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

Those embroidered shoes walked step by step toward Brother Long in the empty corridor.

"clatter."

"clatter."

"clatter."

Every step felt like stepping on Brother Long's heart.

The visual impact of this scene was far more terrifying than the sound of footsteps behind him.

Because it completely overturned the physics understanding of Brother Long and all the Federation players watching the live stream.

How can shoes walk on their own?

"Holy shit... Holy shit... Holy shit..."

Brother Long only ever repeats this one word.

His proud "physical holy light" and the metal knuckle dusters on his hands seemed so ridiculous at this moment.

You can punch a shoe off.

But can you blow up a shoe that can walk on its own?

Even if it's destroyed, won't it turn into a pile of self-moving fragments?

The fear of the unknown instantly filled his mind.

"No...don't come any closer!"

Brother Long roared in a distorted tone as he retreated backward, using both his hands and feet.

He took a step back, and the shoes took a step forward.

They maintained a steady pace, keeping a distance of about three meters at all times.

It's like playing a cruel joke on a poor mouse.

After a brief period of silence, the live stream chat exploded with an unprecedented density of comments.

It moved! It really moved! God! Someone tell me this isn't real!

I feel like my worldview has been completely shattered... What's the workings of this game? Is it some kind of anti-gravity engine?

[Stop defying gravity, bro! Run! Don't back down! Run now!]

run?

Brother Long also wanted to run away.

But to his horror, he discovered that the long corridor behind him was no longer there.

Instead, it was a cold, moss-covered wall.

He had retreated to the very end, with nowhere left to retreat.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The sound of embroidered shoes footsteps grew closer and closer.

Two meters.

one meter.

Half a meter.

It stopped in front of Brother Long's feet.

Then, the tip of one shoe gently touched Brother Long's shoe.

The icy, bone-chilling sensation was clearly transmitted to Long Gao's toes through nerve connections.

"ah--!"

Brother Long could no longer bear this extreme mental torment. He curled up in the corner, clutching his head, and let out a pig-like scream.

Just then, the faint crying sounded again.

But this time, it's no longer uncertain.

It came from directly above his head.

"You...found my shoes..."

Brother Long stiffly raised his head, little by little.

All I could see was the damp, moss-covered wall.

A little girl wearing a red bib, her skin pale and swollen as if she had been soaked in water for a long time, was pressed against the wall with her limbs twisted backwards.

Like a gecko.

Her hair was wet and clung to her face, and her pure black eyes, devoid of any whites, were staring straight at Brother Long.

A strange smile played on her lips.

"Then... can I have it back now?"

Brother Long's pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints.

His brain had completely shut down.

He looked at the girl hanging upside down on the wall, then at the pair of red embroidered shoes at her feet.

A thought struck him like lightning.

He finally understood what "taking her home" meant.

It's not about taking her back to a house.

But...

Bring her back into her own "body".

These shoes are her feet!

"Here you go... I'll give you everything..."

With a sob in his voice, Brother Long picked up the embroidered shoes from the ground with trembling hands and handed them over.

The girl, who looked like a water ghost, grinned.

The laughter was like that of a night owl, harsh and unpleasant to hear.

She didn't reach out to take it.

Instead, his entire body seemed to "flow" down the wall as if it had no bones.

Under Brother Long's horrified gaze, her feet steadily slipped into the embroidered shoes.

Not too big, not too small, just right.

"Thank you, big brother."

The girl looked up and gave Brother Long an "innocent" smile.

"To repay you, I'll sing you a song."

As she spoke, she took Brother Long's hand.

That hand was cold and slippery, like a venomous snake.

Brother Long tried to break free, but found that all the strength in his body had been drained, and he could not move.

The girl pulled him, turned around, and faced the cold wall.

Then, she pulled Brother Long along and walked step by step into the wall.

It's like passing through a curtain of water.

Long Ge's vision was swallowed by endless darkness, with only the girl's clear yet incredibly eerie singing voice ringing in his ears.

