Chapter 20 Who is Controlling? (27/95)
On the two beds, they were empty, with no one there.
Bai Anting’s clothes were still on them, and even her used underwear was carelessly thrown on the pillow.
No one was in the bathroom either.
The room and the window door were all locked from the inside.
If Bai Anting went out by herself, it would be impossible for her to lock the door from the outside.
In other words, she had never left the room from beginning to end.
But now, the person was gone.
Qin Liu’s heart also sank.
She recalled the anomaly of the television set just now, secretly swallowed her saliva, and then said.
“Just now… I saw the TV was on, and it was constantly flashing black and white snow, but I could vaguely see several faces inside…”
Qin Liu’s words were enough to make one’s mind reel.
Liu Haoyu hurriedly turned on the television after hearing this.
The screen was pitch black, with only a blue frame on it, displaying the words “No Signal” in a cold manner.
Logically speaking, modern televisions are different from old ones.
Even without any signal, it would be impossible to have that flashing black and white snow.
Did Qin Liu see it wrong, or was this another supernatural event?
In the quiet room, only Liu Haoyu’s tensed heartbeat remained.
His gaze was fixed on the television, trying to find even a trace of something.
However, this television showed no abnormality at all, and even when Liu Haoyu leaned closer, there was no reaction.
It wasn’t until Liu Haoyu placed his ear against the television that he seemed to hear something amidst the crackling static discharge sound.
But the sound was not clear, and Liu Haoyu could only concentrate. Finally, he heard a voice emanating from inside.
“Save me…”
And at this moment, the television, which had no signal before, suddenly showed a picture.
The picture was filled with more than forty names.
This was exactly the same as the list of victims Liu Haoyu had received on his mobile phone.
But the difference was that on the television screen, many names had been crossed out with a red line.
Including… Bai Anting.
And Qiu Leling’s name also appeared on it.
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Qiu Leling’s home.
As usual, this young girl was alone in her room, playing games.
“Strange, why can’t I get through to Liu Zining’s phone tonight?”
It was the weekend, and if it were usual, Qiu Leling would actively ask Liu Zining to play together.
Qiu Leling knew very well that ever since Liu Zining lost Liu Qian, her only loved one, her seemingly flawless smile hid a darkness as deep as an abyss.
So, in order to help the girl overcome her shadows, Qiu Leling would usually take the initiative to ask her to play games.
Although playing games all night was bad for her health, it was also a good way to escape reality.
In fact, many young people nowadays did the same thing.
Did they really like playing games?
No, they just had nothing to entertain themselves with in reality.
Many of them didn’t even have friends to play with.
“I guess she’s busy with her graduation thesis or something?”
Qiu Leling didn’t think too much about it.
But if she played alone, Qiu Leling would generally not consider online games.
Especially CS: COME.
Her skills were not very good, and playing such games often put her under pressure.
Moreover, she liked to use voice chat, and as soon as she opened it, she would either be called a “princess” or be dragged into groups.
Over time, she didn’t like this type of game much.
But Liu Zining liked it, so she would only play a couple of rounds with her when Liu Zining played.
“Huh?”
In the dark room, Qiu Leling found a newly released horror game.
The name of this game was very strange, not like English, nor like any other language.
It was more like… a string of random code typed out casually.
She glanced at the game description and found it to be very brief.
But because the game’s graphics were very realistic, she thought about it and decided to download and play it.
After all, the game wasn’t expensive, only 4 yuan.
It only took half a minute for the game to finish downloading.
Qiu Leling picked up the controller and clicked to start.
However, as soon as she pressed the start button, she suddenly felt a cold wind blow on her.
She looked at the air conditioning temperature and muttered.
“Is it set too cold?”
So, she turned up the air conditioning temperature a little, then opened the game.
After entering the game menu, the UI was also very simple. This seemed to be a horror game independently produced by a small studio.
The lines of text in blood, in a horror game style, immediately piqued Qiu Leling’s interest as a veteran gamer.
“It looks pretty good.”
The graphics were realistic, and the UI style was good. She just didn’t know what the content inside was like.
Qiu Leling clicked to start the game. With a strange laugh and a roar, she successfully entered the game.
The game’s graphics were as advertised, very realistic, so realistic that Qiu Leling couldn’t distinguish between virtual and reality.
Logically, such powerful rendering would have to be done by a very capable development team.
But Qiu Leling couldn’t find the game’s development team, either before or after entering the game.
However, these were not the main points. With an excited mood, she began her gaming experience.
What appeared on the screen was a very old villa. From the outside, the villa looked exceptionally eerie.
A faint blue mist also permeated the surroundings of the villa. Coupled with the dilapidated and eerie rendering, even Qiu Leling couldn’t help but get goosebumps.
Although the game presented a dark and terrifying style, she still chose to go inside the villa to investigate.
Like most horror games, this game had no weapons.
All she could do seemed to be to solve puzzles and explore the dilapidated villa step by step.
However, after entering the villa, Qiu Leling felt something was not quite right.
Even though the villa was so dilapidated, she still felt that the layout of the villa was very familiar.
So familiar… it was like returning to her own home.
She quickly retreated outside the villa and reconfirmed the building in front of her.
From the outside, it looked very different from her own house, but the internal structure was very similar. Was this just a coincidence?
As Qiu Leling was thinking, she suddenly saw a rotten, pale face pressed tightly against the second-floor window of the villa.
Its eyes, filled with malice and turning white, were staring intently at something inside the window.
Seeing this, Qiu Leling’s body suddenly stiffened.
Even more bizarrely, this window seemed to be in the same position as her own room’s window?
Qiu Leling felt a chill down her spine. She subconsciously looked at her bedroom window.
No one…
The bright moonlight outside shone into the room, making Qiu Leling breathe a sigh of relief.
She muttered to herself.
“It must have been a hallucination.”
So, she controlled the controller again and entered the villa.
The villa was not large, and there were no hints or objectives in the game.
There wasn’t even a dialogue box in the game.
And although the game looked eerie and terrifying, she didn’t encounter any ghosts or monsters along the way.
It didn’t feel like playing a horror game, but more like visiting a haunted house.
Qiu Leling explored all the rooms in the villa one by one.
“That’s not right… where did the ghost that was at the window go?”
She had already controlled the character to search most of the rooms on the second floor, but she couldn’t find the ghost that was at the window.
There were still a few rooms left to explore, perhaps the ghost was there?
Thinking of encountering the ghost, Qiu Leling couldn’t help but hold her breath. Her subsequent exploration became much more cautious.
The first room…
No.
The second room…
Empty.
And the last room…
Qiu Leling’s attention was fully focused on the screen, lest a fierce ghost appear at any moment and startle her.
Gently pushing open the door to the room, Qiu Leling found that in this last completely dark room.
There was a computer that didn’t fit the environment at all.
The computer was on, and sitting in front of it was a young girl with headphones on, her back to the game screen.
An eerie chill spread from her limbs to Qiu Leling’s entire body.
The girl with headphones… was herself!
