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    Chapter 57: Maybe I’m Not Human, But You’re a Real Dog [Subscription Requested]

    2024-07-17 Author: Bulufen Warrior

    Chapter 57: Maybe I’m Not Human, But You’re a Real Dog [Subscription Requested]

    ‘What the…!!!’

    ‘Holy crap! My goosebumps are standing on end!’

    ‘Damn, this is too freaking terrifying! Even the live stream audio is surround sound!’

    ‘Feels like he’s breathing right next to my ear.’

    ‘Directly scared Piao Teacher off the air hahahahahaha’

    ‘I can confirm, this isn’t Piao Teacher’s fault, I, as a viewer, jumped in fright.’

    ‘Grass, this game is really scary’

    ‘The most important thing is, until now, Pig hasn’t seen a ghost!’

    ‘I wonder what the ghost will look like when it appears.’

    ‘I’m truly shocked…’

    ‘Is Shengzi Ge just bored and playing mind games with people every day?’

    ‘Click to check the mental state of a game designer.’

    ‘…’

    The comments section was abuzz with discussion!

    It was clear that this kind of terrifying presentation, where you could sense but not see ghosts, went far beyond what players of this era understood about horror games!

    Combined with the no-weapon setting, this brought a brand new kind of horror game experience, one based on psychological fear, to life!

    Although in Gu Sheng’s past life, this game’s terror level wasn’t particularly outstanding.

    But remember.

    In this world, Gu Sheng put it on the Sensory Pod!

    He also invested nearly two million in a comprehensive upgrade!

    It’s not an exaggeration to say that Terror Phobia’s emergence was a dimensional strike against the once-dominant Jumpscare games!

    What truly constitutes terror?

    The real source of fear isn’t displaying ghosts right in front of you.

    Because the expressiveness of graphics has its limits.

    But human imagination doesn’t!

    Clearly, Gu Sheng grasped this point, laying out all the hints within the levels, leaving players to fill in the blanks!

    And when fear reaches its peak!

    A little push is all it takes to create the most terrifying experience imaginable!

    Like the breath blown into bdd’s ear!

    Seeing the power of this new game, the viewers, always eager for excitement, spread the word like wildfire on the live stream platform!

    “What? A horror game?”

    Looking at the barrage of comments about Terror Phobia, A Yin scoffed:

    “Nah, I’m good. No interest.”

    He pointed at himself, his mouth twisted into a smirk:

    “Long-time viewers know, I’m known as…”

    “Yin the Brave!”

    “Back then, all the horror games on the market, go ask around, which one haven’t I played!”

    “And you know what? Once people mentioned my name, Yin the Brave, demons and spirits would scurry away!”

    A Yin’s words were a bit boastful.

    But it’s undeniable that back when Sensory Pod horror games were booming, he had indeed played quite a few.

    Maybe at first it felt scary.

    But as time went on and the game progressed, his weapons got better, and that fear gradually dissipated.

    And with the rise of homogenous Jumpscare games.

    Eventually, A Yin became immune to them.

    They were all the same anyway, no difference.

    He even felt a bit repelled by them because of the homogenization.

    He immediately waved his hand in refusal: “My Yunwei Sensory Pod is being repaired. All I have at home is an Art Joy, which supports few games, can’t play it.”

    But it was better he hadn’t said that.

    The moment he spoke, the live stream went wild!

    ‘What a coincidence!’

    ‘You’re just begging for trouble!’

    ‘Yin the Brave! Your moment of truth is here!’

    ‘Guess what? This game is from Art Joy!’

    ‘Hahahahahaha, the Boss got completely flipped over…’

    ‘It’s from Golden Wind! Quality guaranteed!’

    ‘New concept horror game, you won’t regret it (or you’ll regret it deeply)’

    ‘Did all these brothers come from Pig’s live stream?’

    ‘Hahaha, directly scared Piao Teacher off the air, got another person to torture.’

