520 4th Game
The cackle emerged in Han Fei’s memory. The boy holding the knife was covered in blood. He turned around with a smile on his face. There was no dead body in the memory but as the boy turned around, everything was dyed red. The blood-red canteen was a direct contrast to the boy’s sunny smile. The memory fragment didn’t provide enough clues as to why the boy was smiling. He seemed to have lost all human emotions and would only show that warm, healing smile.
The nightlight in the canteen came back on, the light dispersed the darkness. The wolf and the two pools of blood disappeared, it was like the thin boy and fatty had never been there. Everything was returning to normal. Only Han Fei clutched his head and knelt on the ground. He pressed his hands on the side of his head like his head would split into two if he didn’t do that. Pain pulled at his every nerve. The blood from the blood-red orphanage dyed many of Han Fei’s memories red.
‘The fear of all the children at the white orphanage morphs into Mr. Wolf and at the blood-red orphanage, I am Mr. Wolf. One has consumed endless children, the other has consumed every emotion and personality?’ The young boy stood alone at one end of the canteen. He held the sharp knife and turned around. Han Fei was surprised that he had gone through something like that before. ‘I’ve seemed to have played every game at this orphanage before. Replaying them might help me remember more things.’
Rationality was fighting the mad laughter. Han Fei tried his best to suppress the self inside the blood-red orphanage. Just as the mind was about to turn red, chains of memory appeared around the orphanage. The child that represented Han Fei’s childhood, both his evil and kind souls appeared. They held a chain each and stopped the orphanage from ‘surfacing’.
‘My memories from childhood, the Kind Soul, the Evil Soul, everything is stopping the blood-red orphanage. What does the laughter inside the blood-red orphanage represent?’ In the conventional story, the kind and evil souls were like angels and demons but in Han Fei’s mind, they were like brothers. The trembling blood-red orphanage slowly returned to normal. More memory fragments had loosened in Han Fei’s mind and they were all related to the game of Mr. Wolf, what’s the time.
The pain eased. Han Fei sat on the ground. Blood trickled out of the corner of his eyes and lips. He pulled out the pig’s hearts Xu Qin made from his inventory. Eating was the best way for a butcher to unwind. His Life Points recovered. Han Fei crawled up from the ground and received another notification.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed the second game with the children, you’ve obtained a mission reward—Clue 2.
“Clue 2: The child you’re looking for is the bad child in everyone’s heart.”
The second clue was very specific. ‘The bad child in everyone’s heart? The oldest boy is a bad child, everyone must dislike him but no one dares to say anything; but this little boy following me is also ostracized because everyone else sees him as a bad child who breaks the nurses’ rules.’ If not for his uncertainty, Han Fei would have stabbed the oldest boy already.
Speaking of, the boy already ran backward to kick and punch the girl with the broken leg. Earlier, the girl tried to kill the boy and Han Fei. None of the orphans here should be underestimated. Picking up the chains, Han Fei pressed the boy’s head. The eyes were glowing with murderous intention. “That’s enough.”
The more games he played at this orphanage the better. Han Fei planned to attempt all the games before the Pure Hatreds arrived. He wanted to uncover his past. In the past, he didn’t have the capability to face the consequences of finding his blood-red memories but now he had the power to get close to the truth. “So who won the game?” Han Fei asked coldly. The boy looked at him with venom in his eyes. “The player who touched Mr. Wolf first would win but neither of us did that, so this is a draw.” The boy then shrunk his neck back as if worried that Han Fei might use violence.
“Okay, then we shall play the third game.” Once Han Fei said that his hand was pulled by the little boy. The boy persuaded, “We can stop playing and leave.”
The oldest boy was surprised by Han Fei’s offer. He was immediately re-energized. “If you can win the next game, I’ll follow your orders. I’ll do everything you tell me to.” The brat was evil to his core. In his eyes, humans were no different from animals. He was extremely selfish, he didn’t feel guilt from killing the thin boy and fatty, but when he was betrayed by the girl, he immediately turned around to attempt to beat her to death. Other people’s lives were like trash in the boy’s eyes.
Han Fei imprinted the actions, appearances, and mannerisms of these few orphans in his mind. None of them was innocent. Something happened to them that they looked normal on the outside but were rotten on the inside.
“The next game is something we play often too. We need to go deeper to another room.” The boy hid his hatred and venom. They were both orphans but this boy was so different from Han Fei when he was small.
Even though the child Han Fei in the memory was holding a sharp knife and covered in blood, his face always had a warm smile. There was light in his eyes. These would remain the same no matter his environment. With that comparison, Han Fei noticed something. “Back then, I only knew how to smile and forgot all the other emotions, the complete opposite of now.”
The oldest boy picked up the girl and dragged her to the end of the canteen. He pushed open the canteen door to reveal a dark corridor beyond it. The corridor had no windows. It was like a mining tunnel. It was very oppressive. The faint light shone on the yellow walls. The nightlight in the middle of the corridor was the only light source.
