Chapter 3: DON’T INSTALL THE HANGMAN APP?

第三章 不要安裝HANGMAN（劊子手）應(yīng)用程序

我剛剛又一次通關(guān)了我最喜歡的手機(jī)游戲，自然也隨之彈出了那熟悉的廣告。我知道設(shè)計(jì)這些游戲的公司需要以某種方式賺錢，但這種頻繁的廣告實(shí)在令人煩惱。對(duì)于我來(lái)說(shuō)，唯一值得慶幸的便是這些廣告大多都耗時(shí)不長(zhǎng)。不過(guò)這次的廣告是不同的，它用一種我熟悉的音樂(lè)促使我靜下心來(lái)觀看。?

當(dāng)我聽到那些陰郁的小提琴演奏的那一刻，我就認(rèn)出了它。這是肖邦的葬禮進(jìn)行曲。任何看過(guò)動(dòng)畫片的人都肯定聽說(shuō)過(guò)這部作品。每當(dāng)一個(gè)角色即將遭遇厄運(yùn)時(shí)，它便會(huì)被被播放。?

隨著音樂(lè)的進(jìn)行，一個(gè)色彩鮮艷的套索緩緩下降，來(lái)回晃動(dòng)，直到它到達(dá)屏幕中間，隨即停止。游戲的標(biāo)題也開始成為了焦點(diǎn)，一個(gè)字母接著一個(gè)字母，而隨機(jī)的照片顯示著各色人物的面龐，他們的頭在繩環(huán)的中心。所有的頭部照片都被整齊地裁剪，使繩索可以完美地貼在他們的脖頸上。?

天哪，我發(fā)現(xiàn)最后一張出現(xiàn)在套索上的照片正是我用于Facebook個(gè)人資料上的照片，就像其他照片一樣被裁剪在絞索上。我知道對(duì)于這樣一款游戲來(lái)說(shuō)，做這樣的事情并不是什么大事，我只是沒(méi)想到事情會(huì)是這樣的巧。這在令我感覺(jué)很酷。?

當(dāng)我的那張臉書照片顯示時(shí)，游戲的標(biāo)題已經(jīng)完全出現(xiàn)，音樂(lè)被切斷了。?

HANGMAN（劊子手），以一種古老的西方風(fēng)格的字體呈現(xiàn)，每個(gè)字母都掛在一根繩子上。?

毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，這則充滿創(chuàng)意的炫酷廣告激起了我的興趣。為了了解更多信息，我點(diǎn)擊了屏幕，希望被重定向到應(yīng)用程序商店，在那里我可以閱讀游戲的概述，查看一些評(píng)論，也許還可以觀看一兩個(gè)游戲的視頻。?

當(dāng)我被重新定向到游戲的官方網(wǎng)站時(shí)，我感到很驚訝。因?yàn)槲覐奈从龅竭^(guò)這種能將我直接重定向到網(wǎng)站的游戲。我認(rèn)為這是因?yàn)槟撤N網(wǎng)絡(luò)協(xié)議的存在迫使用戶去提供商的官方應(yīng)用商店。不過(guò)這并不會(huì)阻止我去下載這款游戲（如果它像我希望的那樣酷眩的話）。?

網(wǎng)站上列出的唯一信息如下：

您已被聘請(qǐng)為該鎮(zhèn)的新劊子手。死刑每三天執(zhí)行一次。為了保住您的工作，您必須在72小時(shí)內(nèi)執(zhí)行您的目標(biāo)。您確定您能勝任絞刑師的工作嗎？?

文字后面是幾張照片，展示了如何選擇您的目標(biāo)以及如何“懸掛”它們。根據(jù)我收集到的信息，這是另一款增強(qiáng)現(xiàn)實(shí)游戲，它使用手機(jī)的攝像頭作為“套索”來(lái)捕捉目標(biāo)。?

