“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve triggered a random mission—Secret Storeroom.
“Mission Requirement: Enter Gao Cheng’s storeroom before dark and obtain his belongings.” After reading the diary, Han Fei triggered a quest.
“The most important thing to Goa Cheng is not at the apartment. He stored them in the storeroom outside of school. It looks like he doesn’t trust the people at the school either.” Han Fei memorized the map in the diary. He put away the diary and key. He found an old backpack in the room. He put a lot of paper money and some tools in the bag and left. Han Fei left the school from the backdoor. Beyond the high wall was the land of death. The skyscrapers were the same as before, but the humans who built them were long gone. It was silent and unsettling. Han Fei was tense as he moved in the shadow. There were other humans near the school. They wore dirty old clothes. Many of them had pus and wounds. They looked at Han Fei strangely, with fear and disgust.
A beggar with disheveled hair spat at Han Fei. He leaned on the dirty mat, and his eyes glowed with hatred. “Disgusting monster!”
“Monster?” Han Fei looked at the beggar, but the latter was not afraid.
“Kill me. Why don’t you kill me? You monsters! You are not humans!” The beggar was agitated. The wound around his neck tore open, and the dirty blood dripped on the mat.
“I have no reason to kill you.” Han Fei didn’t want to cause trouble. He read the survivor’s attitude towards the school from the beggar. Han Fei left in a hurry. While he ran, strange voices came from behind him. Han Fei turned back and realized that the beggar was gone. There was only the bloody mat left.
“Did someone follow me out of school?” Han Fei had sharp senses, but he wasn’t at his best due to mental corruption.
“Gao Cheng’s secret storeroom is inside a White Building. The place is adjacent to the Third Optometrist Hospital, so people rarely go there.” Han Fei glanced at his watch. “It’ll be dark after an hour. I can’t wait any longer.” Han Fei picked the most dangerous route. There were fewer humans. There were no merchants, only sealed-up buildings. “The thick wooden boards shield the sunlight. Every building here is a small ghost zone.” Gao Cheng’s map had some info on the special buildings around the school. However, it was limited to the area around the school. Xin Lu had changed fully. No living humans could venture deep into the city anymore. Based on the experience he gained in the cryptic world, Han Fei used 40 minutes to walk to a small hostel. This hostel was meant for foreign workers coming to the city. The landlord split the space into small cubicles and rented them out to workers. It was a White Building.
The cursed object inside the hotel was a saving box. It had an unknown number of ghosts, but the scariest ghost should be the evil landlord. Han Fei removed the seventh board on the back window of the first floor. He entered the building silently. The temperature inside was much lower than outside. “This place feels scarier than the cryptic world. Did something happen when the two worlds merged?”
Han Fei came to the second floor. The cubicles here were like beehives. Normally, no matter how populous a place was, it wouldn’t look like this. This was caused by the influence of the cursed object. Han Fei took out the key and opened one of the cubicles. He scattered the paper money and continued to move forward. He walked for a few minutes when he heard rapid footsteps. Something sensed his presence and was rapidly gaining distance!
The doors were pushed open, and the sound of slamming doors came closer!
Due to the mental corruption, the negative emotion Han Fei felt would be amplified.
“If only it’s just an Animated Regret.” Han Fei started to run too, but he was still too slow!
There was no light in the building. Han Fei stared at the cubicle door behind him. A poor-quality door stood between Han Fei and the ghost. Han Fei stared at the doorknob that was slowly turning. These few seconds felt like a century. The door opened a gap and then stopped.
“Huh?”
Han Fei pulled the door fully open. A normal-looking saving box sat outside the door.
“Since the cursed object is here, that means…” The chill appeared behind Han Fei. Han Fei took out the mirror. A pale face lingered around his shoulders. The man’s eyes were filled with greed. His stomach and brain had been hollowed out to be stuffed with paper money.
“The landlord!”
Han Fei was very calm. He took out the paper money and stuffed it into the box. The box was like a deep abyss. It didn’t look large, but it took the whole bag of money. Han Fei didn’t dare to let his guard down. He kept shoving the money into the box. It was not until he depleted his last note that the box and the ghost behind him disappeared.
“Did I just pay him for my life?”
This made Han Fei realize something. One didn’t need to kill to deal with ghosts. One could aim at their weaknesses too.
“The rental is very complicated with the cubicles. It’s hard for outsiders to find the landlord’s saving box. A greedy man’s determination can’t be underestimated. That’s probably why Gao Cheng has his storeroom here.”
