As time progressed, the whole building was transforming. When it was 4.44 am, the Ziggurat would show its true self. ‘I’ve stayed online for more than 3 hours already, now I only need to finish the patrol mission before 4.44 am, then I’ll have a chance at survival.’ Han Fei turned his gaze back to see an arm extend out from the banister on the 5th floor. The bloody arm was twisted and charred. As if sensing Han Fei’s eyes on it, the arm suddenly stopped moving. Moments later, a face covered in blood poked out from the gap between the floors. The pair of venomous eyes stared at Han Fei. The pair of thick lips slowly opened as if saying, if I touch you, you’ll die!
‘Isn’t she the woman who fell down the building earlier? Why is she inside the building now?’ The woman downstairs was different from the other ghosts inside this building. The malice around her was so palpable that it was stronger than Ma Manjiang. There was only pure hatred and madness in her eyes. She wanted to kill everyone, murder was the only way to vent the resentment pouring out from her heart. ‘This woman wants everyone to die!’
Most ghosts and monsters in the cryptic world retained some semblance of humanity, that was their most precious treasure but this woman was the exception. The banister that she touched crawled with blood vessels and the steps she took dripped with blood. Her eyes that landed on Han Fei spoke of destruction and desire to kill. Han Fei resisted the urge to throw the red dress down at the jumper woman. Han Fei was flummoxed.
The jumper woman chased after them, she came closer and closer. If her curse was true and they’d die from a touch, then the 3 guards were in extreme danger!
The lower floors had already changed. They could only run upstairs, but it was only a matter of time before they were caught up. Perhaps the only solution they had was to hide inside one of the rooms, to avoid the detection of the jumper woman.
“Brother Hwa! Xiao Fang! Look down!” Han Fei ran to his colleagues. “The woman who jumped earlier is chasing after us!”
“What do you mean?”
“Quite literally that!” Xiao Fang and Brother Hwa looked down but the woman had already disappeared. They only saw the blood on the banister, it looked like someone had slipped and knocked their head on the banister. But blood wouldn’t appear for no reason and they started to believe Han Fei. “Brother Hwa, didn’t you say the danger is limited to the 1st floor?”
“The previous security guards all disappeared on the 1st floor! I wasn’t lying about that!” Brother Hwa said nervously, “Something’s off tonight! Let me contact the guards from the other buildings to help us.” He took out the walkie-talkie, messed with it for a long time but there was only static. “I gave it a thorough check before we left the guard room, why isn’t it working now?”
“There are night patrols at the other buildings?”
“Of course. There are only 1 guard at both Building 2 and 3, but since there have been cases of disappearances at Building 1 and 4, so those two buildings have more guards.” Brother Hwa was still tweaking the walkie-talkie. “I’m trying to reach our colleagues at Building 4 where the main surveillance control room is. Our friends there will be able to tell us what is happening downstairs through the surveillance footage.”
“The main surveillance control room is at Building 4?” Now Han Fei understood where that feeling of being watched came from and why the madman on the 14th floor would destroy all the cameras!
Han Fei was thankful that he was disfigured by the black mist and the uniform that he wore had not been seen by the Butterfly before. Plus, he was playing Bai Sinian and his presence and personality was different from his actual persona. Even a friend would have trouble recognizing him through the camera.
‘It might not be the Butterfly watching the surveillance at Building 4. In any case, I probably haven’t been discovered yet or with Butterfly’s cautious personality, it would have come in person to destroy me.’ Han Fei was dancing on the tip of the knife. It was a complete accident that he stumbled into Ziggurat that night. Han Fei himself couldn’t expect that, much less the Butterfly.
‘The Singer is an Unmentionable so how come I have not heard anything from it? That’s quite disappointing. But then… this neighbourhood has 4 buildings and the presence of death would be strongest at Building 4, would the Singer have gone to Building 4 directly?’ Pick 1 of 4 buildings, the Singer’s choice would decide Han Fei’s destiny. While he was thinking about that, Han Fei’s train of thought was interrupted by the system, “Notification for Player 0000! A very strong Lingering Hatred is approaching! The hatred in her heart has broken her sustainable limit! She will destroy everything within her sight!
“You’ve appeared in her sight, congratulations for triggering the Grade F Hidden Mission—If I touch you, you’ll die!
“If I touch you, you’ll die: Carrying the strongest curse, she jumped down from the 24th floor. As she fell, she took in her neighbours on each floor. She swore to kill everyone that she saw. She possesses the strongest Death Curse at Building 1, anyone touched by her will die!
“Mission Requirement: Enter Room 1244. Do not be touched by her before that!
“Warning! After reaching certain requirements, Lingering Spirits will transform into Pure Hatred, but some Lingering Spirits would unfortunately lose their humanity in this process. They were unable to master the hatred in their heart and ultimately became monsters dominated by hatred instead! Even though Lingering Hatreds are not as strong as Pure Hatreds, they are much stronger than normal Lingering Spirits! At level 12, you are definitely unable to deal with them!”
Before the notification finished, Han Fei was already drenched in cold sweat. He didn’t expect the jumper woman to carry such a scary Death Curse. “Run! Quick! The thing is coming!” Han Fei could feel the resentment rising like water. He was originally at the rear of the group but now he charged to the front. He needed to run into Room 1244 before he was caught by the woman. Patrol and the truth could wait, now he needed to survive!
“Brother Hwa, is there any tenant upstairs who can be negotiated with? We might need to borrow their rooms to hide in.” Xiao Fang also heard the strange sounds coming from below. It felt like a giant spider was rapidly crawling towards them.
“What are you talking about? When have you heard of a security guard seeking refuge in a tenant's home in the middle of their patrols?’
“There’s no time to talk! The thing is coming!” Han Fei’s voice distorted from desperation. When he looked down the gap in the stairwell, the twisted arm had reached the 8th floor!
