You made all the streamers on the internet kneel before you when you were asked to make a game.

The corridor was deathly silent.

The only sounds were Professor Chen's own footsteps and the sound of raindrops falling on the eaves.

The embroidered shoes he held in his hands were as cold as iron.

But the little water ghost girl who had always followed him disappeared.

The viewers in the live stream felt a strong sense of unease.

What happened? Where's the little girl?

Shouldn't they be following behind? Why aren't they moving?

I have a bad feeling. It seems that worshipping the local earth god has triggered some kind of unexpected plot.

Could it be... that the little girl is simply gone?

A serious expression appeared on Professor Chen's face.

But he did not stop.

He trusted his own judgment.

Having obtained permission from the land god meant that the little girl could be "brought" into the house.

She is no longer a lost soul, but a person who has been "recognized" and returned home.

Therefore, she no longer needs to follow the player in that terrifying way.

She should be right beside him now.

It's just that it's invisible to the naked eye.

Professor Chen, holding the embroidered shoes, walked step by step to the end of the corridor.

There, it was a bottomless darkness.

"Child, don't be afraid."

Professor Chen stopped and spoke softly into the darkness ahead.

"That thing in front of us is just a faceless shadow."

"It can only imitate human walking, there's nothing to be afraid of."

"Close your eyes and follow behind Grandpa. We'll be there soon."

He tried to comfort the unseen "little girl" in the same way as the cult leader.

But there was no response in the darkness.

Professor Chen's brows furrowed even deeper.

The situation seemed to be somewhat different from what he had expected.

Just then.

A hoarse, distorted voice rang out from the darkness.

"She...is not here."

Professor Chen's pupils suddenly contracted.

That sound!

It's that "faceless thing"!

It...it can talk?!

Throughout the cult leader's live stream, it was merely a passive imitator from beginning to end!

The viewers in the live stream instantly went wild.

Holy crap! It spoke! No-Face spoke!

[Completely different from when the cult leader was! Is this the complete form?]

What does "She's not here" mean? Where did the little girl go?

in the dark.

A dark humanoid silhouette slowly emerged.

Its smooth, eggshell-like head turned towards Professor Chen.

A malevolent aura, more powerful than ever before, swept over us.

"You broke the rules."

The mixed voice rang out again, filled with anger.

"She should have gotten lost here."

"It was you who... took her away."

Professor Chen immediately understood.

After worshipping the local earth god, the little girl was indeed granted the right to return home.

However, this also meant skipping the stages of appeasement and confrontation.

He snatched the toy from the "faceless thing".

This completely enraged it.

"So, you must use yourself to replace her."

"Stay here, forever... and play with me."

The moment the words fell.

The huge black figure suddenly rushed towards Professor Chen.

It moved so fast that it left only a blur in the air.

"boom!"

A massive fist, accompanied by a whistling sound as it tore through the air, slammed down on Professor Chen's head.

If that punch landed, it would definitely result in instant death.

The viewers in the live stream screamed in terror.

[Professor, get out of the way!]

【Oh no! The fighting has started right away!】

How do you even fight this thing? Even the cult leader couldn't escape!

But Professor Chen showed no sign of panic in the face of this fatal blow.

He simply stood there quietly, watching the fist grow larger and larger in his eyes.

Just as the force of the punch was about to touch his gray hair.

He held up the pair of embroidered shoes in his hand.

"I didn't take your things."

Professor Chen's voice was calm yet powerful.

"But what you want, I won't give you either."

He pointed the embroidered shoes, toes pointing outwards, at the huge black figure.

"The one you're looking for is 'her'."

"And 'she' is here."

As Professor Chen finished speaking.

A faint red light suddenly appeared on the pair of embroidered shoes that had been cold and lifeless.

An equally powerful aura, but filled with endless resentment, erupted from the shoe.

"boom--!"

The faceless creature's fist collided heavily with the embroidered shoes.

The moment the enormous black fist touched the embroidered shoe, it seemed to have met its nemesis and quickly melted away.

A plume of black smoke billowed from its fist, accompanied by countless agonizing roars.

"ah--!"

The faceless creature let out a painful roar and staggered back a few steps.

Its enormous body suddenly became somewhat ethereal and unstable.

The live stream room was completely silent.

[The shoes...the shoes drove No-Face away?]

Holy crap, are these embroidered shoes some kind of magical artifact?!

How did the professor know this? How did he know the shoes could subdue No-Face?

Lu Zhixing stood up excitedly in the apartment.

It turns out that the game "Embroidered Shoes" is not an escort mission at all.

It's a multiple-choice question!

When a player picks up the embroidered shoes, it's as if they've entered into a contract with the shoes' owner—the drowned little girl.

You can choose to comfort her like the cult leader did, treating her as a vulnerable person in need of protection.

In this way, you are facing a "faceless thing" that passively imitates.

You can also choose to do what Professor Chen did and rely on "external forces" from the beginning, treating her as an ally who can fight alongside you!

In this way, she will no longer be the little girl who cries and whines behind you.