當(dāng)您第一次開始游戲時(shí)，您從一個(gè)名為“死囚”（condmned）的列表中選擇您的目標(biāo)。做出選擇后，目標(biāo)的圖片將顯示在屏幕的左下角，其下方有一個(gè)倒數(shù)計(jì)時(shí)器。如果您點(diǎn)擊圖片，您將會(huì)被提供一張地圖，該地圖顯示您的當(dāng)前位置以及目標(biāo)的投影位置，該位置可以精確到大約1000英尺（約30.48米）。?

一旦您在現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中找到您的目標(biāo)，您應(yīng)該點(diǎn)擊套索圖標(biāo)，這將打開手機(jī)的相機(jī)應(yīng)用程序，并小幅增加一個(gè)CGI套索掛在屏幕中間。然后，您握住手機(jī)，使目標(biāo)的頭部出現(xiàn)在套索中間3秒鐘。如果您成功做到這一點(diǎn)，相機(jī)會(huì)拍照，并且您將成功地處決目標(biāo)。?

在您絞死了三個(gè)目標(biāo)之后，您可以選擇晉升到下一個(gè)級(jí)別或退休。列出的級(jí)別是劊子手，職業(yè)處刑師和死神。該游戲的網(wǎng)站還有一個(gè)排行榜，其中有幾個(gè)玩家標(biāo)簽被列為劊子手，但還沒(méi)有人被列為職業(yè)處刑師或死神。我懷疑這是因?yàn)橛螒蜃罱l(fā)布，還沒(méi)有人有時(shí)間到達(dá)。?

我喜歡黑暗游戲，而這個(gè)聽起來(lái)也很有趣，至少對(duì)于像我這樣擁有扭曲幽默感的人來(lái)說(shuō)很有趣。我快速點(diǎn)擊下載按鈕，并且興奮地開始嘗試。通常情況下，我會(huì)告訴我所有的朋友關(guān)于這個(gè)游戲的事情，但這次并不行。我想搶占先機(jī)，成為第一個(gè)比其他人更早進(jìn)入死神排行榜的人。?

當(dāng)我等待游戲下載時(shí)，典型的用戶協(xié)議彈出了。這些天來(lái)，每一次的下載都出現(xiàn)了十幾頁(yè)相同的法律廢話。有人讀過(guò)這些嗎？反正這不是我現(xiàn)在想要考慮的。我快速地滾動(dòng)到文本底部并單擊同意框，該框關(guān)閉了彈出框并允許游戲完成下載。

片刻之后，系統(tǒng)提示我輸入我的玩家標(biāo)簽，然后它才允許我繼續(xù)。我輸入了自六年級(jí)以來(lái)一直使用的ID“NAMredNELS”;或者正如你們中的許多人可能已經(jīng)猜到的那樣，“slenderman無(wú)臉男”拼寫倒過(guò)來(lái)。我能說(shuō)什么呢？我經(jīng)歷了一個(gè)年輕時(shí)的階段。像我當(dāng)時(shí)的大多數(shù)朋友一樣，我對(duì)這個(gè)角色很著迷，我從中成長(zhǎng)起來(lái)，但這個(gè)名字仍舊存在。?

一旦游戲接受了我的ID，我就準(zhǔn)備好玩了。首先彈出的是一組標(biāo)題為DEICIEDED在屏幕頂部的人的照片。有大約十幾張照片顯示，我需要選擇其中一張掛上去。當(dāng)我嘗試決定時(shí)，一個(gè)不可用的灰色標(biāo)簽出現(xiàn)在其中一張照片上。我人為這意味著其他人已經(jīng)選擇了那個(gè)人。很高興知道我不會(huì)與其他玩家為絞死同一個(gè)人而產(chǎn)生競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。?