    ‘The monkey is also really unlucky…’

    Seeing the viewers in the live stream going crazy recommending it, A Yin, who was about to refuse outright, couldn’t help but hesitate.

    What kind of game was this? Worth the viewers’ insane recommendations?

    And they looked like they were up to something too.

    “Golden Wind? They’re making Sensory Pod games now?”

    A Yin couldn’t help but chuckle:

    “And a horror game? That’s a pretty big leap in genre!”

    In A Yin’s mind, Golden Wind was just a boutique game developer.

    Champion of creative antics, king of abstract, source of inspiration.

    He never expected that Golden Wind, who had been quiet for three months, would be working on Sensory Pod games.

    And a horror game at that!

    It had been ages since he’d seen a Sensory Pod horror game!

    “Seriously? Is it that scary?”

    A Yin expressed his doubt, but his body involuntarily stood up.

    He was a huge fan of Golden Wind.

    After all, three of their games were out there, and whether it was quality or gameplay, they were each unique, if not groundbreaking.

    Even just for the sake of Vampire Survivor, A Yin couldn’t help but want to try it.

    He said one thing but did another.

    A Yin pulled out the Art Joy X1, a girly pink color.

    “Nanna uses it for watching movies and browsing e-commerce,”

    Facing the barrage of ‘You’re so saucy’ comments, A Yin couldn’t help but explain with a laugh:

    “I’ve been using Yunwei before, a big guy like me can’t use such a girly color, right!”

    While waiting for the Sensory Pod to automatically match the live stream, A Yin also logged into the Arts and Entertainment Platform to check out Terror Phobia’s description.

    The abstract trailer naturally made him laugh:

    “I told you, Golden Wind couldn’t possibly make a regular horror game,”

    “This game seems kind of interesting, it’s also multiplayer, I’ll get some teammates later.”

    Reputation matters.

    It didn’t take long for A Yin, using the Golden Wind name, to recruit his team.

    These were all hardcore Vampire Survivor enthusiasts.

    First, the MLM king Tree Brother.

    Then, the Great Zhou Empress Shi Liu Liu.

    Finally, the ‘God’ of mini-games, Sturdy Prince.

    Plus A Yin himself.

    As the sound of the pickup truck echoed simultaneously across their four live streams, a powerful united ghost-hunting operation in the gaming community officially commenced!

    Actually, originally, their first mission in the game should have been the same as bdd’s, going through the tutorial chapter.

    But who is A Yin!

    In his own words: Yin the Brave is a seasoned veteran, do I need a game tutorial?

    So, he immediately chose a medium-difficulty map.

    As for the others, they were all veteran game streamers, who hadn’t played a few horror games? They didn’t pay it much mind.

    So!

    The four of them, without any mental preparation, opened the car door.

    Sshhh—

    As the pickup truck’s tailgate opened.

    They were greeted by a dilapidated school, standing alone on the barren land.

    A desolate night wind blew, tossing a small worn rubber ball across the tiny dirt playground, striking the rusted low fence with a thud.

    At the entrance, a dim yellow bulb swayed in the wind, faintly illuminating the rusty school sign:

    Sunshine Elementary School

    An intermediate difficulty map that Gu Sheng added.

    Wooo—

    The night wind swept, whistling through the rusty iron bars, emitting a mournful howl.

    The teaching building, not very large, had two floors. Judging by the architectural style, it looked like it was built in the 70s or 80s.

    It was dilapidated and gloomy.

    A Yin looked at the others.

    There were those holding cameras, those holding photo cameras, those holding laptops, and those holding thermometers in one hand and an EMF in the other.

    But none of them were combat-ready.

    He couldn’t help but swallow: “… Maybe we should go back and try the tutorial first? Why don’t we have weapons?”

    Something’s not right.

    Where’s my gun?

    How am I supposed to fight ghosts without a gun, how am I supposed to biabiabia?

    However, Sturdy’s words directly cut off his desire to turn back:

    “Report to Captain Yin, the comments say this game doesn’t have guns!”

