474 The City
“If your superior doesn’t approve, then quit!” Han Fei was only doing what was best for Lin Lu. Currently, Boss Gu and Ten Fingers were fighting over Huang Li and Huang Li was at that hospital so Lin Lu might get dragged into it.
“You have a point.”
“I know you just got the job and it’s hard to quit but please trust me this time. That hospital is very dangerous. Once you leave, you need to stay at home.” Han Fei talked slowly. He rarely communicated with a relatively normal female so he needed time to process his words.
“But… Your mother is still at the hospital. When I went to apply for leave earlier, I heard the doctors talking about your mother.”
“What did they say?”
“I believe she can still be cured but the doctor and hospital director have received money from Boss Gu to not do it. I didn’t hear it too clearly. I only know that they are going to change their patrol time for the ICU unit tonight.” After Lin Lu said that, Han Fei narrowed his eyes, he sensitively caught the problem. “What time have they changed it to?”
“Normally, the doctors would check the wards twice after midnight, the first is at midnight and the second is at 4 am, but now it has been changed to just once at 2 am.” Lin Lu shared the info with Han Fei.
“Then what happens if the patients need help from 2 am to dawn?”
“There will still be staff on duty. As long as there’s no problem, they will be resting in the staff room.”
‘The time wouldn’t be changed for no reason. The doctor is in cahoots with Boss Gu. This morning he has already threatened me with my mother.’ Han Fei thought to himself. ‘There is still hope for the mother but the doctor told me she only has a week left. Looks like Boss Gu wants to use my mother to get to me.’ Han Fei saw Boss Gu’s bodyguard walk over so he spoke quickly, “You need to be careful when you’re on nightshift. Call me if you’re in trouble, I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
Hanging up the phone, Han Fei put it away. His expression didn’t change but his gaze was sharper. Two of Han Fei’s bodyguards stayed at the shop. They would follow Han Fei wherever he went. They had to ensure Han Fei was always in their sight. ‘The altar owner’s mother is seriously ill. She needs medication so she has to stay at the hospital. I can’t even move her to a safer place.’
Han Fei paced around the shop, he wanted to take a look at the underground storeroom to know what he could do next. But once he approached the entrance, one of the guards stopped him. His movement was limited to the shop. He couldn’t leave the shop or enter the storeroom. ‘Boss Gu has cleaned out the underground storeroom to build the altar. The next step is to set up the sacrifices for God.’
The loss of Truth was a huge blow to Boss Gu, he had pushed all of his plans earlier. ‘I’ve smashed a giant hole on the altar, the base of the memory boss is crumbling, we’re entering an unknown future.’ Han Fei looked out the window and studied the city drowning in rain. ‘The sky is turning dark. The night will become longer and longer.’
Sitting behind the counter, Han Fei took out his phone to message Brother Snake’s people. He had them bring the old lady and the rucksack to the mall at midnight. After Brother Snake’s people replied, Han Fei was still worried. For double security, he sent a message to Wang Pingan but Wang Pingan didn’t reply.
“What are you doing?” The guard who stopped Han Fei from going underground walked over. He extended his hand to demand Han Fei’s phone, “Who were you calling?”
Looking at the guard’s hand, Han Fei smile, “The landlady was urging me to give her the rent.” Han Fei put away the phone and grabbed a secondhand book to read. Slowly the sky darkened. There was no customer at the shop. Most of the shops had closed. At 9 pm, most of the lights went out already.
“Do the two of you want to eat something?” Han Fei walked towards the guards. They stared at the entrance to the storeroom and didn’t reply to Han Fei. Black fur grew on their skin. ‘They look quite normal earlier, what happened?’ Patting the guard lightly on his arm, the guard whipped his head around and gnashed his teeth at Han Fei like a mad dog. However, half a second later, he returned to normal. “What do you want?”
“Nothing.” Han Fei slowly moved away. The 2 bodyguards sitting at the door of the storeroom had started to mutate but they didn’t realize it.
‘It’s only 9 pm. In the past, the mutation will only happen after midnight.’ With anxiety, Han Fei looked out the window. The city was darker than before. Through the heavy rain, it felt like the whole city was mutating. ‘No wonder Ten Fingers didn’t dare to come too close to the altar. It will change people’s destiny but it will also heighten the mutation.’ The river in the memory world represented death, the water in the wishing well was where hatred gathered, in this world, water represented misfortune. The already long night became longer. Thanks to the heavy rain clouds, there was no light at night.