由于這是我第一次嘗試玩這款游戲，我決定在名單上選擇第一個(gè)名字，一個(gè)標(biāo)簽被列為“Negan8”的人。真稀奇，我想。正如您所猜到的，他看起來(lái)就像個(gè)徹頭徹尾的混蛋，連他那漂白的金發(fā)平頭和他穿著的運(yùn)動(dòng)衫都是如此。我討厭運(yùn)動(dòng)，不知道球衣來(lái)自哪支球隊(duì)，也不在乎找出答案。他戴著它的事實(shí)足以告訴我，我不喜歡他，但我確信我會(huì)很享受地將他處決。?

我點(diǎn)擊了Negan8的照片，并確認(rèn)他是我可以選擇的對(duì)象。我急于開始，再次點(diǎn)擊他的照片來(lái)確定他的位置?？雌饋?lái)他剛剛離開市中心附近的購(gòu)物區(qū)。如果要我猜的話，我會(huì)說(shuō)他可能在商場(chǎng)和他的朋友們?cè)谝黄?。他們?yīng)該很容易被找到，因?yàn)樗麄兿褚蝗鹤砸詾閾碛羞@個(gè)地方的克隆人一樣走來(lái)走去。

我看了看時(shí)間。快四點(diǎn)鐘了。如果在平時(shí)得知Negan8在商場(chǎng)，那么我懷疑他會(huì)很快離開。但那天是星期五，他可能打算在那里晃蕩一整夜。我直到五點(diǎn)以后才能離開我的公寓，直到六點(diǎn)左右才能到達(dá)商場(chǎng)。這樣我就有足夠的時(shí)間去尋找他然后把他絞死，如果我到那的時(shí)候他還在商場(chǎng)里的話。

我一邊忙著看電視，一邊等著我的室友兄弟開車回家。我時(shí)不時(shí)地檢查Hangman應(yīng)用程序，以確保Negan8在我期望他在的地方。我懷疑他的位置沒(méi)有改變超過(guò)幾百英尺（約70米以內(nèi)），所以他仍然在商場(chǎng)的半徑范圍內(nèi)活動(dòng)。?

當(dāng)我到達(dá)時(shí)，我把車停在盡可能靠近美食廣場(chǎng)的門口。那是我這個(gè)年齡的大多數(shù)人在周五晚上閑逛的地方，也是我認(rèn)為我最有可能找到Negan8的地方。這也是應(yīng)用程序在過(guò)去兩個(gè)小時(shí)內(nèi)更新他的各種位置的最中心。?

美食廣場(chǎng)被設(shè)計(jì)成一個(gè)U形，我進(jìn)入的門在底部中心，進(jìn)入購(gòu)物中心的其余部分在頂部。我在美食廣場(chǎng)走了兩圈，沒(méi)有找到他，決定坐下來(lái)看看他在應(yīng)用程序上的位置是否發(fā)生了變化。?

據(jù)我所知，如果應(yīng)用程序的誤差幅度是準(zhǔn)確的，他應(yīng)該在離我1000英尺以內(nèi)的某個(gè)地方。由于他不在美食廣場(chǎng)，這意味著他必須在附近的一家商店里。我站起來(lái)，走到商店目錄，試圖確定他最有可能對(duì)哪家商店感興趣。?

我不得不承認(rèn)，到目前為止，我喜歡這個(gè)游戲。我開始覺(jué)得自己像一個(gè)試圖追蹤罪犯的偵探，在我看來(lái)，Negan8可能是某種罪犯的可能性相當(dāng)高。我自?shī)首詷?lè)，以為絞死他是在幫世界一個(gè)忙，并想知道我是否可以通過(guò)處決他時(shí)的儀態(tài)來(lái)獲得額外的獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)積分。?

