733 Storm
“You want me to play a role here?! At this place?” Bai Xian had just been dragged to the cryptic world. His mind was blurry.
“Someone wants to expose me and condemn me in real life, so I need you to play me.”
“Play you?” Bai Xian was stunned. This should be his career’s biggest challenge. Han Fei was not an easy character to play. He had a balance of madness and rationality. Most importantly, his sharp presence honed from living at the edge of death was not something that could be mimicked.
“There’s no script and lines, so you have to improvise everything.” Han Fei told Bai Xian his usual habits and knowledge. He left Bai Xian to get into character while he left the room.
“Zhuang Wen, I need you to guard this room and don’t let anyone enter.” Han Fei dragged his tired body back to his neighbors. His 99 wounds hadn’t healed. The divine patterns on the altar had turned into his wounds.
On the other end of the maze, the fearless players were still attempting an entry. Many were lost in dreams. But a small portion survived the dreams and got closer to the cryptic world.
“Do any of you know how to close this passage?” Han Fei found the painter among the crowd. This unique Pure Hatred stood in the middle of the theme park. Under his feet was a colorful monster who occupied one-fifth of the theme park’s size. The monster looked a lot like Orphan No. 4. The painter slowly shook his head and then looked up into the sky. After Dream’s consciousness shattered the maze, it slowly dissipated. The night slowly returned to normal.
“Fu Sheng left this passage behind. It has always been sealed by Fu Sheng’s altar. Now that the altar is ruined, the passage won’t be closing for the foreseeable future.” A chilling smile came from the shadows. A clown with a tear stain on his face sat on the merry-go-round.
“Huang Sheng?” The clown was Orphan No. 11. Han Fei had helped him in Fu Sheng’s memory world and knew about his past.
“Since you know my real name, it means that you’ve gained my approval in the memory world. Unfortunately, even I can’t help you now.” The clown was smiling, but because of the tears, he was also crying. His body flickered like he had been severely injured. “If you want to close the passage, you need to fix the altar. As Fu Sheng’s successor, you still have a long way to go to fix a level 7 altar. Before the altar is fully fixed, this passage will remain open.”
“Is there no other way?”
“Perhaps you can think of it like this. Fu Sheng probably has envisioned this. So why would he leave this path open?” The clown smiled, “The world on the other side is happy. Perhaps the happiness over there can sustain the despair over here. Maybe Fu Sheng has planned this. Dream merely accelerated the process.”
“You sure are optimistic.” Han Fei looked at the half figurine he was holding. Fu Sheng’s most important altar had been crushed. As his successor, he obtained this severely damaged half of a figurine, “What about the others inside the altar? Why aren’t they here?”
“Look at the figurine you hold. Their names are all on it. To release them, you need to be the altar’s real owner first.” The clown and No. 4 were managers left behind by Fu Sheng to manage the theme park. They were once orphans at that orphanage like Han Fei. However, they died when they were young, and they were dragged into the cryptic world by Fu Sheng.
“What do I need to do?”
“Follow me.” The clown jumped down from the wooden horse and asked Han Fei to follow him into the maze. The duo looked like the final bosses in a game. One wore a beast mask, and the other radiated creepiness.
The players on the other side cheered. They took out their phones to take pictures and videos. Han Fei couldn’t care anymore. The two worlds had never been so close before. They were fully inverted worlds.
“Fu Sheng has left an empty altar inside the maze. Its main goal is to prevent accidents to the passage. When you place that half into the altar, if everything is successful, we should be able to activate parts of the altar’s power. Then, we can release the souls from the figurine.” The clown led Han Fei to a secluded corner of the maze. After they went through several secret doors, an undamaged empty altar appeared before Han Fei.
“Go on.” The clown’s eyes flickered with black flame. “Go herald in your own era.”
“I just want to live.” Han Fei held the figurine and walked to the altar. This was not his first time activating an altar, but he was very nervous. Based on what the clown said after the altar was activated, everyone trapped inside the figurine would return. Xu Qin, Little Eight, and Spider would return. The souls trapped by Fu Sheng in his memory world would appear too. Mad Laughter would return as well. Other than Fu Sheng, Mad Laughter also wanted to use Han Fei’s body to be reborn. Trapping him inside the figurine was not a bad idea. Han Fei studied the names on the altar. He slowly opened the doors and pushed the figurine in.
“Notification for Player 0000! Would you be willing to be Level 7 Altar—Resurrection’s altar? The altar has been heavily damaged. It’ll have an unknown influence on you. It might even change your destiny.” “I would!” After Han Fei agreed, his Life Points immediately dropped to one. His reputation and afterlife karma were sucked clean. His 99 wounds also oozed with black blood. He was consumed by the altar. He had experienced this before. To counter this, he opened his inventory and took out the pig’s hearts and meat cooked by Xu Qin.
The players on the other side looked at Han Fei curiously. They were scared. Han Fei was like a demon that feasted on human flesh. As Han Fei lost his Life Points, blood vessels grew on the figurine. The inanimate object appeared to come alive. His expression became slowly like Han Fei’s. The figurine’s shell fell, and the cracks healed. The names on the figurine lit u one after another.
