CreepyPasta译:不要安装HANGMAN（刽子手）应用程序

Chapter 3: DON’T INSTALL THE HANGMAN APP 

第三章 不要安装HANGMAN（刽子手）应用程序

我刚刚又一次通关了我最喜欢的手机游戏，自然也随之弹出了那熟悉的广告。我知道设计这些游戏的公司需要以某种方式赚钱，但这种频繁的广告实在令人烦恼。对于我来说，唯一值得庆幸的便是这些广告大多都耗时不长。不过这次的广告是不同的，它用一种我熟悉的音乐促使我静下心来观看。 

当我听到那些阴郁的小提琴演奏的那一刻，我就认出了它。这是肖邦的葬礼进行曲。任何看过动画片的人都肯定听说过这部作品。每当一个角色即将遭遇厄运时，它便会被被播放。 

随着音乐的进行，一个色彩鲜艳的套索缓缓下降，来回晃动，直到它到达屏幕中间，随即停止。游戏的标题也开始成为了焦点，一个字母接着一个字母，而随机的照片显示着各色人物的面庞，他们的头在绳环的中心。所有的头部照片都被整齐地裁剪，使绳索可以完美地贴在他们的脖颈上。 

天哪，我发现最后一张出现在套索上的照片正是我用于Facebook个人资料上的照片，就像其他照片一样被裁剪在绞索上。我知道对于这样一款游戏来说，做这样的事情并不是什么大事，我只是没想到事情会是这样的巧。这在令我感觉很酷。 

当我的那张脸书照片显示时，游戏的标题已经完全出现，音乐被切断了。 

HANGMAN（刽子手），以一种古老的西方风格的字体呈现，每个字母都挂在一根绳子上。 

毫无疑问，这则充满创意的炫酷广告激起了我的兴趣。为了了解更多信息，我点击了屏幕，希望被重定向到应用程序商店，在那里我可以阅读游戏的概述，查看一些评论，也许还可以观看一两个游戏的视频。 

当我被重新定向到游戏的官方网站时，我感到很惊讶。因为我从未遇到过这种能将我直接重定向到网站的游戏。我认为这是因为某种网络协议的存在迫使用户去提供商的官方应用商店。不过这并不会阻止我去下载这款游戏（如果它像我希望的那样酷眩的话）。 

网站上列出的唯一信息如下：

您已被聘请为该镇的新刽子手。死刑每三天执行一次。为了保住您的工作，您必须在72小时内执行您的目标。您确定您能胜任绞刑师的工作吗？ 

文字后面是几张照片，展示了如何选择您的目标以及如何“悬挂”它们。根据我收集到的信息，这是另一款增强现实游戏，它使用手机的摄像头作为“套索”来捕捉目标。 

当您第一次开始游戏时，您从一个名为“死囚”（condmned）的列表中选择您的目标。做出选择后，目标的图片将显示在屏幕的左下角，其下方有一个倒数计时器。如果您点击图片，您将会被提供一张地图，该地图显示您的当前位置以及目标的投影位置，该位置可以精确到大约1000英尺（约30.48米）。 

一旦您在现实世界中找到您的目标，您应该点击套索图标，这将打开手机的相机应用程序，并小幅增加一个CGI套索挂在屏幕中间。然后，您握住手机，使目标的头部出现在套索中间3秒钟。如果您成功做到这一点，相机会拍照，并且您将成功地处决目标。 

在您绞死了三个目标之后，您可以选择晋升到下一个级别或退休。列出的级别是刽子手，职业处刑师和死神。该游戏的网站还有一个排行榜，其中有几个玩家标签被列为刽子手，但还没有人被列为职业处刑师或死神。我怀疑这是因为游戏最近发布，还没有人有时间到达。 

我喜欢黑暗游戏，而这个听起来也很有趣，至少对于像我这样拥有扭曲幽默感的人来说很有趣。我快速点击下载按钮，并且兴奋地开始尝试。通常情况下，我会告诉我所有的朋友关于这个游戏的事情，但这次并不行。我想抢占先机，成为第一个比其他人更早进入死神排行榜的人。 

当我等待游戏下载时，典型的用户协议弹出了。这些天来，每一次的下载都出现了十几页相同的法律废话。有人读过这些吗？反正这不是我现在想要考虑的。我快速地滚动到文本底部并单击同意框，该框关闭了弹出框并允许游戏完成下载。

