“As the butterfly tattoo became clearer, I could feel my body becoming lighter like my soul has grown wings as if it would fly out from my body at any moment.” The man touched the tattoo. His expression was a mixture of disgust and interest. “Everything I’ve said is the truth. You can think that I’m crazy but I hope you’ll seriously consider what I’ve said.” Closing all the faucets, the madman opened the toilet door and turned to look at the wall clock inside the living room. “It’s about 4 am already, I have to return to the bedroom. If you believe me, come back to find me at the break of dawn!” The madman let go of Han Fei. He moved to the bedroom door of Room 1144 with halting steps. Before he entered the bedroom, he turned around to regard Han Fei, “Are you really the guard of this neighbourhood? That is what you remember yourself working as?”
Han Fei nodded. The gaze that the man levelled at Han Fei was filled with pity. “Then you better not be on any patrol between 4 am to 5 am, that is the most dangerous period. Other than that, I have something else to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“The previous security guards all disappeared during nighttime patrols.” When the madman said that, the notification rang inside Han Fei’s mind, he finally triggered his first mission inside Ziggurat!
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve triggered Grade F Hidden Mission—Nighttime Patrol!
“Nighttime Patrol: Complete a full patrol successfully.
“Warning! After completing this mission, you have the chance of obtaining the hidden profession, Ziggurat Guard!
“Warning! Players can only select one main profession but can have unlimited part time jobs and side jobs, but the buffs from those jobs will be limited.”
Han Fei was glad when he heard the notification, once he completed the mission, he could log off. But as the notification continued, he realized something was wrong. Nighttime patrol sounded like such a normal activity but its difficulty was Grade F? His previous grade F mission could be completed only because he had the help of his neighbours but now his only help was… Brother Hwa and Xiao Fang?
Han Fei was distracted by the system. When he came to and wanted to ask the madman more things, the man opened the bedroom door. The small bedroom was dark. The moment the door opened, he was pulled into the room by something invisible! The bedroom door slammed close. The wall clock showed that it was exactly 3.44 am.
The walls started to bleed and occasionally human fragments squeezed out from the corners, Han Fei had no idea where those things came from. After the madman left, a deeply-hidden compassion appeared in Han Fei’s eyes. This man trapped in an everlasting nightmare was another one was the Butterfly’s ‘creations’.
“Come and find you when the dawn breaks? Unfortunately, dawn will never come at this place.” Han Fei believed the madman’s memory was also fixed on April 4th. This date appeared to have special significance to the Ziggurat owner. Holding the door handle, Han Fei rushed out before a greater change happened inside Room 1144.
“Bai Sinian, are you alright?!”
“This is all my fault! I shouldn’t have let a new guard do something so dangerous!” Brother Hwa and Xiao Fang were worried about Han Fei. They banged on the door repeatedly earlier. To save Han Fei, they had made a lot of commotion.
“I’ve seen his hands. They’re perfectly fine. But I was unable to get anything out of him. He was incoherent, saying things that I couldn’t understand at all.” Han Fei looked like he had been through some inexplicable frights.
“Don’t fixate on them too much or you’ll go crazy yourself.” “It’s great that you’re fine, we better leave this floor now.” When Brother Hwa was ramming into the door earlier, his mind was on Han Fei. But now that Han Fei was out in one piece, his heart quivered as he looked around the darkened corridor. He felt like eyes were on them due to the sound they had made. “Come on, let’s hurry to the 15th floor.” Compared to darkness, most people would feel safe in light.
The 3 guards didn’t stay for long and rushed to the 15th floor. The voice-activated lights came on but this time, the light didn’t bring them any comfort. Perhaps the sound they made was too loud and it had awakened something inside the building. When they moved, there would be echoes to their footsteps. The extra footsteps moved faster than they were. The footsteps came from downstairs, it sounded like something was chasing after the 3 guards.
“Brother Hwa, normally how long will it take for you to complete a round of patrol?” With the red dress on his arm, Han Fei was already contemplating how to complete this Grade F with just the 3 of them.
“It depends, if there’s no problem, half an hour is more than enough; but if there's a problem, it’s hard to tell.” Brother Hwa glanced at his wrist watch. “We better speed up and try to get back before 4.44 am. Normally, after midnight, the building is more…”
Ping! Before he finished, they heard the sound of glass breaking coming from upstairs. They turned to look up and when they did, their eyes swept the window in the stairwell. Beyond the window, there was a face which stuck close to the glass and it was rapidly falling!
“Someone has jumped out from the building!” Xiao Fang was so frightened he stumbled backwards. All 3 of them saw it clearly. The face was completely twisted. While the body fell, the eyes were transfixed on the 3 guards inside the building! But the key issue was the jumper’s cracked lips kept moving like they were saying something. Han Fei reacted the fastest. He ran to the window and looked out. But there was nothing outside and they didn’t hear the sound of people landing either.
“Was that a tenant from upstairs?!” Xiao Fang grabbed Brother Hwa for support as energy gave out from his knees.
“I’ve not seen her before! I don’t think she’s a tenant here.” Brother Hwa was stunned as well. The scene happened too suddenly, none of them were mentally prepared. “But based on the sound, she jumped not too far up from this floor! Quick! Don’t just stand there! We need to hurry up!” Brother Hwa urged while Han Fei stayed beside the window. He tried to pull up the woman’s face in his mind. “I believe she was saying something.” Han Fei had studied books related to lip reading and sign language to communicate better with the more silent occupants of Happiness Neighbourhood. They felt useless normally but they came in useful at the most unexpected moments.
“She was saying something?”
“Yes, I believe she said… If I touch you, you’ll die.” Han Fei tried his best to figure out what the woman said. He believed he got it right.
“Don’t waste time on that, we need to figure out which room she has jumped out from first!” Brother Hwa and Xiao Fang ran upstairs. The moment they did, several sets of footsteps echoed in the stairwell. Han Fei didn’t follow them but stayed beside the banister and looked down. The banister below the 4th floor had all been dyed red and the blood was still creeping upwards.
