.”

Gao Ming nodded with satisfaction. While he was gone, Dead Water Forum developed nicely.

“Are there any famous horror game players? Do they work with the investigation centre?”

“There are many famous players. They are all heroes.” The boy admired the players. Seeing how excited he was, the old lady placed her hand on his shoulders and explained, “This boy’s older brother is a horror game player. He stayed at home all day before the tragedy. Then, he acquired some powers. He saved a whole building of people, but he disappeared into the dark.”

The cleaners had their own past. The tragedy changed their lives, but didn’t remove their hope.

“Different from the investigation centre’s complicated reward system, Dead Water Forum has an open contribution ranking. Killing ghosts, cleaning anomalies and saving other humans will increase your contribution points. If you want to know about the horror game players, just check out the ranking.” Uncle Qi thought about it. “As the tragedy zone expanded, the influence of the players rose. Most of the players on the ranking have exposed themselves. The current leading player is called Fan Li. He is truly the example of all humans. He is brave, honest and humble. He is powerful, but he is not arrogant. Everyone who has met him praised him for his natural leadership.”

Ranking first didn’t mean the strongest, but it meant having contributed the most to Han Hai. Fan Li didn’t let Gao Ming down.

“The second to fourth players hid their identities. The fifth-placed player is called Luo Dong. He runs all the horror game players in East City. They have constructed teams on three occasions to venture deep into the sick zones.” The boy knew more about the players than the old lady and Uncle Qi. “Ever since Director Situ’s disappearance, East City has been troubled by anomalies and ghosts. The headquarters sealed up East City to focus on the black mist. It was Luo Dong who disregarded the warning to bring the survivors there hope. He is hailed as East City’s temporary leader.”

The future Gao Ming saw was slowly returning on track.

“Of the top ten players, other than the ones who have hidden themselves, the strongest is the tenth player. According to rumours, he was the investigation centre’s security team leader. However, he had a fallout with them and joined the players.” The boy shared the secret news with Gao Ming, “Some said that the tenth-placed player is not a singular person but a security team because their official name is Xin Lu Special Protection Unit One.”