437 Ten Fingers in the Memory World
Han Fei picked up the toys the boy left behind and shoved them into the plastic bag used to carry the buns. ‘After the man left, I should use these as an excuse to visit their house.’ The boy’s toys were from the same series as the victim’s toys at the shop, which was interesting to Han Fei.
Ten Fingers had explored the altar owner’s world for years, they would have mastered a lot of info. They might have seen the real image of this world. ‘I wonder if the world they see is different from what I see.’
Holding the toys, Han Fei didn’t chase after the father and son. It was not yet the time to reveal himself. After waiting for some time, Han Fei entered the neighbourhood. The entrance door was suddenly pushed open and a bespectacled balding middle-aged man was hauling several large rubbish bags out. Seeing how inconvenienced the man was, Han Fei moved to help. When the man saw Han Fei, he was surprised. Then he shook his head. “Even if you help me with these chores, I can’t lower your rent. I know you are a kind and good kid but this world is not easy.”
“You are…” Han Fei was confused.
“What are you doing at the door?! You’ll only throw them away then they start to smell! How disgusting!” The door at the corner of the 1st floor opened and the landlady shouted at the middle-aged man, “Once you come off from work, you slump on the couch like a dead man. Do you think you’re the only one who is tired? I am tired too.”
The middle-aged man sighed. He picked up the trash and continued to move. However as he passed Han Fei, he whispered, “I was smoking on the balcony earlier. I saw you pick up the toys of the boy from Room 7. I’d advise you to throw those toys away and stay away from that family.” The man then moved away. Seeing how slow the man was, the landlady was angry and she slammed the door.
It was clear that the man didn’t want to get involved so he whispered to Han Fei. Han Fei should appreciate his warning and then just walk away. However, Han Fei was never one to follow normal conventions. In the altar owner’s memory world, there were not many good people so he had to get to know as many of them as possible!
Instead of returning home, Han Fei picked up the toys and followed behind the balding man, this startled the man.
“Uncle, what is wrong with the family in Room 7?”
“Why are you following me?” The man frowned. “Don’t ask too many questions, it has nothing to do with you anyway.”
“But I have picked up his child’s toys and I notice they are extremely smelly, it’s a stench that I’m not familiar with…”
“Shush!” The balding man led Han Fei away and then lowered his voice, “The stench is not a normal stench, it’s the smell of human decomposition?”
“Decomposition?!” Han Fei was shocked.
“The father from Room 7 works at a hospital morgue. He’s a nurse and spends his time with dead people. His mind is not that stable, so you better stay away from him.”
“A nurse? Do you know which hospital he works at?”
“It’s the hospital where your mother is—third people hospital. I heard that the man used to have many different jobs but none of them last long, I doubt he’ll work this job for long either.” The balding man dropped the rubbish in the trash can. Due to a lack of cleaning, the cans were already filled and the trash was forming a mountain. It attracted plenty of flies.
The balding man returned to the house but Han Fei stopped beside the rubbish pile. ‘Ten Fingers is working at the hospital where the owner’s mother is being treated? This can’t be a coincidence. Ten Fingers has been changing jobs, it feels like they’re looking for something, are they looking for me?’ Han Fei also noticed something interesting. In this memory world, he had taken the perspective of the altar owner, experiencing the things the owner once did, however Ten Fingers adopted the worldview of other people. Perhaps they were looking for the persona of the altar owner?
‘Why is there such a difference? Is it due to the black box, the system or the Mirror God?’ Han Fei still remembered the sacrifice the Mirror God made to send him into the altar. When he touched the altar, the mirror shattered. The pieces were like stars in the sky. ‘The memory world is not small either. Everyone here has their own story. Without the aid from a Pure Hatred or Lingering Spirit, surviving will be difficult, much less discovering its secret.’
Han Fei had no idea how powerful Ten Fingers was, but when he saw the man earlier, the man looked just like a normal person. ‘Perhaps it’s not that they can’t use their power here but once they did, they would be kicked out from the memory world.’
Han Fei took out the red paper doll. This Grade F Cursed Object became so normal in the memory world. ‘Only by helping the altar owner rectify his regrets that I will be given a chance to access my inventory. This shows how much the memory world rejects outside items. This world is the last trace of the altar owner’s existence; he probably didn’t want his memory to be ruined by outside power.’
Ten Fingers was far more powerful than Han Fei but even now they hadn’t inherited the altar because they couldn’t get the owner’s approval. ‘This is a good chance for me.’ Lowering his head, Han Fei revealed a smile. He was used to using a warm smile to hide his real intention.
Han Fei was about to take the toys and leave when a paper plane landed on the trash pile. Han Fei turned to look and saw a woman standing beside a window on the 3rd floor. The woman had a rope around her neck, she looked like she was ready to hang herself.
‘The left room on the 3rd floor? When I went to work yesterday night, there was someone hiding inside that room to watch me!’ Han Fei rushed into the building to stop the woman from hanging herself. He ran to the 3rd floor and then banged on the last door on the left side. “Is anyone there?”
The dust fell and the door shook. Han Fei knocked for a time but no one answered. In the end, it was then 2nd floor Room 8 which was situated closest to the staircase that opened. “Are you crazy? I just finished my nightshift and you are making so much noise! People need to sleep!” A young man in his pajamas walked out from Room 8 and shouted up the stairs.
