After the manager died, his 3 kids honored him with 3 cigarettes and all 3 of them found their way to Han Fei. Each of the cigarettes corresponded to each of the 3 children. Lighting the cigarette could awaken the other party’s consciousness and gain their protection before the cigarette smoke dissipated.
In the real world, Han Fei and Zhuang Ren snuck into Immortal Pharma Director’s old home and discovered a broken music box, a masked wooden mannequin and a children’s outfit covered in paint. Each of them came with their own blessing. The music box played a song that sounded similar to the soul-summoning ritual sung by the Singer. Therefore, Han Fei had reason to believe the Singer might be one of the manager’s 3 children.
Even if he got it wrong, it didn’t matter that much. Han Fei already noticed something. Whenever he lit the cigarette, the Singer would respond to it. The first time was at Yi Ming Convenience Store, after the cigarette burned, the Singer appeared at Yi Ming Street. The second time was at Ziggurat’s Building 1. Just as he lit the cigarette, the Singer grew louder like it was triggered.
For the previous 2 times, Han Fei quitted the game the moment he lit the cigarette so the Singer wouldn’t come after him. But this time, Han Fei didn’t plan to do that. Stripped of his escape, Han Fei exuded an inexplicable insouciance. He glanced at the Butterfly through the tendrils of smoke as if saying, ‘I am stepping on your altar and I have the bug eat your heart, what can you do about it?’
The smoke curled around Han Fei, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. Behind Han Fei, a pair of cold eyes opened. If Han Fei turned back to look, he’d realize the eyes matched the ones he saw inside the altar in front of Happiness Neighbourhood. Han Fei had no idea what was behind him, he was just used to hiding his fear. Therefore, there was no trace of panic or fear on his face. He had nothing but he made it look like he had everything.
No matter how Han Fei acted, it actually didn’t affect Butterfly that much. The problem was after Han Fei lit the cigarette, the Singer outside appeared to be seriously triggered. It tore through the black mist, forcing its way into the Ziggurat!
Butterfly hadn’t completed its full metamorphosis and the dresser behind it hadn’t been fully repaired, it couldn’t allow an Unmentionable into the Ziggurat. “Something this terrible hasn’t happened in a long time already. Everything was going according to plan. I’m surprised by this accident.”
The building shook like it could collapse at the next moment. Under the Singer’s relentless attack, an opening was carved through the black mist. The chilling song echoed in everyone’s ears. The cold seeped into everyone’s soul.
The blood vessels hidden inside Ziggurat ruptured and black blood leaked out from the floor and ceiling. Everything was being suppressed by that terrifying presence. Even if the Unmentionable was injured, its horror wasn’t something comparable to a normal Pure Hatred.
The Butterfly’s night sky started to turn red. The Butterfly knew that if it didn’t do something soon, the Ziggurat would fall. No one could stand in the way of the Unmentionable because the outcome would be elimination.
“This neighbourhood is the sacrificial table for me to change into a new body. If you intend to ruin my ritual, then don’t blame me for destroying your altar. Do you even have an altar?” The blood vessels that stretched out from Butterfly’s feet reached upwards. While it controlled the black mist to stop the Singer, it dragged the altar down from the top floor. There were 2 altars at the Ziggurat, one at the top floor, another in the basement.
The one from the basement was stepped on by Han Fei, the broken heart inside was chewed by Big Sin, so Butterfly placed its focus on the other altar.
“Now that the Night of Resurrection is here, I don’t need the altar left behind by the previous manager anymore. Soon, I’ll have a new body. To be a human, to be God, I’ll have the choice!” The family portrait was shoved by the Butterfly into the altar. Before the Song infiltrated the Ziggurat fully, it opened the altar from the top floor. The normal-looking altar had a headless figurine inside. The figurine looked like an old man. He was standing tall but his body was carved in endless Death Curses. When Butterfly’s family portrait touched the figurine, the twisted shadow in the portrait crawled into the figurine. The Death Curses were activated and Butterfly started to imbue the black mist into the figurine.
