660 Boyfriend
He hadn’t met her, he didn’t know her name, he didn’t have any memory of her, but Han Fei believed this person was very important to her. “She will die when she meets me, but she is still looking for me?”
Han Fei looked at the meat on the plates, and an inexplicable emotion surged within him. He took out the paper doll’s eye again. “You should remember what she looks like, right? Can you describe her for me?”
“Very pretty, very dangerous, very special…” The man lowered his head. “Actually, I didn’t dare to look at her face but only her hands. They were the most beautiful hands I had ever seen, and they used knives so well.”
“Is that everything?” Han Fei looked at the broken body reflected in the paper doll’s eye. “She should be my friend. If you have any difficulty, you can tell me. Perhaps I can help you.” Lee Guo Er and Xiao Jia didn’t expect Han Fei would offer his help. They were here to investigate, but somehow Han Fei managed to make it sound like he was the tenant here.
“That won’t be necessary.” The man’s eyes wandered towards the bedroom. He didn’t want others to intervene in his ‘marriage’.
“You have your choice. I understand that. If you run into any trouble, you can call this number.” Han Fei waved at Xiao Jia. Xiao Jia was startled for a long time before he took out his phone to exchange contact with the man. Han Fei had a sensitive identity, and Lee Guo Er was a fugitive. Xiao Jia was the only normal person on the team.
“Why does this happen to me? If this continues, I won’t dare to pick up any calls at night anymore.” Xiao Jia grumbled.
“There’s one more thing.” Han Fei placed the paper doll’s eye before the man, “Have you seen the broken body parts inside the eye in this building before?”
“Paper doll?” The man’s eyes shone with caution. “Perhaps you can go to the ninth floor. There’s a paper art creator there. He used to have many paper dolls in his house.”
“Thank you.” Han Fei didn’t ask anything about the bride. “Perhaps we can communicate more often in the future. My name is Han Fei. What about you?”
“My surname is Fu. I used to own a restaurant in the city with my wife. Then, the restaurant got on fire, and I was injured in the fire.” The wounds on the man’s face moved when he thought of this tragic past.
“Your surname is Fu too?” Han Fei realized many people around him had the surname Fu, and they were all related to him somehow. “Does my killer have the surname Fu too?”
Since there were no other clues in the room, Han Fei’s group left. Xiao Jia sighed in relief. “His house was scary. It feels better being outside. We better don’t wander around anymore. Since there’s still light, we better go home.”
“We should go to the 9th floor first. We’ll feel better after knowing this whole building.” Han Fei held the paper doll and moved up the stairs.
“You two fugitives are like detectives. This is madness!” Xiao Jia couldn’t persuade Han Fei, so he followed him. The higher they went, the more uncomfortable Han Fei felt. It felt like something was watching him, but he couldn’t tell what.
“This place is already so scary in the day. How much worse it’ll be at night?” Lee Guo Er thought Building 11 was the scariest, but she realized she was wrong.
“Regardless, this place does give me a feeling like home, especially the room occupied by Director Fu.” Han Fei lowered his wife. “Director Fu and Chef Fu are lying. I feel like they are mostly telling the truth with some lies mixed in.”
“How can you tell?”
“Instinct. My house should be located in this building. This is my sanctuary. However, it became a dangerous trap after these outsiders moved in.” Han Fei took a deep breath and measured the fear inside his heart. “I’ve died more than once here, but I will always come back here. It feels like I’m not dissimilar to that woman looking for me. We’re doing the same thing, using our deaths to instigate some kind of change.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but you kinda make sense.” Xiao Jia had given up on understanding Han Fei. Lee Guo Er looked deep in thought.
The trio soon came to the 9th floor. The door to Room 109 was open. Many paper products were placed before the grille. This tenant earned his living by selling paper crafts burnt for the dead.
“A business for the dead is found here in a living neighborhood? The neighbors didn’t chase him away? I can’t even tell who is more generous now.” Xiao Jia thought this was crazy. If this tenant lived in his apartment, he would move instantly.
