Han Fei decided to remedy the things that fail to happen in real life, he would kill Ma Manjiang here again and again!
‘The blue butterfly has followed me into Jin Sheng’s memory. If killing it can cause actual damage to the Butterfly, then it’ll be perfect.’ After knowing the location of the tool needed to kill Ma Manjiang, Han Fei appeared less panicked than before. Unlike Zhang Guanxing, he slowly approached Chuxia to gain her trust. The girl hid her deepest wound inside her heart. To take out the scissors from her heart, she would have to willingly open her heart to share with Han Fei her anxiety and pain.
The cracked body trembled. The fear of Ma Manjiang had stolen her ability of speech. Han Fei did not push her. Certain things could not be urged. Han Fei was not a professional psychiatrist, he was merely a patient who had been to many counselling sessions… but he understood he had to be careful with the words that he used. One wrong statement and it would cause Chuxia to collapse quite literally on the spot.
“It’s not safe here around the field, why don’t we swap for a different place?” The grey fog covered the school. Ma Manjiang was cunning. He did not make any noise and silence blanketed the campus. Han Fei had no idea where Ma Manjiang was, he could appear at any time. Under such circumstances, it was too dangerous staying at Ma Manjiang’s previous crime scene. With encouragement from Han Fei, Chuxia finally stopped crying and slowly climbed up from the ground.
Han Fei had no idea what kind of method Ma Manjiang had used in real life to prevent Chuxia from speaking against him but to prevent accidents from happening, he had to stop Chuxia from meeting Ma Manjiang. ‘Before Ma Manjiang discovers Chuxia, I’ll have to retrieve the scissors from Chuxia’s heart.’
After stopping for a moment at the field, Han Fei noticed the fog around the school had thickened. The visibility was even worse but more than that, there was this light stench in the air like something had started to rot. Signalling for Zhang Guanxing to keep quiet, Han Fei led him and Chuxia along the edge of the wall and came to Yi Ming Private Academy’s back entrance. The entrance was locked and the wall was tall and reinforced. The rusted iron gate had a sign that warned students from jumping over it.
‘Where would Ol’ Lee be?’ Yi Ming Private Academy’s first victim was Ol’ Lee but Han Fei had not encountered him in Jin Sheng’s memory world yet. When they passed the iron gates, footsteps came from further down the fog. Han Fei and his group scurried to hide. Han Fei could see about 3 people shuffling their way. They appeared to be students of the school. ‘The students should be inside their classrooms. Why are they here? Did Ma Manjiang send them out to look for me?’
Ma Manjiang literally had many faces. He was good at manipulation and disguises. The students and staff members at the school trusted him blindly. To be honest, if Han Fei was in his position, he would make use of this advantage as well. ‘The school is only so large, with all of the members of the school acting as Ma Manjiang’s informant, it’s only a matter of time until I’m found.’
A normal hide and seek would have many hiders and 1 seeker but ever since Han Fei started this Iyashikei game, he realized he would be the only hider against a horde of ghosts in every hide and seek game he had participated in so far. ‘Since discovery is only a matter of time, I should try as many methods as I can before I am discovered to see if I can kill Ma Manjiang.’
Han Fei turned to look at Chuxia, he remembered everything that he told her. Han Fei knew which kind of approach would lower Chuxia’s guard and what kind of tone to employ to bring him closer to Chuxia, these were the results of his careful probing. In a way, this was another evidence of Perfect Life being an Iyashikei game. If Han Fei was unable to heal Chuxia, then he would not be able to gain access to any weapon. If he could not heal the victim, then he’d be torn into pieces by ghosts and monsters.
Han Fei kept using words to slowly win Chuxia’s trust. By then about half of the student body had left the education block. They were everywhere. Their facial expression was twisted as they dragged their broken body around to search the school ground. Before Han Fei’s group was captured, Han Fei led Chuxia and Zhang Guanxing back to the hostel building.
“I’ll go in to take a look first.”
Han Fei stopped to take out the necklace he swiped from Jin Sheng’s class teacher. He hung the necklace dripping with Ma Manjiang’s sweet nothings around Zhang Guanxing’s neck. Zhang Guanxing’s nose twitched. When he was hit by that wall of sweetness, the young man gagged. “If Ma Manjiang comes close, you’ll bring Chuxia and run. Do not ever take this necklace off, it is the only way to protect Chuxia, understand?” Han Fei looked into Zhang Guanxing’s eyes. Only after Zhang Guanxing barked that Han Fei left.
The hostel’s front door was not locked and the hostel manager was missing. This appeared like such a good opportunity but Han Fei felt things were too easy, the hostel building was too peaceful for his liking!
‘There are students roaming all the other spots at the school but this place…’ Han Fei did not enter the corridor. His eyes scanned the window of the hostel manager’s office. He caught a mirror inside the room and the mirror reflected someone hiding behind the office door. The figure had 4 disfigured heads. ‘That’s Ma Manjiang’s son!’
Han Fei hurried backwards. Ma Manjiang was not at the hostel but he had left his son behind to guard the place. ‘He probably knew that I would come to this place because there’s a high chance that Jin Sheng is hiding here.’ Ma Manjiang predicted that Han Fei would come to the hostel and Han Fei knew that Ma Manjiang would lay down an ambush inside the building, they had both guessed the other’s intention. However, the difference was Ma Manjiang was the hunter and Han Fei was the prey.
‘A direct conflict is not going to help.’ Since he could not use the front door, Han Fei would find another entrance. He sneaked his way back to reunite with Chuxia and Zhang Guanxing. “I’ll climb up to the second floor, I’ll need you to follow after me.” Han Fei tore up his shirt and tied the stray dog onto his back. And then he climbed along the anti-theft net onto the second floor. Putting down Zhang Guanxing, Han Fei reached his hand out the window. “Hold me hand. Trust me.”
Chuxia hesitated. In this situation, Han Fei could not speak too loudly. He could only give Chuxia the most trusting smile he had. After some time, Chuxia grabbed hold of the net and started to climb. As he promised, Han Fei held her close and eventually pulled her into the second floor. The weapon to kill Ma Manjiang was inside Chuxia so Han Fei would never let her go. While they progressed, he kept consoling and asking after Chuxia, easing his way into Chuxia’s heart.
“Stick close to me.” Han Fei pushed the bedroom door open a gap and looked around.
In the foggy corridor, there was a middle-aged woman in a flower-patterned gown and had bright paints on her face. She was tough and large. But her mind did not seem to be there. She tumbled up and down the corridor, holding the keys to all the bedrooms.
‘That is the hostel manager. Why is she acting like a madwoman in Jin Sheng’s memory world?’
