Chapter 19 What a great psychological shock this has been to the innocent me!

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"Manager Gou has lost his mind?"

Gao Ming was somewhat puzzled. Since 5:41 PM, Manager Gou had been calling him non-stop, but his attention was entirely focused on Xuan Wen.

"The number of people who have downloaded and tried the game has already exceeded a thousand. Do you feel anything abnormal?" Gao Ming didn't have a workstation, so he moved a cardboard box next to Xuan Wen and watched her nervously.

"There are vague, noisy voices in my head," Xuan Wen said, looking down at her hands, which she had held in the same position for a long time.

"Voices?" Gao Ming noted down all of Xuan Wen's various "symptoms": "Can you hear what they're saying?"

"Not clearly. However, those voices contain various emotions. They make my consciousness more independent and complete," Xuan Wen grasped the chair's armrests tightly: "From the moment I opened my eyes, black shadows that only I can see constantly try to drag me back to the original world, as if trying to correct my fate. These voices from the players seem like threads, linking me more tightly to the real world, making me less susceptible to the influence of the black shadows."

"The information provided by the Investigation Bureau states that in spooky tales, ghosts can grow step by step by preying on negative emotions and unease until they completely lose control," Gao Ming watched Xuan Wen intently. "Do you feel like you're losing control now?"

"Being affected by so many voices, I'm bound to feel irritable, like when a person with schizophrenia first experiences auditory hallucinations. But I think I can adapt." Xuan Wen lifted her head, her left eye filled with bloodshot, and even more terrifying were those blood vessels that seemed to want to crawl out of her eye socket and spread to her left face.

"Sister, your face doesn't look like simple irritation!" Gao Ming picked up a sleep mask from the drawer and handed it over.

"Call me sister again, and I really will lose control," Xuan Wen took out a mirror from her bag. After examining her face, she put on the mask and pulled Gao Ming with her as they walked out of the office.

"Why not go home and hide?"

"No need," Xuan Wen walked out of the office and stopped at the storeroom door: "If we let the spooky tales dominate and occupy a thousand living people in reality, disaster will surely break out. I, as the core of the spooky tale incident, will lose sanity for sure, and those thousand living people will fall into terror and despair. The current situation is just right."

Xuan Wen's voice was very low, every word seemed to seep out from between her teeth: "The game based on us is like my shrine, and the wedding dress photo in the game is like my idol. Through this method, I can also draw a small amount of emotions and unease from the players, and they will not fall into a real predicament."

"That's right," Gao Ming nodded.

"I can feel myself slowly breaking free from the influence of the Shadow World," Xuan Wen opened the storeroom door: "Let's complete the full version of the game tonight, even if it means taking out loans to let more people play!"

"Hearing this from you… feels weird," Gao Ming remembered the psychopathic serial killer from before in his mind, who had taken down eight heroines in three days, extremely cunning, full of danger; but in reality, the psychopathic serial killer got up early at 5 AM to take a taxi to work and would rather take out loans than let the company's hard work go to waste.

"You keep working; after I rest a bit, I'll come help," Xuan Wen closed the storeroom door, leaving Gao Ming alone at the doorstep.

"Xuan Wen is smart, but as a concerned party, she's confused. Now that it's confirmed ordinary games can also collect emotions for spooky tales, I can totally exploit spooky tales to make money, and then spend money to serve the Monster I own," Gao Ming opened his backpack, his eyes slightly narrowed: "I should collect more black and white photos like Zhao Xi's."

The end of the world is coming, why stick to the old rules?

Gao Ming returned to the office and began searching for Hanhai's infamous haunted houses. Just then, Wei Dayou came over mysteriously with Rich: "Is there something going on between you two?"

His eyebrows shot up in a I've-already-seen-through-it-all expression.

Gao Ming's expression was just like Rich's, full of helplessness and speechlessness: "There is something, but not what you think."

"I knew it!"

"You don't know shit!" Gao Ming continued browsing the haunted houses, the two not on the same wavelength.

"I saw you come out alone. Did you two have a fight?" Wei Dayou patted Gao Ming's shoulder: "Bro, I've ordered two cups of milk tea for you. Go apologize later; don't let the young lady suffer alone. She looked like she was crying with her eyes covered."

"Whatever you say," Gao Ming brushed off Wei Dayou and compared Hanhai's haunted houses with the games he had developed, planning his future moves.

