Han Fei rarely cared about other people’s opinions. People could say he was weak, had low EQ, introverted and he wouldn’t get mad because they were right. However, there was one thing that he wouldn’t allow others to challenge him on and that was his acting skill. To Han Fei’s consternation, his flawless acting was seen through in the cryptic world. That unsettled Han Fei because he took pride as a professional actor. The disfigured figure crawled away down the corridor. Han Fei and the spirits behind him gave chase immediately, both parties had shed their disguises. Whenever the light went out, the figure would discover Han Fei appear closer to it. Anxiety crossed its mutilated face. Blood flowed down its cracked cranium. The figure didn’t dare to turn around, afraid that it might find Han Fei riding on his back or lying on its shoulders. Thinking about the army of darkness that loomed behind the man, its bloody face filled with terror and fear.
The man was possessed by more than 1 ghost. There was no place for it to assume anymore!
That was the only explanation why this man was not acting like a normal individual should. After racing through the corner, the disfigured monster dipped into darkness. The blood in the air was replaced by mold. After the monster disappeared, Han Fei stopped to study the dark corridor.
“That thing sure runs fast.” The fear on Han Fei’s face already disappeared. He could manage his expression as easily as one would eat or drink.
“Should we chase after it?” Inside the corridor where Han Fei was supposedly alone, another male voice echoed. Hearing that voice, Han Fei wasn’t afraid, if anything, he answered serenely, “Of course, there is nothing that I love more than the game of hide and seek.”
Han Fei had no idea what the 4th floor basement was for and he had no idea what happened here but he was looking for ‘people’ to interact with. He wanted to trigger missions, if there was none, he would continue to interact with them until there was one. “Be careful, this place gives me a bad feeling.” The man’s voice soon disappeared and melted back into Han Fei’s shadow. Scanning the shadows that appeared behind him, Han Fei slowly understood why the monster had chosen to escape. It was not that his acting was bad, his neighbours had inadvertently exposed him.
The walls started to be painted with red characters. They were evoking resentment and many other negative emotions. More trash appeared in the corridor. After turning another corner, Han Fei discovered a door which was welded from black iron rods. A no entry sign hung on the door. The road was blocked. Leaning on the door, Han Fei realized that the moldy smell mostly came from the other side of the door. Han Fei tried to push the door but it was very well made and didn’t even budge.
After standing there for a while, Han Fei turned to look at the room beside the iron door. The old wooden door lock had fallen to the ground. The door was leaning against a table that missed a leg. The room looked fine at first glance but upon closer inspection, many problems would surface. There was a handprint left on the edge of the table which suggested that someone had just moved it. Han Fei’s passive hide and seek was activated. He gained a frightening instinct at finding things in hiding. He slowly moved the table away and entered the room. Throughout the process, he made no sound. Hugging the urn, Han Fei carefully moved through the trash and came to the broken booth. He poked his head in to look and saw a young man in guard uniform curling under the booth. He was holding a yellowed ghost story book. He bit his finger and was so focused on reading. The pictures of ghosts in the book were ghastly but the color was fading. The man’s expression shifted as the plot progressed. His chest rose and fell unevenly, he was afraid but he couldn’t stop himself from reading.
The scene in the room was rather surreal. The young guard had his body curled up and his focus was completely on the ghost story collection in his hands. Above his head, there was a human head that slowly appeared to stare at the young guard. In the dark, after who knew how long, the young guard finally finished a tale. He wiped away his cold sweat and rubbed his palms together. Then he worked his heavy shoulders. Turning to the cheap watch around his wrist, the young guard picked up the book and prepared to stand up. “Time to go for a patrol. I can’t stay here and skip work forever.”
With his hand on the ground, he was only halfway up, when his eyes swept to the top of his head. Lightning struck his brain and he held his pose like time had frozen. There was a face at the broken window of the booth!
The 4 eyes met and a strange atmosphere undulated.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m a new guard here.” Han Fei only wanted to gain level, he was not interested in scaring people. With a warm smile on his face, he walked out from behind the booth in his stained uniform. The young guard fell to the ground and crawled frantically away from Han Fei.
“If I wanted to harm you, I would have done that earlier. I’m really a new guard here.” Han Fei offered his hand to the young man.
“Do, do not lie to me. My senior told me that this floor is extremely haunted. There was a guard who came down here to patrol at midnight and he was never seen again!” The young man stared at Han Fei’s outstretched hand like it was a venomous snake.
“Since you know this place is dangerous, why would you come here to read ghost stories?” Han Fei felt like he had been forcibly placed into some kind of strange character. He normally wouldn’t need to say these things.
“This is the only place without a camera, so I…”
“So you came here to sneak some free time?” Taking in the dark room, Han Fei sighed, “Is the treatment here so bad that a worker is forced to come to a haunted location to steal some downtime?” Using Soul-depth Touch, Han Fei picked up the young guard. He patted away the dust on the man’s shoulder. “There’s no need to be afraid. I’m indeed the new guard. In fact, why don’t you come with me and show me around? I have so many questions to ask you.”
“Are you sure you’re not a ghost?” The young guard poked Han Fei’s arm and felt reassured by the human warmth.
“What kind of crazy question is that?” Han Fei sighed helplessly. He reached out to snatch away the guard’s ghost story book and stuffed it inside the urn. “Stop reading books like these. There are no ghosts in this world. You need to believe in science!” As he turned to walk off, the horrifying shadows inside the room slipped into the urn as the lid temporarily opened.
