The stairs shook as blood vines crawled up the walls. The livid large Lingering Spirit fought with the Lingering Hatred. The peace of the night was shattered, the black mist outside the building stirred and Han Fei could hear a fleeting song being carried in the wind!
Before this the black mist secluded the building from the outside world but the commotion caused by the 2 spirits was so big that even the black mist couldn’t hide it anymore. ‘The Singer hasn’t left, it is also in the neighbourhood!’ Han Fei’s prediction was correct, the black mist had eclipsed his presence from the Singer. The Singer failed to find him but it had not given up. Other than the song, there was scream coming from the black mist, it sounded like the Singer had encountered some adversaries of its own. When something as huge as a fight between the two strongest ghosts at Building 1 occurred, Ziggurat’s manager should show itself to settle the conflict but the manager seemed to have something more important to do at the moment.
‘Part of Butterfly’s consciousness has been split out to deal with Huang Yin, and now his servant at the Ziggurat is dealing with the Singer, this is the perfect time to explore this place.’ Han Fei ran towards the other stairwell. He took a few steps forward and noticed Brother Hwa hadn’t moved. “Brother Hwa?” The appearance of the 2 spirits at the top floor shocked Brother Hwa, his expression became less lively, only fear and anxiety remained. The more fearful he was, the clearer the pattern that crawled out from the back of his neck, his memory and self-consciousness were being siphoned away by the Butterfly pattern!
The security guards hired here were pots that fitted the Butterfly’s requirement. Fear was the fertilizer used to make the seeds inside the pots grow and bloom faster. All the guards’ memories had been edited by the Butterfly. No one knew what Brother Hwa did for a living before this but from his instinct and actions, he was not a bad person.
“I have a headache and my head is spinning. There are memories in my mind that I’ve not seen before, like…” Brother Hwa’s shoulders were shaking. Black splotches appeared on his skin, “The image of my own death!” His face twitched as his hands reached tremblingly towards Han Fei, “I, I…”
Using the rubber baton, Han Fei whacked at Brother Hwa’s palm. The pain immediately had Brother Hwa retract his hands and his mutating face grimaced with confusion, “Why did you hit me?”
“Was it painful?”
“Of course, it was!”
“Then you’re still alive. Now is not the time to talk about this, we need to leave this floor now!” If not for the worry that a blow to the head might knock him out, Han Fei would have aimed at the man’s head. The rubber baton wouldn’t have injured any ghost but since Brother Hwa could feel pain, it meant that he was still living inside the memory weaved by the Butterfly. He hadn’t fully collapsed yet and could still be saved. Living in a cryptic world, Han Fei had to use this kind of method to formulate his decision. It was barbaric but effective.
If he allowed Brother Hwa to continue spiraling out of control, he would eventually be controlled by the pattern, so this was the best Han Fei could do for now. The 3 guards ran towards the other staircase. Even though he was carrying Xiao Fang, Han Fei moved faster. As time approached 4.44 am, the modern décor inside the building was turning old with a speed observable to the naked eye. The white paint peeled to reveal the strange bloody paintings and incoherent statements underneath. The fight between owners of Room 1044 and 1244 sped up the change of the building. Red hue appeared on the bricks and the gap between them, it was like blood was spreading.
The other tenants were coming alive. Various noises entered their ears, it was like everyone had gone crazy!
As he left the 24th floor, Han Fei turned back to look. The shredded red dress scattered everywhere, like it was snowing blood in the corridor. But no matter how many times the jumper woman tore apart the red dress, she could recover and with each recovery, the stronger the resentment on the dress. It was as the guards said, no matter how hard you tried to remove the red dress, it would always return. However, the scariest thing which Han Fei witnessed was that while they were fighting, the two monsters were also moving towards Han Fei. Both of them appeared to possess the desire to kill the 3 guards themselves. Other than to vent resentment and hatred, their fight was also to decide the right to kill for the 3 guards.
‘I shouldn’t have come here at level 12!’ Pulling his gaze back, Han Fei charged into the stairwell. He needed to complete a full round of patrol before he could quit the game. However, the mission required him to do more than just running around in circles. Based on the patrol rules inside the guard room, they had to check the camera and fire devices on each floor and record all the damaged objects if there was any. If they ran into a tenant that needed help, they were also required to provide necessary aid.
