470 Conscience and Truth
A van drove through the rainy night. The waiter sat at the driver’s seat. He drove carefully while stealing glances at Han Fei. He had been a mafia member for at least a decade already but he had not encountered someone as unique as Han Fei. When he was in his shop uniform, he was polite and scholarly; but when he put on Brother Snake’s coat, he was vicious and imposing, especially that ghost tattoo. It looked scary.
“Focus on the road.” Han Fei knocked on the window with his eyes closed.
“Yes.” The waiter turned his eyes away but he still couldn’t control himself from looking at Han Fei. Several mafia members were in the chair. Other than the old lady in the passenger seat, everyone was an infamous gangster. Fighting was an everyday thing, normally they would quarrel when they saw each other. But today, once Han Fei got into the van, everyone quieted down.
The atmosphere in the van was heavy and no one dared to speak. Han Fei enjoyed this silence. For a person with social anxiety, it was best if no one spoke. Half an hour later, the van arrived at River Head. They switched off the lights inside the van and slowly approached the residential area. River Head no longer appeared that clean in the night, instead, there was an indescribable strangeness about the place. It felt more like a cemetery than a residential area.
“Do you need us to come with you?”
The waiter offered but Han Fei rejected him. “Stay here and be prepared for any emergency. Do not wander too far from the old lady and don’t get out from the van either.”
Putting on a black raincoat, Han Fei carried the rucksack into River Head. In the morning, there were guards at the guardhouse but at night, the place was silent and dark. Han Fei moved forward and realized there were red eyeballs hidden inside all the cameras. Once something moved, the red eyeballs would lock onto it. “The design is quite unique.”
Using his superhuman memory, Han Fei pulled out the location of all the cameras in his mind. With the aid of the rain, he easily slipped into the neighborhood. “All the buildings appear to have their own lives. The underground pipe is the capillary joining them together.” Once Han Fei entered the neighborhood, the wishing can made a noise. The dead were growling, they couldn’t hold themselves back anymore. “Just hold on a bit more, I’ll give you the chance to unleash your resentment soon.”
The mall boss was still a well-loved philanthropist and he had the protection of the altar. However, not long after this, the entire city would see the boss for who he was. Then it would be time for the boss to pay his debt.
Han Fei just arrived at Building 9 when the entrance opened on its own like it was waiting for Han Fei. An old man squatted on the stairs. His face was frighteningly pale.
“Sir, I’ve found the things you wanted.” Han Fei didn’t feel fear, if anything, he was proud. He took out the rucksack from under his raincoat and took out the old man’s family portrait.
The old man was shocked. “One has to enter the well to take this picture. The well has collected endless hatred and resentment. Once one touches the water, one will be dragged into it. So how did you manage to do this?”
“It was indeed very dangerous.” Han Fei thought of the chef. “I guess you could say I had help.”
“Help?” The old man nodded. “I thought you were lying to me to escape from this place. I didn’t expect you to come back.”
“I will fulfill all the promises I made.” Han Fei handed the picture to the old man but the latter didn’t take it. “This picture is very important to my family. I need to thank you dearly.” The old man signaled for Han Fei to follow him into Room 19. From the outside, there was the sound of cooking and laughing. But once one entered the room, there was only an old dining table and rotten food.
The old man led Han Fei into the bedroom. They stood beside the bed and before the 7 death portraits. As Han Fei entered the room, the eyes of the people in the portraits moved to stare at Han Fei. Han Fei stood beside a ghost before a row of death portraits at 2 am, it was surprisingly fitting,
“Grab the other end of the family portrait and then we will place it on the table.” The old man gave Han Fei an encouraging look with his pupilless eyes.
“Okay.” Han Fei followed the instructions. When Han Fei placed the picture on the table, all the death portraits started to leak colors and thick resentment gushed out from the corners of the room. The sound of screaming, bones breaking and blood dripping echoed in Han Fei’s ears. He was experiencing the despair of the family who died in the car accident. The world was spinning and one couldn’t control one’s body but one was still the most concerned about the other family members inside the car.
The concern joined all the death portraits together. Slowly, arms reached out from the portraits and they grabbed the family portrait Han Fei brought. The screaming never stopped. The people inside the death portraits had to go through heavy pain to escape from the picture. Their bodies were torn apart again and again but no one let go.
“A family belongs together, that is our final wish.” The old man placed his hand on the family portrait. The resentment of the whole family poured into the family portrait.
The people in the 7 death portraits disappeared, even the old man had disappeared. The temperature of the room was rising. Things were returning to normal. Han Fei lowered his head to look at the family portrait. The people in the picture were smiling happily. They appeared to wave at Han Fei. “Now I should be able to bring them out of this room.”
Putting away the family portrait, Han Fei went to find Boss Gu’s younger brother. However, after he entered the room, he noticed something was wrong. All the photographs had been destroyed and the bedroom had been cleared away. “You’re too late, when the sun set yesterday, the Demon Gu came here already.”
The old man appeared so suddenly that he frightened Han Fei. Han Fei almost pulled out Rest in Peace. “Sir, when you want to show up next time, can you please notify me? I’m afraid of accidentally harming you.”
