Cecilia stood in a dim cave lit by flickering torches fixed to the stone walls.
The air felt heavy and still.
She was puzzled. Unlike in Subway Surfer, where players would immediately deploy and start running, this time she couldn't move at all.
Her head was tilted unnaturally, as if staring over her own shoulder.
She looked around her surroundings. A thick fog hung in the air, and eerie noises echoed from deep within the cave.
Strange symbols were scribbled across the walls in uneven lines, glowing faintly in the darkness. One part of the cave wall was coated in a yellow, sand-like layer that felt rough and grainy, as if it were hiding something beneath the surface
The floor was uneven, made of dark stone, and small pebbles crunched underfoot. A distant, low hum echoed through the space, adding to the unsettling atmosphere.
Cecilia frowned slightly.
[ Huh? ]
[ What's going on? ]
Cecilia was confused too.
"I can't move. It seems like the game is bugging?"
It would make sense, since only four people worked on this game.
A small bug was understandable.
Even experienced game designers sometimes encountered glitches where players could suddenly walk through walls.
Unlike in Felix's previous life, this time solid items or walls only glitched if they became liquid or transparent, where you could see them but not touch them.
Many developers made this mistake when they accidentally set an object's properties incorrectly, making it intangible instead of solid.
Just like coding bugs in games from his previous life, the issue was the same in concept, only this time it involved using mental energy to create a world inside the holographic pod.
Interstellar game developers often faced this problem, especially low-tier designers who simply improvised when their creations behaved strangely.
It was tiresome work.
What puzzled her most was that even with such advanced systems, bugs like these still existed.
Tierra Entertainment, known as the dark horse of the industry, was famous for its flawless execution. Their first game, Subway Surfer, had no errors; the trains never turned liquid, and the ground never became transparent.
Tierra Entertainment had built a vast, seamless world that took other developers months to replicate.
Even Solsphere Entertainment had to invent a new method just to catch up.
So how could Tierra make such a rookie mistake now? Especially after releasing a game as perfect as Subway Surfer.
Many had tried to recruit Tierra, but he refused every offer.
It turned out he was quietly developing a new project that no one had expected.
A horror game.
Cecilia was deep in thought when a sudden loud roar startled her.
Fast-paced drums and tense music filled the air. She felt a surge of urgency but couldn't move.
Then came the sound of heavy footsteps, growing louder and closer with each passing second.
A shadowy creature appeared about ten meters facing her.
Slowly, she saw its full form. Its body was hunched and beast-like, with glowing eyes and sharp fangs.
Its head looked like a skull.
After the monster fully revealed itself, Cecilia, drenched in cold sweat, stammered for the first time during a stream,
"W-what is that?"
[It looks scary]
[The skull on its head looks like an alien?]
[It looks like there's a pattern on its head?]
[ Am i the only one who's scared?? qwq]
[ What do you mean?]
[ Go switch to first perspective and you'll understand.]
[ WTF !??]
It stared the players down, and the viewers gulped.
One of them switched to first-person view during the cutscene and saw how massive the demon monkey looked from Cecilia's perspective.
It felt like the demon monster was staring directly at them through the screen, sending chills down their spines.
They quickly switched back to third-person view.
They couldn't handle it.
A rasping breath came from the monster, its hollow eyes fixed on Cecilya and the viewers, as if it wanted to devour them. Beneath the skull, its gaze pierced like a predator ready to strike.
A heating stench of blood smell, and unknown odor hit Cecilia, her breathing grew rapid that she herself even didn't realize, a instinct want to run in her military experience for years she move her body to run this dangerous creatures.
In Tierra Entertainment all the mental power that players have is turn off, all it needed was equally knowing to players who play Subway Surfer, players accept it willingly after all you won by your skills everyone is equal.
Now…Cecilia want to use that mental power.
Cecilia felt like she could move again and instinctively ran with all her strength.
The monster glare at her back that sent shiver on her spine, let out a loud roar, pounded its chest, and chased after her.
Even though she had stopped training as a soldier, her instincts were still there.
She couldn't see her path clearly, but it was a straightforward route.
No matter how much she tried to sprint, the system only allowed her regulated movement, controlling her speed.
It didn't give her any speed boost.
There were no obstacles at first, which made her feel at ease.
She could still hear the monster chasing her from behind.
Suddenly, a broken pillar began to crumble in her path, and she instantly rolled forward to avoid it.
She heard a hiss as a long snake popped out from below, appearing suddenly behind the wall in her path.
She immediately jumped.
She didn't know what she was doing anymore. She only knew that she needed to run and escape from this cave.
Earlier, she had seen on the menu that there was an open exit somewhere inside the cave.
Still, it felt impossible to believe there could be any way out of such an eerie place.
She looked up and saw sunlight glowing ahead, and a wave of relief filled her.
Just as she was about to reach the exit, part of the cave wall crumbled.