At the same time, the endless holy figurines that the Evil Soul attracted from Room 4144 started to change. They cried and wailed before exploding. The hair and bits of flesh covered by white paper inside the figurines gathered together to form the head of an old man. The head’s eyes, ears, nose and mouth were sewn shut by Death Curses. He couldn’t speak, see, or hear.
Han Fei and the tenants from Happiness Neighbourhood saw the human head, it had the same face as their previous manager!
‘That must be the memory fragment left behind by the previous manager!’ Han Fei’s pupils narrowed. The previous manager’s memory was splintered, the part with the memory of the black box was hidden at Happiness Neighbourhood and the others were scattered around the cryptic world. Han Fei wanted to go and rescue the previous manager’s head but he lacked the power.
“I’ve gotten tired of digging for your memory. Since you refuse to tell me anything then disappear forever with them.” Butterfly grabbed the manager’s head and plopped it inside the altar. The Death Curses joined the head back with the body. Death Curses crawled out from the old man’s body, piercing through his skin. Death Curses splattered like blood, desecrating the altar. Some kind of taboo was activated. The old man’s orifices started to leak with black blood. All the curses on his body morphed into the Chinese character for Death.
“I’m using an Unmentionable’s memory and altar to manufacture this curse. That should be able to injure it.” Butterfly who stood under the night sky controlled all the black mist to tear apart the old man’s figurine. A giant black flower bloomed in the night to gather all the black mist to one spot.
Han Fei saw the terrifying scene. When all the black mist was absorbed, he saw a giant pair of bloody hands appear in the song. Previously, when he tried to quit the game, he had encountered these hands before, he was almost captured by them. ‘I am unable to see its full appearance?’ Han Fei, who was only Level 13, had witnessed something way beyond his current level. The flower that exhausted all the black mist in the building bloomed among the Song.
To Han Fei and Butterfly’s surprise, when the scariest Death Curse exploded from the old man’s figurine, the giant bloody hands and the Singer behind them didn’t evade. Instead, the Singer appeared to voluntarily move forward to embrace it, as if it wanted to store the old man’s head into its own heart.
The Death Curse exploded! The Song echoed with deep despair and pain. Everyone could hear something breaking. Blood rain fell from the sky and the black mist dissipated. Only Building 4 looked rather normal, the other 3 buildings were covered in blood and curses.
Butterfly exhausted the black mist collected at Ziggurat for decades, an altar and all the Death Curse on it to heavily injure the Singer.
“Is it dead?”
After a temporary pause, the Song echoed in everyone’s ears again. Even though the black mist had lightened, no one could pinpoint the source of the Song, it was like the Song had moved into their hearts. As long as the fear of it remained, it would always return.
“We have to be prepared to save Han Fei.” Mirror God behind Drake said, “The Singer has left, taking the previous manager’s head and the tainted altar. When it returns, it will be stronger than a normal Unmentionable.”
“Shouldn’t we wait some more? The situation is still up in the air, the manager looks like he’s still safe.” Lee Zai turned to Han Fei. All the butterflies who flew towards Han Fei lost their way in the smoke. Butterfly’s night sky covered everything but it was unable to harm Han Fei. Han Fei lit the cigarette, standing under the Butterfly’s night sky. He saw the stars of humanity trapped in the night sky and his eyes shone with pity. Even at a time like this, he cared more about others than himself.
“We can’t wait any longer!” A voice came from the back of the group. Wei Youfu removed his cap and his eyes landed on Han Fei. He knew Han Fei too well. “Let’s move out!”
The Death Curses at the Ziggurat just exploded. The remaining curse could still scorch the soul but no one from Happiness Neighbourhood hesitated. They charged into Butterfly’s night sky. The Butterfly’s night sky contained many nightmares and the scariest things in the world, but none of them held back.