我能夠?qū)⑽业倪x擇范圍縮小到三個(gè)不同的商店。我的首選是香榭麗舍，一家銷售運(yùn)動(dòng)服裝的商店。我認(rèn)為像Negan8這樣的人不能擁有足夠的運(yùn)動(dòng)服，可能總是在尋求更多。我的第二選擇是Lids，一家出售棒球帽的商店。我從來(lái)不明白這樣的商店怎么能在商場(chǎng)里生存下來(lái)。他們真的賣了那么多帽子，還是只是貴得離譜？無(wú)論哪種方式，我想我的目標(biāo)可能需要一些。我最后的選擇是GameStop。我只是把它添加到列表中，因?yàn)樗驮诟浇艺J(rèn)識(shí)的每個(gè)人都擁有Playstation或Xbox。他可能也這樣一樣。?

我離開了美食廣場(chǎng)，前往香榭麗舍大街，打算走過(guò)去看看我的目標(biāo)是否在里面。當(dāng)我到達(dá)那里并注意到商店有多大時(shí)，我決定快速瀏覽一下，但他不在那里。?

我前往我的下一個(gè)目的地，Lids，但我可以看到他也不在那里。那家商店很小，在我到達(dá)那里之前，我就能看到里面。這就離開了去了GameStop。?

我停了一秒鐘，拿出手機(jī)檢查目標(biāo)的當(dāng)前位置，而游戲的顯示一直沒(méi)有改變—他就在這里的某個(gè)地方，而我只需要找到他。?

我繼續(xù)前往游戲店，從美食廣場(chǎng)經(jīng)過(guò)商場(chǎng)對(duì)面的南入口。入口附近是一個(gè)大型裝飾噴泉，里面裝滿了鵝卵石。從那里，我聽到一群人突然開始大笑起來(lái)。

真是令人討厭，自然而然地，我轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身去看有什么好笑的，然后便驚訝地看到我的目標(biāo)坐在噴泉的邊緣，他的三個(gè)損友正站在他面前大笑。?

我改變了路線，開始在噴泉的另一邊走來(lái)走去，試圖為手機(jī)的相機(jī)找到一個(gè)有利位置。我討厭商場(chǎng)，想快點(diǎn)處決目標(biāo)，然后立刻離開那里。我討厭人群，但商場(chǎng)很快就擠滿了各式各樣的購(gòu)物者。?

“閉嘴，”我聽到negan8對(duì)站在他面前的三人說(shuō)。?

“你當(dāng)?shù)膫商秸嬖愀?，”一個(gè)像竹竿的人嘲笑道?！熬拖衲俏还ぞ呷颂介L(zhǎng)一樣?！?

“我們離開這里吧，”青春痘的臉上抱怨道。“你的時(shí)間在幾個(gè)小時(shí)前就用完了。你為什么還在找她？?

“這是因?yàn)樗矚g人家，”胖乎乎的回答?！八矚g那些書呆子女孩。 ”

他們?nèi)齻€(gè)人又開始笑了起來(lái)。而Negan8只是坐在那里瞪著他們。?

有趣的是，我心想。似乎Negan8可能也在玩Hangman，但未能絞死他的第一個(gè)目標(biāo)。我想知道這是否就是為什么當(dāng)我選擇目標(biāo)時(shí)，他被列為DECONSED下的選擇之一。如果是這樣的話，我不會(huì)讓這種情況發(fā)生在我身上。?

我在噴泉周圍走來(lái)走去，直到我來(lái)到一個(gè)長(zhǎng)凳上，這個(gè)長(zhǎng)凳給了我一個(gè)不錯(cuò)的有利位置，讓我坐下來(lái)把相機(jī)對(duì)準(zhǔn)Negan8，卻不顯得刻意。我無(wú)法從我坐的地方聽到他們其余的談話，但從他們臉上的表情來(lái)看，很明顯，他的朋友仍然在譏笑他。?

我打開游戲并點(diǎn)擊打開相機(jī)應(yīng)用程序的套索圖標(biāo)。我拿著手機(jī)，就像我在讀短信一樣，同時(shí)試圖傾斜它，讓Negan8的頭在套索中間。一旦我讓他的頭顱穩(wěn)定在屏幕上，倒計(jì)時(shí)就開始了。數(shù)字3出現(xiàn)在屏幕底部。?