“I have a shop here because the people here need my service.” An aged voice came out of the room. A withered old lady poked her head out. “You don’t look like customers. Are you here to ask some questions?”
“Granny, I wish to purchase a paper doll.” Han Fei didn’t waste time. “Can I come in?”
“Kid, you shouldn’t be buying paper dolls so casually.” The old lady blocked the door. “If you want to ask questions about the dead, come back at night. If you have other questions, please leave. My old partner just went down to rest. He’s unavailable now.”
“Unavailable?” Han Fei looked into the room. Various paper dolls stood inside the room. It was hard to imagine how one could sleep here at night. “The paper art creator mentioned by the neighbors here is your husband?”
“Yes and no.” The old lady shook her head and smiled kindly. Just as Han Fei wondered if he should force his way in, a siren came from outside the neighborhood. Lee Guo Er’s face dropped, and she coughed twice.
“Since the elder is asleep, we’ll come back later.” Han Fei said politely. The three rushed down the stairs.
“I don’t think our movement has been exposed. Don’t panic.” Han Fei was very calm. “This building only has one entrance and exit. If the place is sealed, we’ll have to escape through the tenant’s windows.”
“Okay.” Lee Guo Er was more nervous than anyone. “We need to leave now. If the taxi is detained, it’ll be a huge problem since more than ten people have died in there.”
When they arrived on the first floor, the three realized the police had a clear direction. They all headed towards Building 11.
“Has the children kidnapping case been solved? Why are they moving towards Building 11? Or did the other players call the police? Is this F’s plan?” While the police stormed towards Building 11, Han Fei’s group escaped in the taxi. They were very nervous on the street. Thankfully, the police didn’t seem to notice them. They arrived at Xiao Jia’s place around 9 am. After a whole night of adventure, they were all very tired. They had experienced more excitement in a night than a normal person would in a year.
“I’ll go to bed first. You can do whatever you want.” Xiao Jia had surrendered. He knew he couldn’t shake these two loose so easily.
“Wait.” Han Fei stopped Xiao Jia. “I think you better don’t move away from our line of sight and stay in the room alone.”
“Why? Are you afraid that I’ll call the police?” Xiao Jia felt wronged. He had been dropped into this to help Lee Guo Er. In a way, he was an accomplice too.
“You’ve seen many scary things yesterday night. If one of them decides to haunt you, it’ll be impossible to escape. They might appear at any moment. They might stand beside your bed while you sleep.”
“Big brother, I was wrong. Please stop.” Xiao Jia shivered. His already balding head lost a few more hairs.
“So the three of us should stick together. We need to protect each other. That is the only way we can survive in this city.” Han Fei patted Xiao Jia’s shoulders. “After we clear the game, I don’t want any money. You can share the prize money with Lee Guo Er.”
“Why do you sound just like my former leader? You keep painting a pretty picture for us.” Xiao Jia complained, but his movement was honest. He placed the mattress on the living room floor. “Xiao Guo, you can sleep on the couch.”
Han Fei placed his mattress by the door. He appeared to do this often in the past because the feeling was very familiar.
They woke up around 4 pm. They had a simple meal, and then Han Fei took over Xiao Jia’s computer. He went online to search for info on Happiness Neighborhood. Strangely enough, most of its info appeared to be hidden.
“There’s clearly something wrong with that neighborhood. The police even went there this morning. How come I can’t find anything about it?” Han Fei searched for a long time before he found Happiness Neighborhood under a rental notice. The poster was a woman. She was asking for help about how to demand the landlord to return her the deposit. She wanted to leave early because she felt there were strange noises in her room, and she kept having nightmares.
The other posters responded. Some asked her if she needed a roommate and others told her to call the police. Most people were joking, but soon, the post was taken down.
