630 Ninety Nine
Looking at the pitiful doll, Fu Tian still didn’t quite get it. He shook his head. “No matter what, I don’t want to become someone like him.” The woman didn’t force her ideals on Fu Tian. She walked towards Han Fei. When she wanted to help Han Fei up, Han Fei instinctively evaded her.
Han Fei was in a sorry state. The drink leaked through the gap in the helmet. It dirtied his collar and neck.
“Don’t be afraid.” The woman believed the actor in the costume wasn’t that old. Her voice was soft and gentle. She took out a handkerchief to try to wipe away the drink, but whenever she got close, Han Fei would crawl away. Everything in this world was terrifying for Han Fei after he lost his memory. He couldn’t trust anyone.
As if sensing his pain, the woman left the handkerchief in Han Fei’s hand. “Why are you outside the park on your own? Do you need me to send you home?”
Han Fei’s mind cleared when he heard the word, home. He could never go back. His mind was blank. He didn’t know if his parents were his parents. This was unimaginable torture. Han Fei climbed up from the ground. He grabbed the fence. He looked into the park. ‘I managed to get to the theme park before 8 am with the employment notice, but nothing happened.’ Han Fei pulled back his gaze to look at the handkerchief in his grasp. ‘I was chased out of the theme park, and then I was bullied by the crowd. A pair of kind mother and son helped me.’ Han Fei arranged everything he had experienced after he left the neighborhood in his mind. He realized he had an amazing memory. ‘If I have such good memory, why would I suffer from amnesia?’
Han Fei was still trying to figure it out when the theme park’s guards walked over. The family who had a conflict with Han Fei stood behind the guard. They pointed at Han Fei.
“Our theme park has a high requirement of its employees. You were violent around the visitors and even assaulted a child. That has severely violated our employee’s rules.” The guard accosted Han Fei. “You are a danger to our theme park. We don’t welcome you. Please leave.”
The guard started to drag Han Fei. The mother couldn’t stand this anymore. She took out her phone to show the guard. “Look closely. He didn’t fight back even after being bullied like this. He followed the employee’s rules closely. I think you should conduct a more thorough investigation before meting out judgment.”
“We’ve received notification from the superiors. He failed the test. Sorry.” The guard was cold and aloof. He was insistent on chasing Han Fei away. Seeing Han Fei’s refusal to budge, the guard ordered the others to help manually remove him. Han Fei didn’t want to leave because he hadn’t found the clues. He struggled inside the old costume. It was sad.
“Since he is not your employee anymore and he doesn’t affect others, then you have no right to chase him out.” The woman handed her ticket to Han Fei. “Now, he is a visitor here. Shouldn’t you treat him with respect?” The woman didn’t plan to mind this business, but for some reason, she was reminded of something when she saw this actor standing alone outside the fence. She didn’t want the tragedy to happen again. Violence, bullying, isolation, those were the things she hated the most. The guards gave up after the woman interrupted.
“Why are you doing this?” One of the guards said, “There’s something wrong with his mind. Even if you help him, he might hurt you.”
“That is my problem.” The woman tried to communicate with Han Fei. “Do you want to go home or go somewhere else?”
Han Fei thought the woman’s voice was very familiar. He raised his hand to point at the theme park. “I need to figure out something. I’ll pay you back for the ticket later.” Everyone thought Han Fei was crazy, including his parents. However, the woman didn’t think Han Fei was mentally challenged at all.
Holding the ticket, Han Fei entered the theme park with the guards following him. When he saw the bustling crowd, he was nervous. His heart trembled. He had serious social anxiety. He’d be uncomfortable after staying in a crowd for too long.
“Why don’t you remove the helmet? It’ll make you feel fresher.” The woman was confused after she heard Han Fei’s voice. She felt like she had met him before. “Do you mean to go ask for an explanation from the park manager?” Han Fei maintained a distance from the woman. He shook his giant head.
“Why do you have to enter the theme park?” Fu Tian was confused too. He blinked his giant eyes at Han Fei.
Han Fei shook his head again. He couldn’t remember anything. He knew he had to be here, but he couldn’t remember why.
“How about we go with you?” The woman was afraid that Han Fei would run into another accident or hurt some innocent people. Han Fei looked at the woman. He didn’t reject her. He nodded slightly and followed beside the woman silently. Fu Tian was unhappy at first, but he was soon distracted by the rides, and he whooped and cheered.
“It’s fun to be a kid. Unhappiness came quickly and left quickly. There’s always something to distract their attention.” The woman sighed as she looked at Fu Tian. Han Fei studied Fu Tian silently. The boy was cleverer than his peers. He would win every intelligence-based game at the park. With each win, the worker would stamp his card. After he collected enough stamps, he’d get a mystery present. In a short amount of time, Fu Tian won four consecutive stamps. He held the card and ran to the next game stall with the smallest queue.
“I want to play this.” Fu Tian handed the card to the worker and sat obediently on the chair.
