‘Spider turned the Meat Packing Factory’s living compound into the grave for his 8 personas, does Butterfly plan to make this place my grave in real life? Just how many more secrets is this crazy thing still hiding?’
As the cruiser left the set and sped down the highway, the cloud over Han Fei’s heart slowly dissipated. “Han Fei, you’ll have to watch yourself when you’re out. Butterfly has gone far more aggressive than we’ve ever seen it.” Li Xue said seriously, “The former security guard who tried to murder Huang Yin before has just been found dead. Everyone related to the Butterfly started to act erratically. Their already serious mental problems have become more pronounced.”
“What do you mean?”
“All the suspects we know, including Meng Changan started to show symptoms of delusions, fainting spells and illusions. We’ve hired experts to examine their brains.” Li Xue took out her phone to show Han Fei several brain scans. All the brain scans showed a large section of pathological deterioration. If you connected all the pathological segments, they would form the shape of an open wing, like that of a butterfly. “The human brain is the most mysterious organ of the human body. We’ve already conducted neurological treatments on Meng Changan and the rest, and managed to stifle the deterioration of their problems. However, since midnight yesterday, their condition suddenly took a dip for the worse!” Midnight yesterday was exactly when Han Fei rescued Spider in the cryptic world and ruined Butterfly’s plan at Cattle Alley. “I suspect this is not an isolated issue. Everyone who is affected by Butterfly will act crazier. Under the influence of the Butterfly, there’s no telling what they might do.” Li Xue warned but Han Fei couldn’t take his eyes away from the brain scans.
He looked through a number of them and realized other than Meng Changan, there were a few other familiar names. Take for example, Ming Mei’s family of 3. Even though quite some time had passed, Han Fei still remembered the devilish family of 3. To take over the real estate Ying Yue’s parents left for her, they killed Ying Yue, dismembered her and stuffed her in toy plushies. After the fact, Ming Mei’s father tried to go after Jin Jun, the paparazzi but he was ultimately apprehended by Han Fei.
“This family of 3 is related to the Butterfly too?”
“Yes, but the pathological changes to their brain are not as complete as Meng Changan’s. I believe they are failed products that came before Meng Changan.” Li Xue answered the question since it was technically Han Fei who helped capture these suspects.
“I remember they had employed the insanity plea to escape the judgement of law, how is that coming along?”
“Ming Mei’s father has admitted to the crime but the mother and Ming Mei are still undertaking the latest psychiatric and neurological treatment. They are currently placed under 20 hours of psychological intervention and correction every day so that they would soon come to terms with what they have done.” Li Xue reminded Han Fei of something. He had personally gone to the penitentiary to check up on Ming Mei’s family. The doctor who was treating Ming Mei was the student of the psychologist who treated Spider, his name was Wu Hei. The doctor had even provided Director Zhang and the crew with information about Spider when they started to shoot the Thriller Novelist and he had been to the living compound in person.
‘The treatment helmet used by Hu Wei is designed by Deep Space, and all the products of Deep Space share the same core server…’ Ever since he came back from the penitentiary, Han Fei had been trying to draw Ming Mei into the cryptic world. If Perfect Life was seen as a world, then the sandbox treatment room created by the therapy helmet for Ming Mei was like a bubble in that world. Ying Yue still missed Ming Mei greatly so the latter should have an affinity with spirits. Therefore, theoretically speaking, Han Fei should have no problem using Spirit Farer to summon Ming Mei to the cryptic world.
“It’s about time I fulfil the promise I gave Ying Yue.” The tenants at Happiness Neighbourhood had had a hard life, Han Fei was sincere to help them take revenge. However, he had been too busy trying to survive to help them. Now he was preparing to head to Ziggurat. With his current power level, he might not return alive. Therefore, he wished to do as much as he could for his neighbours before he departed for Ziggurat.
‘Hopefully I won’t get Huang Yin again.’ Actually Han Fei himself was confused. According to the system, the chance of Han Fei pulling off a successful Spirit Farer was not that high, but it would work on Huang Yin every time.
With the police protection, Han Fei returned to his home safely. He just entered the room when he received a message from Huang Yin… ‘Can you talk now?’ After closing the door and windows, Han Fei called Huang Yin, “Brother Huang, what is it?”
“I’ve already prepared all the tools necessary to level up to 30 and to run for Honorary City Mayor.”
“You’re planning to run for the Honorary City Mayor’s title?” Han Fei was startled to hear that, this was a big step for Brother Huang!
“Honorary City Mayor has no actual power but it comes with many hidden perks, it’s one of the harder titles to gain in game. I plan to start my campaign at level 1 and grab the title before level 80.”
“It’ll take that long?” Han Fei shook his head, his expectation was dampened somewhat.
“When I chatted with you before, you gave me a lot of tips. Instead of trying to endear myself to the mayor, I might as well become the mayor.”
“I think you’ll have a smoother path to become the mayor in the cryptic world, no one will compete for the seat with you here.” Han Fei chatted some more. He told Huang Yin to collect some useful skill books. Cryptic world had a lot of resources but perhaps because of the nature of the population, there were not many skill books that contained talent learnable by living humans. It was why Han Fei still relied on passive skills until now.
After hanging up, Han Fei scrounge up something simple to eat and then he picked up the books to read. It was to imagine that such a bookworm would be a butcher wearing an animalistic mask, dripping in blood, armed with a butcher’s knife in the cryptic world.
At midnight, Han Fei connected all the wires and put on the helmet. Red fell and he opened his eyes in the darkness. The paper dolls looked at him emotionlessly and the chill seeped into his skin. Han Fei appeared inside the convenience store’s warehouse. He found Drake and asked for the store update. After Han Fei became the boss, the items on sale flew off the shelves because the wandering spirits kept coming to barter them away.
Unlike the paper doll boss, Han Fei did not have the ability to seal the spirits inside objects and create new stock out of flesh and curse. Therefore, Yi Ming Convenience Store was running lower and lower on stock. “Boss, I have to say you’re running this shop like a charity. Profit is not your intention.”
“At least we’ve managed to get the shop’s name out. People will not be that afraid to come to us in the future. If the sales have managed to cleanse our previous reputation, then it’s already worth it.” Han Fei walked into the storage room and he was quite flummoxed when he saw the room filled with wails of souls trapped inside various items and flesh. The previous boss knew how to turn these things into cursed food or weapons but Han Fei was not that talented. “We’ll eventually figure out a way to use these things. If the storage ever becomes too full, then go bring Xu Qin’s pet over and feed some to it.” With the black anaconda, Han Fei lived a life of zero waste.
He returned to Happiness Neighbourhood. Han Fei first greeted Wei Youfu before he led Weep to the centre of the neighbourhood. If he used Spirit Farer here, then the target would only appear inside the neighbourhood. No matter what the thing was, Han Fei had confidence that they could be controlled with the help of the entire neighbourhood. After having Weep step back, Han Fei stood in the shadows of the apartment buildings and opened his menu. His eyes focused on a specific spot and his lips moved to recite, “Spirit Farer!”
Endless hands pried the menu open from the middle. Blood waves lapped at Han Fei and the man found himself standing before the Gate of Death.