At 10 pm, the door of the shop kept opening and closing. Footsteps came from the ladder that led to the storeroom. Many toys and dolls on the shelves started to weep. Much clean merchandise became stained in blood. The floor creaked like someone was walking around. Behind the shelves was darkness. Turning the flashlight on it and one could see several dark eyes. The tables and chairs were shaking. A heavy sound came from the underground, it sounded like a large heart beating. Han Fei had no idea what was happening underground but he sensed that all the mutation came from the storeroom.
‘The mission requires me to live for 30 days and the altar owner’s diary only has 30 pages, it means that he was sacrificed on the 30th day. However, the boss has been forced to push his plans ahead.’ Han Fei balanced the thoughts in his mind. ‘Should I destroy the altar?’
Thunder boomed and rain pattered on the glass. The 2nd hand electric devices were not plugged in but the screens started to flicker. Among the static, one could see people being pushed into the well, screaming as they went down. At 11 pm, Han Fei walked to the door. As the door chimed, he heard the system. “Notification for Player 0000! Your hunger point is 60, mood point is 30, are you going to start your work for the day?”
“Yes.”
Just as the system said that Han Fei felt heaviness on his shoulder. He turned around and saw an arm covered in black fur land on his shoulder. “Stay here, don’t move.” The bodyguards had changed completely. Their exposed skin had long black fur. And they were hunched over like their spines were forcibly bent. They looked more like dogs than men.
“Okay.” Han Fei turned around and silently took out his phone to message Brother Snake’s people, he wanted them to come to the mall sooner. But when Han Fei saw the phone screen which reflected the shop’s window, he saw endless human faces. Adjusting the angle, Han Fei aimed the phone at the window, there were people leaning against the window. Some of them were crying as their hands pressed against the windows. They looked in. Several of them looked familiar, they were the workers who came in the day.
Bang! The windows shattered! The people outside gushed into the shop. They were charmed by a voice from underground. They slithered past Han Fei to enter the storeroom. New footprints appeared on the floor of the mall but they were soon replaced by newer footprints. The night was dark as ink. The rain was about to drown the city. The shop was full but there was no human warmth. “I can’t wait any longer!”
Han Fei walked out of the shop but once he did, his mood points plummeted. The speed by which it dropped made Han Fei halt. “What’s happening?”
A low growl entered his ears. The sound came from inside the 2nd hand shop. Han Fei slowly turned around. Boss Gu’s 2 guards had morphed into 2 large dogs with black fur. Their jaws were stained with shredded meat. There was no humanity in their eyes. Around their necks were collars made from money.
“They’ve mutated?” In Boss Gu’s eyes, the bodyguards were his dogs. They would do anything for money. The two hounds’ eyes glowed with greed. They gnashed their teeth at Han Fei. Leaving the 2nd hand shop and his mood points would drop drastically. The lower his mood point, the greater the mutation on the monsters he met. However, if he stayed inside the shop, Han Fei would have to deal with these two dogs.
Noticing Han Fei was not walking back into the shop, one of the dogs pounced at Han Fei!
The jaws opened. Human teeth and canine teeth formed two rows and a heady smell of blood came out from the mouth! Taking out Rest-in-Peace, Han Fei noticed the dog’s neck where the collar of money was had no fur. It still had human skin. ‘That should be the weakness.’ The blade of humanity glowed and the dog was decapitated.
“The fact that you were killed so easily means that you’ve murdered a lot of people in your life.” Han Fei decided to continue with the aggression and turned to the other dog. The other dog was already running over. It tore through its partner’s body to feast on it. It was hard to imagine that they promised to guard the shop together earlier.
Black blood leaked underground through the cracks. The dog which was eating his partner suddenly stopped. Its eyes stared at Han Fei and the altar’s shadow was reflected in his eyes. The dog’s body expanded as it growled in pain. Finally, it exploded before Han Fei. Blood splattered everywhere. The strange thing was all the clocks stopped at that moment. Han Fei was extremely anxious. He knew the things inside the altar had recognized him.
Initially, Han Fei’s mood points wouldn’t drop when he stayed inside the shop, that was because the altar was protecting the 2nd hand shop but after the altar discovered Han Fei was the one who tore off its roof, it wouldn’t protect Han Fei anymore. The heartbeat sound from the underground became clearer. Han Fei looked at the ground and the heartbeat was coming towards him!