Han Fei ran back to the stairs to explain, “There’s someone who is committing suicide in Room 13! I saw a woman trying to hang herself from downstairs!” Han Fei looked very shocked and afraid, just like a student should.
“Suicide?” The young man scoffed. He pushed Han Fei to the side. “Are you kidding me? There is no one living in Room 13.”
“But it’s true! I saw it with my own eyes!” While Han Fei lifted his head, he glanced into the man’s room. “We should go and find the landlady to open the door! We’re talking about human life here!”
“What does that have to do with me?” The young man was annoyed, “If you want to be crazy, go and find someone else to entertain you! If you continue to disturb my sleep, you see this fist? I doubt your flimsy body can survive this punch!”
“Room 13 is really unoccupied?”
“There are more and more crazies moving into this place. Thankfully I shall be moving out next month and I wouldn’t need to suffer you people anymore.” The young man grumbled as he closed the door.
When the young man opened the door, Han Fei got a chance to look into his room. All the things were neatly arranged. Half of the shoe rack was dominated by high heels. The wallpaper and decoration were very feminine. There were many pictures of the young man and a woman hanging on the world. He probably lived with his girlfriend. The young man worked nightshift. Even though he had a bad temper, he loved his girlfriend, he was hardworking… but Han Fei remembered that before he went to work yesterday night, he heard the sound of people having sex coming out from this room. At that time, the young man should be at work already…
“Perhaps I heard it wrongly.”
Han Fei came to the 1st floor and steeled himself to knock on the landlady’s door. When the landlady heard Han Fei’s voice, she thought he was there to return the rental. She jogged to open the door. But when Han Fei told her about the things in Room 13, her face dropped immediately. “There is no one living in Room 13! You must have seen it wrongly!” The landlady huffed, “If you have time to worry about others, you should worry about yourself first!” Then she planned to close the door but Han Fei stopped her.
“Sister, wait!” Han Fei rummaged through his pocket before taking out 600 RMB. “My boss is very nice. He saw how quick and fast I work so he gave me 600 RMB in advanced. I’ll return you some of the rent I owed. I will pay the rest soon.” Han Fei’s face was covered in sweat. His hand that held the money was covered in wounds. He just got in a fight. Through the gap, the landlady looked at Han Fei and then at the money, her expression softened. Opening the door, she took the money. She sighed and then returned Han Fei 300 RMB, “You still need to eat, take this 300 RMB for yourself, you can pay me the rest by the end of the month.”
“It’s okay, I’ve already saved some for myself, I can skimp on my food.”
“Stop being so stubborn, just take it!” The landlady took the 300 RMB and then said seriously, “Pay attention at work and focus on healing your mother. Ignore the rest, okay?”
“But I really saw a woman hanging herself in Room 13…”
“There was indeed a woman who lived in Room 13 and she did hang herself.” The landlady said with impatience, “But that was 3 months ago, she was pretty and she worked at the mall. Her death was very sudden because she looked so happy normally.”
“She also worked at the mall?” Han Fei shivered. “Sister, my new job is also at the mall and I work the nightshift. Can you at least let me see that room or else I can’t sleep at night.” After some persuasion, the landlady finally agreed. She had her husband accompany them and the 3 of them went up the stairs. As they walked, Han Fei and the balding man slowly fell behind. The landlady walked in front alone. “Hmph, useless men!”
They came to the 3rd floor and the landlady opened the door to Room 13. The room was empty. All the furniture was covered in white cloth to prevent dust from gathering. “The both of us found these white clothes. After the girl died, we couldn’t contact her family so we kept this room like this. We didn’t dare to throw her stuff away.” The balding man stood at the door. As he hesitated whether to enter, he was shoved in by his wife.
“Are you done seeing everything? I wasn’t lying to you, right? There’s no one here.” The landlady signaled for Han Fei to exit but Han Fei walked through the living room and entered the toilet. Earlier he saw the hanging woman from the bathroom window. The wooden door was pushed open and he was stunned by what he saw. The bathroom was filled with strange paper balls covered in symbols. The paper balls reeked. The strangest thing was some of the drawings on the balls were wet and new.
“These paper balls were here 3 months ago?” Han Fei turned around to ask the landlady. The couple looked confused. “They weren’t! When I cleaned this room 3 months ago, it was very clean. Did someone sneak in here?!”
“Someone must have made a spare key!” The couple didn’t think of the supernatural.
Han Fei picked up one of the balls and opened it. He felt the symbols look familiar. As he was about to unravel the next ball, his mood points plummeted. His heart almost jumped out from his throat. Han Fei opened the paper balls one after another. When he opened the 10th ball, he saw a black and smelly arm hidden inside the ball!
Without hesitation, Han Fei reached for the arm! However before he could touch it, the arm disintegrated into shredded paper!
Then a strange thudding sound came from the house. It sounded like a hanged woman knocking her legs against the window.
‘The sound is just beside me!’
His mood points flew downwards, Han Fei had trouble breathing. He was about to fall when the balding man grabbed him by his arms and dragged him out from the toilet. “You’ve worked the whole night already. You are tired. You need to go back and rest. We’ll change the lock to this room as soon as possible.”
The couple retreated out of the room. They sent Han Fei home and then left.
Lying in bed, Han Fei’s mood points slowly returned to normal. He wanted to explore the truth but he was too tired. He slowly closed his eyes. This was the first time Han Fei fell asleep in the memory world.