Cecilia hesitated.
She wasn't sure if she could make it through.
Even though the game mechanics didn't let players feel tired.
Stamina was unlimited like in Subway Surfer she felt exhausted to her core.
Fear gripped her, and she wanted to escape the cave when suddenly a notification sound rang out.
A donation alert popped up from a big spender:
[Cecily! There's light on the right side, down low! You can crawl through and get out!]
The viewers were more nervous than she was.
From their perspective, they could see the monster approaching from behind.
It was far too close to Cecily, but it didn't reach out to grab her.
That, at least, meant the game was still fair and playable.
Cecilia, upon seeing the opening, immediately understood.
She ran toward it, bent down, and began crawling as fast as she could. It seemed like the system doubled her speed while crawling, or maybe it was just how desperate she was to get through.
What Cecilia didn't know was that some players who had reached the crawling part before her were much slower and had been caught by the monster.
One of those players was so frightened they were forced out of the system.
This news would soon spread across the entire galaxy.
Cecilia reached the outside.
The visuals were completely different from the eerie cave interior.
It was like comparing night and day. Sunlight shone across the landscape, and trees swayed gently in the wind.
With the background music, it didn't feel out of place at all. Still, she felt a lingering fear about what might be behind her.
[Run, Cecily! ]
[The monster is still behind you!!]
She couldn't express her awe at all.
She was panicking, and she could still hear the monster destroying the rocks behind her.
She took off running.
Her speed now felt the same as it had earlier, like the way she had been running in Subway Surfer.
Unlike the crawling part, where she felt faster, her movement was now back to normal speed.
That made her feel helpless.
The demon monster was already just 16 meters away. As it got even closer, she suddenly heard the sound of flowing water.
"Water?" Cecilia was confused.
This time, there were no visible obstacles.
Unlike Subway Surfers, where you could see obstacles from meters away, this game took a different approach.
It placed players in helpless situations and suddenly increased their speed depending on how urgently they reacted, like during the crawling section.
But now, after escaping, there were no obstacles at all.
That felt suspicious.
She began to scrutinize her surroundings but let her guard down since the monster was still far behind her.
Just as she started to believe there really were no obstacles, she heard a whoosh — an arrow nearly hit her.
She dodged just in time.
Then, suddenly, another arrow came from her. She jumped and quickly moved to the left side.
This game knew exactly how to lower your guard and then hit you with pressure the next moment!
[I'm scared to even watch in third perspective… It's like the monster is chasing me!!]
[I couldn't even type a message, my heart is beating fast…]
[Same here qwq]
For the first time, Cecilya felt something she couldn't name. It was pressing, yet it pushed her to keep playing.
Cecilya was running on auto-run, like the mechanics in Subway Surfer. For the first time in her life, she was grateful for the auto-run — without it, the game would have been unplayable.
Seeing what lay ahead, a shiver ran down her spine.
There was nothing on the other side, completely clouded in mist. She looked left and right, hoping for a way around, but there was nothing.
Where could she go?
Desperate, she glanced at the live comments:
[There is no cliff on the other side?]
[Is there really no way to win this game?]
[Tierra Entertainment really downgraded this time…]
[Maybe you'll see what's in it if you get closer? There's no way Tierra Entertainment would make a rookie mistake!]
[It's fine if Tierra made a mistake, they'll probably fix it soon.]
Cecilya was the only one to reach this scene so far.
Streamers had died in the cave when the monster appeared after ten seconds, or from sneaky snakes that attacked while they forgot to dodge.
Most players failed in the escape scenes; they forgot to crawl faster — and many died in the arrows area because the attacks were unexpected and their mental abilities weren't available.
They were limited to normal human physical skills, unable to anticipate anything.
Felix had made sure players weren't too overpowered in his game, removing both their usual mental powers and enhanced physical abilities.
Accustomed to their strength, they didn't expect to die at all.
Cecilya gritted her teeth, trusting Tierra. As she neared the cliff, she saw a strange, long, brown object, but she didn't recognize it.
Somehow, she regained full control of her body. Despite the puzzle and the monster behind her, she chose to jump.
To her amazement, she could ski through it, collecting coins along the way.
Her character swayed with the wind as she moved, the water splashing and rushing past her in shimmering streams.
The planet she had lived on since childhood was already populated, but the unfamiliar scent of wind and water in this scene felt strangely refreshing.
For a moment, she forgot about the monster chasing her and just enjoyed the experience.
Felix looked at the emotional points he had been earning, a satisfied expression on his face.
Fear was bringing in a lot of points.
He now had[455]It wasn't enough to buy a AAA-type game yet, but he was making progress.
Creating games in this world was different.
If he imagined a rock, a rock would appear, complete with detailed textures.
His skill had clearly improved.
Compared to the chair he made before, which looked poorly made; his creations now looked much better.