707 Parents
The altar under Happiness Neighborhood was very unique. The despair on it was so thick that even Han Fei had a hard time getting close.
“The theme park managers built this place to create this key, but what is the use of this key?” The pain came from the back of his mind. Han Fei was reminded of the black box in his mind. Fu Sheng once said that only those with the deepest despair could possess the black box. Perhaps the key was for the black box.
Han Fei had just reached for the key when his life force was almost taken away. The negative energy on the key was so heavy that it envied everything alive. Han Fei had no choice but to rely on Big Sin.
Big Sin misunderstood Han Fei. It liked to eat the items inside the altar. With permission from Han Fei, it reached inside the altar and consumed the key. Even Big Sin collapsed to the ground in pain after eating the key. It curled up and was in deep pain. After a long time, it finally adjusted.
“How are you still fine?” Han Fei looked at Big Sin that was slowly standing up. After consuming the blood cocoon, the Lake God, and a trace of Dream, Big Sin had already become a Grade D pet. “It feels like Big Sin has redefined the meaning of pet. I wonder if the players on the surface world will start keeping monsters as pets.”
The underground secret at Happiness Neighborhood had been found. Han Fei felt better. Happiness Neighborhood was now truly a safe zone. After communicating with Big Sin, Han Fei found out Big Sin could vomit out the key at any time. Han Fei then had two more things to do.
One was to destroy Dream’s other ritual, and two was to aid Lee Guo Er to gain 100 points to enter the theme park.
The situation had gotten out of control. The city had submerged into darkness. All the citizens lost their humanity. They were tortured by fear until they became monsters. Fu Sheng showed his experience to Han Fei. He used the most direct way to inform Han Fei about the horror when the real world and the cryptic world overlapped. Even in tragedy, Han Fei didn’t give up. He tried his best to change destiny.
Everyone witnessed his hard work. He was the one who came out to protect everyone; he was the one who found the safe zone; Han Fei was like a beacon of hope in this lawless city.
Han Fei had saved many people’s lives, and that was the undeniable truth.
“What the! That’s crazy!” Worm and Xiao Jia walked out of the corridor. They originally came to help Han Fei, but they didn’t expect Big Sin to consume all the underground monsters.
“After this, I will start to clean out the area around Happiness Neighborhood. Pay attention to the nearby citizens. If you discover people like Xiao Yu who can communicate with ghosts, inform me immediately.” Han Fei knew that most ghosts appeared because of obsession. They were originally human. For example, Xiao Yu’s mother. To save her daughter, she rushed over immediately after her death. Her soul retained her love for her daughter.
This situation shouldn’t be an exception. If Han Fei could gather all these people, it could be a powerful force. The players looked through all the survivors and managed to find two unique citizens.
The first was called Zhao Gu. He was an orphan. He was 14 and was responsible for looking after the younger orphans. After the orphanage became haunted, he was the only survivor. He hated himself for his weakness. He even wanted to end his life. But at that moment, he heard the voices of his little brothers and sisters. The dead orphans had been protecting him.
The second was called Shan Shan. Her husband died several years ago in a car accident. Then, she lost her smile. Last night, a mad murderer charged into her home. When she was about to be killed, a soul opened his wings to shield her.
There should be other survivors like these, but they didn’t want to expose themselves. Han Fei understood their concern. He chose to lead Zhao Gu and Shan Shan out to clean up the neighborhood and strengthen their ghost families. When the other survivors saw the benefits from this, they would voluntarily come clean.
“You’ll guard the neighborhood. The rest of you come with me.”
The black taxi slowly started. Han Fei started to hunt down the evil ghost. Zhao Gu and Shan Shan showed their determined side. They tried hard to become stronger. Humans were complicated creatures. They would commit suicide, but at the same time, they would do anything to survive. Of course, Han Fei knew tragedies would happen when the two worlds overlapped, but it shouldn’t stop humanity from shining. Humanity’s kindness, memory, and company allowed the lost souls to return to their parents. They were like the compensation this maddening world had given to the humans.
Han Fei had stayed in the cryptic world for a long time. It felt like he had returned to the start of the game. He spent one night creating a safe zone around Happiness Neighborhood.
Zhao Gu’s friends and Shan Shan’s husband ate many ghosts and became Lingering Spirits. With Xiao Yu’s mother, they should be powerful enough to protect Happiness Neighborhood.
“Be it Fu Sheng or Mad Laughter, they have ignored the existing citizens. A single person might not be strong enough to change the world, but it is undeniable that every new era will be welcomed by a group of the common people.” Mad Laughter and Fu Sheng destroyed the city for their own plan. Only Han Fei was saving people. They had their own plans. Han Fei didn’t think so far ahead. He was only following his heart.
At 5 am, Han Fei returned to the neighborhood with supplies. When part of the survivors saw the changes to Zhao Gu and Shan Shan, three more survivors with protection from the dead stood forward. Han Fei found someone to make a calculation. Among three hundred citizens, there would be one unique citizen. So using that ratio, in this city of around 10,000,000 people, there should be at least 30000 people with guardian angels.