    “What the…”

    Hearing this, A Yin wasn’t looking good:

    “Then what do we do when we encounter a ghost?”

    “Uh…”

    Sturdy hesitated for a second and replied:

    “I don’t know, the comments say Liu Ge was scared off before he even encountered a ghost.”

    Holy crap…

    A Yin secretly grinned.

    Is it really that exaggerated, scared off before even seeing a ghost?

    For a moment, the seasoned Yin the Brave couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.

    But then he thought again.

    This was a multiplayer game, he didn’t have weapons, but he had three teammates!

    The horror level shouldn’t be too high, right?

    Besides, he was Yin the Brave of Tianjin! The leader of this investigation team! The main tank of the team!

    “Ahem!”

    A Yin waved his hand:

    “It’s alright! No weapons, no weapons! It won’t affect our work!”

    “Besides, we have four people! Strength in numbers! Are we afraid of a mere ghost?!”

    Then A Yin assigned the tasks:

    “Sturdy and Liu Liu are responsible for searching the first floor, Tree Brother and I are responsible for the second floor.”

    “The ghost’s name is Xiaoxiong, investigations show he’s in the teaching building, we have two minutes of safe time, keep in touch.”

    A Yin raised his walkie-talkie.

    Yes —

    Everyone nodded in agreement, A Yin led the way, pushing open the gate with a creak.

    Arriving at the door of the teaching building, they pushed it open and entered.

    As soon as they entered, they felt a chill run down their spines!

    Especially A Yin.

    He had played so many horror games.

    Most developers would choose natural sounds for background audio, at most adding some eerie music and sound effects.

    He had never encountered such empty low-frequency sound effects like those in Terror Phobia.

    This sound made him feel like he was standing in a pitch-black cave, alone and helpless, making his heart race with anxiety.

    And this anxiety became even more pronounced when he reached the second floor!

    The wide corridor was pitch black.

    The sound of shattered glass underfoot was clear as they walked.

    A Yin and Tree Brother, one holding an EMF detector for ghost detection and a walkie-talkie, the other holding a camera, slowly crept towards the end of the corridor like ghosts entering a village.

    On either side, the mottled and peeling iron doors were either open or closed, a dilapidated scene.

    “This place is freaking old…”

    A Yin spoke, his voice echoing down the corridor.

    “Yeah, like a horror movie,” Tree Brother nodded: “Such a big place, how do we know where the ghost is hiding?”

    “The comments say it’s possible to summon him by calling his name, I’ll try it,”

    A Yin said, with a deep breath:

    “Xiaoxiong? Xiaoxiong… It’s Teacher Yin! Where are you? If you’re here, answer me, I haven’t left your homework for today!”

    “Xiaoxiong? Xiaoxiong, where are you? Teacher Yin brought you your test papers!”

    Hearing A Yin’s summons, the comments section was a chorus of sweat drops:

    ‘Damn! You’re the devil! Chasing a kid to do his homework?’

    ‘Hahahahahaha, are you even human?’

    ‘I think I understand why Xiaoxiong can’t rest in peace’

    ‘Xiaoxiong: Maybe I’m not human, but you’re a real dog’

    ‘Boss, be careful, the medium difficulty has only two minutes of safe time, once it’s up, the ghost can hunt.’

    ‘Xiaoxiong: I can’t even wait a minute.’

    ‘Xiaoxiong’s probably having a stroke right now.’

    ‘How infuriating…’

    Seeing A Yin’s absurd ghost summoning method, Tree Brother couldn’t help but laugh:

    “You’re more scary than a ghost, maybe I shouldn’t take ghost pictures, I’ll just take a picture of you…”

    As he spoke, Tree Brother actually raised his camera and took a picture of A Yin with a click.

    A Yin cooperated and gave Tree Brother a thumbs up.

    Zzzzt—

    The Polaroid quickly developed the photo, Tree Brother pulled it out and flicked it in the air.