The oldest boy held his hand over the girl’s mouth. He also slowed down. He didn’t dare to make any noise. The inside of the orphanage was much bigger than perceived from the outside. The corridor had many black doors but there was no sign so Han Fei couldn’t tell what was behind the doors.
“This is it.” The oldest boy dragged the girl with the broken leg to the end of the corridor. He pointed at the door before him. “The third game is called Cardboard Rooms. We do not have many toys here so we collect the cardboard boxes that held the food delivered to the orphanage. We use the cardboard boxes to build houses and castles.”
“So the winner builds the best castle?” Han Fei had the ability of Art Appraisal. He was good for this game.
“No, we will go hide in the cardboard houses and you have to find us without destroying the cardboard. You can only use your eyes. You have 5 minutes and 3 chances. If you can’t find us, then we win.” The boy sounded confident.
“So, basically hide-and-seek?” Han Fei nodded. “Sure.”
“You need to wait outside for a minute first.” The boy pushed the door open. He dragged the girl into it. The door closed. Han Fei leaned on the door to listen. After the two kids entered the room, their footsteps disappeared. In fact, there was no sound at all, it was very strange. Han Fei calculated the time in his mind. He noticed the nightlight in the corridor darkening, there was something approaching from the dark. “I’ll focus on the game first and worry about the others later.”
Han Fei knew that curiosity kills the cat. He didn’t stay in the corridor. After a whole minute, he led the little boy into the room. A light stench lingered in the room. The scene didn’t trigger the laughter, this made Han Fei sigh in relief.
“This room is so weird.” The small room was stuffed with small buildings made from cardboard boxes. Most of the buildings looked more like graves. “They’re hiding somewhere in here?” The boxes were not laid on the ground but most of them were layered on top of each other. The room was chaotic. “Looks like this game is played quite often.” Han Fei glanced at the boy beside him. The boy looked at the boxes with envy. “Only they can play this. Every time, they snatch all the cardboard boxes away. I can only watch them and can’t participate.”
“Why won’t they play with you?” Han Fei had been meaning to ask that.
“They say I am a bad kid. I don’t listen to the nurses, I like to run off on my own so if they play with me, they will be punished by the nurses too.” The boy pouted.
“Do you hate that nurse? If you have the chance to make him disappear forever, would you take it?”
“You mean kill him?” It was hard to imagine the boy would say something like that.
“I guess you can say that.”
“Then I will not make him disappear. He just hates me. There are so many people who hate me. I can’t make them all disappear.” The boy was seriously considering the problem.
“But what if they want to make you disappear? Will you resist?” Han Fei’s question was heavy for a child. After a long time, the boy shook his head. “If they want to kill me, then I will go hide at a place where they will never find me. If they can’t see me, then I would have disappeared. Yes, I’ll do that!” The boy’s casual answer caused Han Fei’s eyes to shudder. In real life, the white shoes also went hiding at a place where no one could find him. In the end, the people only found his dead body. Han Fei then was reminded of the picture Seaglass Cat showed him. In the picture, that was a boy in white shoes who liked to run off on his own. These suggested that the boy should be connected to the white shoes.
While Han Fei was thinking, the boy suddenly raised his finger to point at the north-eastern side of the room. He cheered. “Mother!” Han Fei looked over and saw the doll dumped on a few paper boxes.
“They said I can’t touch and destroy the boxes but they didn’t say I can’t touch the doll.” Han Fei moved towards the doll but when he went deeper into the room, he realized there were open boxes everywhere. They looked like open graves. It was quite scary in the dim room. “We can’t go any further.” They were still far from the doll. If they wanted to move forward, they would touch the boxes.
Staring at the doll, Han Fei was wondering how to grab the doll to return it to the boy when he saw the doll’s finger slide down from her stomach and it was pointing in a certain direction. Han Fei followed the direction of the doll’s finger and the box it pointed at had a strand of black hair flowing out. ‘The doll is giving me a hint?’ Han Fei was about to pick that box when he noticed something else. The edge of the box next to that one had a piece of the girl’s clothes. It was as if the person missed that detail when they stuffed the girl inside the box. Han Fei looked further and there was a box about 1 meter away that had a palm exposed. Even further away was a box where the bottom was bloody.
“The boxes are not close to each other. The hair, hand, and clothes are not in the same box. The fingers are white and clean, so it should be the girl’s. The long hair and the clothes are from the girl too.
“There are only 2 possibilities. 1, other than that boy and girl, there were other children already playing inside this room before we came in. 2, the boy had chopped the girl into different pieces and hid them in different boxes. For example, he cut her into 4 parts. I only have 3 chances to pick so I will never win.” Han Fei knew the bastard would play dirty but he didn’t expect this.
“Are you serious?” The little boy gasped when he heard Han Fei.