"A pair of embroidered shoes, walking along the bluestone street..."

"There were many pedestrians on the street, no one saw it..."

"It's looking for its mother, but where is its mother...?"

"Mom is in the main hall, waiting for it to go and perform the wedding ceremony..."

The song echoed in the darkness.

Brother Long's consciousness gradually blurred amidst the eerie singing.

The real world.

In the live stream, tens of millions of viewers were completely silent.

They watched helplessly as Brother Long's perspective was swallowed by darkness.

Looking at the screen, all that remained were the four cold, white words: "Connection interrupted".

A full half minute passed.

The barrage of comments then burst forth like a flood bursting its banks.

What just happened?

[Brother Long...walked into the wall?]

[That song...what the hell is that song?! My heart almost stopped when I heard it!]

It's looking for its mother, who's in the hall waiting for it to complete the wedding ceremony... Is its mother... the paper bride?!

[Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! I've figured it out! It's a closed loop! The story of "The Embroidered Shoes" is a prequel to "The Red Veil"! Or rather, a supplement! That little girl is the bride's child!]

[You damn planner! You're a fucking genius! You're actually building a "horror universe"?!]

……

Happiness Apartment, Room 404.

Hao Ren watched the shock value in the background start to skyrocket again, and closed the data panel with satisfaction.

Two million...

Three million...

Five million!

The demo of "Embroidered Shoes" alone brought him far more revenue than "Red Veil".

The combination of "being trapped in a maze" and "possessed by a vengeful spirit" is exceptionally effective.

The ending, especially the part where the characters "walk into the wall," was a stroke of genius.

It shatters the player's fundamental belief that "the game space is safe."

The wall is no longer a wall.

It can be a door, or it can be a tomb.

"Universe..." Hao Ren chewed on the word he saw in a player's comment and smiled.

He does indeed have this plan.

The allure of Chinese horror lies in its systematic approach and compelling storytelling.

Every ghost has a story behind it.

Every taboo has a set of logic behind it.

What he needs to do is to present these stories and logic to the players in this world, bit by bit.

Let them learn about that forgotten history and culture amidst fear.

And "Rampaging Dragon Brother" once again became a trending topic.

If the last "Brother Long kneeling" incident was a mix of humiliation and humor...

So this time, "Brother Long walking through the wall" is nothing but pure eeriness and horror.

The video of him being pulled by a little girl and disappearing into the wall has been hailed as "the most horrifying video footage in the federal government in the last century."

Countless psychologists, neuroscientists, and even physicists have joined in the analysis.

Some say this is a form of collective hypnosis created using visual persistence and spatial distortion algorithms.

Some say this is because specific audio and frame rates trigger the "hallucination zone" in the player's brain.

Some even asserted that Hao Ren must have cracked the underlying code of the Federation's stealth technology, thus achieving illegal "sensory intrusion."

But no matter how they analyze it, they cannot explain the most basic question.

Why is it so scary?

Why does watching a virtual character walk into a virtual wall evoke such a profound sense of dread in millions of real-world viewers?

After quitting the game, the "Rampaging Dragon Brother" himself experienced a severe stress reaction.

He locked himself in his room, afraid to go near any of the walls.

When I'm eating, I always feel like someone is singing behind me.

When I sleep, I always dream of a pair of red embroidered shoes walking around his bed.

His psychiatrist prescribed him a whole bunch of sedatives and gave him an unprecedented diagnosis.

"VR games induce physical perception impairment."

Simply put, he can no longer distinguish between virtual and reality.

His mind was convinced that the old house, the girl, and the shoes were real.

The diagnosis immediately caused a huge uproar upon its release.

"My God! Playing a game can cause mental illness?"

"This is no longer a game, it's a mental drug!"

"I take back what I said before; I support Aurora Entertainment suing him!"

"What kind of 'good person' is Hao Ren? He must be held accountable for his actions!"