716 Race
Little Eight was the key in Fu Sheng and the managers’ eyes, but she was family to Han Fei. He wanted to find Little Eight because he was concerned about her. After Xu Qin finished absorbing the black flame from the red umbrella, they hurried to the next spot.
“Bo Ming Building is viewed as a building from hell due to its unique exterior. It is a place for many jumping incidents. Based on witness testimonies, whenever a falling incident happens, there is always a child wearing a red cartoon t-shirt and holding a red clock at the window where the victims jumped from.”
Han Fei shared the info from the script with the other citizens and led everyone into the building. To Han Fei’s disappointment, there was not one ghost inside the lobby. However, there were signs of battle everywhere. Han Fei followed the trail and reached the 14th floor. In the room where most victims had jumped out of, there was a broken clock that had been stepped on.
When Han Fei used Soul-depth Touch to pick up the clock, Han Fei could feel the lingering pain and regret on it. The Malice here had been killed.
“Ghost was heavily injured when I saw him earlier. He uses a butcher’s knife. But…” Han Fei frowned, “The lingering presence here is very familiar. It reminds me of the black ghost that is with F. Was it him who killed the Malice here?”
At the theme park family compound, Han Fei had a clean break with F. They led their own group of players. Their goal was to gain 100 points and enter the theme park. “It looks like we need to speed up or we’ll lose to F.” Han Fei felt danger. He didn’t stop and hurried to the next location.
The city had more ghosts and monsters as the two worlds collided. But temporarily, there was not that much powerful Malice. Han Fei didn’t have the choice to be picky. He picked the ghost stories closest to him. The screams lessened, and there were fewer ghosts on the road. The buildings started to morph too. It was getting more silent.
“Are you sure we’re going the right way? This road doesn’t feel right.” Lee Guo Er grabbed the steering wheel and asked anxiously.
“You’re right. The road itself is a Malice.” Han Fei didn’t even look up from the script.
There was a street between the city and the theme park that was the location for many inexplicable accidents. Someone would be riding a motorcycle and see a giant truck coming from in front. The rider would be scared and swerve to the side. After the motorcycle crashed into the tree, the rider would realize that was nothing there all along.
There were many similar incidents. The ones with the traffic report were the lucky ones. There were many vehicles that had disappeared on this road. No one knew where they went and no one knew if the drivers were still alive or not. It was as if the road led to a hidden world. Therefore, the road was also called the Road of No Return.
“Han Fei, are you sure we should keep driving forward?” Worm’s voice came from the walkie-talkie. He and the other special citizens were in the van following the black taxi.
“Slow down but don’t stop. The ghosts will come to us.” Han Fei had too much experience dealing with ghosts. He was like a living guide. Fog appeared outside the cars. The black mist slowly obscured the buildings beside the road. They seemed to be driving through the sea of mist. The GPS started to act crazy, and the phone lost signal. After they moved a distance, the other vehicles started to short-fuse. The vehicle at the back lost all power. Only the black taxi was fine.
“What’s going on? I checked the car before we left Happiness Neighborhood. Everything should be fine.” The driver of the last car was called Ah Meng. He was a truck driver. He and his good brother rented a few trucks to start a transportation company. However, they got in a car accident. His friend died, but he survived. He didn’t even have the time to mourn because he needed to earn money to help with his brother’s parent’s medical bills. He treated his friend’s parents as his own. His luck was always very bad, but he was never truly in danger. The older generation said that he had good karma. When the city changed, he realized his good friend had always been protecting him.
“Let’s calm down and listen to Han Fei’s arrangement.” Zhao Gu showed maturity beyond his years. The child grew up in the orphanage, so he adapted to this new world easier than most.
“Okay…” Ah Meng reached for the walkie-talkie and was about to speak when the fog rolled in. The worst thing was the other vehicles didn’t seem to realize their car had died. The taillights of the other cars disappeared into the fog.
“This is bad!” Ah Meng shouted into the walkie-talkie, but there was no response. “We’re being abandoned!” Ah Meng grabbed the car door and was about to open it when he saw something scary. He instantly broke out in cold sweat. Right outside his car window was a wrinkled old lady. She stuck her face to the window and widened her eyes to look into the car.
“Don’t open the door!” No one in the car dared to move. The old lady waited for a long time. Since no one responded to her, she knocked on the window. “Have you seen my grandson? The fog is too thick. He was playing by the roadside and then disappeared.” The old lady’s voice was normal, but no one dared to open the door for her. “I heard that there are kidnappers around the village. They will snatch children wandering beside the street and sell them…” The old lady’s eyes bulged. She forced her face onto the window like she was trying to break it. “Why aren’t you answering? Is it because of guilt?” She tapped on the window. The honest Ah Meng couldn’t help it and replied, “We haven’t seen your grandson. It’s dangerous on the road. It’s safer for you to stay at the side.”
