Ren couldn't believe how fast the game was progressing. He was already plunging headfirst into this scenario, and Renu was still missing. She was meant to be his wildcard, but now he was on his own with other people's lives on the line, and the video chat was still on.
Mister XY screamed: OH MY GOD! THAT WAS A MOVING CORPSE. IT MOVED, GAO MING'S SISTER-IN-LAW. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
Gao Ming's Sister-In-Law was angry: 'I have a name, Ling, and can you never try to connect this serious situation to me?' Let's not pretend like everyone here didn't mistreat him. In fact, I am the person who treated him the best here.
Mister XY snorted: Keep telling yourself that lie.
From the video, Ling was shivering as she hugged something wrapped in clothes.
Ling: I am scared
Mister XY huffed: Me too, we all are. What are you holding?
Ling: My baby
She jogged with her child and opened the door to her living room. She was on the second floor; she couldn't go downstairs to the third floor, where Mr. B was attacked, and the corpse would be coming; she only had the first floor to hide.
Mister XY coughed: Ling, think about what you want to do.
The sound of something dragging against the stairs was audible from the dark staircase—the corpse.
Ling took off running with the child, dropping her phone in the process.
Mister XY: Ling! Your phone.
Mister F: Why did she run?
Mister G: Everyone should calm down. Going to the top floor is foolish; the corpse will reach us sooner or later.
Mister XY: Ling!
Professor: She's gone, we can't do anything to stop her. Why don't we all hide in my house? It's the one that is the farthest from the stairwell.
Mister XY: Professor, aren't you meant to be in the hospital? How are you speaking?
The Professor was ninety years old, a retired bouncer and security guard who earned the name 'the Professor' due to his claimed 'strictness' during his work; he had recently been diagnosed with a terminal condition. He was basically akin to a doll, as he was bedridden and mute.
The Professor's wrinkled face was visible with confusion, along with that of the others: I don't know what happened, but I just feel fantastic now.
Even to Ren, that made no sense, and the Professor sensed the disbelief of his words, so he removed his shirt in front of everyone.
Ren cringed at the sight.
The professor's body was ghostly pale, with swirling, snake-shaped, dark veins that were ballooned, looking as if they could burst at any moment. Everyone gasped at the sight.
Professor: Guys, I am scared.
Under everyone's astonished, disgusted, and accusing gaze, the Professor put on back in coat in shame. Ren was intrigued by this so-called Professor; he had witnessed his parents replaced by entities that emulated every single aspect of his parents without any apparent defect. In fact, Ren was feeling that something was a bit off about these neighbours.
The thing is, if there are entities or ghosts among the neighbors, they would want to drive the living to destroy one another.
He wanted to go and visit the Professor. As he went to the door, he heard the sound of rushing footsteps.
Was that Ling? He then realized that he wanted to confirm something unnecessary, yet he had to confirm this nagging suspicion that could help him clear the scenario quickly.
He covered the phone's camera, opened the door, and dashed into the corridor, running as quickly as he could to the sixth floor, his heart beating madly against his chest, but he didn't see anybody around.
Mister H panicked: Guys! I swear by my life that Ling reached the sixth floor before me. How is that possible?
The atmosphere was now filled with the smell of rotten flesh. Ren looked down the stairwell to the lower floors; it was absolutely dark and pin-drop silent.
What is going on? Ren wondered; he heard what sounded like another argument from the phone. He hid by a corner to check it out.
Mister F: Guys, I swear by my life that Gao Ming is right outside my door, he is back.
Mister F, on the third floor, sent a black and white surveillance video that showed a mangled, thin corpse of Gao Ming banging his head against the door, the deformed, wide-open mouthed, face ragdolled with each swing that became more powerful with each knock. Everyone was quiet, as they didn't know what to say. Mister F, especially, was scared the most, since he was the one whose door was being cracked open, little by little.
The twelfth knock broke through the door, and Mister F screamed, the corpse with splints on its disgusting head, sped at Mister F, the video blurred, and a big bang was heard within the complex.
The video slid down and landed on Mister F's face. It seemed that he was pushed from the third floor as he mirrored Gao Ming's death.
The video was also covered in blood, and Ren cursed at the sight, but he had to prove something. He ran to the end of the sixth-floor corridor, kicked open the locked window, and analyzed the outside.
He took a deep breath from the sight, there was only a pool of blood but no body at the entrance of the stairwell.
Something was wrong; it's as if these neighbours didn't actually exist.
Ren's breathing became faster, in fact, now that he thought of it. Why would Gao Ming's phone be left behind and not taken by his family? They had already mostly cleaned out the important and valuable things in the apartment; it couldn't be them who left this phone; they would have taken it.
As his brain was firing at an increasing rate, it hit him.
The name of the game, the one he made with someone back then that matched this scenario: THE ONLY FAMILY ONE CAN DREAM OF.
He was now fully scared as that game was something he could die in, he was so screwed in every possible way.
He missed Renu so much now. Where was she?