“Erm…” Regret, there was nothing but regret in the old man’s heart. He had to admit he had greatly underestimated Han Fei, the complexity and repugnance made possible by human nature. “I’m not here to shop.” The old man astutely did not resist. He took a step back but Han Fei held onto his arm like a vise. As if rehearsed, the two workers had their faces darkened and repeated once more, “What can I get you?”
“I just want to go home.” Now both of the old man’s arms were held by the workers, one on each side. He was pulled into the shop.
“What can I get you?” Even though the employees still repeated the same questions, the murderous intent in their words thickened. The old man looked at Han Fei and the single-eyed young man pleadingly. Eventually he was ushered to the counter. “I’ll just get one candy.” The old man’s voice trembled. He lived right outside on the street so he was very familiar with the working of this shop.
“We’re doing a promotion now, buy 3 candies and you can get one extra for free.” Han Fei said with a professional smile, he was truly the perfect worker. “I’d suggest you go for the promotion.”
“But…” The old man blanched as he gripped the single candy tightly. “I do not have that many eyes.” The old man was familiar with the hidden pricing of the convenience store, he was already prepared to sacrifice an eye. “Just ring up the merchandise.”
The single-eyed worker nodded. He took out a very small paper doll from his pocket and had the old man swallow it. A few seconds after the old man did, his body doubled over. He grabbed his neck in pain. He opened his mouth wide and tried to shove his hand into his throat to hook out the paper doll but the doll had gone further down into his body. There was a barely discernible laughter coming from his stomach. In that impossible pose, the Yin energy around the old man disintegrated until what was left of him was a puddle of smelly black blood. The single-eyed worker knelt to pick out the paper doll from the puddle. The doll was holding a new candy and the smile on its face became more realistic.
“Senior, isn’t the price of a single candy equal to his one eyeball?” Han Fei only wanted to incapacitate the old man, he didn’t expect his colleague to go for the kill.
“The pricing only comes into play when the other party is able to negotiate.” The single-eyed worker carefully placed the paper doll back into his pocket, then he grabbed the tools from the trash disposal room and started to clean up. As he studied his colleague, Han Fei realized his senior was a rather reliable person. ‘The old man did not resist at all before him, could it be that the single-eyed worker is a very powerful ghost?’ Han Fei’s interest in the young man was piqued. He went over and volunteered to help. He focused on the cleaning. ‘With him around, the mission shouldn’t be too hard tonight.’
Before they could even finish cleaning, a strange noise came from the back alley, it sounded like something was rummaging through the trash cans. When the sound came, the single-eyed worker grimaced from a headache again. His remaining eye pulsed like it could drop out at any moment. He mumbled incoherent things. He knelt to the ground and covered his ears.
“Are you alright?”
“The rats, the rats are here again. Eventually I’ll kill them all. Yes kill them all…” Regardless, the young man did not move. He remained on the ground and chanted madly. When the single-eyed man was conscious, he acted like a normal person but when he was agitated, he’d turn intense and mad. Han Fei did not dare to venture too close to him either. Instead he picked up the cleaning tools and turned to head towards the garbage disposal room. ‘When I mentioned the possibility of quitting, the man already experienced one episode. The word appeared to have triggered the curse the boss placed on him; now when he heard the noises from the back alley, he was triggered again. Why is that? What could be out there that might trigger him?’
The curse was placed on the employees to make them stay in line. Since the sound from the back alley triggered the single-eyed young man, there was a high possibility that there was something back there that could shake the man’s loyalty to the boss. Han Fei put away the tools and pulled the backdoor open. Han Fei looked into the alley. Everything was normal except a rubber ball that slowly rolled towards him. ‘A rubber ball? It’s too small to hide anything. It should be a normal ball.’
He slowly bent over to reach for the ball. His hand touched it but the system did not react. Only then he picked up the ball. “My colleague said there are rats out here but would rats play with rubber balls?” He held the ball and exited the door. The ghost tattoo screamed again. But to further his investigation, Han Fei had no choice but to let the ghost suffer a while longer. ‘The trash bins have indeed been rummaged through but there are no clear claw or bite marks…’ When Han Fei reached the space between the first and second trash cans, he stopped. There was a boy about 5 cowering there. When he saw Han Fei in the convenience store uniform, his small face paled. His eyes watered but he did not dare to make any sound. He bit on his small hands as tears flowed down his cheeks. He huddled deeper into the shadow.