As Han Fei made his escape, he also paid attention to the surveillance devices and his surroundings. With his superb memory, he memorized the cameras which were damaged and the severity of the damage. The real difficulty was the tenants. A guard’s responsibility was to protect the tenants, if the tenant required it, then he would have to provide help, like Brother Hwa did earlier. After completing the Night Patrol Mission, there was a chance for him to acquire the hidden profession, Ziggurat Security Guard. That was exactly the thing Han Fei needed, something for him to access Ziggurat more easily.
As he passed by the 23rd floor, Han Fei saw a human face at the safety door. When he brushed by the door, it was creaking open. With a flying kick, Han Fei sent the safety door bouncing back. “The building is haunted! People are injured! Stay at home for your own safety!” Han Fei’s passionate heart was brimming with concern and love for all the tenants.
The steps became more slippery and the lights flickered on and off. When they passed the 22nd floor, a child’s crying came from the corner. It was a boy with a flowery shirt. His body and arms were bruised, he was calling for his mother… Under this circumstance, Han Fei definitely couldn’t stop to help him search for his mother but it was inappropriate to leave the boy there as well. When he passed the boy, Han Fei grabbed the boy by his collar, “Come with me! I will help you find your mother!”
Being grabbed by Han Fei, the child cried harder. While he was struggling, the boy was handed over to Xiao Fang. Now Han Fei carried a second person on his back. “Brother Bai…” Soothing the boy in his arms, Xiao Fang gained extra respect for Han Fei. Even when they were in such danger, he still had concern for others, that was truly admirable. ‘This world needs more people like Brother Bai!’
The moment Han Fei carried the boy and ran, the safety door of the 22nd floor blasted open, and a woman covered in Yin energy rushed out holding a syringe. Her face was disfigured and a clear butterfly pattern could be seen on her arm. She was just hiding behind the door earlier. If Han Fei hesitated, he would be injected by that syringe already. The child was just a bait to make people stop, what kind of tragedy the woman had gone through to use her own child as a bait? But none of these mattered now. Her ambush failed and her child was kidnapped!
After living for so many years in this building, this was the first time she encountered something as unlucky as this. When the woman charged through the door, Brother Hwa was passing through. He was stunned in immobility and then saw the woman run down the stairs. The boy’s cries echoed in the stairwell. Han Fei could hear the movement coming from behind him but he knew he couldn’t stop.
“Brother Bai, I believe the boy’s family is behind us.”
“Ignore them, we need to keep on running!” Han Fei swore he was saying this to protect everyone, “The ghosts are fighting upstairs, if we return to her the child, she might run directly into the 2 ghosts. She has a better chance at survival if we lure her away from them with the child. We’re only doing this for their safety.”
“Brother Bai, you have a point!”
“After all, we’re this neighbourhood’s security guard.” In the blink of an eye, Han Fei had already arrived at the 20th floor. The even-numbered floors had no lights. The safety door of this floor was left open. Before they even got near, Xiao Fang already got a bad feeling about this. When they passed by the open door, a wet arm reached out from the dark. The slick hair stuck to her face and a pale face looked at Han Fei and Xiao Fang. “They left me alone in that cold place, all twisted and folded up. I only had myself as company as I counted the knife wounds on my back to pass time…” Before she finished, Han Fei reached out to grab her by her wrist and pulled with all his might. When the woman came to, she was already lying on top of Xiao Fang. The dripping hair stuck to Xiao Fang’s forehead. This was the most intimate contact the single 20 plus guard had with a woman but he didn’t dare to turn around.
“Brother Bai, Bai, Bai…” Xiao Fang’s body chilled. The senses that the businessman deprived him of were slowly returning but the first thing he felt was a spine-chilling cold!
Han Fei was hunched over due to the weight of 3 ‘people’ on his back but still he didn’t slow down. He ran past the 19th floor safely, but as he passed the 18th floor with the littered paper money, the businessman in mourning materialized from the darkness. However, he immediately halted when he saw Han Fei and the ‘load’ that he carried. The expression on the businessman’s face froze. Han Fei saw the businessman at the same time. He no longer had the red dress but he was not afraid. Instead he shouted directly at the man, “Want to come with?”
The businessman was rich, Han Fei wanted to bring him along, but the man probably mistook Han Fei’s meaning. He immediately shook his head with despair. The businessman spat 3 times at them, this was a very superstitious way of chasing away bad luck, similar to how some people would touch wood after saying something unseemly. “It’s haunted upstairs! You better go back home!” Han Fei warned before he left. As he turned away, footsteps echoed down the stairs. Just as the businessman turned his greedy eyes around, a large syringe almost plunged into his head.
