Han Fei wasn’t clear about the previous manager’s plan and he didn’t fully trust Fu Sheng, the reason was simple, the path he chose after obtaining the black box was different from Fu Sheng. Fu Sheng wished to completely destroy the cryptic world and sealed it off; while Han Fei’s plan was to destroy those that needed destroying while saving the rest.
Fu Sheng was tackling the issue from his own perspective while Han Fei was fairer. Back then, Han Fei opened the black box on both sides, while he released the demons, he also embraced hope. No one had ever dared to do that before.
Because of that, Han Fei’s path differed from Fu Sheng. Fu Sheng might be Han Fei’s guide now but in the future, they would face a conflict. It would not be a conflict that could be resolved with words. After all, they had put their future and lives on the line here.
Han Fei used the paper note to wrap around the hair for safekeeping. He didn’t think it was wise to return to Room 4144. Fu Sheng’s memory was shattered into fragments. Even though the memory at Happiness Neighbourhood and Ziggurat came from the same person, they would manifest differently based on the emotions they harboured. A person would have their darker side, much less someone like Fu Sheng who was chosen by the black box. The darkness within him might be bigger than Butterfly.
“We should leave this floor now.” Han Fei carried the middle-aged man into the stairwell but the woman stood there not moving. “What’s wrong?”
“How about we take the elevator? I have a feeling we’ll die if we go down the stairs.” The woman’s grip on the fruit knife tightened. “My instinct is almost always right.” Flickering light came from the dark stairwell, they looked normal at first glance but upon closer inspection, one would realize the light was slowly moving up the floors. It was like the light was alive.
Han Fei didn’t have time for lolly-gagging. All the rooms on this floor had two 4’s, this place was a ghost lair. The fact that every tenant was performing the spirit summoning ritual didn’t help Han Fei feel any better. As the ‘light’ slowly approached, Han Fei carried the middle-aged man to the 13th floor. “We’ll hide here first, the 14th floor is too dangerous.”
Han Fei eased the safety door open. He had the middle-aged man and the woman stay close to the door while he went down the corridor. The 13th floor was slightly normal. There was still paper money on the ground. Each family had a pair of red couplets on their doors but the words were all curses. Their doors were slathered with strange substances like broken red lines and mirror fragments. Soon Han Fei arrived at the door of Room 4134. Before he could turn around, a chill caressed his ears!
Han Fei whipped around and saw a set of security guard uniform plastered to the door of Room 4134. There was a huge hole around the chest like someone had ripped through it with bare hands. Han Fei took half a step back. The uniform which was stuck to the wall slid down and then the door opened a gap. A man’s voice drifted out, “It’s almost the Night of Resurrection, there shouldn’t be anyone in the corridor, come in.”
“Night of Resurrection?” Han Fei noticed the person kept his eyes on him, he probably didn’t notice the existence of the woman and the middle-aged man.
“It can’t be explained in simple words. If you don’t want to die, come in.” The man ordered. “If not for the fact that you’re wearing a guard uniform, I would not have done this! Quick! I’m taking a big risk here!”
With his masterful acting skill, while Han Fei couldn’t tell if the man was lying or not, he knew that at least the man wasn’t acting. “I have 2 more friends, they’re just by the stairwell door…’
“They’re guards too? 3 guards have survived this time? Get them over here!” The man said with suspicion but still decided to accept Han Fei. Moments later, Han Fei returned with his friends. When the man saw that they were not guards, he regretted his decision immediately but Han Fei moved too fast. Before he could close the door, Han Fei stuck his foot into the gap.
“Are you trying to look for death?” The man hissed, “If I had known they’re not guards, I wouldn’t have saved you!” Despite that, the man still opened the door. The 3 entered the room. The moment the door closed, heavy footsteps came from the corridor.
“Shush.” The man signaled for them to keep quiet while he stood at the door. No one dared to move. The owner of Room 4134 had on a clean guard uniform but it fitted very badly. The strange thing was there were a lot of other guard uniforms inside the room. Some of them had holes in them while others were fully torn apart. Other than the one the man was wearing, there was not another set of complete guard uniform.
After the footsteps disappeared completely, the man sighed in relief. “If I didn’t save you, you 3 would be dead already!”
“What was that thing?”
“You don’t need to know, curiosity kills the cat.” The man whispered, “The 3 of you owe me 1 life each. Remember that.”
“What? We never agreed to this!” The middle-aged man grumbled. In the bloody clothes, he looked scarier than the man.
“Do you want me to toss you outside now? I didn’t want to save you in the beginning.” When the man spoke, his eyes kept wandering over to Han Fei.
“You seem to be very interested in what I’m wearing? And there are security uniforms everywhere inside this room, do you have the habit of collecting them?” Han Fei shot to the point. He wasn’t afraid of conflict because he believed he could win.
“I don’t have such a habit. It’s just that I am also a security guard here.” The man took out his work id, his name was Hua Kui (or Oiran, a specific category of high ranking courtesan in Japanese history). “Before you say anything, my surname is Hua and my parents went to a sensei for the naming ceremony. The man decided to give me the name Kui, apparently it was supposed to give me a long life. My parents agreed so that’s now my name.”
“A big old man and your name is Hua Kui?” The middle-aged man held the wound on his back like he had doubled over from laughing. Different from the middle-aged man, Han Fei thought the sensei was quite impressive. All the guards at Ziggurat were pots for the Butterfly to cultivate human cocoons, only those who could cultivate the prettiest ‘flower’ could survive until the end. So in a way, the name Hua Kui was perfect for this male guard.
