F was very satisfied with the black blade. He was purposely feeding the black blade so that it could become scarier. Whenever F used the blade, Han Fei could hear the cries from the hilt. He wanted to grab the blade, but he couldn’t find a reason.
“The ghosts will only materialize when they want to kill. Someone has to be the bait.” Thousand Nights turned around to look at Lee Guo Er and Han Fei. “Don’t say that we’re bullying you. We know your little tricks. You are trying to use our power to shake off the ghost’s haunting. We’re all players, so I’ll be frank. You’re not going to get any rewards without contribution. One of you is going to follow me and be the bait.” Thousand Nights might look unreliable, but he was very clever. Ghosts might appear at any time. The person in front would be the first target.
Before Han Fei could speak, Lee Guo Er walked over, “I’ll go with you.”
The players were surprised. They thought Han Fei would be the volunteer.
“Are you sure?” Thousand Nights’ eyes moved away from Lee Guo Er to Han Fei. “You agree with this too?”
“Stop wasting time. We need to wrap this up as soon as possible. We have to leave before midnight.” Lee Guo Er looked through Han Fei’s scripts. “The ghosts are weakest in the day but are harder to see. They will appear at night, but they will slowly recover their strength. They’ll be scariest after midnight.”
“How do you know these things?”
“Does it matter?” Lee Guo Er walked up the stairs. She was more nervous than everyone. The ghost had targeted her. If they couldn’t kill it, she wouldn’t be able to rest easy.
“This is called a ghost-hunting game, but the actual gameplay is the complete opposite.” Worm silently moved to the back but was pulled forward by F. “Why are you singling me out? Other than sensing the presence of the supernatural, I have no other powers!” Worm complained.
“Your talent is more powerful and perfect than you think. I’m helping you reach your full potential.” F’s voice had no emotion. It was hard to refute.
“How do you know my talent?” Worm hesitated before he moved to follow behind Lee Guo Er. As time moved, the sky outside the window darkened. The neighborhood appeared to be colored in red. Strange noises appeared in the neighborhood. The buildings were home to strange things. More missing person flyers appeared on the wall. Other than that, dirt mixed with shredded paper money appeared on the steps too.
“I have a bad feeling.” Worm’s footsteps stopped. If people didn’t push him from behind, he wouldn’t move. “There should be more than one ghost above. I can sense their presence!” However, no one stopped. This was a group of elite players. They would hunt the ghosts that night. Compelled by F’s black blade and Thousand Nights’ urging, Worm eventually arrived at the 8th floor.
From this floor onwards, the building changed. The missing person flyers looked brand new. The children’s faces had not been gouged out. Instead, the pictures were from when they died. They looked scarier than before. Walking down the corridor, it felt like the dying children were staring at them. Other than the missing person flyers, there were theme park ads. The pictures with roller-coasters, ferris wheel formed a great contrast to the death visages. This was the only way the poor children could get close to the theme park.
“Ghost-hunting is a game at the theme park, and there are ads for the theme park here. Could this all be designed by the theme park?” Lee Guo Er frowned. “But why would they do something like this?”
No one answered Lee Guo Er. Thousand Nights who walked in front had already opened the door on the 8th floor.
The small room had no light. All the windows were boarded up. The room was a photography darkroom. Inside the room were various flower pots. Most of the pots were shattered. Some had dirt, and others had toys. Thousand Nights took down the pictures to study. All of them were of the flower pots.
“What’s so interesting about flower pots? They don’t even have any flowers in them.”
“Is it possible that the pots are not for growing flowers but children?” Han Fei slowly moved to the center of the group. The closer they were to the top floor, the harder his heart pounded.
“That’s right. The back of the journal has something about it. The pots represent the children’s prisons, and the flowers represent the children.” F agreed with Han Fei. He picked up the pots and realized many of them had names written underneath. “These pots are of varying sizes, but they have the same name. The pots are still here, but the things inside the pots are gone.”
Crying entered F’s ears as he explored deeper. He pushed open the innermost room. The crying became clearer.
“What’s this?”
There was a pot about the size of a water basin at the corner. Inside the pot sat a child who was impossibly fat. His skin appeared bleached, like he hadn’t seen the sun before. The fat child sat facing away from the players. His body was stuck inside the pot, and he was weeping. The boy’s shoulders trembled. Water flowed under his skin. His body wobbled.
F looked at the boy and then took out the blade. “Finally, we have one who can’t run away. I wonder how many points I’ll get from killing it.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Worm shrunk behind. “I mean, perhaps we can do this peacefully? After all, the kid doesn’t seem like he wants to attack us.”
“When he wants to attack us, it’ll be too late.” F’s gaze was cold. “Ghosts shouldn’t exist.”
The boy couldn’t move, so they didn’t need bait. F moved forward alone.
