642 Blade
The message behind the mask appeared to be left for Han Fei. It was a question that cut through time and space. ‘I guess my answer is yes.’ When Han Fei saw the question, he already had the answer. The more someone lacked something, the more they would yearn for it. Han Fei desperately wanted to hold onto bliss because he had never experienced it before.
“His face is still visible at first, but in the end, it became a clown covered in paint.” F turned to the 11th mask. “He just wanted to be a smiling clown. I pity the child’s experience, but I don’t approve of his action.”
“Perhaps he doesn’t need your pity and approval.” Han Fei said faintly. He saw F take the clown mask away and put it inside the backpack carried over by the players.
“Only children will look for bliss. Adults make their own bliss.” F said. “You look like a big child.”
“Me?” Han Fei didn’t retort. He had forgotten too many things, including his childhood. Han Fei walked to the bedroom window and looked out. The window faced Building One. He felt that there was something pulling him from that building.
‘I’d feel fear whenever I am close to the window, but I keep wishing to stand beside the window.’ A weak cat’s meow came from the backpack. Han Fei patted the kitten’s head. “You feel it too? Have we once lived in Building One? That should be where my family is. They have left me a light that will never go out. They will also prepare for me warm porridge and delicious meat. I should go there, but I am very afraid. I have no idea what I’m afraid of.? Ever since he lost his memory, Han Fei would often mumble incoherently. The kitten suddenly growled. Han Fei’s heart pounded. He slowly lifted his head. Outside a window, a head without any hair hung upside down!
The eye sockets were stuffed with pills. The woman’s thick arms reached for Han Fei.
“Be careful!” F and Lee Guo Er ran towards Han Fei, but they were too far away. The arm bulged with veins extended towards Han Fei. He didn’t expect this to happen. His brain was blank. His eyes reflected the woman’s face. Just as everyone thought Han Fei would be dragged out the window, his hand that held the knife moved. The blade shone in the dark. Two even cuts appeared on the woman’s arm.
No blood came out of the wound, but the woman appeared to be shocked. She slid down the pipe. Han Fei leaned against the window and looked out. He couldn’t find the woman. He saw the window open on the third floor.
“Are you alright?” Lee Guo Er ran to Han Fei. She gasped, “You know how to use a knife?”
“I… can’t remember.” Han Fei looked at his hands. After he chased the woman off, another voice echoed in his mind. He still couldn’t hear what it was saying, but he could sense that the voice was coming closer. ‘Why are there so many voices in my head?’ Han Fei was normally so dense and normal, but after that incident, Lee Guo Er and F didn’t dare to count him out anymore.
“No.11’s knife can hurt them, but…” Han Fei glanced at the black blade F was holding. He had a feeling that something was wrong with that blade. It felt like the blade and the hilt were forcibly joined together. “The blade feels like it’s mine.” Han Fei had no impression of F, but he wanted to obtain the blade F was holding. It was a strange feeling.
“You’re handy with a knife, and there aren’t that many knife users and even less those who have killed with a knife.” F put the black blade away. He put all the masks inside the dresser into his backpack and walked out of the bedroom.
“Hey, don’t anger F.” Worm reminded Han Fei, “He has really killed before, and it was more than once.”
Han Fei nodded. “Is that why the blade is black?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Just be careful.” Worm scratched his head. “Have I heard your voice before?” Everyone was wearing a white mask, and everyone’s memory appeared to be tempered with.
“I don’t know.” Han Fei ignored Worm. He looked down to study the knife. The sharp knife looked normal, but a word was carved around the hilt—Company.
“This blade is called Company? It was once No. 11’s company?”
Han Fei couldn’t get it, but Lee Guo Er thought it was normal. “When passion reaches a certain degree, and there is no suitable outlet, love will mix with hatred. One will do anything to make sure the beloved stays with one forever. I can understand that.”
“It looks like I’m not the only sick one in this work.” Han Fei commented, and Lee Guo Er rolled her eyes. The two walked out of the bedroom. When Han Fei left with the blade, the clouds above the neighborhood parted away. It was like a giant eye was slowly opening.
“The blade hidden in the bedroom is called Company. The mask says that bliss is a monster. This child’s worldview is similar to my nightmare.” Abandoned, again and again, treated like animals, fed lots of pills daily, the city in the child’s world had fully transformed. Perhaps this neighborhood was how No. 11 viewed the world. It was completely sealed off, and a giant eyeball filled with malice opened in the sky.
“The woman with the muscular limbs should be No. 11’s last adopted mother. Her eyes are stuffed with pills. It literally means that she only has the medicine in her eyes. She has been urging the children to eat their medicine. The eyeball in the sky should represent constant monitoring. No wonder where one goes, one can’t escape from its observation.” The more Han Fei thought about it, the more he was curious about No. 11.
“Didn’t you encounter the ghost earlier? What is it like? When you saw it, what was it doing?” The players felt anxious. They surrounded Lee Guo Er to ask her about ghosts.
“You can only see them under certain conditions.” Lee Guo Er’s voice came from under the mask. “Like when he was killing and when you are going to die.”