片刻之后，系统提示我输入我的玩家标签，然后它才允许我继续。我输入了自六年级以来一直使用的ID“NAMredNELS”;或者正如你们中的许多人可能已经猜到的那样，“slenderman无脸男”拼写倒过来。我能说什么呢？我经历了一个年轻时的阶段。像我当时的大多数朋友一样，我对这个角色很着迷，我从中成长起来，但这个名字仍旧存在。 

一旦游戏接受了我的ID，我就准备好玩了。首先弹出的是一组标题为DEICIEDED在屏幕顶部的人的照片。有大约十几张照片显示，我需要选择其中一张挂上去。当我尝试决定时，一个不可用的灰色标签出现在其中一张照片上。我人为这意味着其他人已经选择了那个人。很高兴知道我不会与其他玩家为绞死同一个人而产生竞争。 

由于这是我第一次尝试玩这款游戏，我决定在名单上选择第一个名字，一个标签被列为“Negan8”的人。真稀奇，我想。正如您所猜到的，他看起来就像个彻头彻尾的混蛋，连他那漂白的金发平头和他穿着的运动衫都是如此。我讨厌运动，不知道球衣来自哪支球队，也不在乎找出答案。他戴着它的事实足以告诉我，我不喜欢他，但我确信我会很享受地将他处决。 

我点击了Negan8的照片，并确认他是我可以选择的对象。我急于开始，再次点击他的照片来确定他的位置。看起来他刚刚离开市中心附近的购物区。如果要我猜的话，我会说他可能在商场和他的朋友们在一起。他们应该很容易被找到，因为他们像一群自以为拥有这个地方的克隆人一样走来走去。

我看了看时间。快四点钟了。如果在平时得知Negan8在商场，那么我怀疑他会很快离开。但那天是星期五，他可能打算在那里晃荡一整夜。我直到五点以后才能离开我的公寓，直到六点左右才能到达商场。这样我就有足够的时间去寻找他然后把他绞死，如果我到那的时候他还在商场里的话。

我一边忙着看电视，一边等着我的室友兄弟开车回家。我时不时地检查Hangman应用程序，以确保Negan8在我期望他在的地方。我怀疑他的位置没有改变超过几百英尺（约70米以内），所以他仍然在商场的半径范围内活动。 

当我到达时，我把车停在尽可能靠近美食广场的门口。那是我这个年龄的大多数人在周五晚上闲逛的地方，也是我认为我最有可能找到Negan8的地方。这也是应用程序在过去两个小时内更新他的各种位置的最中心。 

美食广场被设计成一个U形，我进入的门在底部中心，进入购物中心的其余部分在顶部。我在美食广场走了两圈，没有找到他，决定坐下来看看他在应用程序上的位置是否发生了变化。 

据我所知，如果应用程序的误差幅度是准确的，他应该在离我1000英尺以内的某个地方。由于他不在美食广场，这意味着他必须在附近的一家商店里。我站起来，走到商店目录，试图确定他最有可能对哪家商店感兴趣。 

我不得不承认，到目前为止，我喜欢这个游戏。我开始觉得自己像一个试图追踪罪犯的侦探，在我看来，Negan8可能是某种罪犯的可能性相当高。我自娱自乐，以为绞死他是在帮世界一个忙，并想知道我是否可以通过处决他时的仪态来获得额外的奖励积分。 

我能够将我的选择范围缩小到三个不同的商店。我的首选是香榭丽舍，一家销售运动服装的商店。我认为像Negan8这样的人不能拥有足够的运动服，可能总是在寻求更多。我的第二选择是Lids，一家出售棒球帽的商店。我从来不明白这样的商店怎么能在商场里生存下来。他们真的卖了那么多帽子，还是只是贵得离谱？无论哪种方式，我想我的目标可能需要一些。我最后的选择是GameStop。我只是把它添加到列表中，因为它就在附近，我认识的每个人都拥有Playstation或Xbox。他可能也这样一样。 

我离开了美食广场，前往香榭丽舍大街，打算走过去看看我的目标是否在里面。当我到达那里并注意到商店有多大时，我决定快速浏览一下，但他不在那里。 

我前往我的下一个目的地，Lids，但我可以看到他也不在那里。那家商店很小，在我到达那里之前，我就能看到里面。这就离开了去了GameStop。 

我停了一秒钟，拿出手机检查目标的当前位置，而游戏的显示一直没有改变—他就在这里的某个地方，而我只需要找到他。 

我继续前往游戏店，从美食广场经过商场对面的南入口。入口附近是一个大型装饰喷泉，里面装满了鹅卵石。从那里，我听到一群人突然开始大笑起来。

真是令人讨厌，自然而然地，我转过身去看有什么好笑的，然后便惊讶地看到我的目标坐在喷泉的边缘，他的三个损友正站在他面前大笑。 

我改变了路线，开始在喷泉的另一边走来走去，试图为手机的相机找到一个有利位置。我讨厌商场，想快点处决目标，然后立刻离开那里。我讨厌人群，但商场很快就挤满了各式各样的购物者。 

