529 Carving
Inside a room on the 5th floor of Happiness Neighborhood, Han Fei stood inside the kitchen to increase his cooking level. Xu Qin leaned against the door to guide him, and they exchanged their opinions on different meats. The small kitchen did not feel cramped. In fact, the small space brought the two closer. The smell of meat wafted in the air. Han Fei’s appetite was roused. He fell more in love with meat.
“Building manager, can I come in? Someone is looking for you!” Drake’s voice came from outside. Han Fei placed the cooked meat in his inventory and ran to the living room. “Who is looking for me? What happened?”
“The old guard from Yi Ming Private Academy is here. He brought someone with him.” Drake led Han Fei downstairs. They saw the uncle with the ghosts clamoring all over him from afar.
“Sir, why did you come to visit me today?” Han Fei greeted the old gentleman.
“I was patrolling the school when I saw someone trying to climb over the gate. He looked like a thief, so I tried to stop him. But he fell from the gate and fainted. I couldn’t wake him.” The guard was very nice. Even at his age, he carried Jin Jun. But he had no idea the ghosts were all inspecting Jin Jun. “I can’t recognize this man, so I brought him here. Perhaps he’s a new tenant here.” Seeing the unconscious Jin Jun, Han Fei could only smile. Jin Jun just left moments ago, but he was already sent back to the neighborhood. “He’s our people. Sorry for troubling you. I’m sorry.”
“He’s a new tenant here? Then it’s fine. We’re all neighbors. After he wakes up, tell him that I will bring him on tour if he ever wants to visit the school. There’s no need to jump over the wall.” The guard nodded his head. “This is not bad. It feels like our neighborhood is getting livelier.” Han Fei touched Jin Jun to check his status. Jin Jun focused on stamina, perfect for a pathfinder.
“I have deep hope in you. You can’t just collapse like this. There is still a great unknown area waiting for you to explore.” Han Fei used Cursed Words on Jin Jun. The magical words crawled into Jin Jun’s body. “You have a powerful heart so that you won’t faint so easily. You are afraid, but the need for exploration compels you forward. There is no death in your dictionary, and you will never stop exploring.”
Han Fei used Cursed Words 3 more times before Jin Jun slowly opened his eyes. He looked around blurrily. The old guard looked at him kindly, “You’re finally awake?” The ghost faces leaned out of the twisted body and surrounded Jin Jun. Only then did Jin Jun realize fainting was a luxury. The scream tore through the night as Jin Jun darted up from the ground. He ran away.
“Why are you running away? If you want to go to the school, I can bring you there!” The guard chased after him. As they ran out of Happiness Neighborhood, Han Fei shook his head. “The old man is very kind, but he is too passionate.” The old guard was the kindest person at Yi Ming Private Academy. Even the ghosts didn’t want to harm him. They crawled on him and helped him create a safety bubble.
“This new friend intrigues me. I shall go and protect him.” Lee Zai sensed the presence of misfortune and chased after the guard. Han Fei needed to stay for 3 hours before he could log off. Initially, he planned to use the 3 hours to train his cooking skill but seeing Jin Jun so popular, Han Fei decided to follow him.
“Come, let’s go follow them.” With the pressure from the guard, Jin Jun seemed to have reached a breakthrough. He ran fast, and it triggered the maximum effect of Pathfinder. His exploration point skyrocketed. Jin Jun used one hour to run from Happiness Neighborhood to Ziggurat, and by then, he was too exhausted to run anymore. When he turned back to look, the old man covered with ghosts was still following him. And to make things worse, he seemed to have found a few new friends.
Jin Jun couldn’t run anymore, so he hid inside Ziggurat. With the footsteps following him, Jin Jun climbed up the few floors. He chose a random door and went in to hide. His fingers just touched the doorknob when Jin Jun heard Han Fei’s voice. “Don’t go near that door!”
Jin Jun shivered from the scream, and the door swung open. A thick sense of death rolled out of the room. The weakened Jin Jun dropped to the ground. He felt like he had opened Pandora’s box. The shadow of death swallowed him. An impossibly large shadowy ghost rammed through the door and wall to charge at him. Just as Jin Jun believed he was about to be crushed, a familiar figure moved to block before him. “Boss? Boss!” The giant ghost slammed into Han Fei. His wounds opened, and the blood arced through the air.
“Boss!” Jin Jun climbed up from the ground. His legs shook, but he didn’t run. Resisting the fear, he took out a rusted machete, which was necessary for the pathfinder. His heart pounded, and his legs shivered. Jin Jun’s hands that held the machete trembled. He looked at the giant shadow and slowly nudged forward. After he took the difficult first step, he suddenly charged. “One can’t escape forever. There needs to be the courage to charge ahead without fear of consequences!” Holding the machete, Jin Jun flew at the black monster, but before he got close, he was bounced back by the thick wall of death.
Climbing up from the ground, Jin Jun was about to make his second charge when Han Fei stood up. “Wait, I’m still alive. By the way, did you guys discuss this beforehand? I’ve already changed Big Sin’s room, so how did you still manage to find it?”
