Grim Reaper Game

Chapter 2 The Game Has Started

I looked down through the gap in the stairway, only to see that there was a seemingly endless spiral of stairs.

Since this floor was -1, the floors below would naturally be -2, -3, and so on…

The myth of the eighteen floors of hell came to mind. Could the bottom floor be -18?

After taking a deep breath, I continued to walk down slowly.

The -1 floor was not too different from the floors above. It had dim lights and a narrow hallway with locked rooms lining both sides of it. Even the door handles were rusty. The only difference was that the numbers on the doors were all negative. ‘-101, -102, -103…’

I carefully walked to Room -101 and pressed my ear against the door.

As soon as I did so, I heard gusts of wind from inside. It reminded me of riding a motorcycle without a helmet on. It was the sound one would hear while speeding on the freeway. The sound also reminded me of a small-scale typhoon.

The moment I pulled away from the door, the sound of the wind became inaudible. There was dead silence all around me.

It was impossible for such strong wind to occur in a closed room. I wondered what was going on behind the door. I pressed my hand against the door slit, but I could not sense the slightest breeze.

After taking a deep breath, I reached for the rusty door handle and turned it forcefully. It would not budge.

Although the door could not be opened, I felt relieved. I was afraid that the door would open, and I would suddenly see something strange.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and went to the next room, Room -103.

Repeating the process, I pressed one ear against the door. I immediately heard the sound of water from inside. It was as if there was a trickling stream behind the door.

I took two steps back. I was still in a state of disbelief. At this point, there was no way I could believe the sound came from a running tap that was left on in the room.

I continued to explore. I still could not open any of the doors. However, it was very quiet behind all the other doors. I no longer heard any strange noises.

Just then, I heard a soft thud, as if something had fallen on the floor.

In this extremely quiet environment, my body froze as soon as I heard the sound.

Two seconds later, I heard another thud. This time, I could clearly tell that it came from the stairway.

I immediately ran to the entrance of the stairway and looked down through the gap. I could not see anything.

The sound had a regular pattern. It could be heard every two seconds. I stood at the entrance of the stairway and listened carefully.

As time went on, the sound grew louder and louder. After standing there for a minute or two, I was quite certain that something was on its way up. Each time it took a step, it would make a soft thud.

It definitely did not sound like a human’s footstep. What would make such a sound when it moved? What was ‘it?’

Could it be the female ghost mentioned by the Grim Reaper game? Based on my estimation, approximately ten minutes had passed since the game started.

I felt goosebumps all over my body. Could it really be the ghost? I was in huge trouble.

“s**t!” I cursed out loud and ran up the stairs. I wanted to return to the world above, but I realized the way up had disappeared. Like the main door, the stairway to the floor above had turned into a realistic painting. In reality, it was only a thick wall.

I was at a loss. ‘What should I do? What should I do?’

The way up was blocked. ‘What should I do now?’ The only option seemed to be to hide in a room.

I turned around and ran to one of the rooms. The door could not be opened. I tried another one.

I tried opening each door along the hallway, but none of them could be opened. As time went on, the thuds grew closer and closer…

“There has to be a way out! If this was a game, there has to be a way to get through this stage!” I forced myself to remain calm. I began observing my surroundings.

Soon, I noticed something unusual. The door next to me had a huge rusted surface that seemed as wide as two of my palms placed next to each other. The other doors all had small rusted surfaces. The largest among these were no bigger than the size of a fingertip.

“Could there be a secret behind this door?” At this point, I had no choice but to give it a try no matter how ridiculous it seemed. I immediately took my key out and began scraping it forcefully against the large, rusted surface.

Soon, I managed to scrape off a huge chunk of rust. Gradually, a line of text appeared on the door.

“Go with the wind. Take three steps south, ten steps west, two steps north, and one step east.”

Sure enough, there was a hint on the door. I was pleasantly surprised, but I quickly became disappointed after reading the words.

I could not believe I still had to deal with a riddle at such a time. Was this a joke? I was terrible with directions. I could not even tell the difference between east, west, south, and north, let alone in a completely closed-off environment like this. How could I possibly find the right direction?

However, the faint sounds of the thuds reminded me that now was not the time to get frustrated. If I could not solve the riddle right away, I would be dead.