Han Fei walked back to Gao Cheng’s cubicle. He opened the door, and the system notification came. “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed the random mission, Secret Storeroom, and gained a lot of EXP!”
Han Fei locked the door. He found a lot of supplies in the room and some rare cursed objects.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve found Grade E Cursed Object—The Coin of Fate!
“The Coin of Fate: This will unleash unexpected results when paired with someone with a greedy persona. When you use this coin when you’re mentally corrupted, there’s a chance to increase your mental corruption!
“You’ve found Grade E Cursed Object—Death-seeing Fake Eye.
“Death-seeing Fake Eye: There’s a ghost hidden in this eye. To use its power, you have to offer the eye of a living human. One eye, and it’ll help you for ten seconds.
“You’ve found Grade E Cursed Object—Black Cap.
“Black Cap: The owner of this cap had his head pierced through by a metal rod when walking past the construction site. His soul is now inside the cap. Wearing this cap will allow you to see and hear some unique things, but wearing it for too long will increase mental corruption.
“You’ve found Grade D Cursed Object—Birth Certificate.
“Birth Certificate: This thing is more important than your life! He is the proof of your memory and the reason for your existence!”
Han Fei examined the certificate. It looked normal.
“Xin Lu First Hospital? Was Gao Cheng born there?” Han Fei memorized the hospital address before studying the other three cursed objects. The biggest difference between Han Fei and Gao Cheng was Han Fei was highly resistant to curses.
Han Fei put on the black cap, and instantly, he could hear some strange noises. He could guess the locations of the ghosts in the building. “This thing is quite useful.” There was a ghost living inside the cap, but it was very lazy. It just wanted to sleep. Han Fei didn’t feel uncomfortable putting on the cap. But after wearing it for too long, he would feel that there was something trying to crawl into his brain. His scalp was growing to mesh with the cap.
Han Fei took up the fake eye. He could feel something looking at him. The eye was filled with greed.
“The landlord and the ghost inside the fake eye have the greedy persona. Gao Cheng has that persona too. That must be the reason why he can use these two cursed objects.” Han Fei picked up the coin last. He tossed it, and he felt his life turn as well. The coin was of an unknown origin. Using it could change Han Fei’s situation, but it might push Han Fei deeper down the abyss.
While he studied the coin, Han Fei triggered the power of his persona. The greedier he was, the crazier he’d become. The madness would stimulate his brain so that he would start to absorb the power from the cursed objects. His body slowly overlapped with the ghost inside the cursed objects before he became a crazy monster.
“Greedy people are easily blinded by external factors. But if they last until the end, they will win everything.”
Han Fei held the coin. He felt like he was suitable for this world.
“Gao Cheng’s health report states that he has another persona. Different persona brings different power.” Han Fei then remembered that he had a healing persona. He wondered what that would be like in this world. Sitting in the storeroom, Han Fei ate the food left behind by Gao Cheng. The supply here could last him for a long time, but it was not enough if he wanted to share them with 30 students.
“Mental corruption comes from ghosts and curses. I need to heal as soon as possible. Teacher Wang feels like a nice person. I can trade with him.” After knowing how to trigger the power of the persona, Han Fei had another question, “Gao Cheng needs cursed objects to trigger the power of his greed persona. So how did the child at school trigger his persona power this morning? He just woke up and wouldn’t have the time to find any cursed objects!”
Han Fei had greatly underestimated the 30 students. Even though they were kids, they were probably stronger than Han Fei. After all, they were Mad Laughter’s family. The despair they carried could implode this world. There were three more days to the exam. Han Fei didn’t plan to return to school that night. It was dark. The world outside might be more dangerous than the White Building. Han Fei pulled a thin blanket over. He just wanted to lie down when there was the sound of something heavy falling. Han Fei looked out through the gap in the boarded-up window. A woman about 1.8 meters tall stood in the street. She removed her black fur coat to reveal the tattoos underneath. There was no fear on her face. She stared at the shadow before her and smiled excitedly.
The unknown metal in her spine expanded. ‘White bones’ stuck into her body. The chains were torn through. She punched at the darkness and shattered it.
“Why is Yan Lan here? Did she kill the beggar? Has she been following me?”
As the Teacher of Class One, Yan Lan, with a fearless persona, was the strongest of all the teachers. No one could win here in face-to-face combat. Han Fei hid in the dark to study Yan Lan. This woman appeared to be looking for something.