“Hua Kui, how long have you worked here?” Han Fei asked.
“Don’t call me by my full name, I’ve just saved your lives and we’re not that close for us to refer to each other by our full names.” The man grumbled but soon his annoyance disappeared. His gaze that took in Han Fei’s group carried a complicated emotion, it was like he was looking at the dead.
“Brother Kui, have you saved other guards like me?” Han Fei changed his tone and words. His words sounded natural and kind.
“Now, that’s better.” The man signaled for them to move deeper into the room. He didn’t dare to switch on the lights. After pulling the curtains close, he lit up a candle. “The people here are crazy. I entered this building 14 days ago. The other guards with me have all been taken away by the tenants here.”
“Taken away?”
“Yes, I have no idea what happened to them after that.” The man whispered, “The tenants here will organize a unique ritual every 4 days, they call it the Night of Resurrection. Every tenant here will go crazy because supposedly the dead would return. In any case, that night will be the scariest night here! You were lucky to have found this room and myself.”
“Have you encountered new guards while you were here?”
“I have, I would try to save them whenever I saw them but for most of them, I would arrive too late. The most I could do was to bring their uniform back to this room for safekeeping.” The man said with a straight-face, he believed his own words, but Han Fei didn’t believe him. It was not that the man was lying to him but the man’s memory was only limited to 14 days.
There were endless uniforms inside the room. The man said he was only responsible for a small part of them but Han Fei believed he collected all of them, he just couldn’t remember it. Every new batch of guards had died, and only Hua Kui survived. In other words, it was not because of luck and the safety of Room 4134 that Hua Kui survived, it was because he fitted Butterfly’s requirement. If another guard arrived with better affinity as the pot, Butterfly would not hesitate to kill Hua Kui.
“How come it sounds like… this place is far more dangerous than the dresser?” The middle-aged man ran out from the dresser with hope. He didn’t return to real life but fell into deeper despair.
“You people better figure out a way to leave tonight. It’ll be the Night of Resurrection tomorrow. After midnight, you’ll never be able to escape…” The dirge interrupted Hua Kui. Hearing the sad music, Hua Kui’s face dropped. “This is not right. This music will only start on the Night of Resurrection. Every family will start the ritual and then the ritual will reach its most dangerous moment after midnight.”
“Has it been pushed ahead?”
“I have no idea either!” Hua Kui said nervously. He was incredibly anxious.
“I don’t think the Night of Resurrection is held every 4 days but on the 4th of every month and also on April 4th of every year.” Han Fei remembered the calendar he saw in Zhuang Qing’s home, and the dates which were marked. It would be April 4th tomorrow. The Night of Resurrection hadn’t fully arrived yet, but certain things had already poked their heads out.
“The Night of Resurrection every 4 days is not the real deal. The real Night of Resurrection only happens on April 4th of every year, the day the jumper woman and the female livestreamer died.” Han Fei knew that day was important and he believed the two were not the only ones who died on that day. “Why would the Butterfly make so many people die on that specific day? It wants to use their collective resentment to break through some kind of limitation?”
The dirge echoed through the building, it was impossible to tell which floor it was from. But different from others, Han Fei could hear a song underlining it. The Unmentionable was outside the building. It couldn’t enter the building but it was still searching for Han Fei.
‘Night of Resurrection, will the Butterfly be back for it?’ Han Fei was very tired now, but he didn't quit the game. He was afraid that once he did, he would return on the scariest Night of Resurrection. ‘Zhuang Wen has run to Building 4 but how come there are no changes here? With her state of madness, she would have done something already! The jumper woman’s room had two 4’s, and with all the memory fragments reunited, her power increased further. She should now be between two and three 4’s.’ Han Fei soon came up with a plan. His first mission was to find Zhuang Wen and then Feng Ziyu. He needed to finish at least 1 mission before he quitted the game.
“The two of you should stay here, I’ll go out to take a look.” Han Fei had a lot of passive and professional talents. A normal tenant would have a hard time chasing him. When Han Fei left Room 4134, he noticed the atmosphere outside had completely changed.
When the dirge began, the paper money fluttered into the air and the couplets surfaced with scratch marks. Once he got closer, he would notice that there was even the sound of scratching coming from the door. The anti-theft doors twisted from the pressure like something inside was trying to come out. Han Fei put away the landlord’s ring. He was worried that it might break and expose his location.
He tried to communicate with Big Sin, hoping that it would help warn him of imminent danger. Big Sin agreed easily which concerned Han Fei. He wasn’t sure if Big Sin understood him or not. His pet might only give the warning when the ghost literally had Han Fei down its mouth. After all, Big Sin’s definition of danger was different from normal. It hoped that Han Fei would always remain in a constant near death state.
“The layout of Building 4 is almost the same as Building 1.” Han Fei walked down the corridor and encountered an old elevator. He didn’t take the elevator when he was at Building 1.
The silvery door had many different doodles and the doodles formed a human face. After staring at it for too long, you’d be sucked into the elevator.
‘I should stay away from it.’
Han Fei was about to leave when the number on the elevator panel changed. Someone was taking the elevator!
The dirge became clearer. Han Fei took one last glance at the panel and then hurried through the safety door into the stairwell.
