“So he has tricked you?” Han Fei frowned. The previous building manager had chosen the path to destroy the cryptic world, his attitude towards ghosts was naturally different from Han Fei.
“Not really, because you’re here. Before he left, he said that if he ever disappeared, someone else would come in his place to help me.” Jin Sheng was trapped in despair but his worldview was simple and optimistic. However, it went against the barren of emotion that was the boy’s face.
“Then I guess he did live up to his promise.” Han Fei worked out the kinks in his arms. Thinking back to the near brushes with death in the manager mission, he shivered from fear. “Did Fu Sheng tell you anything else? Like things that he’d told you to relay to his replacement?”
After staring at Han Fei for a while, Jin Sheng slowly spoke, “He said his body has been split into many parts, he told me the location for one of the parts. He said that I should only reveal that location to someone whom I can trust.”
“Someone whom you can trust?” Han Fei believed the parts of the body were the previous manager’s memory fragments.
“Yes.” Before Han Fei could say anything else, Jin Sheng wrote down the name, Ziggurat on his arm. From further conversation, Han Fei got to know the deeper history. The previous manager wanted to help Jin Sheng walk out from despair. His intention was good but he had failed. While Jin Sheng was sealed up, the butterfly led outsiders to take over Yi Ming Private Academy. The butterfly wanted to gain access to Jin Sheng. The butterfly and its cronies turned the school upside down but they failed to find Jin Sheng. Meanwhile the natives at the school tried to keep the outsiders at bay but it was a losing battle with the butterfly buttressing up the outsiders with its cunningness. After Fu Sheng mysteriously disappeared, the fight skewed even further against the natives. If Han Fei had come sooner, the natives at Yi Ming Private Academy might have been fully consumed by Ma Manjiang and the only tales of horror left at the school would be the one and only Ma Manjiang.
“Jin Sheng, can you tell me what exactly happened at this school so many years ago?” Han Fei looked at Jin Sheng sincerely. Jin Sheng, who was numb to everything, told the story without any break in emotion. He reconstructed every single detail of the incidents that once occurred at Yi Ming Private Academy. Most of the people involved were dead and the source of all these tragedies was Ma Manjiang. Using a tone that was almost serene, Jin Sheng shared his tales of endless struggle. After more and more people fell to Ma Manjiang’s cruelty because of him, Jin Sheng did not choose to surrender to Ma Manjiang, instead he chose to end his own life. He walked within the endless haze of despair, he was hated by everyone but Jin Sheng would rather injure himself than lay a finger on others.
“Honestly, I don’t understand why I was so hated. Perhaps many people don’t really know why they hated me, maybe they felt that way because their friends did too.” When Jin Sheng said that in a detached manner, Han Fei’s heart quivered. “Ma Manjiang is a master manipulator but he himself is a monster dominated by desire. There is something else living inside his body, I don’t know what it is but I am sure of its existence.”
“You mean the blue butterfly?”
“I’m not sure but it appears to adopt the form of a faded consciousness. I encountered many instances where Ma Manjiang was talking to himself, conversing with another voice that was only audible to him.” Jin Sheng provided Han Fei with a valuable clue, “But every time, Ma Manjiang would refer to that other existence as Teacher.”
“The Butterfly was Ma Manjiang’s teacher?” Han Fei was reminded of the old detective’s speculation. They believed the Butterfly was in the medical or education field. The killer of the Human Jigsaw Case, Meng Changan was treated by a doctor when he was young and that doctor was the Butterfly who led him into the abyss of darkness. ‘Just how did Butterfly manage to take on so many different personas at one time?’
Han Fei did not know Meng Changan that well, in fact, he had not even interacted with the man. It was mostly Meng Changxi’s and the police who dealt with Meng Changan.
However, Ma Manjiang was Han Fei’s direct nemesis in Jin Sheng’s memory world. The man was cunning, cruel, heartless and crazy. Beyond that, he had incredible mastery over human psychology. He was thus far the most difficult enemy Han Fei had ever faced. Han Fei had to put everything on the line to fight for a chance at survival. If everything was to start over, Han Fei did not have the confidence he would reach the same ending.
‘Even a student of the Butterfly is so scary, then just how evil the real Butterfly must be?’ Han Fei tightened his fists. No matter how scary this Butterfly was, Han Fei would have to face it because even if he did not, the Butterfly would come after him. ‘The fact that the Butterfly managed to send Ma Manjiang into the cryptic world suggests that the Butterfly has access to a wealth of secrets and knowledge. Perhaps they even know the way to reach the real world from the cryptic world.’
While Han Fei was parsing these information, Jin Sheng was reminded of something. “If you’re that interested in the blue butterfly, you should go and visit the Ziggurat.”
“The Ziggurat?” Han Fei came across the mention of this location more and more in his adventure. His interest in the place grew.
“All the outsiders who align with Butterfly came from the Ziggurat, including Ma Manjiang.” Han Fei captured something among Jin Sheng’s words. He was stringing those pieces of information into a workable clue. “There should be some straggling outsiders around the school. You can capture them to get them to provide you with more information.”
The words and symbols swam on Jin Sheng’s skin like blood. His expressionless face started to contort. Jin Sheng’s head symbolized his memory, his body was made up of curses and blood. At that moment, the words were crawling towards his cheeks and forehead. The presence around him became colder and colder.
“I still don’t have the power to stop myself from going berserk. When the curses crawl all over my body, I’ll lose control. Even though this school exists because of me, I am not a valid manager.” Jin Sheng gripped the cupboard door. The black words and symbols on his body splattered onto the cupboard walls like actual blood. It was only then that Han Fei noticed the inner walls of the cupboard were filled with words as well, each of them dripping with resentment and curse. “If you come across anything you can’t solve at this school, you can come back to find me. I’ll force myself to stay sane every midnight.”
The words appeared in Jin Sheng’s eyes. His small body started to tremble. Maintaining his rationality was taking a toll on him. The cupboard doors closed. At the last moment, the boy stared silently at Han Fei’s face. His lips moved as if mouthing, thank you.
The cupboard doors closed. Han Fei remembered everything Jin Sheng said. He planned to compile them into a file and handed it to the police. The police were the arbitrator of law, not him.
The infirmary returned to silence. After dealing with Jin Sheng, Han Fei finally turned towards Huang Yin who was still in extreme shock and terror. Huang Yin was between the twilight zone of fainting and dreaming. His face was drained of blood and his lips were purple.
“Brother Huang, are you alright?”
