Seeing Han Fei accept the guard uniform without any hesitation, the bride’s expression changed. She initially thought she would have to coerce Han Fei to agree to this but Han Fei seemed surprisingly eager to accept like he couldn’t wait to get to Ziggurat. The bloodshot eyes stared at Han Fei. Now she suspected Han Fei was planning to run and everything he was doing was to confuse her and to buy time.
Holding the guard uniform, Han Fei studied it when he suddenly noticed the bride was still staring at him. ‘Why is she still staring at me? She wants me to try it on before her? To see whether it fits or not?’ The blood on the uniform hadn’t dried and it didn’t feel that comfortable. However, to persuade the bride, Han Fei removed the jacket and put on the uniform. The moment he did, an accident happened. The sticky blood stain appeared to gain sentience. A wounded hand reached out from inside the uniform to grab at Han Fei.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve discovered Grade G Cursed Object—Guard 4’s Uniform.
“Guard 4’s Uniform: The previous owner of this uniform has died in such a horrible death that their body cannot be found. You have to think carefully before putting this on.”
The resentment-filled arm reached for Han Fei but was stopped by Weep and Drake. The vicious hands struggled but eventually went limp. ‘Even a normal guard uniform from the Ziggurat can be a Grade G Cursed Object, this place sure is dangerous.’ Instead of removing the uniform, he made use of this opportunity to have Weep and Drake teach the hand a lesson. The bride watched silently as a human dominated a cursed object. It was not until the vicious hand was grounded down to a red claw that it became more honest. To ensure there wouldn’t be more accidents, Han Fei placed the paper doll into the uniform pocket so that they could bond. Using about 10 minutes, the uniform could finally be placed into Han Fei’s inventory. It had approved of Han Fei, it was very understanding. ‘If I can sneak in as a guard, then I will have a greater chance of completing my plan. The bride has helped me tremendously.’
Han Fei wanted to slip into Ziggurat unnoticed and then give Butterfly a surprise. He was contemplating how to do that when the bride came to give him the perfect solution. With appreciation, Han Fei turned to the bride, “Don’t worry, I will help you find the thing you need.” If Han Fei’s plan succeeded, the Bride could not only have the thing she wanted, she could take everything within rooms that had the number 4. Han Fei’s purpose for heading to Ziggurat was singular, it was to kill Butterfly.
With increased interactions, the bride found herself understanding Han Fei less and less. Without saying anything else, she left Yi Ming Convenience Store.
‘Happiness Neighbourhood is between Cattle Alley and Ziggurat. Now I’ll have to explore my way to Ziggurat.’ Based on his calculation, he should be able to get into Ziggurat before the week was up. After leaving a few messages with his neighbours, Han Fei logged off in the store warehouse. Blood descended and the world turned crimson…
Removing the helmet, Han Fei worked his leaden limbs. Thanks to his increased stamina, he managed to survive until now. ‘Yet another eventful night over.’ Looking at the sky outside the window and the moon hiding shyly behind the clouds, Han Fei thought, ‘That’s gorgeous.’ Han Fei in the past wouldn’t have noticed these details, he was too overwhelmed by the hubbub of life. However, thinking back, he couldn’t really tell why he was so busy back then. He just felt tired, bordering on hopeless. Opening the window, Han Fei took in several breaths of fresh air and then pulled out his phone to check his unread messages. Most of the messages came from Director Zhang’s assistant, everyone at the crew was worried about Han Fei.
After replying to some of them, Han Fei’s eyes suddenly brightened. He checked the numbers in his account repeatedly, counting the number of zeros on it. ‘The salary for the movie is here!’ Perhaps due to his accident at the set, the salary for Thriller Novelist arrived earlier than Twin Flower. ‘This is wonderful, if my math is right, after purchasing the multi-purpose gaming hub, I would still have some money left.’
Nowadays, actors’ salaries were open and translucent, even the biggest actor wouldn’t be paid that much. Therefore most actors opened their own company and then participated in the production themselves, for box office dividends. This had its pros and cons. The pros were if the movie was a success, they would get a big share; but if the movie failed, then they would lose money alongside it.
Han Fei finally could get the gaming hub he wanted, his mood lifted. ‘Nothing has changed inside the game, I still need to face life-threatening danger but I’m still so happy to be able to afford the gaming hub, perhaps that is the simple joy in life.’ With a new gaming hub, he could play longer, even for 24 hours. Just as Han Fei considered when to make the purchase, Director Zhang who got his reply came in with a video call. Han Fei hesitated before answering it. “Director Zhang? Why are you still up so late at night?”
“I can ask you the same thing. You’re still in your outerwear, did you just come back from the police station?” Director Zhang was concerned about Han Fei.
“No, the police have finished their questioning in the afternoon already.”
“Good, I just want to personally check up on you. Also, I don’t think you should come to the set for the next 2 days.” Director Zhang looked very tired with his two dark circles. “There’s a murder at the set, even though it was the killer who died but there would be reporters. You better keep a low profile in the meantime.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve already urged them to send you the salary. You should try to relax, after all, chasing after the killer, I mean, being chased by the killer should be quite taxing on you.” Director Zhang hadn’t slept since yesterday, he was in a bad state.
“You should rest too. Health first.”
After hanging up, Han Fei opened the internet browser and his name appeared on the hot searches again.
“A murderer infiltrated into a movie set but he ended up dying in an accident!”
“It’s him! That man has struck again! A different crew, the same fate!”
“The polling for the new generation of Death Reaper has begun! This is the first time a non-animated character has entered the polling—Han Fei!”
“Han Fei: I bloom from murders! Like a flower in the dawn!”
Celebrities got on hot searches with different reasons but Han Fei’s reason had always been the same. Closing the phone, Han Fei also closed his eyes to these fluff pieces. ‘They can say anything they want. Well, this is perfect. I’ll have time to go purchase the gaming hub tomorrow.’
After who knew how long, Han Fei finally could have a good night's sleep. But as he tossed and turned in bed, he found it difficult to sleep because once he closed his eyes he would be reminded of things from the cryptic world. ‘I’ve not experienced this before.’ He opened his eyes and realized he could see the butterfly pattern everywhere. This illusion was new. ‘Was this something Spider experienced? Butterfly did first appear in Spider’s dream. Is this a sign that it is approaching me?’ Han Fei questioned but he did not panic.
After checking all the corners of his room, he crawled into bed and forced himself not to think about Butterfly but his brain kept feeding him images of Butterfly. Avoidance wouldn’t solve the problem. Instead Han Fei actively tried to think of the scariest, most powerful ghost he knew and had her tear off the Butterflies again and again. Reciting her name, thinking about her every detail, Han Fei slowly fell asleep. “Xu Qin, Xu Qin…”
Get access to all the translated chapter for only 20 usd on patreon~