“The girl is quite brave to rent a room at Happiness Neighborhood.” Han Fei memorized the girl’s ID. After the post disappeared, he pmed the girl, saying that he was willing to rent the room from the girl at a high price. However, the girl had to tell him in detail what was wrong with the room. To show sincerity, Han Fei said he was willing to pay one-third of the rental first. Soon, the girl sent over the link. Han Fei told Xiao Jia to deposit the money and left the girl Xiao Jia’s phone number. Convinced by money, the girl called.
“My surname is Jia. You can call me Mr. Jia. Can you tell me what’s wrong with that room?”
“Hello, Mr. Jia. My name is Xiao You. Thank you for your help, but I really want to advise you from renting the room in this neighborhood.” The girl’s voice came from the phone, “I live on the 7th floor of Building 1. I chose this place because I was tricked by the previous tenant. The damn landlord says I can only move after finding the next tenant.”
The girl was very kind and told Han Fei the truth.
“I just want to know what you have heard in the room.”
“I think they are footsteps.” The girl said uncertainly.
“In the corridor?”
“No, inside my room.”
Both parties were silent. Then Han Fei asked, “Are you still in the room? I think it’s best you come out to talk to me.”
“It’s not necessary. Actually, I’m not really sure anything is out of place. Mainly, I’m irked by the landlord’s attitude. I feel like I’ve been scammed.”
“It’s very necessary. Pack your stuff and leave the neighborhood now. We’ll talk when we meet. If you think I’m a scammer, I’ll wire more money for you now. Other than that, I have to tell you that most of the rooms at Happiness Neighborhood are haunted.” Han Fei was trying to help the girl. He didn’t dare to spend a night there.
“No scammer would wire me the money without even meeting. So where shall we meet…” Before the sentence finished, the call ended. Han Fei listened to the dial tone. He whipped his head up to look at Lee Guo Er and Xiao Jia. “We better get prepared too.”
“Why? Are we going back to that neighborhood?” Xiao Jia’s knees weakened.
“I want to see what my Bliss looks like.” Han Fei closed the browser. His gaze paused at the shortcut for Plants versus Zombies before he stood up and left the room.
…
“Why did the call get disconnected? This place has such a horrible connection. I haven’t even discussed where to meet yet!” Xiao Yu tried to call the number again, but it wouldn’t go through. “This is strange.” Xiao Yu sat on the bed. Her head was filled with Han Fei’s warning. “Is this place really haunted? He doesn’t sound like he was joking. I better pack and leave. I’ll find a place outside to sleep tonight.” Xiao Yu placed her phone on the bedside table. She was packing her makeup products when she suddenly heard footsteps. It was someone running upstairs.
“It was coming from outside. That frightened me.” Xiao Yu was about to sigh in relief when she realized the footsteps had disappeared. The person appeared to stop outside her door. Xiao Yu carefully moved to the living room. She didn’t dare to make any noise. She leaned at the peephole and looked out. The corridor was empty.
“No. I need to leave this place before it is dark.” Xiao Yu ran back to the bedroom. She picked up her phone to call Han Fei again when she noticed something. Her phone would auto-lock after 30 seconds. It had been more than 30 seconds since she put down her phone. The phone wasn’t locked, but someone had opened her album. Seeing her selfies on the phone, Xiao Yu panicked. When she was afraid, she immediately thought of her mom. She gave her mother a video call.
The call was connected. A middle-aged woman looked at Xiao Yu kindly. “Baby, why did you suddenly decide to call me?”
“Mom, don’t hang up. Something has happened here.” Xiao Yu didn’t have the time to explain. She put on her jacket, shoved her most important thing into her purse, and then ran to the living room.
“Baby, what’s going on? You’re worrying me. Do you need me to go to you now?” The middle-aged woman was worried.
“Just stay on the phone with me. I’m afraid of being here alone.” Xiao Yu held her phone and used another hand to open the door.
“Alone? The man in the living room earlier isn’t your boyfriend?”
