Giving Interstellar Players a Horror Ghost Game Shock - Chapter 27
When Liu Yuling stepped into the student council office with Qiu Zi, her heart skipped a beat, a sense of foreboding washing over her.
The entire multipurpose building felt oppressively dark, with dim hallway lights barely illuminating the path. The office itself was pitch black, the only source of light being the faint glow of her flashlight.
A sudden click.
Before she could dwell on the atmosphere, Qiu Zi turned on the lights.
“Senior, why didn’t you turn the lights on when you came in?”
Liu Yuling: “…”
[Pfft, what even is this?! So the lights just needed to be turned on?]
The thoughts of the viewers mirrored Liu Yuling’s own—a mix of exasperation and amusement. They had assumed the game designer was meticulously crafting a horror atmosphere, only to realize it was just their overactive imaginations.
In the interstellar era, lights didn’t have manual switches; everything was AI-controlled and motion-sensitive. Any other player in her shoes likely wouldn’t have realized the little switch on the wall near the door was meant to control the lights.
But the lighthearted moment was short-lived.
As soon as the lights came on, the office became brightly illuminated—only for the bulbs to begin flickering rapidly.
The office alternated between complete darkness and bursts of light. In Liu Yuling’s eyes, Qiu Zi’s face kept flashing ominously.
“What the heck? Does this crappy school have a scheduled blackout every month or something?”
Muttering under her breath, Qiu Zi began typing on her phone.
“Don’t worry, Senior. Ah Fei and the others are still outside. I’ll ask him to check the power room!”
“What should we do in the meantime?” Liu Yuling asked instinctively.
A sly grin spread across Qiu Zi’s face.
“Hehe, remember what I said earlier? If they want to scare us, let’s scare them back! Let’s look around and see if we can find anything useful first!”
As soon as she spoke, a soft ding sounded, and Liu Yuling’s task list updated:
Search the office for usable items.
Alright then. Puzzle-solving and item-finding were her specialty.
What surprised her, though, was Qiu Zi’s behavior. Unlike most NPCs who remained stationary after assigning tasks, Qiu Zi actively headed toward the office’s storage room to look for items herself.
This duality made Liu Yuling feel both touched and wary.
Could this be real? An NPC who actually helps the player? Is this a trap? Should I double-check the storage room later?
Pondering this, she casually picked up a stack of documents from a desk and quickly scanned through them.
Most were clearly useless forms, but one sheet caught her attention for a few seconds longer.
“Rankings of Paranormal Events in Coastal City Universities? What’s this supposed to be?”
1st Place: Yin-Yang Path, Wenhe University
Horror Rating: ★★★★★
Rumor has it this path is filled with countless buried corpses and exudes heavy yin energy. At night, students walking this path often either disappear without a trace—or new people mysteriously appear.
Just hearing the streamer read this aloud sent chills down the spines of the audience.
[Hmm… That description is disturbingly thought-provoking. Where do the disappeared ones go? And where do the new ones come from?]
[I’m already breaking out in cold sweats and curling up under my blanket.]
Those two thin sheets of paper carried an unnerving weight, filling interstellar viewers with dread as they glimpsed a ghostly fragment of an era long past. The campus legends hinted at something unspeakably sinister lurking in the background.
Adding to the tension, Liu Yuling received a system notification for unlocking a new achievement.
Congratulations, Player! You’ve unlocked the achievement: Campus Nightmare Tales. Keep up the great work~
Liu Yuling: “…”
Uh… how should she feel about this? Her junior clearly had ambitious plans. Was this game going to become an entire series? Was this list foreshadowing Easter eggs for future installments?
Meanwhile, players who had tried the demo scrolled down to find their university, May University, ranked only ninth for its “May Bridge.”
[May Bridge with only three stars? Are you kidding me?! Did I play a fake game?]
One particularly eye-catching golden comment soon grabbed everyone’s attention.
[Wait a minute! That ID… that badge… Isn’t that Fish General?!]