The old man nodded before he continued, “The boss’ younger brother knew too many secrets and he had to die so that the boss could rest easy. Looks like the boss has run into some trouble recently to tie up all the loose ends, but you shouldn’t pity the younger brother. He wasn’t a good man either.”
The old man’s mind was clear and more importantly, he was very familiar with Boss Gu, they were once best friends.
“So what should we do next?”
“We’ll go to his house. I’ll lead the way.” The old man was in a good mood because his family had found freedom. If only Han Fei was dead, then he’d take Han Fei in as his family too.
The rain poured and thunder boomed. Han Fei walked through the night, surrounded by mutating buildings. With the protection of the old man’s family, no monster came to find trouble with Han Fei. They successfully moved from Zone 9 to Zone 1. Even though it was pouring, there was still patrol at Zone 1. In fact, there were double the usual amount of patrols.
“The guards are more than usual but what is the use?” Han Fei put on the Beast Mask. When he was about to carve his way in, the old man stopped him.
“Stop. Haven’t you noticed that the boss’ residence is like an enlarged altar?” The old man stopped Han Fei.
“Yes. The patrols are just for show. To enter your boss’ room, you have to first destroy the altar. This whole neighborhood is built to mimic the well and the altar. The lake at the center of the neighborhood is the water well and the residential buildings are the shelves. Building 1 at Zone 1 represents the altar.” The old man had lived here for a very long time and was familiar with Boss Gu’s dirty deeds.
“The man sure spared no expenses!”
“Human greed is bottomless. He is no longer satisfied with luck and money, he wants to be god.” The old man’s eyes focused on the building. “Now there are 2 ways for us to get into his room, the first is to destroy the altar itself, and the second is to disrupt the geography of this place, we…”
“We will go in from the roof!” Han Fei cut in. “I’ve knocked out a hole on the roof of the altar at the mall. So the roof should be our opening.” The old man was stunned. The altar which represented God had been punctured through with a hole?!
“Yes, I swung the hammer at it and the top caved in.”
Han Fei and the old man slowly approached the building. After taking down 2 patrols, Han Fei climbed along the wall and got onto the boss’ balcony. “He sure knows how to enjoy life. He has everything but has also lost everything.” Han Fei entered the room through the window without any problem. He sighed when he saw the lavish decoration of the room. “Isn’t he lonely staying at such a big place on his own?”
Following the tips given by the woman in Room 13, Han Fei kept moving downwards but he didn’t notice any problems.
“This shouldn’t be.” Han Fei came to the first floor and carefully evaded all the cameras. He looked around the house. “There are 2 altars at the 2nd hand shop, the real one is underground and the one inside the shop the boss built his own. Could the same logic be applied here? The house on the surface is just decoration and he actually lives underground.” Han Fei was good at putting himself in other people’s shoes. With the old man’s help, Han Fei finally found the hidden path that led underground. Pulling back the carpet and yanking up the board, the familiar ladder appeared before Han Fei. It felt like he was back at the 2nd hand shop. “What a strange smell.” Han Fei took out his phone for light and when he opened the flashlight, a pair of eyes flashed in the dark.
“Sir, did you see that?” Han Fei whispered but there was no answer. He turned around and noticed the old man had disappeared. He summoned his courage and climbed down the ladder. The underground basement was decorated as a small playground. There were many children’s toys and unfinished snacks.
“Why would Boss Gu build a playground? He doesn’t look like someone who would appreciate these things.” As Han Fei moved deeper into the basement, the thicker the smell. Han Fei also heard some strange noises, it sounded like a person munching. The sound of mastication became clearer and clearer. After walking past the row of gaming consoles, Han Fei noticed a ball of shadow wiggling at the corner. The stench came from this thing.
“What is this?” Han Fei shone the flashlight at the corner. Han Fei saw a strange bloated man. He slumped on the ground like mud. His limbs were chained together and affixed to the wall. Meat and snacks littered around him. He stuck to the corner and continued to ingest food.
When the monster heard Han Fei’s footsteps, he raised his head with difficulty. When Han Fei saw the man’s face, he was shocked because the monster had Boss Gu’s face!
“Don’t kill him. His name is Conscience. He is Boss Gu’s Conscience.” The old man reappeared to press on Han Fei’s arms.
“I didn’t intend to kill him, I just feel safer holding a knife.” Han Fei walked around the monster. “When we describe a bad person, we say he has a dirty conscience, I have no idea it’s so literal in this case.”
“As dirty as he is, we have to bring him with us.” The old man tried to reach for the chains but the normal-looking chains had the altar’s power and it almost injured the old man.
“Let me.” Han Fei cut through the chains with Rest in Peace. Then he carried the boss’ Conscience to the side. “How are we going to bring him with us?”
“Don’t rush. This playground is not built for Conscience but another monster.” The old man searched for a long time before he found a loosened brick in the ground. They pried the brick loose and in the dark and cramped space, there was a child with no ears, eyes, or nose. He only had a mouth. The boy was as thin as stick. Curled up in darkness, he couldn’t respond to external stimuli.
“Found it.” The old man sighed. “This child is the Truth. He was once the boss’ biological child.”