The brightest name belonged to Big Sin. This creature was the altar’s natural nemesis. Its name soon disappeared from the altar. At the same time, a thunderous roar erupted beside Han Fei. Big Sin, which was more than 5 meters wide, crawled out of the figurine. It trampled the ground angrily, causing the passage to shake.
“What monster is that?”
“A demon! That masked man is a cultist!”
“Stop afking! Come look at the monster!”
“Who among you is a fighter? Go and fight it!”
Big Sin’s appearance attracted everyone’s attention. No one had seen something so ugly in the game before. It was the most imperfect thing in Perfect Life.
Han Fei chewed on the meat and studied the figurine. After Big Sin, another name lit up—Xu Qin.
The curse was like threads of love. Endless curses burst out of the figurine. They crawled all over Han Fei before all the curses burnt with black flame. Finally, a woman was reborn in the flame. She was deathly beautiful. 13 table knives were stuck in her body. The moment Xu Qin appeared, Han Fei turned around to grab the knife stuck in her heart. He held the human doily and pulled. In Fu Sheng’s memory world, Xu Qin died 99 times with Han Fei. They had been through a lot.
“What is that?!”
“She is so beautiful, but why are 13 knives stuck in her? That’s so cruel!”
“Is she the sacrifice given to the monster? What a horrid cultist! We need to kill him!”
“I’m willing to be her dog.”
The curse spread and twisted the dream. Once the players touched it, they would die. However, Han Fei couldn’t confirm if the death was permanent. Based on his observation, as long as they hadn’t fully entered the cryptic world, the death of their in-game character wouldn’t affect their souls and brains.
Xu Qin’s eyes returned to normal after the knife was pulled out. Her hatred weakened.
The person who followed Xu Qin was Little Eight. All the human jigsaw victims were shoved into her stomach. When she appeared, she was carrying a flower pot filled with human bones.
Then a shadow materialized. Spider slowly walked out. Before he left, he bowed slightly at the altar. Fu Sheng didn’t select him, but he still respected him. “I have no idea how long I can remember you. At least before I forget you, I’ll try my best to rectify your regrets.”
Many figures appeared from the altar. Some were large, and others were small. All the souls walked out of Fu Sheng’s memory.
Finally, only one name was left—Han Fei.
A peal of light laughter came from the figurine. Then the expression turned ghastly. The laughter became more unhinged. Han Fei knew that Mad Laughter was coming. He didn’t resist it but actively placed his hand beside the figurine’s head. He didn’t like Mad Laughter or even feared him, but after this mission, Han Fei realized something. He couldn’t allow Mad Laughter to suffer all the pain and despair. Mad Laughter had a healing persona, and he had healed many people. Han Fei had the same persona, but his goal was to heal Mad Laughter.
“The locks on the red orphanage are broken, so you can come out anytime you want. I will not imprison you again. Actually, I don’t think I have the memory to do that either. I don’t think we should be enemies. We should be inseparable friends. I’ll help you take revenge. We’ll have those who spread despair suffer the same as we did.”
The figurine grinned wickedly. The red blood flowed along Han Fei’s arm to his brain. The blood waves churned in his mind. The painful memories almost broke Han Fei. He had to use his new ability, Immortal Persona.
Han Fei grabbed the wounds on his body. He had to resist the pain silently. A
By then, there were innumerable ghosts and monsters around Han Fei. The players on the other side were stunned.
“What map is this, and who is that masked man? Is he the final boss who will destroy the world?”
“Is this a new patch by Perfect Life?”
“Is this thing a virus?”
When Mad Laughter returned to the red orphanage, Han Fei recovered. He also received a string of notifications. Fu Sheng had collected 100,000 souls inside his altar. In the end, Han Fei only managed to save 10,000 souls. Most of them were normal people. Fu Sheng didn’t need much from them. Han Fei once thought Fu Sheng wanted to kill all the ghosts, but his expression of him changed. Destroying the cryptic world was his final goal, but before that, he’d save as many innocent souls as he could. “I need your help to fix this maze to prevent the players from coming here.”
The 10,000 souls were mostly Lingering Regrets, but there were so many of them that Han Fei could build his own city already. Now, the theme park, the plastic surgery hospital, and the Ziggurat had been joined together. A normal Pure Hatred couldn’t harm them anymore. Han Fei reached into his pocket and took out the altarpieces, and placed them inside the altar. The broken figurine absorbed something from the pieces and slowly recovered. “Fu Sheng’s altarpieces can help the figurine recover. I need to return to the high platform the retrieve the other pieces.”
This altar was essential to seal up the path. It couldn’t be moved. Han Fei had to come here to fix the altar. After that, Han Fei reached his limit. His brain felt like it had been torn apart. If he didn’t leave the game, his brain might receive permanent damage.
“I can’t leave yet.”
Han Fei silently left the maze. He had his neighbors find Qiang Wei and the other players. Then, he led Bai Xian and all of them to the plastic surgery hospital’s altar.
“Brother Bai, I’ve found a few extras to help you.” Han Fei planned to edit all the players’ memory to have them cooperate with Bai Xian.
“I… am just an actor. What if…” Bai Xian was very nervous. He knew how serious this was.
“You’re the best actor I’ve met. You know me the best too.” Han Fei held his hand. “Brother Bai, don’t worry. You can do this. You are the best.”
