624 Why Are You Here?
At 5 pm, Han Fei and Li Xue arrived at the station branch. The crews who joined the livestream were there too. These people immediately shirked their responsibility when they saw Han Fei arrive. Xia Yilan’s agent walked to Han Fei and hoped that he’d cooperate with the police. This was nothing for Han Fei. He sat at the table. It was hard to tell if he was there for interrogation or to interrogate others.
“Han Fei, we realized Xia Yilan wasn’t herself after she left the plastic surgery hospital. You were the last person to interact with her.” A familiar officer asked Han Fei, “So what happened inside the hospital? Is it all part of the script?”
“Yes, it’s all scripted.”
“But based on everyone’s observation, Xia Yilan isn’t a good actor. Her performance during the livestream was beyond her normal standard. It was like she was in actual fear.” When the officer said that, the crews nodded.
“All seven actors were given different scripts, so I couldn’t tell either. If you have questions, I think you should ask Tang Yi and Jia Jia. After all, they’re the producer and director. They designed the livestream.”
“Did nothing strange happen to you and Xia Yilan at the hospital yesterday night? Xia Yilan left the team to venture off on her own. We checked her livestream video. Ever since she left the team, she started to act strangely. She chanted things like death, repent, children, faces, and so on.” Another officer spoke. His computer recorded all the clues related to Xia Yilan’s disappearance.
Han Fei frowned, and he started to think. The police didn’t disturb him. A few minutes later, Han Fei looked around, “Can you have the unrelated personnel leave first? I remember something.”
After the police chased the others away, Han Fei stood up and moved to the officers, “I don’t know why Xia Yilan has gone missing, but I heard her mention Immortal Pharma and middle person yesterday night.”
“Immortal Pharma?” The two officers’ expressions changed immediately. Immortal Pharma and Deep Space Tech were instrumental in ushering in the new era. They promised to help advance the human future, and they had been doing that.
“Han Fei, wait here for a moment. I’ll get the superior.” The two officers didn’t dare to make any rash decision since this involved Immortal Pharma. Soon, Li Xue’s superior arrived. He had his subordinate chase away the people outside the door. “Han Fei, tell us everything you know. There’s no one else here anymore.”
“I believe you have already found out the plastic surgery hospital used to belong to Immortal Pharma, and Xia Yilan was a client there.”
“We do know that. We’ve found the document regarding Xia Yilan’s surgery.”
“Then, do you know that hospital provided persona surgery on top of cosmetic surgery?” Han Fei didn’t hide anything. Xia Yilan’s strange disappearance pressured him too.
“What is persona surgery?”
“They injected a good persona inside children, whose persona hadn’t formed yet so that they’d have a genius’ thoughts and determination.” Han Fei told the police the things he knew. It sounded preposterous, but it was all true. Han Fei wanted to give the police a direction. He needed the police to help him pull back the curtain. Xia Yilan’s disappearance was bigger than anyone could imagine. The storm was only brewing. As it grew larger, it would involve more parties.
In real life, the police needed to investigate further. Han Fei also planned to find the truth at the theme park in the game. Han Fei left the station after dark. The police assigned to him increased. He was an important protected individual. Han Fei took the police cruiser back to his neighborhood. The reporters didn’t dare stop the police.
After having a big dinner, Han Fei lay in bed to arrange the clues in his mind. “Even with police protection, I need to destroy certain trails.” Han Fei switched on his computer. He deleted some records and destroyed all the stuff related to the black box and the cryptic world inside his drawer.
“No. 4 said someone would revive with my body. If I failed at the theme park, then the person that crawls out of the gaming hub next might not be me.” Han Fei took out some paper and pen to create false info and designed some traps on his computer and phone. After that, he called Huang Yin and Li Xue. In real life, they knew Han Fei the best. Han Fei was setting a precaution for himself.
Han Fei checked the room again. After confirming there was nothing out of place, he crawled into the gaming hub. At first, he played the game to survive. He was forced to keep moving forward. But now, he had changed his mind. Perhaps this was a kind of growth. After putting on the gaming helmet, Han Fei’s world was frozen in red.
“I…” A voice came from behind him. When Han Fei turned around, the person behind him turned around too. As their eyes were about to meet, Han Fei logged into the game. The blood receded, and Han Fei appeared at the Ziggurat.
“I almost saw him.” Han Fei worked his body. Perhaps after the feast the night before, his wounds had healed a lot. Han Fei opened his menu and realized his afterlife karma had increased by 30 points.
“I guess I’m a whale now.”
Han Fei exited the room. The Ziggurat tenants greeted him. Some of them even started to refer to him as the building manager. It was hard to imagine this was a living human. Han Fei gathered everyone and entered Xu Qin’s kitchen on the fifth floor.