The audience watching Liu Yuling’s stream gradually realized something—they hadn’t noticed that Ji Yu’s livestream had already gone offline. His channel dimmed, signaling that he had logged off for the night.
Ji Yu shrank his neck, clutching his good friend Lu Xiaofeng’s arm with one hand in frustration while furiously battling it out with other viewers in the chat using the other.
[Yeah, I logged off. My stream time for today is done. Is that a problem?]
Someone, freshly migrated over from the “CodLiver” stream, silently shared a clip in the comments. It was of Ji Yu’s virtual avatar breaking down, crying hysterically, and screaming, “I can’t play anymore!” as he was relentlessly pursued by a female ghost.
[…]
Before Ji Yu could suffer further humiliation, a kind soul mercifully changed the topic to preserve his dignity.
[To be fair, that chase sequence earlier was genuinely terrifying. It’s hard to imagine how the designers came up with something so creepy. And yet, May Bridge, which was part of that, only ranked ninth with three stars?]
[Exactly! It’s insane to think what the top eight might look like.]
[By the way, isn’t the game’s setting based on the Ancient Earth Era? It feels like every school back then was incredibly dangerous. Just walking around campus at night could cost you your life… Hard to imagine what it was like to attend school in that era.]
[Probably like going to your grave every day.]
While the audience debated, Liu Yuling calmly set the documents aside and resumed searching the office.
Unfortunately, while there were plenty of items in the room, most were entirely useless. She couldn’t see how canned drinks or stacks of paper would help her deal with a ghost.
This design choice, however, was intentional on Ye Yuxi’s part. She knew interstellar citizens wouldn’t recognize the utility of these traditional items. If tasked with finding them on their own, they’d likely have no clue what to look for.
So she had deliberately left the key items in the NPC’s hands.
As expected, Qiu Zi soon returned to the office, beaming, her arms full of peculiar materials.
“Senior! Look what I found!”
“These are talismans for exorcising ghosts!”
She enthusiastically shoved a stack of yellow talismans into Liu Yuling’s hands.
“Here are some Bagua mirrors and peach wood branches—let’s quickly set up the office!”
Liu Yuling, utterly bewildered, could only follow Qiu Zi’s instructions.
Under Qiu Zi’s guidance, she pasted four yellow talismans in the corners of the room, arranged peach wood branches in the center, and watched in stunned silence as Qiu Zi hung Bagua mirrors on both the front and back doors.
To be honest, Liu Yuling couldn’t stop doubting the effectiveness of these items. They seemed completely ordinary, made of soft materials that weren’t even remotely sturdy. Wouldn’t it be better to use an electromagnetic gun instead of these?
The audience, silent as the materials were introduced, suddenly erupted into a torrent of mockery—louder than at any point during the stream.
[Let me get this straight—these are supposed to work against ghosts? Designer, are you okay?]
[If these museum relics actually do anything, I’ll wash my hair upside down.]
Even DouDou’s official staff member, LuoDiChengHe, was anxious.
To be honest, when she first saw this design, she couldn’t hold back and immediately contacted Miss Ye to suggest some revisions—
But Ye Yuxi had been resolute, insisting these items represented the traditions of her hometown and were non-negotiable.
All she could do now was hope this wouldn’t hurt the game’s popularity.
Back in the game, just as the setup was completed, Liu Yuling heard footsteps echoing from the far end of the hallway.
“Great, someone’s coming,” Qiu Zi whispered excitedly, her voice deliberately low.
But Liu Yuling had an ominous feeling.
The post-chase safe period had lasted long enough. If she wasn’t mistaken, then what came next…
Qiu Zi locked the front door and left the back door slightly ajar, genuinely preparing to scare whoever was approaching.
The footsteps grew closer, stopping just outside the door. But instead of immediately entering, the person lingered.
After a few seconds, a voice called out—
“Are the people inside Qiu Zi and Senior?”