"By the time I entered the family building, I'd already memorized all the passageways. There are two ways to go up and down — take the elevator or use the stairs." Chen Ge stared at the screen, perfectly calm. "We'll see which route keeps us further from the killer and go that way. Of course, the best outcome would be if both killers took each other out."
After saying this, Chen Ge moved Xiao Bu into the kitchen.
"What are you looking for?" Fan Cong's heart shot into his throat. The game had entered a storyline he'd never experienced before, so he was equal parts nervous and excited.
"Seeing if there's a kitchen knife, fruit knife, something like that. After the two killers fight it out, the survivor should be wounded too. If we've got a blade at that point, we'd have a fighting chance."
Fan Cong didn't know what to say to that explanation. This guy was basically trying to force a puzzle game into becoming a combat game.
After searching the entire room, Chen Ge found no knives — just thread, needles, and fabric. "Looks like this game doesn't encourage fighting back. The player can only dodge passively and try their best to stay alive."
The graphics were mediocre, but the details were excellent, enough to fully immerse you in Xiao Bu's role — as though you were that lonely, pitiful little girl yourself.
When Chen Ge moved Xiao Bu to the balcony again, the pervert in the factory uniform down below had vanished.
A few minutes later, a dialogue box popped up at the bottom of the screen — the sound of a scuffle came from beyond the door, a knife puncturing flesh like stabbing into a waterlogged bag. Someone was running. Someone was chasing.
"The two killers are fighting!" Fan Cong stared at the dialogue box on screen, more worked up than Chen Ge himself. "One's chasing the other — this is our chance!"
The killer who'd been blocking the door was gone. Chen Ge moved Xiao Bu to open the living room door. The hallway was stained red with blood.
"The blood trail extends toward the stairs — they went that way. Let's take the elevator!" Fan Cong's heart was in his mouth. There was no room for distraction. The killers could come back any second; time was tight.
"No rush. It's dark outside now. Even if we take the elevator, where would we go? Didn't you say that after dark, walking the streets means you die for no reason?" Chen Ge's mind was racing. "Besides, if we take the elevator, the killer will realize it and come after us. Way too dangerous."
"So what do we suggest?" In Fan Cong's eyes, no matter what they did, death was the outcome — all they could do was delay it.
"The killer running toward the stairs is exactly what I expected. Elevators require waiting; if he wants to shake off pursuit, the stairs are his only option." Chen Ge moved Xiao Bu out of the apartment and, to the utter shock of both Fan Cong and Fan Dade, stopped right in front of the ghost neighbor's door.
"What are you doing?" Both brothers stared at the screen, not blinking.
"I'm planning to deal with the other killer too." Chen Ge clicked on the inventory and, standing at the ghost neighbor's door, discarded the last of the fabric and thread.
The scene left Fan Cong and Fan Dade completely dumbfounded. After a long pause, Fan Cong was the first to recover: "You're trying to create the illusion that Xiao Bu hid in the neighbor's apartment? Then lure the killer in there?"
"That's the idea, in a perfect world." After tossing out the fabric, Chen Ge moved Xiao Bu straight toward the stairwell. The two killers had run downstairs, and Chen Ge positioned Xiao Bu at the landing between this floor and the one above — meaning that when the killer returned, just one extra flight of stairs upward would expose her.
"You've got some serious nerve," Fan Cong said with genuine admiration.
"Hiding at home guarantees we get found. Taking the elevator means the killer will chase us. So I have no choice but to eliminate them." Chen Ge watched the screen. A dozen seconds later, a man in a factory uniform came running up from below.
"Looks like the raincoat guy's been taken out." Chen Ge moved Xiao Bu against the wall, perfectly positioned to spot the killer from this angle.
What happened next didn't quite match Chen Ge's expectations. The killer in the factory uniform was even sharper than he'd anticipated — nothing like a scripted NPC. He felt like a real, cold-blooded psychopath walking the earth.
He didn't bother entering Xiao Bu's apartment to search. He went straight to the elevator, glancing back at Xiao Bu's front door now and then.
After a moment, he returned from the elevator — no one had used it, so he was certain Xiao Bu was still on this floor.
Blade in hand, the killer entered Xiao Bu's apartment. The moment he opened the door, he saw a corpse lying on the ground. Interestingly, a line of text appeared at the bottom of the screen — seemingly the killer's inner monologue: "Damn it! That's four bodies I have to deal with tonight! And all I wanted to do was kill one!"
The killer in the factory uniform stepped inside but didn't find Xiao Bu. A few more chat boxes popped up: "Where'd that little girl run off to? She saw me dealing with the body — she must be hiding in this apartment."
After searching every room and coming up empty, the killer stepped back out. That was when he noticed the fabric scraps on the ground. "That girl left the apartment? There's blood on these scraps — was she trying to bandage the wound? The fabric disappears into the room next door…"
The killer stood in front of the neighbor's door for a good while, then knocked. "Police. We received a report from a resident in this complex who witnessed a homicide. Please open the door and cooperate with the investigation."
Moments later, the neighbor's door actually opened. The killer slipped inside with a sinister grin, knife at the ready.
"Our turn."
Chen Ge moved Xiao Bu out of the hallway, clicked on the neighbor's door with the mouse, and shut it.
Another dialogue box appeared: You hear someone inside crying for help, but you don't lift a finger. Ten minutes later, a new thudding sound echoes through the door.
On screen, Xiao Bu stood before the neighbor's door — a little girl in her mother's nightgown, cute and innocent, her colors completely at odds with the world around her. But to Fan Cong and Fan Dade, this little girl was the most terrifying thing in the entire game.
"You even locked the door on him?" Fan Cong took a sip of his cola, trying to calm himself. Fan Dade beside him had concluded that Chen Ge was absolutely not an ordinary person — the whole sequence of moves had rendered him too stunned to even raise his voice.
"Don't worry, I'm doing the public a favor." Night had fallen. Chen Ge didn't waste a second, moving Xiao Bu into the hallway to find the raincoat man's corpse. He clicked on the body repeatedly with the mouse.
"What are you doing now?" Fan Cong had given up trying to figure out what Chen Ge was thinking.
"Looking for keys and anything useful. Xiao Bu can't go back home — there's a ghost next door. If I can find the killer's house key, we'll spend the night at the killer's place."