A person like Han Fei was rare even at the Ziggurat, at least Xiao Fang and Brother Hwa had not encountered a colleague like him before. Han Fei had figured out a new way to use the red dress. When others found the red dress inside the toilet, they’d figure out a way to remove or destroy it but Han Fei saw it as a treasure. He held it close to him, not willing to part with it even for a moment. But that was only because the red dress had not awakened, Han Fei didn’t forget how the red dress took revenge on Xiao Fang. How he treated the red dress, the red dress would repay him in double.
Han Fei, who was dying several hours ago, was now racing at top speed. His wounds opened but that didn’t slow him down. The appearance of this medical miracle was all thanks to the jumper woman downstairs. Inside the stairwell, every spot that she passed would be covered in blood. The resentment and curse on her was so strong that one had to wonder what had happened to her before death?
“Brother Hwa, why don’t you put me down?” Xiao Fang had not fully recovered. He had no idea what the businessman had stolen from him but he was unable to summon any energy now.
“Do you know what is that downstairs?” Brother Hwa lowered his head. He was old and his stamina was worse than the younger generations. He had been running all night and it was almost to his limits already. He didn’t say he’d give up but his speed had conspicuously slowed and his forehead was covered in sweat.
“Brother Hwa…”
“Don’t think that it’ll be over after you’re dead. There’s so many things worse than death.” Brother Hwa squeezed out the following, he seemed to know something, “As long as we’re still alive, we shouldn’t give up.” Brother Hwa carried Xiao Fang so both of them had to slow down. The shadow which looked like a giant bug was getting closer! The dense smell of blood drifted into their noses, the blood stains contained pieces of meat that had words written in black. They could already hear the woman’s crazy mumblings. “Who is up there? Who is in the stairwell? Stop running, let me touch you and die!” “You won’t be able to escape, where can you escape to? I will catch all of you and push you all down the stairs!” “Die, die, die!” The voice was like chains, slowing them down even further.
When they reached the 21st floor, Brother Hwa’s legs were already shaking. He couldn’t carry on any further but he didn’t want to leave Xiao Fang behind. He seemed to have been in similar situations before. If only a person could live, should you take the opportunity or give it to others? At Ziggurat, no matter the choice, there was no right or wrong and no one would blame him because everything could be blamed on the ghosts. Xiao Fang was not Brother Hwa’s first junior; and Xiao Fang never asked Brother Hwa what had happened to the guards that came before him. They had a tacit agreement to not bring up the horrible past. However, certain things could not be avoided forever. His legs were giving out, if he didn’t let go, both Brother Hwa and Xiao Fang would die.
“I have to make this choice again?” Brother Hwa knew that Xiao Fang would not blame him but that made things so much harder. The emotions in his heart collided with each other, the collision created beautiful patterns like a flower blooming. His fingers that held Xiao Fang slowly loosened, he tried to hold on a little bit longer but he was already at his limit. Brother Hwa’s grasp lightened, just as Xiao Fang was about to trip and fell down the stairs, another hand reached over to grab Xiao Fang by his shoulder.
“Run!” As Han Fei turned to study the jumper woman’s location, he noticed the two guards were lagging behind him. He didn’t hesitate and turned back to help them. Perhaps for others, the two guards would be the perfect bait to buy time, as long as it could raise one’s survivability, it was fine sacrificing others. When Brother Hwa was making a choice, Han Fei also made a choice. However, Han Fei didn’t follow the rules of Ziggurat. In other words, the choice that he made was the kind Butterfly wouldn’t want to see. The Butterfly liked to toy with kindness and humanity. In the human jigsaw case, it purposely told the drifter the truth and personally watched the drifter go and warn the others and thus ended up being treated as a madman. Humanity was worthless in Butterfly’s eyes, it was a tool, a tool to create butterfly patterns. But in Han Fei’s eyes, humanity was also the strongest and prettiest flower, even in the depths of the abyss, it could still bloom.
“Don’t stop!” Han Fei picked up Xiao Fang and carried him on his back. The bandage soaked with blood. Xiao Fang and Brother Hwa didn’t expect Han Fei to come back for them, after all, they had shared less than 10 sentences.
“Bai Sinian…” Xiao Fang branded the name in his heart. At this stage, saving others meant risking one’s own life. He made a silent decision. When the ghost was about to get them, he would grab the monster and roll down the stairs, to help Han Fei buy some time.
Circling the red dress around his neck, Han Fei used both hands to carry Xiao Fang. He didn’t have much planning, he just wanted to get to the top floor.
“I can see you! I can see you!” A grating voice echoed. When Han Fei reached the 22nd floor, the jumper woman appeared behind them. Blood dyed the steps. The minced body was mushed together. The smashed body was carried by twisted limbs as it continued to climb! “I will drag you down with me! Let me touch you and die!”
Knowing there was a ghost and seeing an actual ghost behind them was 2 distinct experiences. Brother Hwa who had been pretending to be calm finally broke down when he saw the jumper woman. Black and red pattern appeared on the back of his neck. The more fearful he was, the brighter the color of the pattern. His steps weakened and Brother Hwa’s face filled with despair. The twisted arm cracked noisily as she reached for Brother Hwa’s back.
“Be careful!” Xiao Fang warned loudly. Han Fei saw the monster and without any hesitation, threw the red dress at the shattered hand. The dress was too light to actually hit anything. To ensure that he hit the target, Han Fei wrapped the dress around the walkie-talkie. The arm grabbed at the red dress. When the jumper woman held the dress, she was slightly startled. The blood on the red and the blood on the arm were two different knives, they pierced into each other’s souls. Blood started to spread at that moment!
Red Dress was a Large Lingering Spirit and the jumper woman was a Lingering Hatred. They had always coexisted in peace at Ziggurat… until today.
The Death Curse on the jumper woman spread onto the red dress and the horrible presence within the dress awakened. The jumper woman’s aim was to kill everything so she immediately tore apart the red dress but no matter how hard she shredded it, the dress would stitch itself back together. While she was distracted by the red dress, the 3 guards successfully reached the 24th floor.
‘The more afraid you’re inside the Ziggurat, the faster you’ll die.’ Han Fei was reminded of Jin Sheng’s warning. He glanced at Brother Hwa behind him, the man was in a very bad state and he was getting worse. ‘I have to focus on finishing the mission first!’
Opening the safety door, Han Fei carried Xiao Fang to Room 1244. He grabbed the doorknob and to his consternation, the door was locked.