“Perhaps I was overthinking this.” Han Fei nodded. “After the boy and the girl entered the room, they only had 1 minute. To dismember and hide the different body parts in one minute is very hard. Plus we didn’t hear any screams outside the door. If both of the kids are still alive, then there are other things hiding inside these paper houses.” Han Fei asked the little boy. “When you saw them playing this game, did you notice anything strange?”
“Everyone likes to play this game but the nurse said that after the cardboard houses are built, we can’t enter it directly. We need to knock on the door. If the door was not opened, then we can push the door open and enter it.”
“What kind of culture is this?” Han Fei frowned. He was playing the game but he was also testing his other self. He might have played this game before but if he had, then he would trigger some kind of memory. Even though the process was painful, Han Fei wanted to find all his missing pieces. ‘Do I not like to play with cardboard houses when I was small?’
The oldest boy only gave Han Fei 3 minutes. When there was only 1 minute left, Han Fei decided to go for it. He slowly moved forward and opened the box pointed out by the doll. Inside the box were some strands of hair and broken clothes fabric. Neither of the kids was there.
“Shouldn’t you knock on the door first?” The boy reminded Han Fei but it was already too late. The room was darker than before. More things started to peek out of the edges of the boxes. There were clothes fabric, more bloodstains, and even an eyeball.
“I have 2 more chances.” Han Fei picked up the open cardboard box and tossed it to the side. He hugged the urn and jumped to occupy that empty space. He was close to the doll. He reached out to grab it and then looked around. He was in the middle of the room. He could see the boxes at the far end that he couldn’t see earlier. His eyes moved slowly around. He had inherited the Mirror God’s real self’s personality fragment. His left eye could see the truth but even so, Han Fei found nothing. Time ticked by. Just as the time was about to end, Han Fei’s gaze was attracted by a red cardboard house deep inside the room. Without any reason, when he saw that house, he couldn’t move his eyes away anymore. The small, dusty red house was very special to him. It was like he had made that house himself!
The chain of memory rattled. The small red house changed before Han Fei’s eyes. As pain assaulted his mind, he saw another unfamiliar memory. It was the young Han Fei. He was curled inside a white cardboard house. His body trembled but he didn’t dare to move. The inside of the cardboard house was painted with many windows but the windows couldn’t be opened. The boy had no idea what was happening outside. The boy buried his face in his knees. Time slowed down. He didn’t dare to lift his head. He was so afraid. He was about to reach his limit.
A blood-red spot bloomed on the roof of the cardboard house like a flower. The bright red leaked from the outside to the inside. It was like a blood rain was falling outside. More red bloomed on the cardboard house. The thin trail of the blood was like the petals of Manjusaka. Blossoms of Manjusaka grew on the white house until the house was dyed red completely.
The boy shook harder. When the white house was completely red, the boy finally raised his face. The warm smile on his face turned twisted. His lips turned upwards and the smile changed into a maddening cackle!
The boy walked out of the red house. It was a blood-red night outside!
The laughter walked out of the orphanage and sat on the staircase in front of the orphanage. He looked up.
The laughter from the orphanage escaped from the memory and echoed in real life. Han Fei felt the intense pain again. His expression was distorted. He abandoned the game and charged at the red house. The other houses tumbled over. But as his hand was about to touch the blood-red house, the color of the house started to fade.
The system seemed to say something but Han Fei couldn’t focus. The pain was getting more intense. His body rammed through the paper houses and he hissed from the pain. However, he still hugged the urn tightly. Han Fei was different from before, now he had something that he needed to protect. As long as he still had a shred of rationality, he wouldn’t let go. Han Fei showed great determination regarding the urn in his arms.
After long torture by the laughter, the new memory fragment finally melted into his mind. Compared to the last game, this game evoked an even more important memory because the blood-red night had happened. If he continued to search, Han Fei believed he’d find out what happened that night. ‘Blood-red night is a taboo at Immortal Pharma. Even a big company is fearful of it so something special must have happened that night.’
Han Fei crawled up from the ground. Most of the cardboard houses had been destroyed. The oldest boy crawled out from his hiding spot. He had a wicked grin. Han Fei ignored the boy and checked the latest system update.
Han Fei was startled when he opened his menu.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve gained initial intelligence +1!
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve obtained a special item at the white orphanage—white house.
“White House: He might know why the white house turned into a red house.”
After Han Fei found his two missing memory fragments, his initial intelligence gained 1 point to become 9. ‘Finding memories can improve my intelligence?’ Han Fei was uncertain as he held his pounding head. ‘Was I a very clever child?’
“You lost! It’s time for punishment!” The boy kicked away the boxes as he walked to Han Fei.
“Punishment?” Han Fei shook his head. “You won this game and I won the first game, so it’s just a draw.”
“You want to play the 4th game?” The boy had never encountered such a stubborn adult. “Fine.”
“We’ve played 3 of your games, I will pick the next game.” Han Fei stared at the boy and reached for Rest in Peace. “The next game is very simple. It’s called the Mafia game.”
