The anticipation within Zhuang Ren couldn’t be hidden once he knew he had a chance of meeting his family. He was like a husband pacing outside the maternity ward, every second was a torment.
“Before I bring you to meet your family, I need to stress a few things. One, you are not allowed to reject my orders; two, you have to be mentally ready for the fact that I might abandon you at any moment.” Han Fei said with a severe expression, an aura of death radiated off him naturally, “The actions that we do tonight will affect many innocent lives. If you do something without my permission, do not blame me for eliminating you as a possible threat.”
“I promise you that I will listen to your orders.” Han Fei’s requirement was strict but Zhuang Ren felt comforted by his strictness. It suited the severity of the situation. His heart was pumping with excitement.
“You need to calm down, I can sense your excitement from here. Even though your family is still present, they are no longer like you, you have to be prepared for them to turn into monsters.”
“Even if they become monsters, they are still my family.”
“But what if they are monsters who want to kill you? Think about that. You’ll have to stay alive to be able to save them.” Han Fei reminded him kindly before he turned back to the game. He had memorized every step of the earlier maps. He could solve them with impossible speed without even looking at the screen.
Yesterday night, before Han Fei left the cryptic world, he had triggered a Grade F Mission. He had no idea what he would face after he got online. To increase his survivability, he needed to be as prepared as possible. Seeing how ‘immersed’ Han Fei was in the game, Zhuang Ren said hesitantly, “The main reason I play this game is to look for my family, since you’re bringing me to meet them tonight, I have no use for this game anymore. If you want, I can give you the game.”
“Hmm.”
“…” Zhuang Ren had changed into a new set of clothes to meet his family. He forced a smile. “That’s all?”
“Thank you.”
Han Fei’s focus was 100 percent on the game. He controlled his character and evaded endless traps. He carved out a way of survival among the ghosts and monsters. He entered Building 4, escaped from Room 4144 and came to the elevator on the 14th floor. In the cryptic world, Han Fei had not taken the elevator, he was very curious about it. ‘To see the Soul Chaser in the game, I’ll have to trigger its mission first.’
The character stopped beside the elevator and the number on the panel started to change. The elevator booth was like a hungry beast, rapidly charging at Han Fei. ‘The Soul Chaser in the cryptic world also took the elevator.’ The death of his character in the Ziggurat game wasn’t permanent so Han Fei didn’t avoid the threat but stood right at the elevator door. The red number on the panel soon turned to 14. Han Fei narrowed his eyes at the screen.
The silvery door slowly opened. There was no blood or monster inside the booth. In fact, the elevator looked perfectly normal. The only strange thing was the woman who stood at the corner facing the wall. She stood turning away from the door of the elevator. She wore bright red clothes and was barefooted. Around her ankle was a chain decorated with many small red flowers. Zhuang Ren kept his mouth shut seeing such a strange development, he didn’t urge Han Fei.
‘That’s all?’ Han Fei looked disappointed. He frowned as he controlled his character to move between the elevator and the corridor. ‘Where is the Soul Chaser? What am I supposed to do to trigger its mission?’ He moved in and out of the elevator, trying various ways to trigger the Soul Chaser mission.
“Are you testing out some bug?” Zhuang Ren already had no idea what Han Fei was doing. It looked like his actions were random and yet strangely purposeful. Han Fei ignored Zhuang Ren. He stared at the woman inside the elevator and remembered every detail about her. ‘On her ankle chain, other than the decorative red flowers, there is a key and number tag. Is that the key to her room? Or the key to her morgue freezer? Normally, a person wouldn’t wear such a thing around their ankle.’
Han Fei stood up and walked towards the screen. He adjusted the camera but no matter what, he couldn’t see the number on the tag clearly.
Zhuang Ren coughed twice and said casually, “The game is authentic but it is just a game. Han Fei, would you like to bring the game home to research it later? Shall we go find my family first?” Then Han Fei did something even more surprising. If Zhuang Ren was the player, he would have run the moment he saw such a creepy woman inside the elevator. But Han Fei not only didn’t leave, he moved into the elevator and circled around the woman, as if trying to take a good look at her face.
Zhuang Ren had no idea what to say to Han Fei anymore. He had interacted with Han Fei for only a few days but he had witnessed how Han Fei evolved from a completely new player into this strange player who would openly challenge the ghost in the game.
‘Why can’t I trigger the Soul Chaser mission?’ Zhuang Ren couldn’t understand Han Fei’s desperation. If he couldn’t see the Soul Chaser’s face, then he’d die the moment he logged into the game. Even if he was lucky to survive the Soul Chaser, the headless door guardian at Room 4044 would decapitate him. Han Fei’s ability to log off the game was an OP skill because his enemy rarely stayed at one spot to wait for him to return. But yesterday night, he logged out before the door guardian and he would log back in front of the door. What was a door guardian? As its name suggested, it was a guardian of the door, so as long as the door was there, the guardian wouldn’t have moved. Han Fei now found himself in a death trap. The fact that he could still keep his mind calm as he attempted to find ways to resolve the problem was already very impressive.
‘What am I missing? Or is this woman the Soul Chaser? But the Soul Chaser should be male, and is related to the tester who butchered the whole neighbourhood many years ago!’ Staring at the woman, while Han Fei contemplated, the elevator door closed. To Han Fei’s surprise, his character didn’t die the moment the door closed. Instead he stood inside the elevator booth peacefully with the woman. ‘Well, this is just strange, why hasn’t she killed me yet?’
The doors were closed. Han Fei tried to press the buttons on the control panel but none of it registered. The woman who stood at the corner slowly turned around but to Han Fei’s consternation, after she did, somehow she was still facing away from Han Fei. ‘I wouldn’t be able to see her face no matter what? Is she really the Soul Chaser?’ Han Fei controlled his character to get closer to her. He wanted to pull back her hair to look at the face underneath but the game refused to let him do that. He pressed the interact button many times but there was no reaction from the woman. ‘She won’t kill me and I can’t interact with her? What is up with this woman in red?’
No one touched the buttons on the panel but the elevator suddenly started to descend. Something that looked like lichen appeared at the corner of the booth. The silvery walls started to darken and the woman’s bone structure was creaking noisily.
‘Is she truly faceless?’ Han Fei circled around the woman. His actions had gone from curiosity to open taunting. He wanted to make the woman kill him so he could have a chance to look at her face but the woman was impervious to his actions. Soon the elevator stopped at the 13th floor.
The doors slowly opened. A boy wearing pajamas with a little bear print appeared at the door. He stood facing away from the elevator and had his head lowered. The cute pajama he wore was already dyed red with blood. Similarly, the boy hid his face away from Han Fei. He also had a chain around his ankle and the chain had a number tag as well.
The elevator door closed. The boy stood near the door while the woman occupied the corner. Han Fei was sandwiched in the middle.
The elevator at Ziggurat kept moving downwards. It would stop on each floor and a person whose face Han Fei couldn’t see would enter the elevator on each floor. Eventually, Han Fei was packed inside the elevator with these ‘people’.
The elevator soon reached the 4th floor. The elevator door slowly opened but this time there was no tenant waiting to get in. There was nothing outside the elevator. However, the elevator door remained open, and the atmosphere inside the booth became increasingly tense. About 10 seconds later, everyone in red slowly lifted their heads. They moved their bodies around, but kept their heads fixed, as if turning to stare at Han Fei with their bodies in unison.
‘What is the meaning of this? Am I supposed to exit on this floor?’
