In the blink of an eye!

November was approaching.

The development cycle of PT was nearing its end.

The demo version had entered the final testing phase, and the heads of each production team were all trying it out one after another.

Theoretically, this experience wasn’t for “playing the game” but to find subtle issues from their respective professional perspectives and then make the final tweaks to the game.

Moreover, as game developers, by this late stage in development, one actually becomes numb to their own game.

No matter how passionate the story is, how mind-bending the mystery, or how terrifying the jumpscares.

After seeing them a hundred and eighty times a day for several consecutive months, fatigue sets in.

It’s like a master chef who prepares a full imperial feast but doesn’t eat it, or an animator who draws adult content but never looks at their own characters.

Usually, during this experience phase, designers and main supervisors go through the motions with blank expressions.

But!

The PT project seemed a bit different.

Besides Gu Sheng, the PT project team had eight supervisors in total.

Three of them were the sharp Sato, the otaku Okura, and the beautiful and cheerful Yuki.

Below those three, the lead design and lead programming departments each had two deputy supervisors, and Yuki had one deputy supervisor under her.

Eight people!

Taking turns experiencing the game!

At first, everyone was joking and laughing, all puffed up with pride, entering the PT game world with a professional attitude to give it a thorough final review and look for professional issues.

The result!

All eight of them.

The shortest time anyone lasted inside was two minutes; the longest was only seven minutes.

They went in standing but came out soft, their legs like noodles, as if their bones had been pulled out, faces pale, cold sweat dripping.

They couldn’t scrutinize it.

They simply could not.

They didn’t even have the courage to open their eyes.

This could no longer be called a horror game.

This was a true projection of Director Gu’s twisted and perverted psyche.

Every person who played would truly feel the spiritual trauma inflicted by the horror game master SamGu!

The unprecedented pressure made many unable to even see a shadow of the female ghost; just walking around the narrow, claustrophobic villa corridors twice was enough to push their heart rates over the limit and cause breathing difficulties.

As the art team leader who was responsible for the original art, modeling, UI, and scenes, Yuki barely made it to the fourth loop before she broke down!

Because on the fourth loop, the player directly confronts Lisa—the female ghost in PT.

Even though Yuki personally drew, modeled, and textured her!

But!

When Yuki met her, she couldn’t help but suffer a spiritual blow and was instantly kicked out of the motion-sensing pod’s neural link with a snap.

Ssshhh—

The pod door opened, revealing Yuki’s pale face, completely stunned!

She remained silent for more than half a minute. Seeing that Yuki still didn’t speak, Gu Sheng grew a little worried and waved his hand in front of her:

“Yuki, are you... okay?”

“...Not particularly,”

Yuki slowly regained her senses, her throat moving up and down, her gaze still somewhat dazed:

“I’m thinking about a question.”

“What question?”

Gu Sheng asked curiously.

Yuki seemed to reboot her frightened, frozen brain and organized her thoughts:

“According to the game’s setting, Lisa’s husband who killed her is already insane and has been arrested by the police,”

“Then where did the protagonist, the ‘I’ in the game, come from?”

“Why did I come to this haunted house? Is it for adventure? To solve a mystery? Or to investigate?”

“Or to put it bluntly... why would I come here to court death?”

The question Yuki raised, born of fear, struck the soul and stunned the project team.

Even Gu Sheng was caught off guard.

That’s right.

All along, the origin of the protagonist in this demo version had never been explained.

No explanation, no background, no context.

He was simply treated as an experience carrier, a pure tool.

This wasn’t because Gu Sheng was lazy.

In his previous life, the PT story simply ended here; without an official version, he didn’t even know the protagonist’s origin!

He thought since this was just a demo, the protagonist’s background wasn’t important, so he deliberately left it vague.

But today, Yuki’s sudden insight reminded him.

Indeed.

Why would the PT protagonist be willing to come to this apartment to court death?

Human actions must have logic.

The same goes for games.

If the PT protagonist’s motive is always a mystery, can I add a small easter egg that slightly reveals the protagonist’s origin without changing the main game?

Like Yuki said.

Adventure? Solve a mystery? Investigate?

With this thought, Gu Sheng pulled over an office chair and sat down with interest:

“That’s a good question. What kind of identity do you think we should give him to make it more reasonable?”

The supervisors looked at each other.

After a moment of thought, Sato raised his hand first:

“Whatever it is, I think we can pass on the ‘solve a mystery’ option first,”

“Because if it’s about solving a mystery, then the story framework behind PT would be too big,”

“But according to the director’s concept, our main game isn’t very related to the PT protagonist,”

“PT’s original purpose is to leave an open ending for players; it’s a short story,”

“So this setting would inevitably mislead players too much, causing attention shifts and harming our official release.”

