Listening to the rustling wind in his headphones, Sun Yixie glanced again at the distant Psychiatric Hospital on the screen.
Sun Yixie fell silent for a moment.
"Before I play this game, I want to ask everyone... if—if I said I was in some kind of difficulty right now, could I not play?"
"Fine, then... I'll turn on the lights first, okay? Don't rush me."
After saying that, Sun Yixie stood up, leaned forward, and clicked the lighting switch.
The next moment, the lights came on in the cluttered storage-room-like space shown by the camera.
The livestream chat immediately exploded.
"??????? Sun Yixie, you horny coward!"
"Didn't you say horror games were as easy as breathing for you?"
"You're turning on the lights already? You're scared already?"
"23333333, Brother Sun, if you really can't do it, why not wait until Brother Huang gets back and play together? At least you'd have company."
"233333, it's as easy as breathing, so why did Brother Sun turn on the lights?"
"Turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!"
"Turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!"
"Turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!"
Following Sun Yixie's decision to turn on the lights, the comments flooding the screen eventually all became the same message.
"Turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!"
"Turn off my ass! Why the hell should I turn off the lights? Shut up!"
"I'll fucking say it one more time: horror games are as easy as breathing to me. There's absolutely no pressure. Sure, I might get startled once in a while."
"But that's just a tiny bit of nervousness."
Watching the chat, Sun Yixie tried to ease his panic with outside distractions.
Sitting back down in his chair and putting on his headphones, Sun Yixie officially began the game.
From the earlier explanations, he had already understood some of the basics.
In Outlast, he played an unarmed reporter.
Horror games generally fell into two categories.
One type had a combat system, meaning players could use firearms or other weapons to kill monsters or bosses.
The other type had no combat system at all. Players had to solve puzzles, run away, and avoid monsters.
The first type was currently the mainstream on the market. The second existed too, but it was far from mainstream.
At least, there were rarely any big-budget productions, while the Outlast before him was clearly a major horror title.
Sun Yixie could tell just from the setting and atmosphere.
The visuals definitely fell quite a bit short of AAA standards.
But they still looked remarkably realistic.
And for a horror game, that kind of immersion could easily make people nervous.
"Damn it, I'm not scared! How could I be scared? Hold on, let me check the controls first."
Sun Yixie looked at his second monitor, trying to chat with the viewers to relieve some pressure.
In the empty guard booth by the entrance, he found a battery.
After searching around the main gate, Sun Yixie had found several items in total.
A DV camera, a battery, and a blue folder.
"This should be the thing that replaces a flashlight later on, right?"
Sun Yixie took out the DV camera, inserted the battery, and turned it on.
Looking at the eerie green-tinted image, Sun Yixie had played plenty of games as a gaming streamer.
The moment he saw the DV camera mechanic, he more or less guessed what was coming.
There would probably be dark areas later on, and he would need the DV camera to find his way through them.
His words were tough, but he was still a little rattled inside.
Once he confirmed there was nothing else to explore, Sun Yixie pushed open the large iron gate and stepped into the courtyard.
The Psychiatric Hospital had a European architectural style and was utterly silent. Through the windows, he could see lights in some of the rooms flickering on and off.
It was as though a pair of eyes were staring at him from one of the lit rooms.
Controlling the protagonist down the path, Sun Yixie suddenly came to a stop.
Because on one floor of Jushan Mental Hospital ahead of him, the lights suddenly came on, and a black figure appeared at the window.
His eyes, which had been narrowed to slits, suddenly widened.
Sun Yixie controlled the protagonist to raise the camera and use its zoom function, intending to see what the thing actually was.
But it seemed to notice someone watching it and instantly darted aside.
From his viewpoint, he saw only a blurry black shadow.
At the same time, the room's lights went out again.
A chill instantly shot from Sun Yixie's feet all the way to the top of his head.
Nothing had even happened. He had not even seen a terrifying monster.
Yet he still felt a little panicked.
Jushan Mental Hospital before him was like a monster with its bloody jaws wide open, waiting for him to enter.
And the surrounding layout was incredibly strange, especially the riot-control vehicles at the entrance, which felt particularly unsettling.
Why would there be riot-control vehicles outside a Psychiatric Hospital?
When he reached the entrance of the Psychiatric Hospital, he found the door locked and impossible to open.
After wandering around the area, Sun Yixie eventually found a small hole in the iron gate on the left and crawled through it.
What followed was a sequence of gameplay instructions.
Running, jumping, climbing, crouching, and other movements.
The game's camera work and details were also exceptionally well done, things Sun Yixie had never experienced in earlier horror games.
Through his headphones, he could clearly hear the male protagonist panting heavily.
Following the prompts, he reached a window. The moment he climbed inside, all the lights in the room suddenly went out.
The entire room sank into darkness.
At the same time, the sudden blackout made Sun Yixie, who was playing the game, flinch.
"233333, what did I just see?"
"Hahaha, Brother Sun actually has eyes!"
"I'm dying, Brother Sun seemed to twitch just now, didn't he?"
"If you're scared, Brother Sun, just admit it!"
Seeing Sun Yixie's reaction, all sorts of comments flooded the livestream chat.
Compared with his usual streams, there were far more comments today. Clearly, quite a few viewers were scared too and were spamming messages to ease their own fear.
"D-Damn it! What's there to be scared of? I'm a tough guy! What am I afraid of? What is there to fear?!"
After turning on the DV camera's night vision mode, the grim green hue of the screen made the game's atmosphere even more eerie.
Sun Yixie shouted loudly to encourage himself while holding the camera and beginning his exploration.
He pulled open a half-closed door and walked forward.
Suddenly, the television that had been off turned on by itself and emitted a piercing burst of static.
"Ahhh!"
That sharp noise frightened Sun Yixie senseless.
On the camera, Sun Yixie's whole body jolted. With a world-class tenor scream, he kicked off the desk with both feet, sending his wheeled chair rolling backward. At the same time, he covered his eyes with both hands and flung himself back into the chair.
A few seconds later, when he realized there seemed to be no follow-up sound in his headphones, he finally parted the hands covering his face by a tiny crack and peeked at the computer screen through it.
In the game's pitch-black room, there was only a television filled with static.
After confirming there was no danger, Sun Yixie finally lowered his hands. Instead of covering his face, he clutched his chest, looking utterly relieved.
(PS: As usual, please send some votes my way—recommendation votes and monthly votes are both welcome. Mwah~)