Deceitful Game

Ai Shiping opened his eyes wide and held his breath.

The instant he opened his eyes, he saw a charred corpse grabbing him from the billowing smoke, letting out a terrifying laugh... In that instant, Ai Shiping didn't even scream or tremble.

Because his mind went blank, he didn't even realize what he was seeing.

Immediately afterwards, his other arm was grabbed by another charred corpse, and his right leg was as if it were being hugged by a child.

"Please don't go."

"Don't go!"

"Stay with us."

Their voices rang out in a chorus.

It was as if he was trying to please her; he wasn't fierce at all, and was even somewhat gentle.

But... I can't move.

The body they were holding was completely immobile.

It's like being stuck. Or like being in a state of extreme fear, where the body won't obey your commands... It's like "sleep paralysis." You keep issuing commands to move, but you just can't move an inch.

Ai Shiping could only move his left leg—but just as he was about to lift his leg and kick the person away like Mingpo did, his right leg became so numb that he could not stand on his own and he was forced to put his left leg down again.

In the billowing smoke, amidst the rising temperature… Ai Shiping, tightly restrained, coughed violently, his vision blurring. The temperature was too high; he couldn't open his eyes. Even breathing felt excruciating. Each scalding breath felt like a knife stabbing into his lungs.

Never before had he felt death more clearly than he does now.

"You're really useless, you fox."

Mingpo's voice faintly echoed from the void: "But the mission as bait..."

"It was done quite well."

The next moment, the three charred corpses in front of him suddenly shattered one by one as if violently interfered with.

In a daze, Ai Shiping felt the world around him suddenly darken.

His skin, which had been scorched by the heat, suddenly came into contact with the cool air at room temperature—so cold it even hurt. His numb limbs gradually began to regain their mobility.

Ai Shiping's vision was still blurry... the billowing smoke stung his eyes and brought tears to his eyes. He subconsciously rubbed his arm, feeling how hot it was, as if he had just been warming himself by a fire.

"...Hey, you're still here."

Overjoyed, Ai Shiping quickly rubbed his eyes, and his vision gradually became clear.

He is still in this room.

Nothing has changed here.

Just like when he first came in.

It was pitch black and spotless, clean and tidy, with no signs of use whatsoever.

It was only then that Ai Shiping realized... he was still in this room.

"...I thought I'd lost you."

Ai Shiping subconsciously complained, "I didn't see you when I turned around..."

At that moment, his phone was suddenly snatched away by Mingpo.

This made Ai Shiping's heart tighten—for a moment he wondered if this Mingpo was also fake.

Fortunately, Mingpo returned the phone to him.

"How could our clever fox not notice such a detail?"

Mingpo said sarcastically, "Look how hot your phone is!"

Ai Shiping paused for a moment.

Only then did he realize the problem that he had subconsciously ignored.

His phone did not get hot.

Assuming his phone is a normal phone, and not some kind of magical artifact or supernatural object... then there are actually strict requirements for the environment in which the phone is used.

If the surrounding air was so hot he couldn't open his eyes, even the residual heat on his skin would feel like it was burning his hand...

That phone should have popped up a high temperature warning long ago, or even restarted or shut down!

Live streaming is very demanding on performance, and a phone's heat dissipation requires heat exchange with the surrounding environment. If the ambient air temperature is much higher than the phone's temperature, the heat accumulated in the phone will be difficult to dissipate, and the processor temperature will quickly become very high, far exceeding human body temperature.

Therefore, in the African summer, it is impossible to use a mobile phone in many places where the sun is shining directly outdoors.

But for modern people in temperate zones, holding a phone has almost become an instinct. When holding a phone, they don't even feel it; it's as if it's an extension of their hand, so naturally they don't find it strange that "the phone and hand are roughly the same temperature." "I've been following you all along."

Before Ai Shiping could say anything more, Mingpo sneered, "I saw you turning around dishonestly."

