Giving Interstellar Players a Horror Ghost Game Shock - Chapter 24
“This game finally has something exciting going on!”
In a double dorm room at the Central Military Academy, Wang Yuze’s interest was piqued as he watched Lu Xiaofeng calmly counting steps on the staircase.
Wang Yuze, a roommate of the “lucky player” Lu Xiaofeng, was also a second-year student in the academy’s elite Solo Combat program.
At the moment, Wang Yuze was alone in the dorm. Lu Xiaofeng had gone to meet his friend, Ji Yu. With nothing better to do, Wang Yuze remembered that a game he’d been eyeing had launched today and decided to check it out on the DouDou platform.
To his surprise, he saw his roommate, who had left the dorm an hour ago, now appearing as a featured streamer.
Typically, Wang Yuze had little interest in horror survival games. He didn’t find the concept of a powerful fictional enemy chasing you particularly thrilling, and gruesome imagery never elicited any reaction beyond indifference.
His confidence in his fists and weaponry was absolute—he believed he could overcome any opponent, real or imagined.
This time, though, was different. It was his roommate playing, so he figured he’d show some support as a viewer.
The earlier parts of the game were too narrative-heavy for Wang Yuze, and he barely paid attention to the NPCs’ discoveries or dialogue logs.
But now that the summoning game had begun and it seemed the enemy was finally making an appearance, Wang Yuze grew a little more engaged. He started guessing how long it would take Lu Xiaofeng to deal with the opponent.
Of course, designers often tweak the stats of their bosses to avoid having them defeated too easily.
However, bosses that rely solely on back-end stat manipulation to challenge players tend to attract complaints and lack originality.
“Ahhhhh!”
A piercing scream erupted from the screen, startling Wang Yuze.
It turned out that over in Ji Yu’s synced livestream, he had just come face-to-face with the enemy.
Ji Yu’s scream reached dolphin-pitch levels as he swiftly turned and bolted toward the only available escape route.
Many viewers weren’t frightened by the enemy itself but rather by Ji Yu’s scream, leading to a wave of amused complaints.
Meanwhile, Ji Yu was internally crying tears of frustration.
Did I want to seem this cowardly? Of course not! But his body betrayed him. Even though his mind had braced itself for what was coming, the moment the doll lunged at him, his throat surrendered to instinctive terror.
At this point, the two professional streamers had both entered chase sequences.
Lu Xiaofeng, on the other hand, had a completely different reaction when the doll lunged at him. Though startled, his reflex wasn’t to flee but to punch!
With a loud thud, the doll—having taken a blow from a dual-A-rated strength and agility cadet—was knocked straight off the tree and onto the ground, where it lay motionless.
Viewers who had either played the demo or watched previous streams were stunned.
Wait, that’s not right. Isn’t the doll supposed to come to life and chase the player? Why does it look like a lifeless prop now?
[Could it have been scared stiff by this insanely strong dude?]
[Guess even dolls bully the weak but fear the strong…]
Regardless, Lu Xiaofeng’s punch seemed to knock the fear of the doll right out of the audience. The chat quickly filled with jokes and jabs.
Some viewers even claimed that after witnessing this, they wouldn’t be scared to play the game themselves anymore.
If it can be taken out with a single punch, what’s there to fear? After all, interstellar citizens are known for their defiance—never backing down from anything they can physically confront.
Even Lu Xiaofeng was in disbelief. Had he just KO’d the enemy with a single punch?
For someone who had played countless games, this had to be the weakest boss he had ever encountered.
He walked over and gave the doll a light kick. Confirming that it remained motionless, he turned to head toward the NPCs.
It wasn’t until he turned around that he belatedly noticed how thick the surrounding fog had become. He could barely make out the trees and bushes to his left.
At this point, Lu Xiaofeng was unaware of just how terrifying the fog-shrouded world could be. He only felt mildly irritated.
Squinting, he took a few more steps forward, roughly recalling that the NPCs had fled in this direction.
As he descended the steps, he thought he saw a faint silhouette ahead.
“Is that you, schoolmate?” Lu Xiaofeng called out casually, not having bothered to remember the NPCs’ names.
The figure in the fog didn’t reply but seemed to move slightly closer, its outline flickering in and out of visibility.
No one could say exactly what happened in the next instant—it all unfolded far too quickly.
Even Lu Xiaofeng himself didn’t have time to react.
For viewers in first-person mode, the screen suddenly spun violently. Lu Xiaofeng seemed to crash hard onto the ground. The sensation of impact was almost palpable, yet there was no accompanying cry of pain.
No sound at all. But the player’s view flipped dramatically, as though they’d been hurled upside down.
[What just happened? Did he fall?]
[Did anyone see what made him fall?]
[Wait, no—look up there! What’s that?]
From Lu Xiaofeng’s perspective, viewers could now clearly see a section of descending stone steps.
The problem was, he had just come down those steps. Ahead of him should have been open ground. At most, he should’ve been looking back at ascending steps, not a downward path.
What was going on here?
That was exactly what Lu Xiaofeng wanted to know.
He found himself completely immobilized, lying stiffly on the ground. His body wouldn’t respond to any commands—he could only move his eyes.
Straining to glance at his arms and legs, Lu Xiaofeng’s initial unease gave way to outright terror.
His knees and elbows were now adorned with strange, spherical joints. They looked eerily like… the wooden joints of the blue-dressed doll that had fallen earlier!
His clothing, too, was no longer his familiar white shirt. It had turned into a blue fabric—just like the long dress the doll had been wearing.
[Wait, what? Did this guy just cross-dress?]
[Cross-dress? Are you kidding? If I’m not mistaken, this is clearly…]
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A steady, deliberate set of footsteps echoed through the fog.
Unable to move, Lu Xiaofeng could only watch helplessly as a familiar pair of sneakers came into view.
The shoes’ owner crouched down, revealing a face he knew all too well. That face twisted into a mocking grin.
For a moment, even the livestream chat fell eerily silent.
No one watching was a fool.
The only plausible explanation for what had just happened was that the blue-dressed doll and Lu Xiaofeng had swapped identities!
Lu Xiaofeng was now the motionless doll lying on the ground, while his player-controlled body had been taken over by…
The moment this realization hit, a wave of absurdity crashed over him.
An unexplainable surge of dread broke through the once-impenetrable fortress of Lu Xiaofeng’s mind.
“Hah… hah…”
Mental stability: 0. Player’s controlled character has perished.