“Calm down, calm down. There must be another hint somewhere.” I slowly sorted out the information in my head. “Go with the wind. Go with the wind… I heard the sound of wind in Room -101. This must be it. What about the sound of water I heard in Room -103? Could it be a hint too?”

I thought carefully for a while. Suddenly, it hit me. “Oh, right. I know the answer!”

I immediately walked to Room -101 and stood with my back against the door. I took three steps forward and ten steps to the right. I then turned right and took two steps forward. Finally, I turned right again and took one step forward. I stopped.

“This should be it.” I looked around. Finally, my gaze landed upon the tile I was standing on. I squatted and knocked on the tile.

“It’s hollow! I was right!” I immediately used my key to lift the tile up from its edge. It was much easier than I expected. I soon managed to lift the tile completely.

I found a few sheets of paper inside. After removing the papers, I saw a key.

I grabbed it, barely able to describe how excited I felt.

Just then, I could hear the thuds coming from somewhere very close to where I was. In a few seconds, ‘she’ would appear on this floor.

The hint from the Grim Reaper game mentioned that I must not be seen by ‘her’.

I immediately hopped onto my feet and ran to the door with words engraved on it. I inserted the key into the lock.

Click.

‘The door opened!’

I quickly walked in and closed the door behind me, trying my best not to make a sound as I did so.

After locking the door, I sat weakly on the floor and took a deep breath to calm myself down.

Thump! Thump!

I could hear the sound of something moving closer through the gap in the door. ‘She’ was heading this way. My heart began to pound again.

I pressed hard against the door and dared not move.

Finally, the sound stopped in front of the door. ‘She’ was just outside the door. There was only a door between us.

I had never been so scared in my life. My entire body felt stiff, and my mind went blank. In fact, I even stopped breathing.

It felt as if a century had passed before the regular thudding sound could be heard. ‘She’ finally left.

I inhaled desperately. I nearly suffocated myself earlier. After a long while, I finally calmed down.

My father was right. Reading was good for me!

My father’s greatest hobby was reading. He had a study with a huge collection of books. There were all sorts of strange titles in there. When I was a kid, I used to stay there and read all day long. I was not a picky reader. Over the course of a few years, I finished reading most of the books in the study. However, after growing up, I became addicted to gaming and rarely read.

In the western culture, there were five known elements. These elements of water, metal, wood, fire, and earth all corresponded to west, east, north, south, and center. Water corresponded to the north.

I only managed to obtain the key that saved my life because I figured this out.

What kind of monster was the female ghost outside the door?

I really did not have the courage to find out. Nothing good could possibly exist in a bizarre place like this.

Now, I finally had the energy to observe my surroundings. After looking around, I realized this was still a dormitory room.

Compared to our filthy male rooms, this one was much neater. It felt like a female dormitory room.

I took a few steps forward and looked around as I walked. Soon, a red diary on a table caught my attention.

The words in the diary seemed gracefully written. The diary belonged to Shaina Wallace. She probably lived in this dormitory room.

I quickly skimmed through the diary. It was a record of the mundane things in life. Shaina seemed to be in love. She wrote about all the naive fantasies of a young girl.

However, in the second half of the diary, things changed abruptly. Shaina became full of resentment. According to the diary, her boyfriend got together with another girl. He even wanted to keep it a secret from her while two-timing her. In reality, Shaina had found out a long time ago.

The last diary entry read, “Luke, I’ve had enough of your lies. I need to talk to you tonight. Let’s make everything clear…”

I looked at the date. This entry was written on the 10th of March. The remaining pages of the diary were blank. Shaina never wrote another entry again.

I sighed softly and put down the diary. Suddenly, I recalled that I also found a few sheets of paper when I acquired the key. The situation was dire at the time, and I had chucked the papers into my pocket without reading any of it. I took the papers out of my pocket.

The first sheet of paper was a newspaper clipping. It reported that a college girl had committed suicide by jumping off the building due to relationship issues. Coincidentally, the date was the 10th of March.

“It can’t be a coincidence, right? Could the girl who committed suicide be Shaina?”

In that case, could the ghost wandering through this dormitory be her?

However, if it was indeed suicide, how did she end up being a ghost? Did Shaina really commit suicide?