Han Fei turned and ran. His mood points dropped every few seconds. Before he could get out of the mall, his mood points had dropped to a dangerous level. Many horrifying thoughts crowded his mind, he couldn’t even focus. The storm outside the mall was like the sea that fell from the sky. Once he stepped into it, he would drown.
Under such extreme conditions, Han Fei forced himself to run out. He had no choice. If he stayed, he would die. ‘I should head west, Brother Snake’s people are coming from the western city!’
Han Fei plunge into the darkness, he had no idea how long he had traveled when he saw light coming down the street. “Brother, brother? Why didn’t you carry an umbrella?” The stuttering voice entered Han Fei’s ear. He raised his head and saw a slightly distorted face. Wang Pingan!
“I, I just saw your message, sorry.”
“Pingan, go to the People’s Hospital now!” Han Fei got on Wang Pingan’s bike. The dropping of his mood point slowed down when he was near Wang Pingan. Han Fei’s mood points was at 16, everything was mutating. The street at night became the river of death, occasionally pale hands reached out from the flowing water, the red lights became eyeballs and hanging figures appeared among the trees.
Wang Pingan didn’t notice all these. He put the helmet on Han Fei before he started the bike. “Brother, my father said he want to give his helmet to you, he said you are a good man. He told you to refer to you as my brother. He wanted me to be your friend, he said that you won’t harm me.”
The storm ravaged the city. Wang Pingan’s voice appeared to possess some kind of power. Around Wang Pingan, Han Fei could hold onto his rationality and not be influenced by the mutated ghosts.
“Your father thinks I’m a good person, what about you? What kind of person am I in your mind? Han Fei’s mood points dropped to 15. He grabbed Wang Pingan’s shoulders and his cheeks were wet from the rain.
“I don’t know what are good people or bad people. I feel like you treat me as a person, you make me feel I am no different from you, we are both people.” Wang Pingan stuttered but he smiled happily like it was something cool to ride through the rain with Han Fei. The bike drove past the cement bridge. There were many drenched people squatting on the rails. They all called for Han Fei to bring them home. They chased after the bike but they couldn’t leave the bridge.
“Pingan, drive faster.” When his mood points fell to 14, the city had turned into a different image. He had not seen something like this in his nightmare. The rain washed away the shell of the buildings to expose the flesh inside. Human bodies were encased into the walls. The street flowed with sweat and blood. Human faces floated through the water. All the souls were screaming but they couldn’t hear each other because everything was swallowed by the storm.
“Brother, brother! You can’t fall asleep!”
“I’m not.”
“Good. I once sent a pair of mother and son to the hospital and the mother kept hugging the son and shouting at him not to fall asleep. Brother, why can’t people who go to the hospital fall asleep?” Wang Pingan kept talking because he didn’t want Han Fei to fall asleep. Han Fei’s attention was drawn to the menu. When his mood points dropped to 9, they finally reached People’s Hospital.
Han Fei and Wang Pingan looked up. The building became so unfamiliar. It was bloated and ugly. The white walls were filled with blood capillaries, like a devil with an angel’s mask. In the owner’s mind, this hospital took Boss Gu’s money and his mother’s life. This was a manifestation of the altar owner’s impression of the hospital.
“We’re going to the 4th floor.” Han Fei’s mood points dropped again as he entered the hospital. He didn’t even remove the helmet as he led Wang Pingan to the 4th floor. The normal staircase became so hard to hike. It took an entire lifetime to finish climbing the 4 floors of stairs.
“I know your pain. I am here to change that. I will bring you to the place where you have no chance to see in your life.”
Han Fei took out the wishing can and screamed, “I’ve helped you and now I just want to see my mother.”
The red figures appeared. First, it was the old man’s family, then the few employees and finally the woman from the 3rd floor. They walked up the stairs with Han Fei. The white steps were dyed red. The red footprints sent Han Fei to the 4th floor.
Han Fei rushed to the end of the corridor and pushed open the ward. In this absurd city, only the mother’s ward remained the same. On the clean bedside table, there was a fake flower that wouldn’t wilt.
The weak mother slept on the clean bed. On the left side of her bed were various medical devices and on her right stood a drunken man. The man held a medical tube and he reached over to deactivate the running machines. Seeing the man, Han Fei’s fingers pressed together. His nails pressed into his flesh.
“The bastard!”
