Time appeared to slow down indefinitely. Han Fei could see clearly his mind was being pulled away from his body but at the same time, he saw a hand reach out to grab his leg. The fingernail scratched him and his soul froze. Han Fei’s eyes involuntarily swung downwards but he saw nothing. Opening his eyes, Han Fei removed the gaming helmet and opened the gaming hub. His pupils were still shaking and he found it hard to calm down. ‘Exiting the game wouldn’t stop that thing, I almost got trapped in the game.’
The gaming hub was constantly monitoring Han Fei’s physical condition. He didn’t feel uncomfortable physically and he didn’t feel as exhausted as he would have been if he only had the gaming helmet. But as he tried to climb out from the hub, he staggered and fell to the ground. Han Fei looked at his left calf in disbelief, he couldn’t move the lower half of his left calf anymore! ‘That was the place where the Unmentionable scratched me!’
He stared at the left calf and then decided to lay down and rest. After a long time, senses returned to his left calf but with it came quite a scare. ‘Just a small touch and I couldn’t feel my left calf anymore. Using this as a speculation, if I die in game, I might not actually die in real life but there’s a high chance I might lose full consciousness and become comatose.’ The joy of reaching level 12 was dampened immediately. The Singer had given Han Fei a good lesson, it reminded Han Fei who had gotten rather contented with his current situation in the cryptic world a lesson on its dangers. ‘The water of the cryptic world is too deep. Even someone as strong as Little Eight had to hide at Happiness Neighbourhood, so I need to be more careful in the future.’
Han Fei’s plan was to train his level as fast as possible but the Singer had decided to put a stop to that. Han Fei finally understood the biggest difference between Perfect Life and the other games on the market. For most games, it was the player playing the game, but in Perfect Life, it was the NPC playing the player. Only by maintaining a constant humility and caution that one had a higher chance of survival.
Sitting down in bed, Han Fei found himself fully awake. Deep Space Tech’s gaming hub was indeed effective. When he was submerged in the game, his body received absolute relaxation and recovery. ‘Gaming equals sleeping, now I have more time to use in my day.’ Time was the thing Han Fei lacked the most. He looked out at the dark sky and opened the computer to search all the murder cases related to Ziggurat and the Singer. Even when the sun rose, Han Fei didn’t find anything. There were many articles about Ziggurat but they were mostly mythological in nature.
‘It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, I would have a better chance talking to someone involved.’ Han Fei called Huang Yin, hoping that his friend could help him contact Feng Ziyu. Feng Ziyu was the mad tester’s colleague, and he had witnessed the massacre from back then. He had been searching for info related to Ziggurat as well. The phone only rang once before it was picked up, Huang Yin appeared to have set a special reminder for Han Fei’s calls.
“Brother Huang, did you experience any more nightmares yesterday night?” Han Fei was concerned about Huang Yin. After he asked the question, Huang Yin was silent for a long time. “It was still that dream…” Huang Yin was in a strange state. Normally when a person was targeted by the Butterfly, they would be mentally affected, like the Chef persona of the Spider. Even if they managed to survive the mental onslaught, they would become paranoid until they pushed themselves mad. However, Huang Yin sounded calm and collected, there was no fear and panic, if anything, it sounded like there was even some taste of remembrance.
“Do you need me to go be with you in person? Have you considered just moving into a hotel near the police station for these few days?” Han Fei really didn’t wish for anything bad to happen to Huang Yin.
“I didn’t know how to describe it to you. In the dream, I was given a chance to live a different life. In the dream, my mother didn’t leave me, she stayed by my side…” At this point, Huang Yin suddenly stopped.
“And then?” Han Fei knew Butterfly wouldn’t be so kind for no reason.
“And then she continuously tried to kill me in various ways.” Hearing that, Han Fei sucked in a cold breath. Butterfly took on the image of the person Huang Yin loved and respected the most and used this method to ruin the man. Han Fei was worried, so he changed into a video call. On the screen, Huang Yin was still wearing his pyjamas, he smiled like a big boy. Han Fei was confused, he couldn’t see any mental breakdown symptoms on Huang Yin.
“There’s no need to worry, I’m fine.” Other than the bushy beard, Huang Yin looked normal.
“But didn’t you feel anything? Being killed by your beloved mother. Didn’t you feel despair having your most precious memory twisted? Brother Huang, you have to tell me the truth so that the police and I can help you.” Han Fei uttered sincerely.
“The truth?” Huang Yin thought about it. “Actually, the thing that happened in my childhood has always been my nightmare, the thing that I refused to face. My biggest hope is for my mother to survive and not sacrifice herself to save me, she was the kindest person in the world.” Huang Yin had been through death with Han Fei and they were each other’s only friend so Huang Yin didn’t hide anything from him. “My father hated me for quite a long time after that, he sent me overseas to study because he couldn’t stand being near me. Honestly, I’m now in my 30s but I still haven’t forgotten about that part of my memory, I merely have learned not to let others see my sadness.
“I’ve already felt guilt towards my mother. It was because of me that she had to die, I wanted to make up to her but I had no way of doing that… until I started these nightmares.
“When I saw my mother standing by the lakeside and not jump down to save me, the first feeling I had was not fear but great relief, I was worried that she might die in the dream as well. Then when she wanted to murder me in my dream, that was scary but for some reason, it felt like I was also paying penance. When each death, my heart felt lighter, the pain suffocating me was being slowly released. My guilt, my self-blame, my pain, they were going away with each death.
“At the later part of the nightmare, I started to voluntarily approach her even though I knew she wanted to kill me. But I wouldn’t run away from her anymore, just like how she didn’t hesitate to jump into the icy lake to save me.” Huang Yin on the screen took a deep breath and he broke into a smile, “I know what the Butterfly is trying to do but I don’t care.” Huang Yin appeared to have awakened some strange worldview, Han Fei had no idea if it was good or not, Butterfly was probably equally confused. “Is there anything else?”
“Since Butterfly was unable to make any progress with you, it’s already the best news for me.” Han Fei started to explain the reason for him calling. He wanted to know more about Ziggurat. Huang Yin agreed easily and helped Han Fei contact Feng Ziyu. Soon Han Fei received a document. After entering the password, he realized the content of the document was all related to the Ziggurat.
“The Ziggurat is not a specific building or a neighbourhood, it is a gathering of many different haunted houses and boarded off locations.”
Just the first line of the document had attracted Han Fei’s attention deeply. He ended the video call and started to study the document seriously.