“Destruction of soul is your real salvation.” F raised the black blade. Endless people screamed inside the hilt, but they couldn’t stop F. The boy stuck inside the pot sensed the approaching danger. He tried to turn his head around. He had a face that was disproportionate to his body. His body kept growing, but his face was still very young. The boy cried. His tears fell into the pot. The seeds of sadness and despair grew rapidly. Before the things could grow, the black blade was already on the boy’s head.
The blades clashed. F’s black blade was blocked by another blade. F’s pupils narrowed as he glared at the man before him.
Han Fei, in a black suit and white smiling mask, stood before the pot. He used the blade called Company.
“Do you want to die?”
“You read the journal too. You knew that the pots are prisons for children who were kidnapped. Even if this child is a ghost, he is a kidnapped ghost.” Han Fei silently put the knife away. “You can kill the couples, but I don’t think you should kill the kid.”
Han Fei and F had opposite ideals when it came to dealing with ghosts. One wanted to kill everything, and the other wanted to kill only those who deserved to be killed.
“Ghosts can be traded for points. You should know that.” F’s voice darkened. “Move.”
“I led you here, so we should split the points. I’ll give you the couple, and you’ll give me this child.” Han Fei didn’t want to go into conflict, so he offered a compromise.
“You want to protect it, but it might not accept your kindness.” F grinned wickedly as he retreated.
Han Fei instantly realized something. He jumped to the side. The tears that fell into the pot encouraged the growth of black briars. The briars were covered in poisonous spikes. The boy refused to let anyone get close to him. The briars were his protective shield.
“That’s why counseling for kidnapped children is very important. If you don’t have the courage to brave through their barrier, then don’t make promises of saving them.” F looked at Han Fei, who had fallen to the ground. “They have been kept in the darkness. They have turned into monsters. The glow of light will only blind them.”
More briars grew out of the pot. However, they only circled around the boy. They didn’t harm the players. F noticed this, and he refused to stop. This boy was his perfect experiment.
“Don’t block my path.” He ignored the boy’s crying.
“It’s understandable that children are afraid of the dark. The real tragedy is adults who are afraid of the light.” After Han Fei realized the boy only knew self-defense, he stood between the boy and F again. “I forgot who said that, but it makes sense.”
“Many people can’t live their own lives because they listen to others too much.” F gripped the black blade. After a short conflict, F turned and left the room. The players were in a danger zone. They couldn’t have any internal conflict. F did this not because he agreed with Han Fei, and he was looking at the bigger picture. After F left, Han Fei put away his knife. He turned to study the fat kid.
Strangely enough, Han Fei felt very at ease facing this monster. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you find your parents. What I can do now is to ensure that they won’t hurt you anymore.”
Han Fei didn’t ask for much compensation. He planned to leave, but the boy trapped inside the pot was crying so badly. Han Fei didn’t know how to comfort a child. He took out a balloon from his pocket. This was the only toy he had. He blew it out, and a human head balloon appeared. Seeing the human head, the boy cried harder. He was so afraid, and more briars grew.
“I’m sorry. I thought you’d like this.” The flustered Han Fei quickly let the balloon go. The balloon touched the briars, and it popped. The boy’s attention was grabbed by the popping balloon, and he stopped crying so hard.
“You have such a strange hobby.” Most of the balloons were with F. After the boy stopped crying, Han Fei smiled underneath the mask. “If I can survive tonight, I’ll pop all the balloons for you.” It was unclear if the boy understood him or not, but when Han Fei went closer, the briars retreated.
“The kids seem to like me. Lee Guo Er and the woman at the park think I’m not bad too.” Han Fei thought back to what Thousand Nights said, “The players appear to have a value called charm. The peacock-like man has 8 charm. Then, how high is my charm?” Han Fei felt like charm could be his weapon.
The group left the 8th floor and came to the 9th floor. There were more pots. The corridors and doors were covered in briars. At first, they could still barely move, but when they reached the point between the 9th and 10th floors, the corridor was blocked off by the black briars.
“These things grow from the children’s tears. Their pain and despair cultivate these things.” Han Fei explained patiently, but no one listened. F started to hack the briars with his knife. The black knife cut through monsters smoothly. However, it had a hard time cutting through the briars. The blade didn’t like to harm innocent things.
F eventually led all the players to the 10th floor. The missing person flyers were covered by theme park ads. Someone wrote on the ceiling in red—Welcome to my home! Welcome to my little theme park!
The handwriting was similar to the one behind the clown mask. No. 11 lost his mind completely on this floor.
“The 10th floor is always the most important floor.” Han Fei believed he remembered something. No. 11’s experience was some kind of hint. ‘I’ve met someone important on the 10th floor. He changed me. He gave me everything he lost.’
A light cut through his mind. Han Fei pressed his temples. He scanned all the players before focusing on F. ‘Could that person be on the 10th floor too? He has taken away everything I’ve forgotten?’
