“Of course you won’t be any bother! I’ve already told my parents about you, they are so eager to meet you.” Lee Ruonan grabbed the man by his arm. The long-missed human warmth made the smile on her face grow brighter. She could not hide it even if she tried. She half-dragged, half-persuaded the young man to follow her to the second floor. She opened the door and the girl’s parents were already sitting behind the dining table. “Mom, dad, this here is our new tenant.”
The yellow, dim lights lit up the cozy small room. The father lifted his head to glance at the young man. He pushed on the glasses and signaled for the young man to sit. “Make yourself at home.”
“Uncle, auntie, nice to meet you.” The young man was very polite and appeared the perfect gentleman. Hugging the urn, he took a seat by the dining table.
“Why are you wandering around all alone at night? Do you not have anywhere else to go?” Lee Ruonan’s mother had her hair up in a ponytail. She asked kindly.
“I intend to reach the end of the street. However, I heard that the road might get a bit dangerous at night so I wish to find some places where I can be safe. That way if I run into any danger, I can return to those places to hide temporarily.”
“You’re heading to the end of the street?” The father frowned. “I’d advise you to not go there. You should stay here for now.” The father said with finality. As the man of the family, he was used to meting out orders.
“But I don’t want to trouble and infringe on your kindness. I don’t have much money on me and I won’t be able to afford the rent.”
“The rent doesn’t matter, we only need you to promise us one thing.” The mother stood up and moved to the young man’s side. At the same time, the chain of the front door jangled. Lee Ruonan had locked the anti-theft door. “We can protect, feed you and give you a place to live. But from today onwards, you are barred from leaving this room.”
“I can’t leave?” The young man hesitated. “I’m fine with it but I have to ask my friends for their opinions first.” The lights in the room started to flicker. When the lights were on, the family of three looked normal but when the lights were off, their eyes were all white and their expressions were twisted with malice. “Since you’re already here, then you should just stay.” The father’s voice dipped with threat. He lifted up the lids that covered the food on the dining table. “Anyway, why don’t you join us for dinner? I guarantee you’ll get used to living here soon enough.”
The young man turned to look at the table. The plates were filled with bugs and rotten meat.
“Come on, don’t be shy! There are plenty more in the kitchen!” The mother picked up a piece of meat and placed it in the young man’s bowl. “Give it a taste. It’s very delicious!”
“Auntie, I really don’t want to take advantage of your kindness. I think I’ll leave.” The young man made to stand up but the lights inside the room went off completely. A strange sound came out from the dark…
Lee Ruonan dragged a chain out from her bedroom. She had put on a new dress and the smile on her face was maniacally happy. “This time, I will make sure that you will never disappear from my sight again.”
“A chain can’t keep a man’s heart. As long as he still has his limbs, he will still escape.” The mother ruffled Lee Ruonan’s hair lovingly. She took out a knife from the kitchen. Their faces were drained of blood and their rationality was being slowly consumed. “Stay, we will keep you so well fed.” Lee Ruonan said towards the empty space beside the young man, she seemed to be talking to herself. “Don’t worry about that, I can help spoon feed you from now on.”
Seeing the knife, the young man knew that it was pointless to argue anymore. “Are you sure that we can stay here? For as long as we want?”
“Yes, you can stay! And you will stay here forever!” The skin on the family of 3 started to decompose. When they surrounded the young man, the young man suddenly calmed down. “This is the first time I’ve heard such a strange request.” He opened the urn and said, “Come on out! The owner has given us the permission to stay here forever, this place will be our home in the future.” The last shaft of light was distorted and the temperature dropped to zero.
“Who are you talking to?” The father was the first to sense the problem. Just as he uttered that question, the sound of a child’s crying echoed inside the house. Then pairs of arms reached out from inside the urn!
The Lingering Spirits expanded to their full size and the heady smell of blood overwhelmed the stench of decomposition. The group of Lingering Spirits instantly crowded the living room. The young man placed the chopsticks down. He leaned against the back of his chair as his eyes scanned the family of 3 serenely. The same kind and friendly smile hung on his face. “Auntie, we’ll be a real family from now on.”