Sato from the lead design department was experienced and precise in judgment and immediately rejected the “solve a mystery” setting.

Then Okura raised his hand:

“In that case, I think ‘adventure’ is not suitable either,”

“That setting is too shallow and doesn’t fit PT’s heavy and subtle psychological hints,”

“It would make players feel this scary journey is too childish, ruining the heavy atmosphere we worked hard to build,”

“I think this setting can also be passed on.”

Hearing this, the supervisors all nodded in agreement.

So, the “adventure” setting was also rejected.

That left only one option!

Gu Sheng shrugged: “Then we only have ‘investigation’ left?”

Everyone thought about it and nodded one after another.

However, Sato pondered a little:

“But wouldn’t this conflict with our game’s setting? After all, we already explained in the game that this villa murder case has been solved, and the killer has gone insane and been taken away by the police...”

“But investigations aren’t just done by the police,”

Before Sato could finish, Yuki, who had finally recovered, spoke:

“Couldn’t the protagonist be a reporter? One who specializes in digging up obscure, strange, and bizarre news!”

“A reporter heard about the haunted house in Silent Hill,”

“Since the case was too horrific and the killer insane,”

“She came with the idea of digging deep to uncover the truth and investigated and visited Silent Hill,”

“That’s how this demo content came about.”

Hiss—!!!

Yuki’s words made all the supervisors inhale sharply!

Brilliant!

This way!

The PT protagonist’s behavior logic made sense!

It was perfectly reasonable!

And Gu Sheng was utterly amazed by Yuki’s sudden inspiration!!!

Almost instantly!

A torrent of inspiration surged through his mind like a rushing wave!

A reporter!

Exactly!

A reporter who digs into obscure truths!

This reporter, named Miles Upshur, had always been dedicated to uncovering the most obscure and hard-to-reach news truths!

And today!

After receiving a tip from an insider, he learned about the horrific incident in Silent Hill!

With passionate professionalism, he came to the PT haunted house in Silent Hill, endured endless loops, and pieced together the truth with fragmented clues!

And when, filled with joy and after a nightmare night, he finally escaped the inner world and fled to safety, Miles drove away in his little jeep from Silent Hill!

In the thick fog, he would pass by James, who was still in the inner world, walking in the opposite direction.

James, the protagonist of the main story, would delve deep into Silent Hill to uncover the truth behind the letter from his deceased wife.

Miles, on the other hand, would continue his journey to find the next truth, heading to the massive Mountain Mental Hospital in Colorado.

“It all connects! It all connects! Everything connects!”

For a moment, Gu Sheng felt his scalp tingle.

Overwhelming excitement made him jump out of his chair, rush to the dazed Yuki in the motion-sensing pod, and cup her clever head:

“Come on babe! You are soooooooo—fucking clever!!!”

Two birds with one stone!

Gu Sheng was too excited!

Yuki’s suggestion not only gave the PT protagonist a reasonable identity!

It could even serve as an easter egg, introducing the plot of another major horror masterpiece!

This was the ultimate huge easter egg!

And the other masterpiece would be independently developed by their Golden Wind!

This way!

The “King of Horror Games” reputation created by Silent Hill would directly influence their independently developed horror masterpiece!

Whether other horror games succeed or lose money, Gu Sheng didn’t care.

But he!

Gu Sheng!

Games from his hands never lose money!!!

Never had such a wonderful connection!

For a moment, Gu Sheng felt his heart surge and reached out both hands:

“Come boys! Give me five!!!”

Seeing the excited director acting like he’d just won the lottery, everyone was dumbfounded!

“Huh? What’s up?”

They had no idea what Gu Sheng was thinking.

All they knew was when the “reporter” setting was mentioned, the director went crazy.

If Yuki weren’t a girl, the director might have kissed her just now, he was so excited.

Though they didn’t understand what the boss suddenly remembered, everyone cooperated and stretched out their hands.

Clap, clap, clap—

Gu Sheng clapped with everyone like a superstar.

Finally, he reached out both hands and gave a big high five to Yuki, whose cheeks blushed pink.

So... so manly...

Yuki sat in the motion-sensing pod, her brain a little dazed.

The sudden burst of masculine charm from Gu Sheng was like an unbeatable sharp spear, impossible to resist!

Ah!!!

Yuki silently screamed in her heart.

It was hard to imagine what kind of divine life Miaomiao had every day living under the same roof as such a man!

But damn, I’m so jealous!

After a round of high fives!

Gu Sheng turned and clapped his hands:

“Everyone, it’s been a pleasure working with you all. Thank you for your support,”

“Now, with PT’s exhibition approaching, our inspiration has ignited another fierce spark,”

“To present this benchmark horror game more perfectly,”

“I earnestly ask you all here, to make PT more complete and make Silent Hill more stunning!”