“Get out of my way!” The woman with the syringe barreled forward. After the businessman evaded the attack, he turned back and closed the safety door behind him. He looked like he was going home to rest from all the excitement he had had that night.
Han Fei powered down the stairs and the amount of ‘thing’ on his back increased. When he only had one or two ‘people’ on his back, the other tenants might target him but now no one dared to come close to him. However, this placed a lot of pressure on Xiao Fang. The young man was surrounded by layers of ‘protection’. Brother Hwa who ran at the back was shocked as well. By now, the things that Han Fei carried had fully eclipsed the man. From behind, he looked more like a moving ‘human’ mountain.
Han Fei created a miracle by finally reaching the first floor but the mission was still not yet over. “There are two Lingering Spirits fighting at the top floor, I’ve already tried my best to save all of you!” Han Fei was not saying that for the tenants, he wanted to tell the system this was his way of helping the tenants. “Brother Hwa, do you have the key for the front door? We better send the tenants out for safety!” Han Fei shouted as he ran. Brother Hwa could not see Han Fei, he could only hear his voice coming out from inside the mountain, “To avoid accidents, all the public safety doors’ keys are inside the 4th floor’s guard room!”
Unable to leave and unable to shed off the mountain of tenants, Han Fei didn’t know what to do. At that moment, footsteps came from the other side of the corridor. A deliveryman carrying a giant box appeared. As per his habit, he leaned on the anti-theft door and peered through the peephole. “Is anyone home? Your delivery is here… if there’s no one home, I’ll be coming in!” His nail scratched on the door. Pairs of hands reached out from the delivery box and they grabbed at the door handle.
“Hey, delivery boy!” As the door wiggled, Han Fei charged at the deliveryman carrying almost half of the tenants on his back. “It was you who killed the red dress! It was you who had been sneaking into people’s homes! This time, we finally caught you red-handed!” When Han Fei saw the delivery ghost, a lightbulb came on in his mind. It was the guard’s responsibility to help the building’s tenant but there was a ghost here which didn’t hold a tenancy. If there was someone who could allow these tenants to vent their hatred and anger, wasn’t the delivery ghost who killed the red dress the perfect choice?
Justice might be late but it would never be absent. With that in mind, Han Fei carried everyone and bulldozed his way towards the delivery ghost. The ghost who leaned against the door was flummoxed. He was always the one who did the delivery, this was the first time someone came to him with a delivery, one that he was definitely unable to accept!
“Xiao Fang! Hold on tight!” When Han Fei passed the delivery ghost, he turned and dropped everything on his back into the giant delivery box. He hauled up Xiao Fang. Before he continued to run, he launched a punch on ‘something’ inside the box. Screams and wails echoed everywhere. Curse and resentment exploded and thus began the most chaotic night at Ziggurat!
Leading Xiao Fang and Brother Hwa, Han Fei raced towards the other stairwell. The space behind them was consumed by darkness and curse. The poorest victim was definitely the delivery ghost who was caught in the epicentre. Even his delivery box was shattered and out tumbled many things he had stolen from the tenants.
Han Fei had run through 24 floors in one breath. Even Han Fei couldn’t take it much longer, his legs felt leaden. ‘I have to quit soon, my stamina is almost zero. I can’t even move anymore.’ Han Fei felt like he could consider changing lanes to become an athlete if his acting business didn’t pan out. He would be able to fly the moment he channelled the feeling of being chased by ghosts in real life.
“I have no idea there are so many ghosts hidden in this building…” Brother Hwa said between breaths. He appeared to look better. Mainly it was because Han Fei had literally shouldered all the scarier ghosts, his shock had overwhelmed his fear.
“Brother Bai, how did you come up with this idea anyway?” Xiao Fang looked at Han Fei with admiration. Instead of Bai Sinian, he called Han Fei Brother Bai.
“I was just mimicking what my senior did. He was the guard who taught me everything I knew.” Han Fei was referring to Ol' Lee, the guard at Yi Ming Private Academy. Compared to him, Han Fei was nothing. With halting steps, the 3 guards finally reached the guard room before 4.44 am. But just as they were about to open the door, static suddenly came from Brother Hwa’s walkie-talkie.
“We can finally contact the guards from the other buildings?” Xiao Fang was excited, it was like the sun had finally arrived after a long night. Brother Hwa sighed in relief too. He moved the device to his ear and was about to speak when a woman’s voice came out from the speaker. “How could you leave me here all alone…”