Being surrounded by so many Lingering Spirits, the family of 3 almost cracked. “Since we’re family now, please don’t just stand there, sit, sit.” The family of 3 were pressed back down into their seats. They did not know how to face the young man. After a long time, the bespectacled father coughed awkwardly and said, “I’m sorry but I think my place is a bit too small to fit so many…”
“It’s fine, we don’t mind it.” Han Fei drummed his fingers on the table as if thinking of something. Since he did not say anything, the family did not dare to raise any objection. But the father and mother were furiously exchanging looks with their eyes. Then both of them stared daggers at Lee Ruonan. It was one thing to stay single after marriageable age but to bring a life-ending threat back home?!
“To be honest, I came in peace. Even though you meant to hurt me, I am a forgiving person.” The young man’s words gave the family hope. “Let’s see. First, you threatened to kill me, but I’ll overlook that. Now, I am more than capable of wiping out your existence but I won’t do that. Doesn’t that mean that I’ve essentially saved your life? Doesn’t that you mean that all three of you owe me a life each?” The young man spoke quickly and convinced the family with his ‘logic’. “Like what I said earlier, my goal is to reach the other end of the street. I need a few locations to turn into my safehouses. If you are willing to help, then we will be friends and family in the future. But if you don’t, then you leave me with no choice…”
“Of course, of course we are willing to help! Please come back any time, we will provide the safest place for you and your friends to rest!” Lee Ruonan’s father reacted quickly.
“You will eventually realize how correct your choice was.” The young man took out a blood red paper doll from his pocket. He tore out a small piece of the blood-soaked paper and fed it to the father. At the same time, the robotic voice announced, “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed Grade G Hidden Mission, the Inescapable Home. Mission completion rate is less than 90 percent, obtained 1 free skill point, friendliness with Lee Ruonan’s family of 3 increases by 10. You’ve identified 1 extra building on the map! Identify 10 buildings and you’ll get the beginner’s reward from map exploration!”
The young man was none other than Han Fei. He knew that his way of tackling the mission would lead to a low completion rate but he did not have the time to explore the mission slowly anymore. Furthermore, he was already level 10. Grade G Missions would not give him anymore valuable rewards. Han Fei now was aiming for Grade F Missions only. Walking to the window, Han Fei glanced out. Lee Ruonan’s building was on the street opposite from the junction. The location was strategic. ‘This is the first building I’ve taken down at this side of the street. I’ll slowly clean up this place and make more friends.’
Since Han Fei had completed a mission, he could be more brazen. He could leave the game at any time. After having all the ghosts return back to the urn, Han Fei left the small home. He was not someone who killed for no reason. As long as the other party could be reasoned with, Han Fei would try to befriend them. If they were unwilling, then he would only have the ghosts to come do the persuasion for him.
Han Fei had formulated a mature identification system. He would use himself as a bait to test out the level of rationality in the ‘people’ he came across. Actually, before he ran into Lee Ruonan, Han Fei had already encountered several Animated Regrets and 1 Lingering Spirit, but they were now all inside Weep, Drake and the rest’s stomach. After following Han Fei around for the better of the night, Weep and Drake had improved greatly. Drake’s wounds had fully healed, the presence he gave off was stronger than before. His single eye appeared to gain new power as well.
Weep’s status though was more unique. This tortured boy was different from the normal lingering spirit. Normally the stronger the ghost, the bigger they would be. Weep was the complete opposite. He folded all the pain and hatred within him. He kept them suppressed. In terms of appearance, he looked even more fragile than Han Fei first met him but his cries were much more harrowing than before.
“Come, let’s go find these new buildings. I’ll identify 10 buildings tonight itself.” Most of the ghosts in the cryptic world would stay at one location, and had their presence slowly pervade their haunt of choice. The best example was the tenants at Happiness Neighbourhood. But now that Han Fei had arrived, he couldn't care less about the established rules. In his eyes, there were only friends or foes. To survive, he could be an angel or a demon. After all the spirits crawled back into the urn, Han Fei returned to assuming the identity of a polite and harmless young man.
He was about to leave when the door to the barbershop next door opened again. The middle-aged man poked his head out carefully. “You managed to survive the encounter with the family?”
Hearing the man, Han Fei reacted with shock and panic. With great gasping breaths, he hurried to the barbershop. “That whole family is crazy, they wanted to kill me. I only managed to escape because they were not paying me too much attention!”
“Then they will definitely chase after you. How about you come in to hide from them?” A trace of malice and greed crossed the middle-aged man’s eyes and his face was decorated with an excited grin.
Be updated to the translation of the latest raw chapter at my patreon (patreon.com/lonelyman)
