405 Han Fei [2in1]
‘Currently the cryptic world and the surface world are completely detached from each other, is this logical? Is this correct?’ After Butterfly perished, the nightmare channel broke. The dresser at Ziggurat became the hub connecting the two worlds. As the game progressed, there might be more hubs like the Ziggurat. The cryptic world appeared to have been unsealed by some kind of power. It was slowly floating out from the surface, to melt with the surface world.
‘The black box’s previous owner was Fu Sheng, he chose the path of absolute destruction and it caused the cryptic world to be fully sealed up by darkness, all the spirits and monsters submerging in despair.
‘Fu Sheng was defeated until only his memory fragments remained so his original plan must have failed. Something in the cryptic world has been unleashed and started to latch onto the surface world. Butterfly was just a beginning or perhaps just a trial.’ Han Fei kept processing the information. He had no power to stop the scariest thing in the cryptic world, all he could do was to follow along with the times and then used his own method to try to affect some changes.
‘Combination of both worlds might not be fully a bad thing. There is too much pain and despair stored in the cryptic world. Sealing them up will cultivate monsters beyond human’s wildest imagination.’ Han Fei had seen Fu Sheng’s memory fragment, extreme salvation or destruction wouldn’t work. Now, be it for himself or for his neighbours, Han Fei had to fight for a new path.
After sending away Zeng Haicheng, Han Fei truly felt the pressure on him. If not for the fact that Han Fei had already taken control of Ziggurat when he arrived, Zeng Haicheng would have met a terrible end.
As the cryptic world continued to change, more people would accidentally stumble into the cryptic world, Han Fei had to take his role of the guardian seriously. He felt like a real security guard, but he was not guarding the Ziggurat but the door to hell.
‘I’m still too weak, if I have the senior monster’s power, then many problems could be resolved.’ After witnessing the chaos caused by his Evil Soul, Han Fei was impressed by it. He pulled up his character profile and used all of his collected Skill Points on his various active skills to raise all them to masterful level.
Skill points were very hard to get in the surface world but in the cryptic world, there were hidden missions everywhere and no one was fighting Han Fei to solve them. It made Han Fei feel like he was playing on a private server but the owner of the server was a ghost. If one wished to level up a masterful level skill, one had to complete their specific missions. Currently Han Fei only had 1 Life Points, he didn’t dare to accept unknown missions. For him, masterful skills were already good enough.
Looking through his profile, Han Fei saw his two talents again.
Resurrection was a talent of an unknown level and Han Fei could only use it once per night; after solving the mission at Yi Ming Private Academy, the talent of Spirit Farer had risen to Level F and Han Fei could use it twice per night.
With the thought of having no wastage, Han Fei used Spirit Farer twice in the room. His first target was Ming Mei’s father, but he failed. This killer didn’t seem to use Deep Space Tech’s counseling device. Han Fei’s second target was Ming Mei’s mother. She was Ying Yue’s father’s biological little sister. She was Ming Mei’s blood relative but she tortured Ming Mei like an animal. After reciting the name of Ming Mei’s mother, the sea of blood before Han Fei responded. A black worm surfaced under the waves. It wiggled its body before it was consumed by a ghost face. ‘It succeeded?’
The profile returned to normal and the doors closed. A crazy woman appeared at the corner of the room. There was temporary clarity in her eyes before it was quickly replaced by madness. When the Spirit Farer succeeded, the woman accidentally exposed herself. She was not truly mad.
“So you’re not really crazy?” Han Fei looked at the woman happily, “Don’t be afraid, I won’t let you die so easily.” Perhaps he had played too many antagonists or he had been influenced by the presence in the cryptic world, when Han Fei tried to smile, the whole atmosphere turned creepy.
“I know you must miss your daughter, I’ll bring you to meet her.” Han Fei walked towards Ming Mei’s mother and grabbed her hand. The woman tried to escape but she was too weak compared to Han Fei. So she could only shout mock-crazily at Han Fei.
“Trust me, your daughter is really here.” Han Fei dragged the woman out of the room and arrived at the corridor where all the tenants had gathered. Being stared at by all the ghosts, the woman who was pretending to be crazy instantly cried. She begged Han Fei to let her go.