Saying this,

Gu Sheng nodded slightly with sincerity:

“Please, everyone!”

All the PT project supervisors stood up and bowed ninety degrees to Gu Sheng!

“Hiya—!!!”

...

Early November, beginning of winter, evening.

The dark headlights of the Navigator shone brightly, driving along the main road, weaving through traffic.

The atmosphere inside the car was lively.

“Hey, did you go to Akihabara? I heard it’s freaking exciting there!”

“How are the people there? Did you make their lead artist draw ghosts every day?”

“Do they call you sama?”

“Are they super competitive there? Are you guys working overtime every day?”

“By the way...”

One question after another came, making Gu Sheng in the back seat both amused and helpless.

Yes!

Just as the Higashitsu Gaming Festival was about to open!

Gu Sheng declined Moriya’s invitation and decided to return home during the gap between the demo and official development.

After all, Silent Hill, as a horror game, wasn’t Komera’s key recommended project this time, so he didn’t need to go on stage to speak at the first day’s launch.

“I appreciate Mr. Moriya’s kindness, but I have ties back home. Besides, when Silent Hill enters official development, I will lead the team back again, and we’ll celebrate then.”

Gu Sheng said this.

With that said, Moriya could only reluctantly say goodbye, letting Gu Sheng return home for now and wait for the formal signing of the cooperation contract.

The ones who came to pick him up were none other than Lu Bian and Da Jiang.

The three brothers chatted and laughed all the way.

Lu Bian and Da Jiang talked about recent company affairs; all projects were progressing steadily.

Gu Sheng shared his observations in Neon, the development of Silent Hill PT, the huge easter egg he planted, and the grand structure of the main Silent Hill story!

Yes!

After all, it was his home and his brothers.

Gu Sheng never held back with Lu Bian and Da Jiang.

And they were the same.

For a while, a small climax arose inside the car!

“Holy shit! This plan is amazing! If this goes through, it’ll make us famous and become the king of horror games!”

Hearing old Gu’s idea, Da Jiang repeatedly exclaimed.

Lu Bian, while amazed, reminded:

“By the way, old Gu, you haven’t told Komera about this main project and the other project spun off from the demo, right?”

“I’m not stupid,”

Gu Sheng smiled:

“Not only did I not reveal it to Komera, but after we all fly to Neon to host the project, this plan will only circulate among our core management,”

“In simple terms, we treat Komera’s people as contractors,”

“Before the game is finished, this plan must be fully controlled by us, to prevent them from taking the full plan and ditching us.”

Who was Gu Sheng?

Having lived two lives, he knew all the twists and turns in the game circle.

Indeed!

The cooperation with Komera on the Silent Hill PT project was going smoothly, and the collaboration with Sato, Okura, and Yuki was harmonious.

But after all, that was Komera, not Golden Wind.

That was Neon, not China.

Those were partners, not family or close friends.

Where a reserve was needed, it must be kept.

Saying this!

The Navigator drove into the Binjiang Yaju community and entered the underground garage.

Vroom.

The engine shut off.

The three got out of the car.

Da Jiang helped Gu Sheng carry the nearly empty suitcase down and pushed it to him.

“Come on, let’s go upstairs and eat together.”

Gu Sheng waved when the two didn’t move.

Lu Bian and Da Jiang each lit a cigarette, looked at him with disdain, and even took two steps back.

“Cut the crap, okay?”

Lu Bian sneered, completely seeing through it:

“What are we going upstairs for? To be the 2,500-watt super spotlight? Do you have enough electricity for that?”

“Tsk, hey,”

Gu Sheng blushed:

“What the hell is that? I’m sincere! Aren’t you coming to welcome me?”

“Tomorrow, tomorrow we’ll welcome you,”

Da Jiang suppressed a laugh:

“Not convenient today... today... today Brother Bian’s uncle-in-law came, can’t drink cold beer.”

Lu Bian gave Da Jiang a look that said ‘you just threw me under the bus’ and helplessly nodded: “Ah right, right, my uncle-in-law came, I can’t drink cold stuff, we’re leaving, see you tomorrow, see you tomorrow...”

Saying this, the two stopped lingering, slung their arms around each other’s shoulders, waved cigarettes at Gu Sheng, and left.

“Ah—”

Gu Sheng watched the two leave without a backward glance, their calm and proud backs, opened his mouth,

Then rolled his eyes.

Then he smiled, shook his head, dragged his suitcase into the hallway, and took the elevator straight to his doorstep.

He took a deep breath and pressed the fingerprint lock.

Beep beep—click—

The front door opened.

Inside the room was pitch black, the lights off.

It seemed no one was waiting for him at home.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com