“I have something very important to discuss with everyone.” Han Fei looked at every ‘person’ seriously. He knew their past, pain, and despair. “Are we expanding tonight? I’ve been interested in the theme park for a long time already. I hear the world’s most unfortunate children are kept deep inside the park.” Lee Zai was excited.
“We are going to the theme park tonight, but before that, I need to show everyone something.” Han Fei entered a side room and used Spirit Farer to summon Huang Yin. Huang Yin had changed after being tortured by Butterfly. He had a presence different from others. No wonder he was the top player in the surface world.
“I’ve brought the thing for you.” Huang Yin was about to open his backpack when Han Fei stopped him.
“Come meet everyone.” Han Fei told Huang Yin. “If something happens to me or I become someone else, they’ll need your help.”
“I don’t think…” Before Huang Yin finished, Han Fei pushed open the door. Huang Yin was still frightened even when he was prepared.
“Take out the thing. We’ll give it to the person who needs it the most.” Han Fei patted Huang Yin’s shoulders. The man closed his palms and retrieved a constantly spinning white box from his inventory. This pure white box was in heavy contrast to the solemn cryptic world. Its presence was very strange too.
“This white box is called False Hope. After satisfying some conditions, we can bring a consciousness out of this despairing world.” Once Han Fei said that, everyone’s eyes moved to the box.
Huang Yin was shocked too. He knew about the relationship between Han Fei and Xu Qin. He thought Han Fei would reserve this thing for the person closest to him, but Han Fei had revealed the secret to everyone.
“I hope this box will be given to someone who really needs it.”
The spinning white box appeared in the cryptic world for the first time. It was like an angel’s feather falling into the abyss. It was not hope, but it represented hope.
“Give it to someone else, I’m not leaving.” Xu Qin said without hesitation.
“I don’t need it too. My home is at the Happiness Neighborhood.” Weep looked at the white box and seemed to see something else.
“I belong here.” Lee Zai rubbed his stomach, “My little brother thinks so too.”
Out of Huang Yin’s expectations, most cryptic world citizens wanted to stay. They had no desire to return to the human world. The crowd parted. Doctor Yan moved to the table. His empty face looked at the white box. His arms rose and fell. He turned and walked to the corner.
“Doctor Yan, don’t you want to live with your wife and kids?” Lee Zai was shocked by Doctor Yan’s choice. Doctor Yan shook his head and left a bloody message on the wall—They used several decades to walk out of that pain. I can’t interrupt their lives due to my selfishness.
The neighbors walked away. Some of them wanted this chance, but they also thought others deserved the chance better than they did.
“How come it feels like this place is warmer than real life?” Huang Yin hugged the white box. He was touched by the ghost’s warmth. “I don’t feel that scared of them anymore… except that guard uncle.”
“Keep the box first. After l comes back from the theme park and if I’m still me, give me the box.” Han Fei didn’t expect this result either. He had Huang Yin put away the white box. He was about to accompany Huang Yin to grab some materials unique to the cryptic world. Suddenly, there was a scream from one of the rooms.
“Why does this sound so familiar?”
“It’s from the room where Butterfly’s dressers are! Someone unlucky must have stumbled here through the channels!”
“Such an importune timing.” Han Fei frowned. He could only use Resurrection once every night. To ensure that Huang Yin could maintain at the top of the rankings, he needed to reserve that chance for Huang Yin. Han Fei, Huang Yin, and all the neighbors came to the specific room. He pushed the door open, and a familiar figure was hiding before the dresser. Armed with a sharp china shard, he was fighting Big Sin. Seeing that person, Han Fei and the neighbors frowned. Doctor Yan immediately left.
Hearing the door open, the familiar figure turned to the door. He gasped when he saw Han Fei.
“Han Fei? The fuck! How is it possible that I met Han Fei here?” The man moved away from the dresser with difficulty. As he moved towards Han Fei, he looked at Big Sin carefully. His hand that held the shard shook. The man didn’t know how to read the room. He didn’t notice how awkward Han Fei looked. He extended his hand to Han Fei. “I finally met the real person today! Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Shen Luo!”
Han Fei didn’t know what to say. He took out Rest in Peace. “Can you stop playing Perfect Life?”
“Why? Why should I stop playing the game I paid so much for? You’re very strange.” Shen Luo retreated to Han Fei’s side. He aimed to fight beside Han Fei. “You are much aloof than on television, but I find you strangely approachable. Perhaps this is fate.”
Shen Luo’s attention was completely attracted by Big Sin. He didn’t notice the neighbors outside. Considering the words Shen Luo had told Xu Qin a few days ago, the neighbors started to leave once they recovered from the shock. They didn’t want to get involved.
Huang Yin also noticed how unique this player was, and he silently retreated.
“Han Fei, why didn’t you say anything? Is that your persona?”
“Please give me some time to think.”
Han Fei once had one chance to use Resurrection. If Huang Yin weren’t in the cryptic world, he’d use it to send this human tragedy back to the surface world.
