“Still can’t get the bedroom door open?” They were inside Room 4064, the room owner wouldn’t sit and watch their own child get injured. Han Fei was powerful enough to delay the man in red but not powerful enough to kill him. Normally, the first thing he’d do when he met a Soul Chaser at the Ziggurat was to run. Han Fei glanced beside him from the corner of his eye, the mother’s bedroom door was firmly shut like it was locked from inside. No matter how hard the boy pushed, it wouldn't open. ‘Is there something inside the bedroom that Lai Sheng can’t see? What are his parents hiding?’
The man in red didn’t give Han Fei much time to think. The Death Curse crawled on his face like bugs, they obscured the man’s face. Even his pupils were covered in black words. The remaining tongue lolled about in the man’s open mouth. Red blood leaked out from the monster’s mouth. The blood morphed into black decaying matter as it fell to the ground.
The monster’s target wasn’t Han Fei. Each Soul Chaser had their own prey and this man’s target was Lai Sheng. The Death Curse pulled at the skin and the monster’s face was forcibly yanked into two. The left face stuck to the man’s head while the right face evolved into a giant snake made of flesh. It lunged towards Lai Sheng.
This was the first time Lai Sheng encountered something so dangerous. Out of instinct, Lai Sheng called out his mother’s name. But he immediately closed his hand over his mouth, as if afraid that his mother would be harmed by the scary monster too. He wiggled the door handle repeatedly. With tears in his eyes, the boy wanted to get into the bedroom to warn his mother so that she could leave while she could. He had already lost his father, he didn’t want to lose his mother, at least that was what he thought.
“Nine Lives!” The ghost tattoo was branded into Han Fei’s skin. The cat-like monster trapped inside the tattoo growled. Its howl pierced through the ghost tattoo’s binding and echoed inside the room. Han Fei still couldn’t utilize Nine Lives’ power fully. All he could do now was have Nine Lives’ yin energy envelope his body. While he could raise his defense this way, it would mean that his body would also be constantly polluted by yin energy.
Han Fei’s body was already wounded so he couldn’t stay in this state for too long. If the owner of Room 4064 really refused to help, then Han Fei would try to bring Lai Sheng away from the room with him. Han Fei tossed the red paper doll at Lai Sheng. While the paper doll dealt with the snake-like creature, Han Fei turned back to deal with the Soul Chaser. ‘Ziggurat is a Grade E Map, it is for players around Level 35. Can I really fight the monsters here?’ Han Fei was uncertain but that uncertainty was soon replaced by other emotions.
Other games would provide the option for players to flee safely from a battle, but that was not possible in Perfect Life. It didn’t give the player the chance to start over either. There was no fight or flight, but fight or die. Save reloading? That was not a feature available either.
The Soul Chaser’s snake creature tussled with the paper doll. The other half of his face turned to stare at Han Fei. It was his first time encountering such a strange soul. Han Fei didn’t act like a ghost but not like a human either. He could see him but he was not afraid of him.
The man in red trembled as his spine creaked and cracked. Bones protruded out of the man’s flesh like needles. The red shirt was torn open, exposing his body covered in Death Curse.
‘Just how many transformations can this thing manage?’ Every Soul Chaser appeared to have a different ability. Han Fei didn’t waste time. Before the thing on the man’s back could grow into giant spikes, Han Fei charged forward with his knife. Han Fei knew it was not the time for him to be cautious, especially when he had Rest in Peace with him. The blade was extremely sharp because every ‘person’ that followed Han Fei believed that the blade could cut through sin and injustice. Han Fei had the sharpest weapon, in other words, he lacked everything but attack damage.
The man in red just had his tongue cut off so he knew that Han Fei’s knife could harm him. He shrunk away from Han Fei!
The Death Curse injected into the man’s fingers, changing them into claws. They looked sharp. ‘The power of this man is different from the other Soul Chaser that I’ve met. The madman who chased after me only needed to touch me to haul away my soul, but this man in red appears to need to rely on the Death Curse to activate his abilities.’ All these pointed towards the fact that Han Fei did have the chance to win this battle.