“You people are so desperate to die?” Death spots appeared on Butterfly’s skin. Its handsome face turned into a low-quality puzzle as Death Curse crawled out from underneath its skin. The collision earlier exhausted the Butterfly deeply too. Most of the blood vessels it controlled broke but for the Butterfly, this was a good enough price to pay to chase away an Unmentionable. “When I was still alive, everyone wanted me to die. I tried my best to make them happy but all I got in return was added hatred and disgust. A problem has been troubling me. If I pretend to lose my memory, will they toss me out like an unwanted guest? Perhaps I didn’t even count as a guest in their eyes, perhaps only an item?”
The tenants from Happiness Neighbourhood strode through the Butterfly’s night sky. Ignoring the danger, they forged their way towards Han Fei. This was a group of pitiable people, cute people and that made Butterfly burn with anger.
“Do you want to save him? Then I will make sure that won’t happen. The only thing that can bring me joy is to reap the despair after the struggle has failed.” With each of Butterfly's words, the stars in the night sky would scream in pain.
Only then everyone realized the stars were souls Butterfly had entrapped in his night sky! The Butterfly had been tormenting them, to hear their wails of despair, to gain happiness from them! As the stars cried, their despair would leak into the night sky, making the canvas darker.
“Be careful, the darkness is made from the butterflies metamorphosed from the human cocoons. The ugliest part of humanity made up this disgusting thing.” Mirror God knew a lot. His mirror showed not the night sky but a cluster of black butterflies overlapping over each other. “Pure Hatred can manipulate their surroundings freely but to wish to melt into the night sky, this monster is not yet powerful enough.”
The butterflies that formed the night fluttered. The Butterfly reached out towards the tenants. But when it raised its arm, a monster with hatred wrested Butterfly’s wrist. The Butterfly said, “Do you really think you can hurt me?”
The senior monster’s eyes burned with hatred. The pain of his lineage burned through his heart, weaving with his hatred. His fingers turned red. Every soul that he touched would rapidly age and rot. This was the senior monster’s hidden power. The soul that he touched would age with him.
The members of his lineage lived on his spine. When one of his children or grandchildren died, they would manifest on the senior monster’s spine. In less than 1 second of contact, 2 faces on the senior monster’s spine were wiped away but Butterfly only had a few new wrinkles on his wrist. If he didn’t kill the caster, the Death Curse would not be removed and everyone in his family would die. To ensure the continuity of his lineage, none of the faces on the senior monster’s spine showed fear. They gave it their all to protect their legacy!
“I didn’t keep an old dog around to bite me.” The Butterfly’s fingers closed. The stars in the night exploded. The negative emotions surged into the Butterfly’s body. While they cured the Butterfly, they formed new Death Curses and crawled towards the senior monster.
The senior monster was no match for the Butterfly. Even if he sacrificed his life, he was only able to stop the Butterfly for a few seconds, but there was more than the senior monster who hated the Butterfly with a passion.
With a shrill scream, a giant red shadow charged towards Butterfly. Zhuang Wen had lost her mind. When she saw Butterfly’s face, she couldn’t control herself anymore. She found the reason for her existence, which was to cut this creature into pieces. To create another Butterfly, the manager forced Zhuang Wen to kill herself. That despair and pain created a twisted Pure Hatred.
As Zhuang Wen charged at the Butterfly, Wei Youfu stepped out from the crowd. The weak-looking man stepped through the lingering black mist and hatred. He looked at the wounded Han Fei and the endless souls trapped in the night sky before he looked at himself.
“A human jigsaw might just be a game for it but it has made 8 of us lose everything.” His pale arms reached towards the mighty Butterfly. The always nice Wei Youfu started to shed blood from his eyes. “No matter the reason, Butterfly must die!”
Blood expanded behind him. Eight arms tore through Wei Youfu’s body and slammed heavily on the ground!
