C52: Desperate Basement

[Continued from the last chapter...]

While playing the game, I bickered with Huang Donglai. Although it sounded like a quarrel, it was just our normal communication. The old viewers in the live broadcast room were well aware of this dynamic.

But today I am more interested in bickering rather than playing. You all know why. Slowly, I am trying to shift away from the immersion of this game.

I have to say, this made me feel a little better. But soon after I entered the dark, cramped basement, the relaxed feeling I had vanished. Previously, there hadn't been many dark scenes, but this basement was completely different.

It was pitch black, with only occasional light in some areas, making visibility almost zero. To see clearly, I had to rely on my handheld camera's night vision mode. I was mentally prepared for some scary scenes in the game, but at this moment, a sense of panic crept into my heart.

"What is this?" I exclaimed, staring at the refreshed task.

"Turn on the two air pumps and the main switch, and restart the generator! What is this?"

Despair grew within me. The oppressive darkness of the basement was bad enough. But now, in this confusing place where I couldn't see my fingers, I had to find the air pump and switch on the generator. Was this even something a human could do? I questioned internally as I started regretting my decision to play this horror game.

But what I said was like pouring out water. I couldn't take it back now. After all, unless I couldn't win, I wouldn't back down.

"A horse is a chicken, a horse is a chicken, there is nothing to be afraid of!" I encouraged myself, inching forward in the basement. (if this is confusing, I have added the explanation below for it)

Relying on my intuition, I headed left first. Not far in, I opened a door and spotted the air pump in the room. In the dark room, next to the gas pump switch, there was a row of cabinets.

"You can be lucky once in a while!" I thought, overjoyed at the sight of the air pump in front of me. One-third of my goal was now complete!

The same sentiment was echoed in the comments which were flooding the chat.

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'Brother Sun, what kind of luck is this?' ✌.ʕʘ‿ʘʔ.✌

'Haa we found one? I appreciate how Brother Sun breathes.' ☾ ♛ ◡ ♛ ☽

'Isn't this normal? There were arrows on the wall before, but Brother Sun didn't notice them.'

'Do you see the cabinet next to you? I feel like the fat fiend from a while ago will come out from there.'

'Probably not? How can the fat uncle be so small?'

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Following the discussion of the barrage, I also noticed the cabinet next to me.

"I'll turn on this air pump later, if there may be a monster. Is this cabinet for me to hide in?" I mused at the message in the chat.

I looked at the air pump switch in front of me and then at the cabinet next to it. After thinking about it, I decided to pull the switch. After all, there was no way to advance the game's progress without turning on the air pump.

With the dull sound of a crunch from the switch, I hurriedly hid in the cabinet beside me.

After about ten seconds or so, I heard the sound of knocking on the door from my earphones.

'Boom!'' Boom!'' Boom!'

"It's here" I mused,

After hitting it several times in a row, the cracking sound of the wooden plank filled the room, and dull footsteps began to sound, getting closer and closer.

As I hid in the cabinet, I didn't turn off the camera in my hand. I leaned back toward the chair and tightened the hat of my down jacket.

Then I saw through the camera that a psychopath walked in, wielding a wooden board similar to a mace.

In the night vision mode, the other party looked extremely ferocious and terrifying.

He paced back and forth in the room. Judging from his body shape, his movements had a very irregular twitching pattern, which gave me a strange feeling.

In the night vision mode, the wrinkled skin of the other party appeared a distorted pale white, and his pair of eyeballs glowed like two small light bulbs, looking very penetrating.

"It's a chicken, good bless, my wit~ fortunately, I hid in the cabinet ahead of time," I breathed a sigh of relief and praised myself.

But the next moment, my heart suddenly lifted because the monster in front of me started to check the cabinet.

The sound of someone pulling open the cabinet next to me came through the earphones, and I was so frightened that I didn't dare to come out.

Fortunately, this psychotic monster only checked two cabinets before leaving with a murmur.

"It's getting more and more dangerous," I thought, swallowing hard. My situation was very bad.

After waiting for ten seconds to make sure the other party wouldn't come back, I finally emerged from the cabinet.

In the dark environment, I noticed that right next to the air pump I opened, there was a door with an arrow on it. I opened it and looked inside, and sure enough, there was another air pump.

The only difference was that there was no cabinet for me to hide in this room.

"Fuck, what should I do now?" I panicked, glancing at the barrage.

But for a horror game that had just come out, the comments in the live broadcast room were not very helpful, offering unreliable suggestions. It was possible they knew what to do, but weren't saying it.

At that moment, my good brother Huang Donglai, sitting next to me, piped up with advice.

"Oh, brother Sun, isn't it easy?"

"Having a cabinet means there's something weird, but no weirdness without one, right?"

Brother Huang quotes it...

"And when you enter the door and turn on the air pump, why don't you close the door first? Isn't this strange that you can slam the door? Don't you have any mental preparation?" Huang Donglai said, listening to some happy music with headphones on his ears.

He wore headphones mainly because, well, he too is trembling. What a jerk! Acting as if nothing is happening... Of course, he couldn't hear the music in the game, and while he watched me play, he didn't look directly at the main screen but at the secondary screen in the live broadcast room where the barrage was displayed, so his fear was greatly reduced.

"Brother Huang, what you said seems to make sense." I thought about it for a moment, and it did seem logical.

Still, I felt that something was off, though I couldn't pinpoint what.

However, I didn't dwell on it too much; I was already in a crisis and decided to follow Huang Donglai's suggestion. After all, what he said made sense.

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If you are confused then,

The phrase "A horse is a chicken, a horse is a chicken, there is nothing to be afraid of!" might sound nonsensical at first, but it can be interpreted as a mental technique for reducing fear or anxiety by reframing or minimizing a threatening situation. In this case, by telling yourself that "a horse is a chicken" (implying that something big and potentially intimidating is actually small and harmless), you trick your mind into feeling less scared.

This kind of self-talk is similar to cognitive behavioral techniques used to manage fear or anxiety.

Courtesy - ChatGPT

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