Horror Game Designer

Stepping on the peaches and leaping over the overturned candlesticks, Gao Ming shoved away the guests as he raced towards the hidden room. His heart pounded. Anxiety gripped him like a pair of palpable hands.

"Isn't Elder Tang fighting with the butcher? What is this sense of threat?" The hidden room was so close that Gao Ming didn't feel like giving up. He bit his tongue and stepped into the room. It was a hidden room that everyone knew existed. It was the place where Elder Tang stored all his treasures.

"This doesn't feel right. Elder Tang represents the villager's greed. Did he purposely show everyone this hidden room to trigger the greed in his guests?" As this thought appeared in his head, Gao Ming felt a chill run up his spine. He turned to look down the room. On the largest wooden chair sat a luxurious birthday outfit. It was made from golden threads and decorated with jades and jewels. It was a celebratory outfit but it reeked of death. It felt like it had just been peeled off a dead body.

"I can't take too many things here. They are too suspicious." Gao Ming was greedy but he was not controlled by greed. The hidden room had many racks that were laden with treasures. The bookshelves were arranged with important books. There were boxes filled with talismans and paper money. Right underneath the big wooden chair was a wealth-gathering pot that was brimming with copper coins.

Before Gao Ming entered the town, he encountered a weasel. The weasel only took one coin from Gao Ming before it let him go. In other words, one coin could trade for one life. There was a whole basin in the room. "A casual grab can help one survive for multiple lifetimes in this town." His greed was evoked. Gao Ming felt his tongue go dry. However, he quickly turned away to look for the golden key.

"Coins! So many copper coins!" Another guest didn't have Gao Ming's self-control. As he entered the hidden room, he jumped at the basin. He reached his hands into the pile of coins. He removed his clothes to carry the coins. Some copper coins tumbled to the ground. The sound attracted the attention of the other guests. More people hurried towards the basin. They crazily snatched up the coins. However, the coins appeared to be bottomless… until one of them screamed.

"Don't steal my money! This is mine!" He covered his eyes as his skin cracked. After his eyes were blinded, copper coins fell out of his eye sockets. The bloody coins caused the other guests to lose control even more.

"Looks of greed." Gao Ming moved further away. He circled around the bookshelf. The ghost spirits that escaped from Zhang Mingli's sutra were looking through the copies. They were copying stuff. They appeared to be doing this to carry the book's contents back to Zhang Mingli. "Zhang Mingli is planning something." Gao Ming followed the spirits and realised they were gathered before a painting. The elder in the painting was majestic and impressive. He looked like an immortal who had surpassed the shackles of mortality. There was no greed in him. However, based on the title, this was Elder Tang's self-portrait. "I've searched everywhere but I can't find the key."

Gao Ming studied the painting when Elder Tang's third son ran in. His ears were severed and he only had one eye left. He paid a heavy price to cut off his ties with Elder Tang. "That undead requested the town's bone painter and soul sketcher to make this painting. He was very satisfied with the two masters' work. He was unwilling to have them work for the others so he turned the bone painter's bones into the frame, and the soul sketcher's soul was trapped inside the painting!"

"Help me! Stop searching for treasures! They are all fake! Help me!" The third son shouted. A few spirits bit at the painting. That caused the painted man to distort, but that was still far from the destruction of the painting.

"Inside the painting?" Gao Ming approached them silently. Just as everyone forgot about him, he took out the butcher's knife and stabbed it at the painting!

Elder Tang, who was fighting the butcher in the yard, screamed. As the knife moved, endless treasures poured out of the painting. Elder Tang's descendants rushed over to pick up the prizes. Gao Ming ignored those things and snatched up three keys. He didn't stay to study them but retreated instantly. He could already sense the murderous intent coming his way. He was the first to escape the hidden room and disappeared into the dark.

Bloodflowers bloomed on the paper window. A giant eyeball opened on the ceiling of the celebration hall. It looked around with fury. The eyeball didn't spot Gao Ming. Gao Ming rushed out of his hiding spot. The place was dark because all the lanterns were out. There were only scents of blood and decay in the air. Gao Ming didn't choose to escape. He darted towards where he believed the sideyard was.

The red flame burned through his veins. Gao Ming's speed was unimaginable in the nightmare. He didn't even realise that because he was fully focused on running.

"You overshot your goal, kid." Something stopped Gao Ming in the dark. The familiar bouquet of rouge and rot entered his nose. His body was dragged away. The wooden door closed. Gao Ming saw Chun Niang's gorgeous face. "Did you get the thing?"

From the way she treated him, it showed that her attitude towards Gao Ming had changed. Many men had given him promises, but Gao Ming was the only one who lived to satisfy them.

"I found three keys. It was too dangerous for me to study them closely."

"Well done!" Chun Niang could barely contain her joy. She wanted to laugh, but since she was still trapped in Elder Tang's home, she could only wiggle her body soundlessly.

"Now is not the time to celebrate. Elder Tang has sealed up the mansion. There is a giant mouth on the walls. How can we escape?" Gao Ming still remembered the youngest son who tried to escape.

"I have my way." Chun Niang took the golden key and handed the other two to Gao Ming, "Each of these keys represents a villager Elder Tang has imprisoned. You can trade these two keys for favours. They can help you survive in this town."