The voice calling for Gao Cheng became louder. Han Fei lowered his cap, but the lazy ghost inside the cap didn’t respond. “It’s nigh impossible for ghosts to influence me with my current persona ability.” Han Fei looked around and saw no ghosts. He perked up his ears to listen. The voice which called Gao Cheng bore no hatred. It just wanted to lead him somewhere. Han Fei took a deep breath and tried to ignore it. To his surprise, Gao Cheng’s consciousness in the abyss tried to answer it. Shang Nv also wanted to crawl out of the abyss. “Is it their friend?”
The voice became clearer. It was a woman who sounded mature, gentle, and soft. Han Fei looked behind him. He was at the back of the group. Behind him was nothing.
“What’s wrong?” No. 5 asked.
“Do you hear a female voice calling you?”
“No. are you being attacked?” No. 5 pulled another kid over. The kid confirmed that Han Fei was not under attack.
“I need to go to confirm something. I’ll leave my job to you.” Han Fei listened to the voice and left the team. With his experience, he would normally ignore this, but both Shang Nv and Gao Cheng wanted him to follow this voice. Han Fei slowly pulled away from the team. He followed the voice to a residential building he hadn’t visited before.
The building’s windows weren’t boarded up. It looked very normal. However, Han Fei’s eyes changed when he entered the building. The corridors were filled with missing person reports looking for Gao Xing. The pictures appeared to be bleeding. The blurry kid in the picture stared at Han Fei. “I’ve seen this cursed object at Shi Wei Eatery before. This belongs to the Ghost Mother.”
As Han Fei entered the building, more reports appeared. The human faces started to twist. The eyes of the missing children had been gouged out. “Gao Xing’s eyes have been taken out?!” The black mist started to leak. When Gao Cheng saw these, he spiraled out of control. He controlled the black mist to consume the missing person’s reports. He wanted to shred every picture of Gao Xing!
Han Fei didn’t stop Gao Cheng. When Gao Cheng forcibly controlled the black mist, his consciousness would be consumed by the mist. When Gao Cheng’s consciousness disappeared, Han Fei would be the sole owner of the mist. Standing in the corridor, the shredded paper was like snow. Gao Cheng would go insane whenever he saw Gao Xing. That was probably one of the reasons he accepted Han Fei.
A woman’s sigh came from the room. Gao Cheng slowly calmed down with Shang Nv’s help. Han Fei pushed open the front door. A woman stood in the middle of the living room. She stood facing away from the door, and her exposed skin was covered in sewn scars. She was like a ragdoll that had been torn apart and then sewn back together repeatedly.
“You are?”
“Stop resisting. The closer you are to success, the bigger the despair. Live here numbly.” The woman’s voice was soft and kind. The content was sharp, but it was not uncomfortable.
“I’m not willing.” Han Fei said this on Gao Cheng’s behalf. Endless hatred and anger were like a cage that trapped Gao Cheng. He slammed against the metallic walls. Even if he had to die, he needed to escape.
“Your choices have been destined. Your fate has been written. No matter how hard you struggle, you will fall into the abyss and lose yourself.” The woman still didn’t turn around. She was in the same room as Han Fei, but it felt like she was very far away. “One of my children has turned into a devil. I don’t want my other child to become a monster.”
Han Fei confirmed her identity then. “Are you Gao Xing’s biological mother?” The woman shivered. Her wounds tore from pain. “Stop talking. Stay away from the Tragedy Investigation Center. Stop resisting fate. Find a sad place to live and pay penance with your life.”
“It was Gao Cheng’s mother who swapped the two kids. How can a baby be at fault?” Han Fei raised his voice. Gao Cheng became silent. He didn’t expect his mother to say something like this.
“The babies are innocent, so that’s why I never blame you. Everything is my fault. I shouldn’t let you use his eyes.” Every face in the corridor smiled. Their eyes slowly became like Goa Cheng. They were clear and pretty.
“Perhaps there’s another path.” Han Fei could sense the desire within Gao Cheng. He had already accepted this woman as his real mother. Han Fei also wanted Gao Cheng to talk to his mother, but whenever he got close to her, the woman’s wounds would start to decay. His mother had been taken away by Gao Xing. Forcing a reunion would cause both parties to die faster.
“Don’t get any closer.” The woman spoke again. Her body was like flower petals, slowly falling apart. “You know that I’m not your mother.”