“Do you really think begging is going to work? There was a little girl who begged you like this before. But you decided to dismember her and stuff her inside small toys. You know she is allergic to woolen dolls but you decided to make them her last resting place.” Han Fei’s tone couldn’t be described as cold anymore, he was as scary as the ghosts who lined the corridor. “Look, your daughter is over there, she is waiting for you.” Han Fei pointed down the corridor. A girl who was playing with a doll slowly looked up. The hollow eye sockets were empty, the doll she held looked very much like Ming Mei.
“Ying, Ying Yue!” The woman tried desperately to escape but she was closed in by the tenants from Happiness Neighbourhood.
“Go and reunite with your daughter, she has been waiting for a long time for you.”
“She is not my daughter! She is a ghost!” The woman shouted crazily as she pointed at Ying Yue. Han Fei shook his head seeing this, “Why would you think I was talking about Ying Yue? You don’t deserve to be her mother. Your daughter is the doll Ying Yue is playing with, the doll who has been crying nonstop.”
Han Fei handed Ming Mei’s mother to Ying Yue. The temperature in the corridor dropped as black pupils opened in the air. They all stared at Ming Mei’s mother. Dragging the doll made from Ming Mei, Ying Yue slowly walked towards Ming Mei’s mother. She grabbed the woman by her hair and dragged her into the darkness.
“Notification for Player 0000, you’ve gained 30 friendliness points with Ying Yue! Your friendship has reached a new stage! Ying Yue has now seen you as her family.”
‘Family? Like me and Wei Youfu?’ Han Fei lifted his head and he noticed his neighbours were all looking at him. The tenants at Happiness Neighbourhood knew about what happened to Ying Yue and they pitied the girl who lost her sight, however they weren’t capable enough to help her. But then Han Fei appeared. The weakest Han Fei could always bring miracles.
Ying Yue’s wishes were almost fulfilled by Han Fei, everyone could see that with their eyes. In terms of pure power, Han Fei was not as strong as the previous manager but even if the previous manager resurrected now, they would firmly decide to stand with Han Fei because the previous manager had never tried to help them like Han Fei did. The previous manager’s treatment method leaned more towards forced amnesia, while Han Fei really empathized with his neighbours and was doing his best to help them.
The system pinged with several notifications. The news that Han Fei had helped Ying Yue with her obsession had spread throughout Ziggurat. Even the Ziggurat’s tenants had arrived to gather around Han Fei.
“Currently my power is limited, I can only help a portion of you but in the future, I promise to help all of you.” Han Fei used this opportunity to gain more friendliness points.
When Ying Yue returned, she was holding another new doll. She walked to Han Fei’s side and then waited. She grabbed Han Fei’s shirt and tried to help upgrade Han Fei’s ghost tattoo but it was clear that it was taking a huge toll on her. Han Fei quickly stopped her. “When you’re more powerful, then we’ll do this.” Last time at the pet store, Ying Yue already exhausted herself after sealing Nine Lives into the ghost tattoo. If she forced herself to upgrade Han Fei’s ghost tattoo again, it would seriously injure her.
Han Fei was looking out for Ying Yue. Ever since her parents’ death, this was the first time someone showed concern towards her. Pulling back her small hands, Ying Yue retreated to Han Fei’s side. She decided to stick close to Han Fei to protect him. After losing her family, Ying Yue cared a lot about her new family, she would not allow her family to be injured again. Thus Han Fei gained a new shadow. As long as he didn’t chase her away, Ying Yue would silently guard beside him.
“Don’t forget about our previous deal.” A voice came from inside the mirror. The Mirror God groused, “I need a body! If you can’t think of a candidate, just summon that Huang Yin for me.”
“He is my brother, Mirror God, you’ll have to find another candidate. Speaking of, this is very strange. I was certain that I’ve already consumed the last bit of luck on him already last time but recently he has gained some new luck. Next time, I will swallow him whole.” Before Han Fei could say anything, Lee Zai already cut in. Huang Yin was popular in the underworld too.
The neighbours argued. This was a common scene but it felt so unrealistically serene in the cryptic world. The tenants at Ziggurat were shocked, how could ghostly neighbours have such civil conversation with one another? Shouldn’t they be trying to eat each other?
Han Fei wanted to use this chance to share his philosophy with the tenants of Ziggurat but suddenly a loud noise came from the 4th floor. They hurried towards it immediately.
