Horror Game Designer

In the red graffiti, Xia Yang sat on the couch and looked back. In real life, Gao Ming stood beside the couch, facing the graffiti.

They looked at each other. The flowing red and twisted dark separated them. Xia Yang appeared to have become a part of the painting. He smiled like usual as his eyes moved from Gao Ming to his hands. The hands were drenched in blood. Each finger was the blood of a victim. Xia Yang closed his eyes and sucked on his fingers like he was remembering the flavour. He was inspired and turned to head upstairs.

“How did he do this?” Gao Ming knew that Dead Water obtained a special death portrait, but he had not seen it before. Gao Ming studied graffiti and noticed that it had some differences from real life. In the painting, the wall where the graffiti was painted in real life had some blurry paintings on it. Gao Ming wanted to take a closer look. The paintings became blurrier. He kept approaching like he was drawn to them. When he reacted, his surroundings were red. He was trapped inside the graffiti. He looked around and the living room was gone.

“There’s no presence of the shadow. Is this graffiti like my torture room, a space isolated from the real world and the shadow world?”

As this thought appeared in his mind, a drop of red paint fell on Gao Ming’s face. His skin slowly turned red.

“Xia Yang just went upstairs.” They had worked together for years, but Gao Ming only got to know the real Xia Yang at that moment. No one could see Xia Yang’s real heart. He treated everyone kindly because he looked down on everyone equally. He was never angry because, in his heart, humans were beneath him. Why would the garden owner be mad at his plants?

Gao Ming walked to the couch. He stepped on the red floor and studied the paintings hanging there. In the red living room, the three paintings stood out. They had different colours. It was like… the coloured Gao Ming in his own death portrait.

The first painting was of a handsome man and a pretty woman. They had the pretty bodies. However, they were missing their hands or legs, so the perfect symmetry was broken.

The second painting was an adult male with a baby’s face. He was in a fetal position, like he was inside his mother’s womb again.

The third painting was more complicated. An old man stood before death. He turned back and saw how the path was paved with younger versions of himself. In the first step, there was a newborn. It was death who placed the baby there.

“Can I bring these three paintings out with me?”

Gao Ming came to the second floor. He heard a pen scratching on paper. He stepped over the abandoned canvas and stopped before the main bedroom door.

Xia Yang was covered in blood. His heart was cut open. With a paintbrush in his hand, he dabbed on the blood from his heart. He painted a portrait of himself on the giant canvas.

“You’re here. I’ve been waiting so long for you.” Xia Yang didn’t turn around. He was fixated on his self-portrait.

“You know I’d come here?” Gao Ming asked. His path wasn’t obstructed. Even the door was open.

“Dead Water Forum was just built for 23 hours. Only four people knew the codes I wrote: myself, the manager, and two players killed by the horror. However, this morning, someone not only knew all the codes but also tried to probe the manager.” Xia Yang didn’t pause his work. “The dead can’t speak. The manager doesn’t even know all the codes. The strangest thing is the person managed to finish the system of codes for me. It’s like he has come from the future.”

When Gao Ming used the Dead Water forum, he forgot about that. He didn’t know when Dead Water was created.

“When I checked the chat log, I could guess that person was you.” Xia Yang said calmly, “The games you made became a reality. You really can see the future.”

“Since you discovered that, why did you go to the art centre to toss that drawing in the trash can? With your ability, you could have continued the pretence.” Gao Ming couldn’t read Xia Yang. This man was so crazy that his way of thinking was too strange.

“Because I’m curious about my own future too.” Xia Yang finished the last stroke. He turned around to reveal his almost-empty chest.

“The future is not unchangeable. I only saw one ending.” Gao Ming touched his heart. “You became the strongest player at Han Hai. Dead Water terrified even the investigation centre. Dead Water has a lot of influence. In the end, you collaborated with around 10 players to hunt me down and cut up my body.”

“Why would I kill you?” Xia Yang narrowed his eyes and smiled.

“I revealed the guides to the game. Originally, only you, Wei Dayou, and I were supposed to know them.” Gao Ming didn’t lie. It felt like he was chatting with a version of the future.

“You revealed the guides for the general good of the player. However, the players felt like you had hidden something from them because you had access to the guides earlier than them. That’s why they choose to hunt you down.” Xia Yang tossed the brush away. “Before I completed this painting, the brush was a part of me. However, after the painting is completed, even the indispensable could be abandoned.”

“You’re right, but I will not reveal the guides so easily this time.”

“In that case, will the future you saw not happen?” Xia Yang wasn’t afraid of death. He just wanted to chat with Gao Ming.

“Not necessary. Too many people want to kill me. Fate will push you to murder.” Gao Ming knew the pain behind that statement.

“Is that why you’re here? To kill me before I kill you?” Xia Yang’s smile was sunny and bright. “Do you plan to kill everyone who might kill you in the future? Even if they haven’t killed anyone? Is that justice?”

“Teacher Xia, I’m not here for justice. I’m here for the death portrait.” Gao Ming pressed on his heart. The blood gushed out and formed a chain. “I’ve saved the world ten thousand times, but I want to save myself this time.”

“I will not stop you from killing me. Death is inevitable. Living is a demand. Death is a blessing.” Xia Yang opened his arms as he stood before the self-portrait. “However, I don’t think you have the chance to kill me anymore.”

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