Bang! A crash came from the corridor, and it was followed by a scream. All the players ran towards it.
“Don’t panic!” F’s reminder was slow. Thousand Nights and two players had already run upstairs.
“What happened?” Worm shouted.
“Scout has been taken away! It’s that woman! She ran upstairs!”
“Don’t chase after her blindly!” Lee Guo Er’s warning was pointless. The players had already run off.
“Scout’s hidden talent is enhanced senses. We can’t lose him.” F seemed to know every player’s hidden talents. He had picked these players specifically, and everyone served a purpose. The player who ran ahead got in a fight. He was smashed back. His body slammed into the wall and rolled down the stairs.
“Seventh floor!” The physique of this batch of players was very good. Even after the fall, they only needed a short time to recover. He picked up his mask and put it back on. Curses and footsteps echoed in the corridor. Everyone stopped on the corridor between the sixth and seventh floors.
“Move!” F grabbed Worm and squeezed through the crowd. However, Scout and the woman were gone. “Where’s Scout?”
“We can’t get to them in time.” Thousand Nights shook his head. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. “That thing moves faster than me. Are there really ghosts in this world?”
“Ghosts might not be necessarily faster than you.” F glanced at Han Fei from the corner of his eyes.
“Indeed. You’re faster than me.” Thousand Nights took a drag of the cigarette, and his previously lazy eyes glowed with excitement. “Didn’t you say your knife can kill ghosts? I’ll create a chance for you.” Thousand Nights walked past F and moved to the seventh floor. He was flamboyantly dressed, but he was really capable. At least, he had the confidence to face the unknown when the rest of the players were frozen by fear.
“You will go with him.” F shoved Worm. He knew Worm’s hidden talents too. He knew that the more danger Worm was in, the greater his potential. His other persona would awaken.
Han Fei saw this from the back of the group. A strange thought bubbled up in his mind, ‘In the past, I can see players’ abilities too. How did I lose it? These players are so strange. They are different from Lee Guo Er and me.’ Han Fei’s mind was muddled. He had to think very carefully about a simple question. Before he could get an answer, Thousand Nights and Worm had already opened the door on the seventh floor.
A giant cat doll fell from behind the door. The doll was about the size of a six-year-old. It had a human frame but was wrapped in cat skin.
“Is this supposed to be a cat?” Worm hid behind Thousand Nights. If he could crawl into the man’s shadow, he would.
“I really don’t understand why Qiang Wei and F value you so much when you’re such a coward.” Thousand Nights flicked his cigarette at the cat doll. He was about to walk into the room when the doll came alive. Like a cat, it used all limbs and crawled into the room.
“It was alive?” The players were shocked. Every living creature here was strange.
“The journal uses cats to represent children. The cats in the ghost’s comprehension might look like this.” Worm held Thousand Nights’ shirt. “This is a crazy neighborhood. Is everyone who lives here mad?”
Han Fei and F sneezed at the same time.
“There might be more than one monster. Watch my back.” Thousand Nights entered the door. The horrible stench assaulted him. He looked around but couldn’t find the source. He took another step forward. The cat doll poked its head out of the bedroom. It cowered on the ground.
“Are you afraid of me? You are afraid of a gentleman who has 8 points in charm?” Thousand Nights frowned when the intensity of the stench increased. He noticed the eyes of the cat doll looking up.
“The stench seems to come from the ceiling.” Thousand Nights raised his head. There was a man covered in fat stuck to the ceiling. His hands had morphed into needles. Tentacles that looked like bandages grew out of his back. He radiated a horrible smell. Brown liquid leaked out of his mouth.
“The fuck?” Thousand Nights was tall. His face was very close to the man. After the two shared a look, the tentacles pierced at Thousand Nights’ face like they were planning to pierce through his eyes.
“Move!” Thousand Nights reacted quickly. He shouted to warn his teammates. “It is on the ceiling!”
The man immediately dropped from the ceiling. Its needle-like fingers stabbed at Thousand Nights. Thousand Nights rolled away. “F! Do something!”
Before the monster could get up, F swung the knife at the monster’s neck. When he used the blade, Han Fei’s heart winced. He could hear crying from the black blade. More accurately, he could hear resistance from the hilt.
‘F uses the blade to kill, but I’m different…’ Han Fei was confused, ‘How can you kill without a blade and only a hilt?’ The black blade was very effective. A finger-wide wound appeared on the monster’s neck, and it wouldn’t heal. The monster, who was almost decapitated, rammed through the kitchen door and escaped through the open window. F appeared to be shocked by the effectiveness of the blade too. He narrowed his eyes. “We have a level playing field. I should be the one to reach 100 points first this time.”
“If you were slower, I would die already. That thing was so disgusting.” Thousand Nights climbed up from the ground. He searched in his pocket before taking out a comb to set his hair.
“The woman should be the adopted mother, and that man is the adopted father. The tentacles represent bondage, and the fingers represent forced injections.” F wiped down the black blade. There was no blood on it. The blade appeared to have consumed everything. “Mutated kindness is so scary. Humanity is hard to predict.”