當(dāng)數(shù)字3被數(shù)字2取代時(shí)，Negan8的手飛快地移動(dòng)到了他的脖子上，似乎正在抓著什么東西。我看著他，然后又看了看手機(jī)。他的手與屏幕上的游戲生成的套索完美地排列在一起。就好像他能感覺(jué)到它，并試圖從脖子上取下它。?

竹竿，胖子和青春臉在意識(shí)到他們朋友的痛苦不是一種表演后開始變得恐慌。當(dāng)計(jì)數(shù)器從2變?yōu)?時(shí)，Negan8站了起來(lái)，他的臉變藍(lán)了。在不知不覺(jué)中，我也站了起來(lái)，把他的頭再次鎖在我的手機(jī)套索里。?

我僵住了。我不知道該怎么辦。我驚恐地看著計(jì)數(shù)器從1變?yōu)?，Negan8的身體向后倒入噴泉。而他的朋友只是呆愣愣站在那里，看著附近的購(gòu)物者沖向那水池里死去的友人尸體。這份混亂的喧嚷讓我從癱瘓中解脫出來(lái)。我迅速地轉(zhuǎn)身，走出南入口，繞過(guò)商場(chǎng)外，直到我找到自己的車。?

直到我坐在車?yán)?，我才再次翻看手機(jī)。當(dāng)我這樣做時(shí)，我所看到的讓我胃部不適。有一個(gè)CGI剪輯屏幕，一個(gè)劊子手一遍又一遍地懸掛著一個(gè)男人，上面寫著：恭喜您，您做到了。下面是：點(diǎn)擊這里選擇您的下一個(gè)目標(biāo)。最糟糕的是，我的手機(jī)拍攝的目標(biāo)去世時(shí)的照片正疊加在那個(gè)吊著的男人的頭上。?

在接下來(lái)的幾個(gè)小時(shí)里，我漫無(wú)目的地在城里開車，試圖弄清楚發(fā)生了什么。試圖找到一些方法來(lái)接受它并繼續(xù)前進(jìn)，但我找不到一絲希望。?

當(dāng)我終于回到家時(shí)，我走進(jìn)門，發(fā)現(xiàn)我的哥哥正坐在沙發(fā)上玩Xbox。?

“你到底去了哪里？”他問(wèn)道，沒(méi)有把目光從電視屏幕上爆炸的軍事暴力場(chǎng)面上移開?！拔乙詾槟阒皇侨ド虉?chǎng)。?

“我只是去散散心，”這是我提供的所有解釋，然后我前往我的房間。?

“等一下！”他喊道?！拔沂窍雴?wèn)你...你聽說(shuō)過(guò)那個(gè)叫做Hangman的新應(yīng)用游戲嗎？?

“怎么了？”我停了下來(lái)，轉(zhuǎn)向他。?

“我?guī)滋烨跋螺d了它并嘗試了一下。跑來(lái)跑去試圖給某人拍照是愚蠢的。我只是想告訴你不要下載這個(gè)軟件?！?

將自己鎖在臥室后，我打開了劊子手應(yīng)用程序，點(diǎn)擊“選擇您的下一個(gè)目標(biāo)”按鈕。我對(duì)我所看到的并不感到驚訝?！八狼簟表?yè)面上只列出了一個(gè)人，MJRgreeff。我一直討厭這種游戲玩家標(biāo)簽。但我的哥哥卻認(rèn)為這很貼合游戲，因?yàn)槲覀兊男帐暇褪歉窭锓颍╣reeff)，他喜歡在玩游戲時(shí)的那種死亡痛苦的感覺(jué)，因此這個(gè)稱呼其實(shí)是在玩文字游戲。（greeff／grief? ?格里弗／痛苦）

…………?

我想我還是應(yīng)該在我下載游戲之前先閱讀一下該用戶協(xié)議。?