“Even if the two worlds collide, humans can survive albeit with a heavy price.” Han Fei met up with the unique citizens in person and taught them how to communicate with ghosts. He also told them how to make their families and friends stronger. To gain some trust, Han Fei showed them his red strings with Xu Qin and told him his story with Xu Qin. After that, Han Fei went to rest until 9 am.
Every citizen waited for dawn to come, but the sun never rose. The sun appeared to have been extinguished.
“I wish to bath in the sun…” Xiao Jia played on his computer. He hadn’t slept for the night. His head was heavy. When he thought about lying down, emergency news popped on his computer. All the survivors in the city received the notification on their phones. They switched on the phone with confusion. Then, their expression slowly changed.
“What the! How shameless can these people be?” Xiao Jia leaped up from his chair. He hugged his laptop and went to find Han Fei. “Han Fei! This is bad!”
At the same time, Qiang Wei and Lee Guo Er ran to Han Fei’s room. They were both holding their phones.
“What’s wrong?” Han Fei was a light sleeper. He woke up once someone got near.
“Look at your phone! That F and your adopted parents went to the tv station. They said you’re the reason why this tragedy is happening! They’ve propped you up as the scapegoat!” Xiao Jia screamed and placed the laptop before Han Fei.
The video was rather blurry. The pair of a middle-aged couple who led Han Fei back from the hospital stood before the camera. Their hair was white, and they looked haggard. They were worried about Han Fei but decided to tell the truth.
The host took out the murder weapons, murder diary, and scripts that were found in Han Fei’s basement. His adopted parents called Han Fei a serial killer. They even blamed him for all the nightmares happening in the city. They said he was the devil’s child, and he had loved to torture animals since he was young. He had a violent tendency too.
They finally decided to reveal the truth in the face of tragedy. They wanted to save more people. Han Fei’s adopted parents persuaded the survivors to be careful of Han Fei. No one should trust Han Fei. In fact, everyone should try to kill Han Fei.
Those who didn’t know Han Fei would believe the couple. F managed to get the video out to the whole city before the signal was down. Everyone lived in fear and despair. They needed a channel to vent. F’s plan was to make Han Fei into that scapegoat.
“Han Fei, are your adopted parents… telling the truth?” Lee Guo Er asked directly. She trusted Han Fei implicitly. When others hesitated, she cut to the chase.
“I’ve found my memories.” Han Fei was calm. He was not angry. “The orphanage will find specific parents for the orphan to cultivate them into children with extreme despair. They found human traffickers to be No. 11’s parents, and they got me a pair of serial killers as my adopted parents.” Han Fei remembered many details. “The couple has gone made. They created an illusion that their child was the real murderer. They cleaned up the deeds for the sake of their children while they were the ones who had been going around murdering people.”
Han Fei went downstairs and walked around the neighborhood. Many people watched him, and Han Fei could feel the hostility.
“The party who created this tragedy now wants to pin this on me.” Han Fei stood in the middle and looked at everyone. “They’re the ones who harm you. I will tell you the truth, and I hope you can listen to me. If you still think it’s unsafe to be with me, you can leave at any time. Happiness Neighborhood will not stop anyone from leaving.”
Ever since he started playing Perfect Life, Han Fei had been slandered countless times. He was already used to it. The best solution was to use actions to prove his innocence. Han Fei told the survivors about his past and the theme park.
Before Han Fei finished, a few people had already sneaked out the back door. Then, more people started to leave.
“Are we going to let them go?” Xiao Jia looked at the deserters. “We’ve saved their lives, but they’re abandoning us because of an unknown video. This is disheartening.”
“This is normal. Once you’ve picked a path, new people will join, and old people will leave.” Han Fei looked at the remaining survivors, and he felt warmth. He had gained the approval of most people. “I will make Happiness Neighborhood the happiest place. Trust me.”
Han Fei went to find Yan Yue. “It looks like the sun will not rise again. Aren’t the theme park managers planning to completely sever the connection between the cryptic world and the real world? Why is the overlapping more obvious?”
“I don’t know how they plan to sever the connection. They should be at the final stage.” Yan Yue’s mother glanced at the theme park. The night sky over there appeared to have a black hole in the sky. “I think the managers are in trouble.”
“It looks like Mad Laughter has made his move.” Han Fei then stopped caring about the theme park. His goal was to kill Dream. “Tell me about the four other ritual locations. We’ll try to destroy all of them today.”
“The fifth and sixth rituals are at the same place. It’s at a city hospital. It has the city’s largest organ donor center and morgue. Dream selected its best organs there and planted them inside human bodies for cultivation. Then, it scattered them around the city. Basically, Dream is cultivating vessels all over the city. We need to control all these vessels, and then we will have the chance to destroy Dream.”
“In that case, we’ll need the help of the water ghosts.” Han Fei asked Big Sin to command the water ghosts to enter the underwater system. “Hopefully, the innocent citizens won’t be scared when hands reach out of their toilet.”