Instead, it will possess these embroidered shoes and become your most powerful weapon!

The essence of the "faceless thing" is to devour the ghosts lost in the corridor.

The little girl was its next prey.

These embroidered shoes are the embodiment of the little girl's resentment.

The two are natural enemies!

"So that's how it is... So that's how it is..."

Lu Zhixing murmured to himself, his eyes filled with shock and admiration.

Just how deep are the thoughts of this game designer known as "Good Guy"?

A simple demo actually concealed two incredibly complex and completely different storylines.

in the game.

Professor Chen, wielding the magical embroidered shoes, forced back the faceless creature.

He did not press his advantage.

Instead, he gently placed the shoes on the ground.

"The road has been cleared."

Professor Chen spoke slowly, looking at the shoes.

"Go, child."

"Go see your mother, one last time."

The pair of red embroidered shoes trembled slightly on the ground.

It was like a response, yet also like a farewell.

next second.

The shoe transformed into a streak of red light, piercing through the darkness and disappearing at the end of the corridor.

[S-rank rating! Perfect completion!]

[Congratulations to player "Professor Chen" for becoming the world's first player to achieve an S-rank perfect clear in "The Embroidered Shoes"!]

[Reward: Unlocks the hidden world of the "Home" series—"The Old Tales of the Chen Family".]

Professor Chen's perfect completion of the game was like a bombshell, exploding throughout the entire Federation gaming community.

If the S-level completion of "The Red Veil" by the leader of the Scientology Cult is to show the world a terrifying aspect of Chinese interpersonal relationships.

Professor Chen's S-level completion of "Embroidered Shoes" reveals the more profound and ancient system of rituals and rules behind it.

In a short time, terms like "paying homage to the local lord," "local deity," and "weapons of resentment" became new internet memes.

Countless players flocked to "The Embroidered Shoes," imitating Professor Chen's actions, bowing and chanting before that small stone shrine.

Although most people cannot trigger the Land God's manifestation because they do not have enough "sincerity points".

But this did not stop them from venerating Professor Chen as a new "god".

"Chinese horror is more than just scaring people."

"It is a discipline about 'reverence'."

The largest gaming media outlet in the federal government, "GameFrontline," used this sentence to characterize the incident on its front page.

This article was forwarded over 100 million times in just one hour.

Chinese horror, a brand-new game genre created by Hao Ren, is no longer just a niche hobby for enthusiasts.

Instead, it truly entered the mainstream public's field of vision.

……

Aurora Entertainment Building, top floor director's office.

Gao Qi sat behind his huge desk, his face ashen.

On the holographic screen in front of him, a video of Professor Chen completing the game "The Embroidered Shoes" was playing on a loop.

With each replay, his expression grew more unpleasant.

Manager Liu stood silently to the side, trembling with fear.

"Folklore...rituals...reverence..."

Gao Qi slowly squeezed out these words through clenched teeth.

He has worked in the industry for twenty years, producing dozens of successful games, and considers himself the "godfather" of the Federation game industry.

He believes in data, technology, and capital.

He firmly believes that as long as there are enough monsters with a large enough number of polygons, enough realistic blood effects, and enough shocking sound effects, the best horror game can be made.

But now, a little-known artist who was fired by them.

A coffin, a pair of shoes, and a pile of broken stones.

He smashed to pieces the "three great weapons of terror" that he had built up and was so proud of over the past twenty years.

This feeling was even more unbearable for him than a direct loss of billions of dollars.

"Mr. Gao... Mr. Gao."

Seeing that Gao Qi remained silent for a long time, Manager Liu mustered his courage and cautiously spoke up.

"Right now... right now the whole internet is praising that 'good guy,' and our 'Biohazard 9'... its reputation has completely collapsed."

"Players are all criticizing us, saying we spent billions and the result is worse than a scrap of a free demo..."

"Shut up!" Gao Qi slammed his hand on the table, his eyes bloodshot. "I don't want to hear this nonsense!"

"I just want to know, what should we do now!"

Manager Liu shuddered in fright.

"Mr. Gao, I... I feel we can't just sit here and wait to die any longer!"

"Since this Chinese-style horror is so popular, then...we'll make it too!"

"We have the best technology, the most funding, and the strongest marketing channels!"

"That Hao Ren, isn't he just one person? We'll assemble a team of a hundred and overwhelm him with resources!"

"Let's poach talent! Let's bring over all the scholars and experts in the Federation who understand Eastern culture, offering them high salaries!"

"I refuse to believe that Aurora Entertainment can't beat a kid who came from humble beginnings!"

Manager Liu became more and more excited as he spoke, as if he could already see Aurora Entertainment making a triumphant return with its Chinese-style horror.

As Gao Qi listened, the anger in his eyes gradually subsided.

"Do it?" Gao Qi sneered.

"Do you think Chinese-style horror is so easy to create?"

"Do you think that hiring a few experts is enough to create works like 'The Red Veil' and 'The Embroidered Shoes'?"

"Didn't you see Professor Chen? He's the Federation's top folklore expert!"

"He can beat the game, but can he create it?"