“You got four stamps already? You’re impressive!” The worker praised Fu Tian as he took out two decks of poker cards. “I’ll mix these two decks and then place the cards on the table. You’ll have some time to remember their locations before I turn them over. Then, you’re required to find all the pairs. The rule is simple. You’ll win if you find all the pairs in three minutes.”
“Three minutes?” Fu Tian nodded. “I’ll try.”
The worker moved quickly. As he lay down the cards, he showed them to Fu Tian and then turned them over.
At first, Fu Tian could remember many pairs. But around the 30th card, he was lost.
“Start the countdown.” The worker’s hands left the table. Fu Tian turned over the cards quickly, but his accuracy was lacking. This was a game that tested one’s memory skills. Fu Tian was still young, and once he made a mistake, he was flustered. Three minutes passed, and Fu Tian failed.
“I’m sorry, kid. I can’t give you the stamp.” The worker took away Fu Tian’s stamp card and handed him a pencil case. “I don’t want this. Can you give me back my stamp card?” Fu Tian looked as his card was confiscated.
“I can give you a chance to try again, but if you still fail, then I’ll have to take away the card.” The worker smiled, but his tone was firm. The rules couldn’t be broken.
“One more time?” Fu Tian hesitated. He knew he wouldn’t win even if he did it again. “But I don’t want the pencil case. I already have one given to me by my dad.”
“Then you can ask your parents to try the game on your behalf.” The worker was good at communicating with kids. When a child was acting up, they would choose to communicate with their parents. It was easier to talk with adults. The woman and Han Fei heard the worker too. The woman smiled. She didn’t think this was a big deal. Something triggered in Han Fei’s mind. Through the gap in the helmet, he saw the blackboard behind the stall. It recorded the top scores of the other players.
“Games…” A voice rang out in his mind. Han Fei couldn’t catch it. He sat beside the cards table. The worker was confused. “You are…”
“I’ll play the game for him.” Fu Tian was the original player, but Han Fei replaced Fu Tian. The pain came from the back of Han Fei’s head. This was nothing serious, but Han Fei felt this would change his fate.
“If it’s an adult, the time limit will be shorter. You’ll need to win the game in two minutes and thirty seconds.” The worker placed the cards down. Han Fei tore off the costume’s broken left arm. The worker used one minute to place all the cards, and then his hands left the table. “Start the countdown!”
Han Fei’s hand moved immediately. He remembered the location of every card accurately.
Han Fei moved like he didn’t even need to think. He was like a computer. His action was flawless, like he had practiced this many times. The worker was dumbfounded. Even Fu Tian was stunned. This was highly impactful for the child. Han Fei found all the pairs in less than a minute. This shocked the worker. He ended the timer after he recovered. “One minute? It took longer than that to set up. How did you memorize all the cards?”
“Give the stamp to the boy.” Han Fei couldn’t remember Fu Tian, but he wanted to help the boy.
“Okay.” The worker stamped the card and wrote down Han Fei’s record on the blackboard. Since Han Fei was playing on Fu Tian’s behalf, so the record-holder was Fu Tian. After that, a blurry voice came from Han Fei’s mind. It was louder compared to before. ‘That’s very familiar. Who is in my mind?’ The pain at the back of his head became more intense. Han Fei couldn’t touch it due to the helmet, so he kept tapping on the helmet. Some fragmented images flashed through his eyes. He saw his bloody arms. He smacked his head so hard that the helmet fell to the ground.
‘Bloody arms? Why can’t I remember that?’ Han Fei grabbed his arms like he was going to pull them off. He felt like he needed to do something.
The crowd noticed his strange behavior, and they looked at him. Han Fei thought they were all ghosts. He got more afraid. He didn’t pick up his rolling helmet and ran to where the crowd was scarce.
“Hey! Where are you going?” The woman and Fu Tian were shocked by Han Fei’s sudden reaction. She picked up the helmet and chased after Han Fei with Fu Tian. The doll costume was torn apart. Han Fei’s nails dug into his flesh. The pain from the arms dulled the pain from his mind. He had no idea why he was doing this. This appeared to be his habit.
Bloody gashes appeared on his arms, but he didn’t stop. If anything, he gouged harder. Blood slid down his arms. His nails were bloody. The whole world treated him as a monster. The more the visitors looked at him strangely, the more afraid Han Fei was. He ran and didn’t dare to stop. After running for a long time, Han Fei came to the theme park’s haunted house. He hid beside a large tree. The urge for self-mutilation stopped. Han Fei lowered his head to look at his bloody arms.
‘The pain didn’t give me any rush. That means I don’t have self-harming tendencies, so why did I insist on leaving behind these wounds?’ Han Fei frowned as he scanned the wounds on his arms. ’99 wounds? What does that mean?’
While Han Fei was thinking, the pair of mother and son ran over.
“Why did you hurt yourself like that?” The woman’s voice was soft but severe. She walked to Han Fei’s side. She was about to say something more when Han Fei lifted his head to look at her.
The doll’s head fell to the ground. She looked at his face dumbly.
“What… is your name?”
“Han Fei.”