Gao Cheng in the abyss howled. The pain was so intense that he wanted to destroy his past. Various noises splattered in Gao Cheng’s consciousness. Madness colored the abyss.
“My mother is very kind. She’s the world’s best mother!”
“She is not your mother!” “Your biggest greed is stealing my mother’s love!”
“I will not die so easily. I will turn you into the former me. You will live in hell and watch everything be taken away from you, but you can’t change anything.”
When Han Fei ran into the living room, the woman left. The only thing that remained was a bloody fake eye. Goa Cheng’s consciousness kept dissolving. There was nothing more painful than being abandoned by family.
“Something is not right.”
Han Fei stared at the fake eye. If Ghost Mother were not worried about Gao Cheng, she wouldn’t use this method to communicate with him.
“She must have said those things for a reason. That’s not what she really thinks. She can only say those things because the altar owner is watching her.” The healing starlight shone into the abyss. Han Fei reached out toward Gao Cheng. “Your mother is worried about you, so she came to give this to you.” Han Fei picked up the bloody fake eye up. Gao Cheng had another similar fake eye. He took that from Xin Lu’s Optometrist Hospital.
“There’s another ghost hidden in this fake eye. The real message Ghost Mother wants to relay should be on that ghost!” One had to sacrifice a living human’s eye to summon the ghost inside the fake eye. Han Fei didn’t have something like that on him. “That’s sad. I should have used Teacher Ma when I had the chance.”
Han Fei placed two fake eyes together, and something strange happened. The ghosts trapped in the two eyes wanted to kill each other. The fake eyes bled, and they emitted the weak presence of Pure Hatred.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve gained Grade D Mission Object—Twin Eyes!
“Twin Eyes: Unique cursed items. Every hatred comes from the eyes that wish for light. Gao Cheng used these fake eyes to witness everything when he was young.”
“Level D?” Han Fei was surprised. “Level E items are related to Pure Hatreds. Level D items are related to Unmentionables.”
With Han Fei and Shang Nv’s help, Gao Cheng’s consciousness slowly calmed down. His influence on the greed persona weakened. Han Fei gained more control of it. When Gao Cheng stopped struggling, Han Fei felt his connection to the greed abyss growing stronger. The persona started to use the ghosts to empower Han Fei.
“A passive buff? Is this Gao Cheng’s way of thanking me?”
When he exited the building, it was already dark. Han Fei stayed in the building longer than he expected. Class Seven was still at the back of the team. Han Fei raced along the route and caught up to the team before dark. Once he appeared, Wang Chuqing came to him with a dark face. “Where have you been? How can you leave your job to your students? What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking rationally.” Han Fei glanced at the students. When there were outsiders, they were all very innocent.
“We’re about to reach the territory of the Tragedy Investigation Center. Be careful.” Wang Chuqing had been helping the team. He trusted Yan Lan. Yan Lan did everything, and she happened to save Gao Cheng.
Just as night was falling, the lights were switched on. The light shone at the front of the team. After the tragedy, survivors didn’t dare to use lights at night lest they attract the ghosts. However, the lights were on at the Tragedy Investigation Center. The light cut through the darkness, providing a harbor for all the survivors. The team was rejuvenated. Guided by the light, they slowly entered the center’s territory.
There was the sound of the engine. A car containing food and water came from inside the center. The driver was a persona user too. In this ghost city, only persona users could have vehicles and weapons. If a normal person were controlled by ghosts while using these things, they would be very dangerous.
“You’re in the territory of the Tragedy Investigation Center! Please pause! I repeat! Please pause!”
The car doors opened, and the uniformed members came out. While they gave the food and water, they carried the special devices from the cars. The 3000 survivors were split into ten groups. Every survivor who passed the mental corruption test would get water, food, and three food coupons.
“They are so efficient.” Wang Chuqing stood beside Han Fei. “Just act normally during the test. Don’t let them mistake you as a ghost.”
“Don’t worry. I’m familiar with the center director.”
“That’s not funny.” Wang Chuqing said. “She’ll kill you immediately. The female director is very strict. She’s the flag of the center and the pillar for all the survivors.” “I wasn’t joking.”
The scanners came to Han Fei. He looked at the device, and before he could react, the siren rang. The scanner flashed red. The red that represented ghosts shone on Han Fei’s face, and this caused all the other survivors to retreat. A circle appeared around Han Fei. He sat on the chair quietly. He had no idea what was happening.