“Wang Sheng!” Han Fei suddenly picked up speed. The brilliance of humanity lit up the entire Room 4064!
At that moment, the boy appeared to see the life torch that Han Fei told him about. Han Fei was using his own experience, memory and life to fuel that torch. Han Fei rapidly closed the distance between him and the man in red. Each cut was targeted at the Soul Chaser’s vitals.
The man stared closely at Han Fei, evading his attacks with ease. Its power allowed him to morph any part of his body as he wished. He grew out several more arms and slithered all over the ceiling. The white ceiling started to surface with red handprints. The meat spikes launched themselves at Han Fei; tentacles whipped towards Han Fei’s neck as well.
Han Fei was already very fast but he was not faster than the monster. He barely avoided the meat spikes and tentacles. Han Fei hadn’t even crawled up from the ground when the man’s head suddenly turned 180 degrees and his neck elongated. The head shot at the back of Han Fei’s heart like a bullet. The Death Curse tore open the man’s mouth and his teeth sharpened into jaws.
The creature was too close for Han Fei to avoid the attack. In his desperation, Han Fei took out the can of wishes he obtained at Yi Ming Private Academy. The broken tongue shot into the can. The paper notes with the student wishes fell out from the can. The wishes all disappeared as they were replaced by the word, Death. The can which helped Han Fei block the attack instantly cracked. A harrowing scream echoed inside the can as well. The ghost hidden inside the can was already injured. It was plotting revenge on Han Fei after it recovered, it didn’t expect to be wounded again so soon.
The can trapped the broken tongue. The man in red couldn’t shatter the can so easily but then again his target was never Han Fei to begin with. Every Soul Chaser had their own prey and the man in red was tasked to bring Lai Sheng away that night!
The attacks fulfilled their purpose which was to force Han Fei back. The man in red crawled rapidly on the ceiling towards the boy!
It moved so fast that even though Han Fei already charged as fast as he did towards the door, he was still too late. The claws covered in Death Curse were already above the boy’s head!
“Get out of the way!” As he shouted, Han Fei tossed out Rest in Peace. The blade dimmed after it left Han Fei’s grasp but before the light fully faded, the blade pierced into the man’s palm and pinned it into the wall. The Death Curse on the man’s face boiled. The pain enraged him and it yanked off the pinned arm. He raised his other arm. Death Curse curled around his fingers. The boy was shocked into place. No matter how mature a boy was, he would be frightened when he saw something like this.
The sharp nail came at the boy. Just as the claw was about to pierce into the boy’s eye, the man in red suddenly crawled backwards. The boy who had his eyes closed didn’t feel the pain, so he opened his eyes again. The scene that he saw would stay with him forever. Han Fei was pulling on a red chain stuck with animal fur. The chain was tightly wound around the man in red’s neck. Han Fei was yanking on the chain as hard as he could. A living human was stopping the Soul Chaser with pure force!
“Don’t just stand there! Go and hide!” Even after giving everything he had, Han Fei’s strength was lesser than the man in red. The fact that he struggled until this stage was already a miracle. A spike grew from the man’s back and pierced through Han Fei’s arm. Another limb extended out from the man’s monster. It grabbed Han Fei and threw him against the bedroom door.
Han Fei’s arm was heavily injured, but he still tried his best to stand up. He used his arm to reach towards Rest in Peace. Voices of humanity came from the hilt as if responding to Han Fei’s summon. The dim blade shimmered again but Han Fei was too far away from the man in red.
The claws reached towards Lai Sheng’s head again. Just as the fingers were about to touch Lai Sheng, the bedroom door suddenly opened and an arm similarly covered in Death Curse reached out to grab the man in red by his wrists!
The hand pinched and the man’s wrist was shattered. As the man screamed, an extremely oppressive presence floated out from the bedroom.
Turning back to look, Lai Sheng realized there was a large figure standing behind him. His entire body was written with the Death Curse. He too was dressed in red. At that moment, only one of his eyes was sentient. Staring at the monster that just walked out from the bedroom, Lai Sheng’s focus eventually landed on that one eye. Then the word basically tumbled out from his mouth.
“Daddy!”