The wrinkles on the old lady’s face relaxed. “You didn’t see him. Okay. You have to be careful too. This place is called the Road of No Return. Many accidents have happened here…” Suddenly, her face grimaced. She gasped for air. “Can you give me a lift? My house is at the end of the road. My medicine is all at home.” The old lady’s reaction was fine, but no one in the car was willing to believe her. She pressed her fingers to the window. Her face twisted from pain. She tapped the window and pleaded for help.
“Shall we help her? Even if she’s a ghost, we should be capable enough to deal with her.” Ah Hua couldn’t bear to see this.
“Don’t risk your own life in a situation like this. The most correct choice now is to wait inside the car for Han Fei and the rest.” The woman was spoke was called Xia Bing. She was a coroner and Han Fei’s adopted father’s student. She was a quiet person. She spent her life serving the dead. She had helped the police with many cases. She had been donating to the victims’ families anonymously. After the cryptic world invaded the real world, many dead souls stayed to protect them. Two of them were even Lingering Spirits.
The old lady outside the car kept struggling. However, the people inside the car were unmoved. The resentment in the old lady’s eyes gathered, and she eventually collapsed beside the car. “You didn’t even wish to save a life. You’re all killers…”
The old lady’s voice faded away. Ah Meng looked out the window but the old lady’s body wasn’t there. There were only a few dirty clothes on the ground. They were the attire the old lady was wearing.
A heavy thud landed on the roof of the car. They looked up and saw that the roof had caved in. “There’s something in the fog!” The ground shook. The road appeared to have turned into a river, and the van was swaying like a lonely boat. The sound of collision intensified. The shell of the van caved in. If the passenger didn’t get out soon, they would be crushed.
“Look outside!” Ah Meng was shocked. He was in the transportation business, but he hadn’t seen anything like this. The lost souls were joined with the road. They rushed at the van like a giant wave. They wanted to turn the van over so that the passenger’s souls would be sucked into the road.
“How many souls are trapped here?!”
They were abandoned, and the fog was filled with the wails of the departed.
“The van is heavily damaged. If we don’t leave now, we’ll be crushed!” Ah Hua shouted. “Be ready! We’ll all get down together!” They counted three and then charged out. But when they were ready for a war, they noticed all the souls had retreated behind the cover of the fog. “Why aren’t they coming anymore?” The fog thickened, and Ah Hua was confused. She wanted to communicate with her mates but when she turned back, there was no one there.
“Zhao Gu! Xia Bing!” No matter how loud she shouted, there was no response. Helplessness and fear overwhelmed her heart. “Where is everyone?” She switched on the flashlight on her phone, but it couldn’t cut through the fog. She didn’t dare to wander off, but at that moment, she heard Zhao Gu’s young voice. Worried about Zhao Gu, Ah Hua ran to the voice She ran for about ten minutes when a bloody arm reached out to grab her shoulder. Ah Hua was shocked, and she gave the person a slap, but the person evaded it easily.
“Stay there and don’t move.” The man pulled back his arm and studied Ah Hua silently.
“Who are you?” Ah Hua looked at the man. He wore a ghost mask, and he sounded very weak. He only had one arm.
“You can call me Ghost. I’m almost at the end of my life. I need to find the next Ghost in this city.” Then, the man turned to look into the mist. The eyes under his mask were complicated, “And I believe I’ve found that person.”
A blinding light cut through the mist. The ground rocked like that was a quake. The even road cracked to reveal the clothes of the dead buried underneath.
The fog faded away, and Ah Hua turned to the light. Han Fei used Rest in Peace to slice through a figurine for the God of Earth that had been dug out of the ground. The figurine flickered with black flame. It cried like a human as it bled. Han Fei tied the red strings to the figurine and allowed the curse to crawl all over it.
“That figurine was the Malice?” Ah Hua scratched her head. She had no idea when she had left the road. She turned around and saw she was standing at the edge of a tall cliff. If not for Ghost, she would have fallen to her death already. Ah Hua was scared. She ran to Han Fei and told him everything about Ghost.
Han Fei nodded after he heard Ah Hua. He seemed to have a guess in his mind. The five managers all picked Fu Sheng initially, but his arrival had changed many things. Other than the tricked Dream, Ghost appeared to want to pick Han Fei too.
“Fate is slowly leaning towards me.”
“The man wears a very scary mask, but he feels like a good person. At least he saved me.” Ah Hua was afraid that Han Fei would go after the man, so she changed the subject. “Was this figurine the Malice?”
“Yes. The boss used this place to bury dead bodies when he built this road. With the accumulation of accidents, more resentment grew. The figurine was built by the boss out of the guilt to suppress the ghost, but the ghosts had gathered on the figurine and caused the whole road to turn.”
Han Fei picked up the red string. After Xu Qin consumed the figurine’s black flame, her own flame started to burn.
After Xu Qin left, Big Sin ran over and consumed the broken pieces of the figurine. It ate very quickly as if afraid that its food might be snatched away.
“The figurine gave us another 10 points. We’re at 90 points now.” Lee Guo ‘Er parked the taxi beside Han Fei. She was quite excited. Another ten points, and they could clear this death game and become the next theme park manager.
