Smell of blood thickened inside the moldy elevator booth. The people in red surrounded Han Fei in the middle. ‘What will happen if I just stay put?’
The elevator didn’t move from the 4th floor. As time progressed, the bodies of the red-clothes people appeared to be injected with blood. Their skin started to stretch as their bodies expanded. Death awaited him if he stayed so Han Fei controlled his character to leave the crowd.
The moment he left the booth, the door slowly closed. Through the closing gap, he could see a group of red people standing facing away from him. Soon the door closed fully and the number on the panel shifted quickly. Han Fei thought the number would stop at 1 but it continued to descend into the negative. It only stopped at the -18th floor. ‘The elevator is connected to the underground too?’
Since Han Fei was already on the 4th floor, he was not going to waste this opportunity. He ran towards Room 4044. Room 4044 in the Ziggurat game was different from the one in the cryptic world. The door guardian was not headless. ‘Well, now’s my chance to see what it really looks like.’
Han Fei slunk to Room 4044. As he stared at the screen with bated breath, the door guardian in the game suddenly winked. Its head appeared to move but also not. It was a strange feeling Han Fei couldn’t describe but he did feel a chill run down his spine.
After he sat back down on the couch, Han Fei turned to the screen again, he finally realized what was wrong. The door guardian in the game was looking at him, not the character Han Fei controlled in the game, but Han Fei outside the game. ‘What kind of technology is this?’ Han Fei had no idea if this was a trap or an easter egg. He tried to push on the door of Room 4044 and then a conversation snippet appeared on screen. “Would you help me bring my head back?” There was no hint, and no warning. There was no NPC around him either.
‘Wait, the door guardian is talking to me?’ Han Fei clicked on the conversation box and something even more confusing appeared. He was given 3 options but all 3 of them were the same—No.
“Room 4044 is the location which is closest to Room 4444. Bring my head back and I can help you end this endless nightmare. To enter Room 4044, you have to help me do something. No matter what you choose, you’ll ultimately end up here.” The words in the box kept changing but the options available were always ‘no’, like this was already predestined and couldn’t be changed.
“The evil that you see has to be evil; the kindness that you see has to be kindness? If you have the chance to approach the ‘divine’, you should look behind them where their humanity is hidden. How brilliant the glow of their divinity, is how dirty their humanity. Help me and I can tell you the secrets of the Unmentionables.” Han Fei was greatly piqued by the content of the conversation. Unmentionables represented something unique in the game.
‘The headless door guardian wants its head back. I should use this knowledge to my advantage when I log in next time.’ After some hesitation, Han Fei didn’t pick any of the selection, he didn’t like to pick the path designated for him by others. But if he didn’t make any choice, the game would be stuck on this page. After many tries, Han Fei memorized the door guardian’s face and then chose to exit the game. The moment he did, the gaming screen turned black immediately, instead of returning to the main menu.
“Huh? I’ve played this game for decades already, but this has never happened. Is there something wrong with the tv?” Zhuang Ren walked towards the television with confusion.
“Stay where you are! I think I’ve triggered something.” Several seconds later, a pair of bleeding eyes appeared on the black screen. The eyes were flickering like they were under great limitation. Cracks of blood spread from the centre of the eyes. Soon the blood capillaries filled up the screen like it was trying to break through it. This development reminded Han Fei of Spirit Farer. Whenever he used that talent, his system menu would be crawling with blood capillaries and then torn open from the middle, like a door had been forcibly broken through. ‘It’s too similar, how many secrets is this game still hiding?’
Perfect Life was more than a game due to the presence of the black box. It had many tenuous relationships with real life, it blurred the border between the real and virtual worlds, blending the living and the dead together. No one knew what was the secret hidden inside the black box. All its previous owners’ attempts to understand it had failed. There was still a long way to go for Han Fei to open the black box, but the things he had seen so far had fully changed his life. It was like through the game, he was slowly unveiling the truth about the world.
The pair of red eyes stared at Han Fei before they eventually exploded. The blood mist coagulated into a sentence—this is the first warning, 3 warnings later, death will descend. The warning soon disappeared and the screen remained black.
‘3 warnings? The black box also gave me 3 warnings should I try to tell others about the black box or the cryptic world. After 3 warnings, the black box will explode inside my head.’ Han Fei’s eyes narrowed. ‘This game was designed by the Director of Immortal Pharma when he was young. The black box in my head was gifted to me by the director’s older brother. When I got the black box, the director had been dead for some time already, but is it possible that even though the director is already dead, his memory or consciousness lives on inside the black box? Or has he gone hiding inside a part of the black box?’ This was mere speculation, Han Fei had no proof. In any case, a small comedy actor like himself couldn’t do anything against a big company like Immortal Pharma anyway.
‘Fu Sheng and the director are the previous owners of the black box. Through the building manager’s memory, I can confirm that they both do exist, but Zhuang Ren said the director did not have an old brother and the director often talked to himself. What exactly is the relationship between the 2 brothers? 1 was responsible for exploring the cryptic world while the other expanded their influence in the real world?’ Staring at the black screen, Han Fei put down the controller, ‘Of the 2 brothers, one of them can see the future, but is the future he saw the real future? Would the world really develop the way he had foreseen it?’
Han Fei did not think that was the case, at least he believed that the siblings wouldn’t have predicted he would choose to open the black box from both sides. ‘In any case, I will walk my own path.’
Unplugging the power switch, Han Fei restarted the Ziggurat game. The game started up like normal, it was as if everything earlier was just an illusion. The character respawned inside Happiness Neighbourhood. The atmosphere was joyful and peaceful but the game character was now wearing bloody clothes. “The in game character has changed!”
Han Fei didn’t control the character and start clearing the map. Instead he leaned back into the chair and stared at the character quietly. He felt like this Ziggurat game was very similar to Manager Mission in the cryptic world. With every death, there would be a rebirth. The victim’s memory would slowly disappear until they became nothing more than a husk, a character controlled by others. ‘I’ll only go far by being controlled by others? Is that the true meaning of this game? The director wanted to tell the player of this game that only being a pawn can one retain their individuality?’ Taking in the character’s bloody clothes, Han Fei chuckled, ‘I've been in the shadows of the spotlight for so many years. Finally I’ve been given the chance to stand in the centre of the stage. I’m not going to let anyone else control my life. Since the black box has been given to me, I have the right to decide what to do with it.’
“Han Fei… Shall we go meet my family now?” Zhuang Ren was unable to stand the silent treatment anymore. He walked to block Han Fei’s sight of the television screen. “Even if I can only look at them from afar, I am willing to give you everything, this house, my assets and so on.”
Seeing the determination on Zhuang Ren’s face, Han Fei decided it was time to stop playing the game. After all, he had already obtained the things he needed.
“Okay.” Han Fei stood up to switch off the game. He then placed the controller inside the black box which already had the tape and the therapy device. “Please help me place the game inside the box later, I’ll carry the whole box home with me.”