后記:第二章名叫永遠(yuǎn)不要回頭 。b站已有人翻譯過(guò)，故不再重復(fù)。下是原文：

I had just finished another level of my favorite game app when the usual ad popped up. I know the companies that design these games need to make money somehow, but the frequent ads get annoying really fast. The only good thing about most of them is how short they are. This one was different though; it convinced me to watch with its familiar opening tune.?

I recognized it the moment I heard those somber violins play. It was Chopin's "Funeral March". Anyone who has ever watched a cartoon is sure to have heard that composition before. It was frequently played whenever a character was about to meet his doom.?

As the music progressed, a brightly colored noose slowly descended, swaying back and forth, until it reached the middle of the screen and then stopped. The title of the game started to come into focus, letter by letter, while random photos of people's faces appeared with their heads centered in the loop of rope. The head shots where all cropped neatly so that the rope fit perfectly around their throats.?

Holy shit,I thought as the last photo that appeared in the noose was the one I used for my Facebook profile, cropped just like the others. I know it wasn't a major stretch for a game to do something like that, I just wasn't expecting it. That upped the cool factor for me.?

By the time my picture was displayed the title of the game had fully appeared and the music cut off.?

HANGMAN, it declared in an old west style font, each letter hanging from a rope.?

Kudos to the game's marketing department, the ad managed to pique my interest. Eager to learn more, I tapped the screen expecting to be redirected to the app store where I could read an overview of the game, see some reviews, and maybe watch a video or two of the game play.?

I was surprised when I was redirected to the game's website instead. I don't think I've ever encountered a game that redirected me straight to a website. I figured there was some sort of contract that forced users to go to the provider's official app store. I wasn't going to let that deter me from playing though, not if the game was as cool as I was hoping.?

The only information listed on the website was the following:You have been hired as the town's new Hangman. Executions are scheduled every three days. In order to keep your job, you must execute your target within 72 hours. Do you have what it takes to man the gallows??

The text was followed by several photos showing how to pick your targets and how to go about "hanging" them. From what I gathered, this was another one of those augmented reality games that used your phone's camera as the "noose" to hang your targets.?

When you first start the game, you select your target from a list calledTHE CONDEMNED. Once you have made your selection, the target's picture is shown on the bottom left of your screen with a countdown timer underneath it. If you tap the picture, you are then taken to a map that shows your current location along with the projected location of the target which was supposed to be accurate to about 1,000 feet.?

Once you have located your target in the real world, you are supposed to tap on the noose icon which would open your phone's camera app with the minor addition of there being a CGI noose hanging in the middle of the screen. You then hold your phone so that your target's head appears in the middle of the noose for 3 seconds. If you succeed in doing that the camera takes a picture and you will have successfully hung your target.?

After you have hung three targets, you would then be given the choice of being promoted to the next level or retiring. The listed levels were Hangman, Executioner, and Reaper. The game's site also featured a leader board that had several gamer tags listed as a Hangman, but no one yet listed as an Executioner or Reaper. I suspected that was because the game was recently released and nobody had the time to advance yet.?

I love dark games, and this one sounded like a lot of fun, at least fun for someone with a twisted sense of humor like me. I quickly tapped the download button, excited to start playing. Normally, I'd be telling all of my friends about the game, but not this time. I wanted to get a head start and be the first person to make it to the Reaper leaderboard before anyone else.?

As I waited for the game to download the typical user agreement popped up. It was a dozen pages of the same legal nonsense presented with every game these days. Does anyone even read those? I had no intention of starting now. I quickly scrolled to the bottom of the text and clicked the agree box, which closed the pop up box and allowed the game to finish downloading.?

Moments later I was prompted to enter my gamer tag before it would allow me to continue. I entered the tag I have been using since the sixth grade, "NAMredNELS"; or as many of you may have already guessed, "Slenderman" spelled backwards. What can I say? I went through a phase when I was younger. Like most of my friends at the time, I was obsessed with the character, I grew out of it, but the name stuck.?