“Boss?” Jin Jun stared at Han Fei. He wanted to go over, but he was scared. “That monster…”
“What monster? This is my little pet.” Han Fei rustled Big Sin’s head. His hand was bleeding from the spikes, but he didn’t mind. “The kid is in its rebellious period.”
“Pet?” Jin Jun’s face twitched. “Boss, you’re bleeding.”
“It’s fine. This is a minor wound.” Han Fei waved at Jin Jun. “I’ll be leaving with my pet then.” Han Fei sat on Big Sin and munched on the pig’s hearts. After they departed, Jin Jun collapsed to the ground. The decision he made had drained his courage.
“Young man, you’re not bad. Care to be friends?” An unfamiliar male voice entered his ears. Jin Jun slowly raised his head. His eyes followed the thin neck before seeing a human face. “My name is Lee Zai. What’s yours?”
“AH!” The wail echoed inside Ziggurat. Han Fei nodded to himself. “God will not give you problems you can’t solve…” Han Fei led Big Sin to another room. Han Fei wanted to leave, but Big Sin brushed against him, not wanting him to go. Han Fei’s calf was bleeding. He savored another pig’s heart before kneeling. “Stay here to recuperate. When you digest all the curse, I’ll bring you out to play.” Big Sin was excited when it heard that. It bounced around the room before opening its jaw to spit out several strange objects covered in death.
“What are these?” Han Fei found Bai Sinian. Bai Sinian told him the items were sacrifices inside altars. Han Fei was not surprised. “Do you plan to share them with me?” Big Sin nodded happily. Han Fei chuckled. “I pity the soul who might offend you.” Big Sin was different from a standard pet. If you offended it, it would kill you in 3 days and then return to feed on the food sacrificed to you.
Han Fei touched the objects, and the system only said they were unique mission items and could only be used in altar inheritance missions. Han Fei examined them closer and realized they had the same patterns. They had the carving of an old man and three children. “Where did you find these objects?” Han Fei asked Bai Sinian.
“One of them came from the altar in front of Happiness Neighborhood, two came from the abandoned altars at the hospital, and the bowl was from an altar at the theme park,” Bai Sinian recalled.
“You two are like grave robbers.” Han Fei studied the items. “Since they have the same carving, so the altars should be serving the same God.” Han Fei placed the items inside his inventory. “Looks like the connection between Happiness Neighborhood, Lost Theme Park, and the hospital is closer than I thought.” Han Fei suspected the items came from the altars left behind by Fu Sheng. Only Fu Sheng was powerful enough to have so many altars. “The Happiness Neighborhood is used to welcome new children, then they are sent to the hospital for surgery, and those meeting the standards are sent deeper into the city. Fu Sheng wanted to guide me in the same way.” Han Fei was curious about the altar inside the hospital. If he could enter Fu Sheng’s memory world, he would know about Fu Sheng’s past. As he chatted with Bai Sinian, Han Fei fed Big Sin his blood. With Han Fei’s blood, Big Sin digested the curse faster. Three hours later, Han Fei found Jin Jun at Ziggurat. Thanks to the buff from Pathfinder, Jin Jun gained 1 level. “The talent is so useful?”
Jin Jun was dazed, but he was stronger than before. If he met supernatural events in real life, he wouldn’t be afraid anymore. “Your mind has been trained. It’ll be harder for others to control you.” After seeing the abyss, common darkness couldn’t affect Jin Jun anymore. That was Han Fei’s goal. Han Fei used Resurrection to send Jin Jun away. Then he and his neighbors visited the alley between the two zones. They had to use 3 hours to find Han Fei a mission this time. “I’ve almost exhausted the mission here. If I need to leave the game the normal way from tomorrow onwards, I need to enter the hospital or the theme park.”
The life of contention was almost over. The system was pushing Han Fei forward. “I hope that the theme park and the hospital will fight among themselves.”
Han Fei returned to Ziggurat and logged out. He still had something to do. Han Fei removed the gaming helmet. Han Fei left the rental before the sun came up. He called Jin Jun and then Bai Xian, Huang Yin, and Seaglass Cat. After ensuring all of them were free in the day, Han Fei hurried to the hospital. After the police station, the hospital became Han Fei’s third home. The nurses recognized him quickly and led him to Auntie Lee’s ward. Auntie Lee was awake. Her son sat beside her, not leaving her side. Seeing the two in the ward, Han Fei was reminded of the Mirror God’s authentic self.
‘Auntie Lee’s son works at Deep Space Tech. I wonder if I can cultivate him into a spy.’ Han Fei was now focused on Immortal Pharma, but as Immortal Pharma’s partner, Deep Space Tech must have many secrets too. Han Fei even suspected that these two companies had funded Fu Sheng, but an accident happened.
Han Fei waited until the doctor came to do his rounds, and he joined the doctor to walk into the ward. Auntie Lee instantly revealed a shocked expression when she saw Han Fei. It was like she could recognize Han Fei as the man behind the mask in the cryptic world.
