Han Fei could plainly see Weep’s desire to grow stronger. He was willing to leave Happiness Neighbour, to follow Han Fei into dangerous situations, to pay heavy prices to achieve that goal. But the reality was even after he had gotten stronger, Weep was still unable to face that particular memory from his past. He suppressed all the despair deep inside him, compressing his soul as much as he could. However, the sadness would not go away, instead it materialized into thorns and pierced through his skin, turning him into a literal unapproachable monster.
Han Fei’s hands were cut from the thorns but he did not mind it. Compared to Weep’s pain, that was nothing. He did not say anything more, company was the best comfort. Weep was lucky to have run into Han Fei or else he’d eventually turn into a brutal monster. Unable to face his own memory, he would evolve into something that even he himself would not recognize to run away from his own past. The thorns on his body slowly subsided. Weep did not want to injure Han Fei and because of that, he started to learn how to control the retractable thorns. Weep slowly calmed down. The haze of sadness dissipated and Weep returned back to normal.
“He has gained a breakthrough?” Drake was shocked. The tiny Weep gave off a presence that was much stronger than his size suggested. “He looks so weak but he’s much scarier than a medium Lingering Spirit.”
“What do you mean by a medium Lingering Spirit? Can you give me some specifics?” Han Fei was curious about Weep’s current power level as well.
“Well, I am myself a medium Lingering Spirit, I look about the same size of a normal person. Bigger than me will be the Large Lingering Spirits, examples include the bride and the female teacher from Yi Ming Private Academy. Even if they keep their presence fully enclosed, they will be much larger than a normal person. Beyond that will be a Top Lingering Spirit, they are just one step away from evolving into pure hatreds, they can only be described as walking horrors.” Drake was extremely loyal to Han Fei. He would try his best to answer any question Han Fei had. “But at this city, body size is just a reference to determine one’s power level. There are many other spirits who are deceptively strong despite their appearance, take for example, the former convenience store boss. It could fight with a Large Lingering Spirit with no problem, it might even win. If it was not tripped up by the tenants at the Ziggurat that day, you would not have any chance of taking it down.”
“Understood, I need to treat everything with caution.” Han Fei had the spirits return to the urn. After he cleaned up everything inside the barbershop, he left. Following the map left behind by the previous manager, Han Fei hugged the urn, and continued his way down the street. The city shrouded in darkness emitted a strange presence. Most of the shops which lined the street were closed. There were not many business owners who dared to open for business at this place. After Han Fei crossed the apartment, the barbershop and a few empty stores, he stopped. Drake and Weep inside the urn kept sending him warning, to tell him to avoid the building which was coming up. This was the first time this had happened.
‘Yi Ming Pet Clinic? Is that a pet store?’ The storefront was warmly decorated. The sign was pink and the glass door was filled with pictures of many cats and dogs. It looked cute. ‘At this place, the more unassuming something is, the more dangerous they normally are.’
Han Fei’s main goal was to get his profession. Since both Drake and Weep warned him to stay away, then he would heed their advice. However, that did not mean that Han Fei would forget about it. Han Fei’s plan was to go for the weaker ones first. After he had cleaned up the weaker spirits around the area, he would return to this place. Han Fei was tackling the situation like a business management game. He would consolidate his influence around the nearby businesses first before coming back to conscript this pet shop into his empire. Throughout this process, he would also help his neighbours, employees and family get over their pain and despair, this was truly an Iyashikei game. Holding his breath, Han Fei hurried away from the pet store. He walked for another 10 minutes before Drake gave another warning.
The street where Yi Ming Convenience Store and Happiness Neighbourhood was located was appropriately called Yi Ming Street. By now, Han Fei had almost reached the end of the street. At the intersection where Yi Ming Street crossed with another street sat an old-fashioned cinema. The cinema had a strange name, it was called Heaven. Han Fei felt the name sounded familiar. He opened his inventory and found the work id for Heaven Cinema and a group photo.
When Han Fei just started the game, there were still non-locals at Happiness Neighbourhood Block 1. Han Fei acquired these things from one of the non-locals. It was worth noting that Han Fei was required to visit Cinema Heaven to trigger missions related to the profession of actor but for now, Han Fei did not wish to explore a location where he had no information about at all. Furthermore, compared to an actor, Han Fei was still more attracted by the profession of Midnight Butcher.
Marking down the location of Heaven Cinema, Han Fei moved away from it and turned into the other street. The city appeared to stretch into the darkness indefinitely.
This new street had bad urban planning. Many of the buildings were squeezed together and strange noises kept coming out from them. The warnings from Weep and Drake came more frequently and it caused Han Fei’s heart to quiver even more. ‘According to the previous manager’s map, we should be there soon!’
The buildings which lined the streets became older and more dilapidated. The surroundings became quieter. Bloody red eyes appeared to open in the dark. Things moved in the seemingly empty alleys. After trekking for about 5 minutes, Han Fei reached the back of an old building. The map marked this place out as Cattle Alley but strangely enough, there was no alley, only a dumpling store that enjoyed quite good business.
Fresh Meat was written on the bright red sign. The delicious smell of meat wafted out from inside the eatery. ‘The Cattle Alley is behind this shop? Or I’ve already arrived at Cattle Alley? Why didn’t the system give me any notification?’ All the buildings Han Fei had come across so far radiated an extremely dangerous presence but this dumpling store was different. It was business as usual here. There were customers milling about.
‘Drake did not give me any warning so this place should be safe.’ Han Fei slowly walked out from the shadows. He entered the dumpling shop. He was immediately engulfed by the delectable smell of meat. The smell activated and stimulated Han Fei’s taste buds. He was gripped by a sensation that he honestly had not felt since he started this game... hunger. And the sensation was getting stronger by the seconds.
After checking up on the spirits inside the urn, Han Fei discovered something even more surprising. The spirits were affected by it as well and they were influenced by the hunger more acutely than Han Fei was.
