The paper doll staggered up from the ground. It was made from paper but the expression on its face was no different from a living human. Malicious energy appeared inside the room. With each of the paper doll’s steps, it would turn around to look at Han Fei. There was deep memory as well as thick desire to murder in the paper doll’s eyes. Once the paper doll emerged, the girl’s attention was immediately drawn to it. Perhaps because she was cursed and mocked endlessly when she was alive, she despised all kinds of curses after death.
Surprising amount of resentment pooled inside the water stains. Harrowing wails echoed inside the room. One after another human-shaped stains were yanked out from the floor and walls, they gathered to form a flowing black river. The river water was cold and reflected not one bit of light. It carried a suffocating despair with it!
The river was overflowing with humiliation, rumors, arguments, all the tragedies that drowned out the girl’s life. The girl slowly submerged into the black river. Her despair was swallowed by the water and the waves rushed to cleanse away all the dirty stains in the world. The paper doll was a Grade F Cursed Object, it could resist the negative emotions inside the black river. But as the river gushed at it, the layer of blood on it slowly lightened. The malice in the paper doll’s eyes slowly returned. Xu Qin’s face began to unfold itself and the doll took on a more featureless face. As the paper doll fought with the girl, Han Fei’s memory started to overlap with that of the doll. Cruel, creepy images that could easily turn a man insane repeated in Han Fei’s mind. Han Fei felt the corners of his eyes becoming wet. The world in Han Fei’s vision was turning red.
“Sir! Your eyes are bleeding!” Zhang Guanxing screamed worriedly but Han Fei could not allow himself to be distracted. At his stage, it was still not easy to control a Grade F Cursed Item. Based on player level, Grade F should correspond to level 10 to 20 but the Red Paper Doll was an extremely rare cursed object.
‘I have to hang in there!’ Gritting his teeth, Han Fei was reliving the pain and despair the paper doll once suffered. This was a battle between minds. The black river flowed rapidly but the red paper doll was like rock by the sea. It stood amidst the rapids stolidly. Other than the fading of the color on its body, it did not receive much damage. Inside Room 304, it would look like the girl was in an intense fight with the paper doll but in actuality, this was a fight between Han Fei and the paper doll’s memory. A cursed object’s memory was like a poison-dipped knife for normal humans. If they were not careful, their own memory and persona would be twisted by the cursed object.
With blood trickling out of his eyes and ghosts screaming in his ears, just as Han Fei was about to reach his limit, the system announced that the mission had been completed. “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed Grade G Mission Mission—Knocking at Midnight! Obtained 1 free skill point, additional hidden mission reward—Su Mengting’s diary.
“Su Mengting’s Diary: It has recorded Su Mengting’s secrets. Use it well and you’ll soon be the girl’s best friend.
“You’ve challenged 2 tales of horror. Grade F Hidden Mission, Jin Sheng’s Tales of Horror, completion rate: 2/7.”
Hearing that, Han Fei turned his head around to say, “Guanxing, be prepared to run! I can’t hold it back anymore!” Zhang Guanxing moved to open the door, to his consternation, there was another ghost outside the door. It was one of the girls who once lived inside the room. Her body was twisted together and looked extremely scary.
“Go and save yourself first!” Han Fei shouted. He had the snake bound around the ghost outside the door to incapacitate her.
“Sir, I can’t leave you!” Zhang Guanxing hugged the can and uttered with desperate tears.
“I need you to go back to your room and wait for me. You can do this!” Han Fei exited the bedroom. He used himself as bait to distract Su Mengting and the other girl. Zhang Guanxing understood what Han Fei wanted to do. Without any hesitation, he said, “Sir! I’ll come with you! I can help you!” The ruffian showed comradery when it most mattered. With determination, he guarded behind Han Fei’s back.
“Go!” Han Fei did not expect this to happen. He assumed this would only happen in movies. “I need you to go!” In his desperation, Han Fei kicked Zhang Guanxing down the safer side of the corridor. “Go!”
Zhang Guanxing watched as Han Fei pulled the two ghosts away from him. He saw the bloody tears on Han Fei’s face and the cheeks that clenched from pain. The young man’s heart gripped. His drunkard father had never protected him like this before.
“Sir…” The color of the tattoo on the young man’s arm faded. Zhang Guanxing gritted his teeth, held the black can and hurried down the stairs. At the same time, the robotic voice pinged in Han Fei’s mind again. “Notification for Player 0000! Friendliness level with Zhang Guanxing (Wild Hound) has increased by 40! You have gained Zhang Guanxing’s trust!” After ensuring the student had escaped, Han Fei controlled the paper doll to slowly move closer to him. He defended while he retreated. When the doll was close enough, Han Fei snatched up the doll and placed it back into his inventory. Han Fei then summoned the black shadow and raced towards the 3rd floor toilet. Even though Han Fei raced with the top of his speed, Su Mengting already caught up to him before he even managed to get into the toilet. He had no choice but to have Xu Qin’s pet slither into the toilet while he logged off right in the middle of the corridor. The red world froze and so did Han Fei’s consciousness.
Han Fei’s heart was pumping as he removed the heavy helmet. He fell weakly onto the bed and gasped greedily for fresh air. “It feels so good to be alive.” Han Fei had never loved life as much as he did in that moment. He had a reason to survive for another day because his first movie would premiere tomorrow. “Even someone like me has found the reason to live for another day.”
Han Fei tossed and turned for quite some time before he fell asleep. At noon, Director Jiang called to make sure that Han Fei did not forget about the gathering. To have the director repeatedly call the cast, Han Fei was the first actor to enjoy that privilege. After a quick shower, Han Fei ordered a take-out and opened his computer. He searched for information on Yi Ming Private Academy. The more he found out about the school, the more curious he got about it. He wanted to see what kind of ghost stories he might encounter next so that he could be better prepared. “There is so little information about this school online. I have to dig deeper because it feels like this school is deeply related to the Butterfly.”
So far, the Butterfly’s targets had all been kids, from Little Eight to Jin Sheng. Han Fei believed that the Butterfly was trying to model a child that would fit his satisfaction. What was the Butterfly’s standard of satisfaction? Han Fei did not know yet but he would find out. Han Fei studied the wall of crime. The information about the human jigsaw case, Han Fei did not throw away after he removed them. Instead he placed them inside a box. “It is becoming more like a police filing room here by the days.”
Shaking his head, Han Fei cleared his mind. He turned to his books. Criminal psychology, education, talent management, urban building, based on his reading list, one wouldn’t know he was an actor. At 6 pm, when Director Jiang called to ‘remind’ him for the 3rd time, Han Fei changed into a clean outfit and left his rental.