“闭嘴，”我听到negan8对站在他面前的三人说。 

“你当的侦探真糟糕，”一个像竹竿的人嘲笑道。“就像那位工具人探长一样。” 

“我们离开这里吧，”青春痘的脸上抱怨道。“你的时间在几个小时前就用完了。你为什么还在找她？ 

“这是因为他喜欢人家，”胖乎乎的回答。“他喜欢那些书呆子女孩。 ”

他们三个人又开始笑了起来。而Negan8只是坐在那里瞪着他们。 

有趣的是，我心想。似乎Negan8可能也在玩Hangman，但未能绞死他的第一个目标。我想知道这是否就是为什么当我选择目标时，他被列为DECONSED下的选择之一。如果是这样的话，我不会让这种情况发生在我身上。 

我在喷泉周围走来走去，直到我来到一个长凳上，这个长凳给了我一个不错的有利位置，让我坐下来把相机对准Negan8，却不显得刻意。我无法从我坐的地方听到他们其余的谈话，但从他们脸上的表情来看，很明显，他的朋友仍然在讥笑他。 

我打开游戏并点击打开相机应用程序的套索图标。我拿着手机，就像我在读短信一样，同时试图倾斜它，让Negan8的头在套索中间。一旦我让他的头颅稳定在屏幕上，倒计时就开始了。数字3出现在屏幕底部。 

当数字3被数字2取代时，Negan8的手飞快地移动到了他的脖子上，似乎正在抓着什么东西。我看着他，然后又看了看手机。他的手与屏幕上的游戏生成的套索完美地排列在一起。就好像他能感觉到它，并试图从脖子上取下它。 

竹竿，胖子和青春脸在意识到他们朋友的痛苦不是一种表演后开始变得恐慌。当计数器从2变为1时，Negan8站了起来，他的脸变蓝了。在不知不觉中，我也站了起来，把他的头再次锁在我的手机套索里。 

我僵住了。我不知道该怎么办。我惊恐地看着计数器从1变为0，Negan8的身体向后倒入喷泉。而他的朋友只是呆愣愣站在那里，看着附近的购物者冲向那水池里死去的友人尸体。这份混乱的喧嚷让我从瘫痪中解脱出来。我迅速地转身，走出南入口，绕过商场外，直到我找到自己的车。 

直到我坐在车里，我才再次翻看手机。当我这样做时，我所看到的让我胃部不适。有一个CGI剪辑屏幕，一个刽子手一遍又一遍地悬挂着一个男人，上面写着：恭喜您，您做到了。下面是：点击这里选择您的下一个目标。最糟糕的是，我的手机拍摄的目标去世时的照片正叠加在那个吊着的男人的头上。 

在接下来的几个小时里，我漫无目的地在城里开车，试图弄清楚发生了什么。试图找到一些方法来接受它并继续前进，但我找不到一丝希望。 

当我终于回到家时，我走进门，发现我的哥哥正坐在沙发上玩Xbox。 

“你到底去了哪里？”他问道，没有把目光从电视屏幕上爆炸的军事暴力场面上移开。“我以为你只是去商场。 

“我只是去散散心，”这是我提供的所有解释，然后我前往我的房间。 

“等一下！”他喊道。“我是想问你...你听说过那个叫做Hangman的新应用游戏吗？ 

“怎么了？”我停了下来，转向他。 

“我几天前下载了它并尝试了一下。跑来跑去试图给某人拍照是愚蠢的。我只是想告诉你不要下载这个软件。” 

将自己锁在卧室后，我打开了刽子手应用程序，点击“选择您的下一个目标”按钮。我对我所看到的并不感到惊讶。“死囚”页面上只列出了一个人，MJRgreeff。我一直讨厌这种游戏玩家标签。但我的哥哥却认为这很贴合游戏，因为我们的姓氏就是格里夫（greeff)，他喜欢在玩游戏时的那种死亡痛苦的感觉，因此这个称呼其实是在玩文字游戏。（greeff／grief   格里弗／痛苦）

………… 

我想我还是应该在我下载游戏之前先阅读一下该用户协议。 

后记:第二章名叫永远不要回头 。b站已有人翻译过，故不再重复。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…have 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)