Honestly, Han Fei felt afraid as well. After all, he still could not leave the game. If this was a trap, he’d be dead. After some hesitation, Han Fei was the first to make contact. He placed the rubber ball on the ground and rolled it over to the boy. “Is this yours?”
The boy hugged the ball and eventually nodded. He bit on his lips as if he’d cry the moment his mouth opened.
“Do you live around here? Where are your parents?” Han Fei asked but he got no answer. Eventually he sighed and stood up. “I’ll just pretend that I haven’t seen you. Hurry back home. Don’t come here again, it’s very dangerous here.” Han Fei turned to walk back to the convenience store. Seeing that, the boy hugged the rubber ball and crawled out from his hiding spot. Realizing Han Fei really meant him no harm, the boy bowed deeply at Han Fei. When he did so, the rubber ball slipped from his grasp. The boy did not realize that as he turned to run out of the alley.
“Little boy, you forgot your ball.” Han Fei shook his head. ‘The boy is quite cute, if only everyone here is like him.’
Hearing Han Fei’s reminder, the boy shuffled back into the alley. He picked up his ball.
“Little fella, what’s your name? Maybe we can be friends.”
This time, the boy did not run away. He pinched his face for a long time before he said innocently, “But my mother said everyone from the store is very scary.”
“Since you know that, why would you come to this alley to play?” Han Fei continued to chat with the boy. There were not many innocent residents like the boy in the cryptic world.
“I’m here to look for my big brother. He’s here, he’s inside the wall.”
“Inside the wall?” After the boy said that, Han Fei turned to look at the wall in alarm. The back alley was dark. Only upon close inspection that one could tell there were human-shaped shadows imprinted on the alley wall.
“My brother is in the wall. He wanted to save me and my mother so he entered the store. But I have not seen him since. Based on what the previous old lady who worked there told me, eventually everyone who entered the shop would appear on the wall so I’ve been waiting here for him.” The boy stuttered through his explanation. Han Fei picked up a few key points.
“A previous old lady who worked here?” Han Fei ran through the pictures of his former colleagues he saw in the breakroom. Next to his own picture, there was a portrait of an old lady which had been drawn out.
“Does your big brother have a small face, long hair…” Han Fei described the single-eyed young man. He was only halfway through when the boy toddled towards him. “You’ve seen my big brother?”
Before Han Fei could reply, the robotic voice announced, “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve successfully triggered Grade G Hidden Mission—The Missing Big Brother.
“The Missing Big Brother: Help the child find his big brother, this can be your good deed for the day.
“Warning! This hidden mission will influence the progress of the other missions so please approach it carefully.”
If the system did not append the last sentence, Han Fei would have dragged the boy to meet his colleague immediately. ‘Of course the hidden mission wouldn’t be that simple. If I bring the boy to meet my colleague now, the single-eyed young man might perish from the boss’ curse and the boss would come out to eliminate both me and the boy…’ This reunion required careful planning. To complete the mission, Han Fei knew he had to start by cleansing the young man of the curse. He stared at the boy before him and the frame of a plan appeared. ‘Perhaps I can use this boy to earn his brother’s trust. When the time is right, perhaps us two employees can work together to usurp the current boss.’ Even though this was Han Fei’s first day on the job, he was already planning to replace the boss.
‘Curses are hard to remove. For now, I only know 2 ways. One is to wait for the cursed individuals to digest it slowly and two is to kill the person who dealt the curse. We are too weak compared to the boss. For now, I better focus on my job. Haste is not going to solve any problem. As long as I am still alive, there is a chance to succeed.’ A bright flash crossed his eyes. Han Fei then arranged his expression, “I’ve met your big brother but I can’t bring you to see him now. However I promise that one day you’ll reunite with him.”
“Really?”
“Of course.” Using soul-depth touch, Han Fei ruffled the boy’s hair. The boy’s intention was pure, he only had the concern and memory of his family in his mind.