    “Alright, I’ll use this photo as a talisman,”

    Tree Brother joked as he held the photo up to look at it:

    “With Teacher Yin’s presence, they’ll be subdued on the spot…”

    “Huh?”

    Hearing Tree Brother suddenly stop speaking, A Yin felt curious and turned to look:

    “What’s wrong?”

    At this moment, Tree Brother had stopped walking, standing there in a daze.

    He looked at the photo in his hand, seeming to tremble a little.

    A Yin thought he was glitching: “A Cui, what’s wrong, A Cui, are you glitching? Why are you shaking?”

    “… I’m not glitching,”

    After a moment of silence, Tree Brother raised his head:

    “It’s not the game character that’s shaking, it’s my hand, I can’t control it…”

    “What do you mean? Do you have Parkinson’s?” A Yin was confused.

    Tree Brother didn’t say anything, he just handed the photo over, asking A Yin to take a look.

    A Yin took the photo with suspicion, using the flashlight to examine it.

    He saw that he was in the photo, his expression a bit stiff, his two fingers stretched out awkwardly.

    Because of the flash, his face appeared extremely pale in the photo, almost bloodless.

    But.

    Compared to the face next to him, which was almost the same color as white paper, it was a little pale.

    Looking at the photo, A Yin felt his scalp tingle!!!

    That’s right!

    In this photo, right on his shoulder, was another ghastly white face!

    It was clearly the face of a young boy, with no eyebrows, his two eyes pitch black, like someone had gouged out his eyeballs, hollow and empty.

    At the moment the photo was taken, his mouth was stretched open at an unbelievable angle, as if screaming in terror.

    The boy’s two blue arms were wrapped around his shoulders.

    It looked like the boy was on his back when the picture was taken!

    A Yin felt like his hair was standing on end!!!

    The next second, a scream suddenly echoed through the empty corridor!

    “Holy crap! There’s a ghost on my shoulder—!!!”

    A Yin flinched, jumping up on the spot!

    And as he yelled!

    The EMF detector in his hand immediately sounded an alarm!

    Beep—!!!

    A piercing alarm sounded down the corridor, the EMF detector’s ghost readings instantly maxed out!

    Then!

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

    The broken wooden doors of the classrooms slammed shut as if they were being pushed hard!

    A Yin and Tree Brother’s flashlights also began to flicker as if they were about to die!

    The two of them were about to have a heart attack!

    Because in the flickering light, they clearly saw the little boy from the photo, now standing at the end of the corridor!

    And in the frantic flashing of the flashlight, the little boy opened his mouth and let out a wild cat’s dying scream!

    But!

    The next second, the ghost’s scream was drowned out by A Yin and Tree Brother’s voices—

    “Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh—!!!”

    “Damn! Captain Yin! Captain Yin, he’s coming!!!”

    “I’m not blind! What do we do now!!!”

    “Run! Damn! Run!”

    “Holy crap, why is the fire door still closed!”

    “Hey—Hey hey hey! Let’s talk, young man, let’s talk! It’s Teacher Yin’s homework, the right person will pay the price!”

    “I… You bastard, A Cui! I’m not finished with you, aaaaaahhhh…”

    No door kill!

    No corner kill!

    No Jumpscare that they were accustomed to!

    But!

    It was a hundred times more terrifying than a fleeting Jumpscare!

    Because in the last flicker of the flashlight before the bulb exploded!

    A Yin saw clearly that Xiaoxiong’s face was right in front of him!

    The EMF alarm, the flickering light bulb’s ticking, their terrified screams rang out simultaneously, making the viewers in the live stream feel a wave of scalp tingling terror!

    A pair of ghostly white hands reached out from behind A Yin, slowly covering his terrified eyes.

    The distinct sound of bone snapping was clearly audible in the live stream.

    Then, the sound of a light bulb exploding came.

    Bang!

    The live stream was instantly silent.

    (End of Chapter)

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