Once the game accepted my tag I was ready to play. The first thing to pop up was a group of photos of people with the titleTHE CONDEMNEDat the top of the screen. There were about a dozen photos shown and I needed to pick one of them to hang. As I was trying to decide anUNAVAILABLEstamp appeared over one of the photos. I assumed that meant someone else had already chosen that person. Good to know I wouldn't be competing against other players to hang the same person.?

Since this was my initial attempt to play the game I decided to pick the first name on the list, a person whose tag was listed as "Negan8."How original, I thought. As you can guess he looked like a total ass-hat right down to his bleached blonde crew cut and the sports jersey he was wearing. I hate sports and had no idea what team the jersey was from and didn't care to find out. The fact that he was wearing it was enough to tell me I wouldn't like him, but I was sure I was going to enjoy hanging him.?

I tapped Negan8's picture and confirmed him as my choice. Eager to get started I tapped his picture again to determine his location. It looked like he was over in the shopping district near downtown. If I had to guess I'd say he was probably at the mall hanging out with his buddies. They should be easy to find as they walked around like an army of clones who thought they owned the place.?

I looked at the time. It was almost four o'clock. If Negan8 was at the mall I doubt he'd be leaving anytime soon. It was Friday and he was likely planning on hanging there all night. I wouldn't be able to get out of my apartment until after five and wouldn't be able to make it to the mall until around six. That should have given me plenty of time to track him down and hang him assuming he was still at the mall by the time I got there.?

I kept myself occupied by watching TV while I waited for my brother, who was also my roommate, to get home with the car. I frequently checked the Hangman app to make sure Negan8 was where I expected him to be. As I suspected his location didn't change by more than a few hundred feet which still put him within the radius of the mall.?

When I arrived I parked as close to the food court doors as I could. That was where most of the people my age tended to hang out on Friday nights and that was where I thought I had the best chance of finding Negan8. It was also the most central location to the various spots the app had placed him over the past two hours.?

The food court is designed in sort of a U-shape, with the doors I entered being in the bottom center and access to the rest of the mall being at the top. I walked around the food court twice without finding him and decided to sit down and see if his location had changed on the app.?

As far as I could tell he should be somewhere within 1,000 feet of me if the app's margin for error was accurate. Since he wasn't in the food court, that meant he had to be in one of the stores nearby. I got up and walked over to the store directory to try and determine which of the shops he would most likely be interested in.?

I had to admit I liked the game so far. I was starting to feel like a detective trying to track down a criminal and the chances were pretty high in my opinion that Negan8 probably was a criminal of some sort. I amused myself by thinking I was doing the world a favor by hanging him and wondered if I could get bonus points for hanging his posse.?

I was able to narrow down my choices to three different shops. My number one choice was Champs, a store that sold sports clothing. I figured a guy like Negan8 couldn't own enough sports jerseys and was probably always on the lookout for more. My number two choice was Lids, a store that sold baseball caps. I never understood how a store like that could survive in the mall. Do they really sell that many caps, or are they just ridiculously expensive? Either way, I figured my target likely owned a few. My final choice was GameStop. I only added it to the list since it was in the vicinity and everyone I know owns a Playstation or an Xbox. He probably did too.?

I left the food court and headed towards Champs intending to walk by and see if my target was inside. When I got there and noticed how big the store was I decided to do a quick walk-through instead, but he wasn't there.?

I headed on to my next destination, Lids, but I could see he wasn't there either. That store was tiny and I could see the interior well before I got there. That just left GameStop.?

I stopped for a second and pulled my phone out to check my target's current location which according to the game hadn't changed. He was here somewhere I just had to find him.?

I continued on my way to the game store which took me past the south entrance on the opposite side of the mall from the food court. Near that entrance is a large decorative fountain filled with coins. It was from there that I heard a group of guys suddenly start laughing obnoxiously. Naturally I turned to see what was so funny and was surprised to see my target sitting on the edge of the fountain his three cronies standing in front of him laughing.?

