Horror Game Designer

"My blade! My blade! I've found it!" The giant snake's head was made up of different animals. It looked like a cow or a dog. It was covered in scales. The eyes were murky. "It's the Crazy Xi! Crazy Xi has accepted my present and taken my knife!"

The blocks of meat slid down the stone pillar. The moment they touched the ground, they turned into thick and strong legs. It wasn't San Geng yet, so Gao Ming couldn't see the butcher in complete form. He only saw a 'world' made from flesh and blood.

"Why would the Xi God steal our blade? There must be a misunderstanding." A sharp voice came from the mess of flesh. "We should examine this further. We just fought Elder Tang. We cannot…" Before the sharp voice could finish, the pair of legs made from the broken flesh charged at the wedding procession. The giant tail of the snake dragged out a long blood trail.

"Die! Die! I will peel off your skin and cut your souls that are dirtier than that of animals into pieces!"

"Calm down!"

"Die!"

The heavy blade materialised in the hand that was formed from broken animals. The blade swung. The Minor Xi God who held the gong was smashed into paste!

The butcher's attack was more direct and brutal than a slash.

Gao Ming couldn't see the Xi God originally, but the moment the butcher's blade fell, he saw a ball of candlelight exploding on the dim street. Many red threads burst out of it.

The Minor Xi God died, but the red threads didn't disperse. Some of them crawled into the ground, some got stuck to the butcher, and others slithered towards the other Minor Xi Gods.

"The auspicious hour is upon us! Those who stand in our way will die!" Bai Feng rode on a white paper horse. She was imposing like she had been possessed by the Xi God.

The Minor Xi Gods didn't know Gao Ming had absorbed the Xi God's presence on Bai Feng. Bai Feng stoked the flames. Her goal was to encourage the butcher and the Minor Xi Gods to murder each other.

The Minor Xi Gods were not scared even after one of them had been killed. In fact, they smiled brighter, as if there was something interesting. They opened their arms and smiled. The area covered by the red lines belonged to the Xi God.

"Fate has chosen this blessing." The divine crane made from black hair flew by. The human head gourd cried. The red robes of the Minor Xi Gods burned. The joyful aura morphed into needles and drilled into the butcher's body. A figurine appeared among the mess of flesh. It was kind and charitable. People had the urge to prostrate before the figurine to receive its blessing.

"Charity and freedom. Boundless wisdom. Great mercy and great wishes."

As the Minor Xi Gods chanted, the figurine started to take over the butcher's body. Gao Ming hadn't seen this technique before. It was extremely weird.

"They are consuming each other! Is this how Immortal Pharma's modification came to be?" Gao Ming's eyes were filled with shock. As the butcher screamed, the presence of the Xi God intensified. A possibility entered his mind. Gao Ming grabbed the man's head. "You were lying to me! Immortal Pharma didn't build Dream Break Town for the brain realm game! They wanted to use the nightmares to create Gods! All the testers are nutrients to create Gods!"

The man didn't deny it. His voice became coarse, "I didn't lie to you. The initial reason I built Dream Break Town was really to create the second Perfect Life. Then, I was trapped inside the cellar." The man's eyes became coloured with complications. "I was used too. They were not interested in Perfect Life, but they were very interested in the Unmentionable's power." After a temporary silence, the man shared another secret, "The thirteen modifications represent not only the thirteen ways to get stronger in the nightmare but also the thirteen entities that are most likely to become Unmentionables. Immortal Pharma and the higher-ups at Xin Lu took out half their resources to push this project."

"Half? Where is the other half?" Gao Ming raised his brow. He wanted to get to know Immortal Pharma's trump cards.

"Do you want to get your hands on them? Are you crazy?" The man had already treated Gao Ming as crazy. "The other resource has been channelled into another project. The confidentiality and importance of that project is higher than Dream Break Town."

"The other project?"

"I know you're curious, but I don't know anything about it… except the name. It's called Han Hai." The man waited for a long time, but there was no reply. He looked up with difficulty and realised how awkward Gao Ming looked. "What's wrong?"

"Han Hai! I remember Han Hai!" Intense pain gripped his heart. It felt like endless souls clutching Gao Ming's heart. At that moment, Gao Ming floated above a black sea. The corpses in the sea waited for him to save them. He was the only one who managed to escape.

"The lightless city is called Han Hai!"

Shackles snapped in his chest. He was closer to his missing memory.

"So you knew about it. Can't you not scare me like that?" The man noticed Gao Ming's anomalous behaviour, but he didn't point it out. He knew the merits of playing dumb, "It was the saviour who left behind the Han Hai Project. It became the most confidential project later on. If you can bring my consciousness out, I can guide you."

"Then, I have one more reason to save you." Gao Ming raised his head. The redness in his eyes couldn't be hidden. He hadn't slept for days. He looked scary.

"Of course. We need to help each other," The man tried to calm him down.

Outside the sedan, new animal heads grew out of the butcher's body. He couldn't escape from joy. To attack the Xi God, he started to self-mutilate. He used the most direct pain to wear down joy. The flesh was dug out along with the red lines. The butcher's maddening laugh echoed through the night, "Do you think you can take over my body?"

The Minor Xi Gods trembled and laughed. They danced and cheered. They welcomed the end of the world with happiness.

"There's no one normal in this town." Gao Ming placed the butcher's knife and the decorations inside the sedan back in Chun Niang's clothes.

"You're so right." The man took a good long look at Gao Ming.

"We're leaving." Gao Ming tied the man closer to him. He grabbed the door and tried to remember the layout of the town.