Giving Interstellar Players a Horror Ghost Game Shock - Chapter 29
Liu Yuling pondered for a moment. While this plan carried some risks, it seemed plausible.
Given the urgency of their situation, they quickly divided tasks: Liu Yuling would open the door, and the moment it swung open, Qiu Zi would charge forward with the peachwood branch—a talismanic weapon—and try to drive the ghost away. They would then seize the opportunity to escape.
The protective talismans stuck in the four corners of the office were left untouched to preserve the integrity of the exorcism array. Fortunately, they still had a few leftover yellow talismans, which they divided evenly.
Despite her earlier skepticism, Liu Yuling carefully pocketed her share of the talismans, treating the fragile paper with utmost care. If the ghost lingered by the door, she resolved to slap one directly onto its face.
With their rough plan in place, Liu Yuling took a deep breath and positioned herself behind the door. Then, with a sharp motion, she flung it open—
At that instant, an icy wind seemed to rush in, chilling her to the bone even with the door shielding her.
Qiu Zi leapt into action. Clutching the peachwood branch tightly, she charged forward with her eyes shut, shouting incoherent phrases as she wildly swung the branch at the air. After a few frantic strikes with no impact, she hesitantly opened her eyes.
“…Huh?”
The door, which had been nearly battered out of shape moments ago, revealed nothing on the other side.
“That’s strange,” Qiu Zi muttered, frowning as she turned to check the back door. As she glanced past Liu Yuling, who was still standing at the threshold, her pupils contracted in alarm.
Without a second thought, she thrust the peachwood branch straight at Liu Yuling’s face.
Instinctively, Liu Yuling wanted to dodge, but she noticed that the branch’s trajectory was aimed at the space between her face and shoulder. She gritted her teeth and stood still.
Sure enough, the next moment, a piercing, vengeful scream echoed in the air. Liu Yuling felt an unbearable weight suddenly lift from her shoulder, leaving her feeling inexplicably lighter.
“There was… a ghost’s hand on your shoulder,” Qiu Zi said shakily. Her voice trembled as she spoke, her face deathly pale after her decisive strike.
Only then did Liu Yuling break out into a cold sweat. If she had hesitated or moved even slightly, causing Qiu Zi to miss, she might not have survived the encounter.
Regardless, this particular crisis was finally over.
The two of them exchanged bewildered glances, unsure of where to go next.
“Well, first off, let’s rule out May Bridge! Sure, a lot of horror movies like to start and end in the same place, but since whatever’s haunting us wants us to go there, we definitely shouldn’t!”
Qiu Zi furrowed her brow in deep thought, trying to analyze their next steps.
Although Liu Yuling didn’t fully grasp what Qiu Zi meant by “trope,” she chimed in with her own observations.
She found herself marveling at how useful Qiu Zi was as an NPC—fearless yet cautious, quick to act, and most importantly, shockingly clever. It was a stark contrast to the incompetent AI companions Liu Yuling had endured in other single-player games.
The chat was abuzz with similar sentiments.
[I can’t believe it—I think I’m falling for an NPC in a horror game…]
[I’m usually not into horror games, but now I kind of want to try this one. Can you romance the NPCs in Campus Nightmare?]
[Agreed, this NPC is perfect—not just as a teammate but also as, well, something more. shy emoji]
[Ugh, can you guys stop simping for a second? Is there anyone in this chat who’s still focusing on analyzing the plot?]
[I think we don’t need to worry at all. This game is clearly a single-player exploratory horror game. All the events so far have been pushing the player along the main storyline. I bet there’s no such thing as getting stuck. The game will probably hand them the clues soon enough.]
Ye Yuxi was slightly startled when she saw this comment.
Curious, she clicked on the commenter’s profile. It seemed to be a throwaway account, with no history or activity visible.
She couldn’t deny that this person had an impressively deep understanding of the game. Merely from watching, they had correctly deduced the game’s structure.
Indeed, Ye Yuxi had designed the game as a straightforward single-player experience. As long as players didn’t deliberately mess around and followed the storyline clues, searched carefully, and avoided being caught during chase sequences, they could generally clear the game.
Of course, choices along the way subtly influenced the endings.
For example, since Liu Yuling had played the demo before, she rushed through the sections that overlapped with it, inadvertently skipping NPC Ah Fei’s personal storyline. This meant Ah Fei was destined to die first, making it impossible for Liu Yuling to achieve the most perfect “everyone survives” ending.
Ye Yuxi particularly loved adding nuanced details. Even in “survival” endings, whether the player was the sole survivor or managed to save all the NPCs—or just a few—depended entirely on the player’s decisions.
Sometimes, a single line of dialogue or a seemingly insignificant choice could determine the outcome.
“Next, the game will present a choice that will decide the fate of the second NPC and the overall difficulty of the rest of the game. Can Senior Liu handle it?”
Ye Yuxi stared at the live stream with eager anticipation.
In the game, before Liu Yuling and Qiu Zi could wander aimlessly for long, a new event triggered.
In the dimly lit first-floor lobby, a figure dressed in white appeared—
Not a person, but a silhouette. The figure lacked a physical presence. The faint light filtering down passed straight through her body, failing to cast a shadow on the floor.
Still shaken from the recent supernatural encounter, Liu Yuling felt her heart clench again. But to her surprise, the girl didn’t do anything to them. Instead, she walked silently with her head lowered, as though she didn’t even see them, and ascended the staircase.
Qiu Zi froze briefly before suddenly running after her. Liu Yuling tried to stop her, but it was too late.
Panicked, Liu Yuling hurried after Qiu Zi. There was no way she was staying alone in this creepy place! For the sake of her nearly paralyzed nerves, this NPC absolutely couldn’t die now!
The two of them watched as the white-clad figure disappeared straight into Room 205 at the top of the stairs, passing right through the door.
“205… isn’t that the school archives?” Liu Yuling’s sharp eyes quickly caught the label on the door.
Qiu Zi pursed her lips and nodded.
“Yes. I’ve seen that girl before—not in person, but in some documents. I’ve seen her photo.”
Liu Yuling began to sense something ominous.
“She’s…”
Qiu Zi took a deep breath, her voice trembling.
“She’s one of the students who died in the May Summoning Game 20 years ago!”
As her words fell, a chilling wind swept through the lobby. Without warning, a dark shadow, accompanied by the icy night air, burst into the building!
“Ahhh!”