About half an hour later, the milk tea ordered by Wei Dayou arrived, and Gao Ming reluctantly left the office. As he looked up, he saw a familiar face.

"Su Mo?"

The delivery man who had once brought Gao Ming braised chicken rice stood at the door with milk tea. When he saw Gao Ming, he instinctively stepped back.

"I changed districts and still bump into you?"

"Maybe that's fate," Gao Ming took the two cups of milk tea, didn't return to the office, but walked alone to the storeroom in the corner.

Su Mo was about to leave, but he faintly heard a woman's painful and repressed voice coming from the storeroom.

The sense of justice in his heart prevented this college student from leaving immediately. He hesitated for a while, then quietly approached the storeroom.

Gao Ming closed the storeroom door, only to find that Xuan Wen's condition seemed to have become more severe. Her left face was somewhat distorted, and her fingers had scratched multiple bloody marks: "Are you okay?"

"The voices are getting louder!" Xuan Wen's gaze was terrifying, and her voice was choppy: "I don't even know what I could do."

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"Maybe you should go home first?"

"No, I might tear myself apart on the way." Xuan Wen's voice had changed, carrying a strange and eerie unfamiliarity, chilling to the bone.

"But you can't lose control at the company either, they're making your game." Gao Ming raised the milk tea in his hand, "They even bought you milk tea, you can't just turn around and go all stabby on them!"

"Go find some rope and tie up my hands and feet." Xuan Wen's expression was somewhat pained.

"Are you sure? Won't that make you feel worse?"

"No."

"Where should I tie you up?"

"The table? The bookcase? The radiator? Anywhere is fine!" Xuan Wen struggled to turn on her phone, "We'll record the whole mutation process. I need to know my condition. We can watch it together or study it slowly at work tomorrow."

"Alright." Gao Ming was in a state of high alert; he turned around and faintly heard footsteps outside the door.

He made a silent gesture and quietly grabbed the doorknob.

...

Su Mo always felt that Gao Ming was not a good person. He tiptoed to the storeroom door and listened intently.

"Go find some rope and tie up my hands and feet..."

Just one sentence changed the complexion of Su Mo, an expectant college student in the workplace: "Tie up??"

He held his breath, and new sounds came from the storeroom— "Where should I tie you up?"

"The table? The bookcase? The radiator? Anywhere is fine!"

Just by listening, Su Mo felt his face flush. Was this really a topic for workplace discussion?

"We'll record the whole process. I need to know my condition. We can watch it together or study it slowly tomorrow at work."

"Record the entire process? Watch it together tomorrow?!" Su Mo gasped, and the thought of them even planning to study it leisurely during work hours! The words had a huge psychological impact on a pure-minded college student!

His ears burning, Su Mo stepped back, and at that moment, the door opened, and he and Gao Ming inside the room locked eyes once again.

"What did you hear?"

Being stared at by Gao Ming, Su Mo's hairs stood on end. The man in front of him was not only cursed but also a pervert with special fetishes. Too scary!

...

Hanhai East District, Queen Sixteenth Street, L&S Private Hospital third floor.

Wiping the blood from his fingertips, a tall middle-aged man slowly got up. He stepped over the body and sat down in the main seat.

"Chairman Situ, the paperwork has come through." The young doctor with glasses seemed accustomed to the sight, "Congratulations on becoming the acting director of the Hanhai Investigation Bureau's East District Sub-bureau."

"Just acting?" The middle-aged man looked at the doctor indifferently, his voice betraying no emotion.

"There's basically no competition for you." The doctor hesitated but still asked, "However, I'm curious, why would you go to such lengths to secure a position everyone else shuns?"

"Doctor Lu, that seems to have nothing to do with you." The light in the hall shone on the table in front of the middle-aged man, yet he himself remained hidden in the shadows, "Did you bring the people I asked for?"

"Seven in total, all investigators who have experienced third-level Abnormal Events. They'll explain to you in detail how to survive an Abnormal Event." The doctor placed the documents in front of the man. Of the seven investigators, three had physical disabilities, and one was disfigured.

"No need for explanations. Have them enter the Ghost Building in the East District with me at midnight tonight, and stay in the house of the family that worships the Flesh Immortal."

"That... doesn't follow protocol, does it? They belong to other sub-bureaus." The doctor was troubled.

"Rules are made to be followed, and soon you'll all be following new rules."

The middle-aged man slowly stood up, and pushed the chair that had been hidden in the shadows into the light.