"But I..."

"Because I guessed you would definitely turn back before you went in."

Mingpo replied, "So I stood to your left before you turned around."

"...Concealing...Concealing Shadow Step?"

"Just a simple prediction."

Mingpo looked towards the bathroom: "I hid inside after I came in and took pictures of you from there."

Ai Shiping was somewhat confused: "But I didn't hear your footsteps at all... nor did I see you..."

That's because you don't want to hear it or see it.

What do you mean I don't want to hear this...?

Ai Shiping wanted to complain, but he stopped himself.

Because at this moment, he was more concerned about something else.

"You mean... you caught it?"

Ai Shiping asked, somewhat puzzled, "But..."

...I haven't seen you kill any monsters, have I?

"It was indeed caught."

Mingpo smiled and patted Ai Shiping on the shoulder: "You've done a great job."

"That is..."

Although he didn't know what merit he had made, Ai Shiping reflexively puffed out his chest and entered a self-aggrandizing mode.

"There's one last thing I need to confirm."

As Mingpo spoke, she held out her hand: "Let me see the universal room key you got."

"...Oh right, I also have a room key."

Ai Shiping muttered, taking the room key from his pocket and handing it to Mingpo: "But it's completely useless..."

"...Hmph, just as I expected."

Mingpo glanced down, sneered, and casually tossed the room key on the ground.

Ai Shiping was stunned: "Huh? Hey, you..."

Just as he was about to bend down to pick it up, he saw Mingpo step on the room key.

"No need to pick it up anymore, there's nothing here."

As Mingpo spoke, she lifted her foot.

Turns out there really was nothing there.

It was as if Mingpo was standing on air.

The room key that Ai Shiping had just handed to Mingpo has vanished into thin air!

"...Could it be that...?"

"That's the one that's difficult to understand."

Mingpo's lips curled up slightly, revealing a relaxed smile: "As expected..."

There is no such thing as an "alternate dimension" or an "inner world" here.

"From the very beginning, you and I have been in the same space. We have never been apart."

This experiment was very valuable.

When Ai Shiping turned around and didn't see Mingpo, it was as if Mingpo had disappeared from his sight.

This time, Mingpo made no attempt to conceal his presence throughout.

But Ai Shiping seemed not to hear the footsteps.

Mingpo even closed the door behind him when he entered the house. Ai Shiping didn't hear him close the door at all.

He brushed past Ai Shiping and went into the restroom... Ai Shiping acted as if he hadn't seen him at all.

Ai Shiping seemed to suddenly hear the door being closed, and he turned around abruptly, trying to escape—this startled Mingpo, who quickly followed behind.

But just like a door that was locked and couldn't be opened, Ai Shiping couldn't open it no matter what he did.

But Mingpo was certain that she hadn't locked the door—so when Ai Shiping turned around to open the window, Mingpo tried opening the door again and found that it could be opened.

Then, he saw Ai Shiping suddenly freeze in mid-air, his skin turning red at a visible speed...

Mingpo understood everything.

He began slowly, “Let’s start from the beginning. At first, we were separated… because you and I had both played Silent Hill.” Because they had both played horror games like Silent Hill and Corpse Party, they knew that in horror games, “separation” could very well mean that they were scattered into different spaces.

They were afraid this would happen—and then it actually happened.

But in fact, they were in the same space from the very beginning.

We've never been apart.

However, Mingpo also experienced hallucinations back then.

Because he was afraid that "Ai Shiping would disappear after going in" and "Ai Shiping would enter the inner world alone," Ai Shiping actually went in and disappeared.

They really broke up.

From that moment on, Mingpo could no longer see Ai Shiping, and Ai Shiping could no longer see Mingpo. They passed each other by, completely transparent to one another.

That was Mingpo's "wish".

Because... he "wanted" it to be like that.

Just as Ai Shiping "wanted" not to hear his footsteps.