I changed course and started walking around the opposite side of the fountain trying to find a good vantage point for my phone's camera. I hate the mall and wanted to hang Negan8 and get out of there as soon as possible. Crowds weren't my thing and the mall was quickly filling up with shoppers.?

"Shut up," I heard Negan8 say to the trio standing before him.?

"You'd suck as a detective," Beanpole taunted. "You're like Inspector Gadget."?

"Let's get out of here," Pimple face whined. "Your time ran out hours ago. Why are you still looking for her?"?

"It's because he has the hots for her," Chubby answered. "He likes those nerdy girls."?

All three of them started to laugh again. Negan8 just sat there glaring at them.?

Interesting,I thought to myself. It seems Negan8 may be playing Hangman as well and failed to hang his first target. I wonder if that is why he was listed as one of the choices underTHE CONDEMNEDwhen I was picking a target. If that was the case I wasn't going to let that happen to me.?

I walked around the fountain until I came to a bench that gave me a decent vantage point to sit and aim my camera at Negan8, without being too obvious. I wasn't able to hear the rest of their conversation from where I was sitting, but from the looks on their faces, it was obvious his friends were still giving him a hard time.?

I opened the game and tapped on the noose icon which opened my camera app. I held my phone like I was reading a text, while trying to angle it to get Negan8's head in the middle of the noose. Once I had him lined up, a countdown started. The number 3 appeared at the bottom of the screen.?

As the number 3 was replaced by the number 2, Negan8's hands flew up to his neck, grasping at something. I looked over at him, then back at my phone. His hands were perfectly lined up with the game generated noose on my screen. It was as if he could feel it and was trying to remove it from his neck.?

Beanpole, Chubby, and Pimple Face started to panic after they realized their friend's distress wasn't an act. Negan8 stood up as the counter changed from 2 to 1, his face turning blue. Without realizing it, I had also stood up which kept his head locked into my phone's noose.?

I froze. I didn't know what to do. I watched in horror as the counter changed from 1 to 0 and Negan8 fell backwards into the fountain. His friends just stood there and stared as nearby shoppers rushed to the fallen kid's aide. That broke me out of my paralysis. I quickly turned and walked out of the south entrance and around the outside of the mall until I reached my car.?

I didn't look at my phone until I was sitting in my car. When I did, what I saw made me sick to my stomach. There was a CGI cut screen of an executioner hanging a man over and over with the words:CONGRATULATIONS, YOU DID IT. Underneath that was:CLICK HERE TO CHOOSE YOUR NEXT TARGET. The worst part was that the picture my phone had taken of Negan8, as he died, was superimposed over the hanging man's head.?

I drove around town aimlessly for the next few hours, trying to make sense of what had happened. Trying to find some way to accept it and move on, but I couldn't find the silver lining.?

When I finally returned home, I walked through the door to find my brother sitting on the couch playing the Xbox.?

"Where the hell did you go?" he asked without pulling his eyes away from the military violence exploding on the TV screen. "I thought you were just going to the mall."?

"Out," was all I offered in explanation and headed to my room.?

"Hey!" he called out. "I was meaning to ask you…h(huán)ave you heard of that new app game called Hangman?"?

"Why?" I stopped and turned towards him.?

"I downloaded it a few days ago and tried it out. Running around trying to take a picture of someone is stupid. I was just going to tell you not to bother with it."?

Once I had locked myself in my bedroom, I opened the Hangman app and tapped the "CHOOSE YOUR NEXT TARGET" button. I wasn't surprised by what I saw. There was only one person listed on the "THE CONDEMNED" page, MJRgreeff. I always hated that gamer tag. My brother thought it was clever because our last name was Greeff, and he liked being a pain in the ass when he played games, thus the Greeff/grief play on words.? COMMENT

I guess I should have read that user agreement before Istarted playing.?

Credit:Ken Lewis(Facebook?Reddit)?