The door of Room 4044 was knocked off its hinges. The floor was covered in broken black shells and blood. Everyone glanced into the room when a black shadow rammed towards Han Fei like lightning. Both Xu Qin and Ying Yue moved to stop the shadow but the latter easily evaded them. Han Fei’s first reaction was to go offline but he hadn’t completed the requirement to do so.
‘Am I going to die?’ The shadow radiated powerful misfortune and death. It stopped several cm away from Han Fei. “Big Sin?” Han Fei’s pet had experienced a great transformation. Like a cat who had smelled fish but couldn’t have it, Big Sin circled around Han Fei. It could feel how close Han Fei was to death, it was so delicious!
Big Sin was so excited and Han Fei was so frightened. Han Fei had survived so many things but in the end, if he died in the hands of his own pet, that would be so depressing.
“After my Life Points recover, I’ll come play with you.” Han Fei’s voice was shaking as he took several steps back to observe Big Sin from afar. Using a few days’ time, Big Sin finally consumed the half heart in Butterfly’s altar. It had completed another metamorphosis. Currently, it gave off a dangerous and mysterious feeling, that was its unique charm.
Han Fei didn’t dare to touch Big Sin so he couldn’t tell how much exactly Big Sin had changed. However, from the fact that it managed to easily avoid Xu Qin and Ying Yue, this little critter had gotten so much stronger than before.
“You dare to even consume the things inside an altar, I’m impressed.” The moment Han Fei spoke, Big Sin would lurch towards him. Han Fei couldn’t chase it away no matter how hard he tried. “I haven’t seen a pet that is so attached to its owner.”
Having 1 Life Point was very inconvenient so Han Fei decided to pull his plan ahead of schedule. He called all the neighbours and tenants he trusted and shared his crazy plan. “The previous manager from the Happiness Neighbourhood left behind a map, I have memorized all the paths around Ziggurat. Now I will share this information with all of you.” Han Fei used the blood on the ground to carefully draw out the map on the wall. “To the east of Ziggurat, after Ancestral Hall Street is a plastic surgery hospital. That hospital is the most dangerous in that area. If you continue to move further east, you’ll reach a curious theme park. The mannequin on the 9th floor of the Happiness Neighbourhood came from there.”
Han Fei pointed at a mannequin wearing a strange mask standing at an unassuming corner. Once upon a time, it tried to challenge Fu Sheng but was sealed by Fu Sheng on the 9th floor.
“I need you to use my name and disguise yourself as staff from the plastic surgery hospital and create havoc at the theme park.” Han Fei desperately needed to increase his reputation. He had always kept a low profile. The people he met either became his friends or his food, so he left no trace behind. “From now on, all of you will be called Han Fei. We will use this name as a symbol, a burning torch.” Han Fei had already decided to make himself known and stop purposely hiding himself.
The Unmentionable came into being because no one dared to mention the names of certain creatures. Han Fei had no idea what kind of spirit the Unmentionable represented but he had decided to join their ranks.
“According to the previous manager’s map, there is a relatively safe path here. We can edge along these two areas. When we reach the theme park, our plan will have already succeeded by half.”
Currently Ziggurat didn’t even have a complete Pure Hatred. If the plastic surgery hospital sent over a Pure Hatred, they would all die. Instead of waiting to be killed, why not make the move first, that had always been Han Fei’s style.
“We’ll make use of the large number of life threads left at Ancestral Hall Street. I’ll discuss the details of the plan further with the Mirror God.” Han Fei had always kept his tracks clean. At Ziggurat, those who knew Han Fei’s name either were his friend or were killed, there was no third option. Therefore, the people from other areas had no idea Ziggurat’s new manager was Han Fei and the Pure Hatred at the hospital was extremely mysterious, no one knew much about it.
Combining these two points, Han Fei decided to disguise himself as the Pure Hatred from the plastic surgery hospital.
“My pet dares to eat the stuff inside an altar and an Unmentionable cried after meeting me several times, I think I should be good enough to play a Pure Hatred.” Han Fei knew putting his plan into action would be difficult but he couldn’t think of a better plan for now.
Han Fei started to pick the people who would venture out with him. He reminded them to bring up his name as much as possible. In the cryptic world, even Pure Hatreds refused to reveal their names to others but Han Fei voluntarily encouraged the tenants to use his name. That was a sign that Han Fei trusted them and that warmed these spirits’ cold hearts.
