“Did he say he’d kill them? Are people from the Center that cruel?”
“I think… so.” The two victims pulled off the victims and helped each other move to the next room. Han Fei stood at the edge of the ghost territory. He moved after the victims were done hiding. Sky Garden was different from before. The inside of the building was like a giant maze. Without Du Niao leading the way, Han Fei wouldn’t be able to find Brother Chou’s group so soon.
“Don’t worry. You’ll see her soon enough.” The closer he got to Ghost Mother, the thicker the black mist. The shadow behind the boy melted into the black water. Giant waves slammed into Han Fei’s mind. The painful experience the boy suffered infiltrated Han Fei’s mind. He wanted to use this method to help Han Fei understand his pain. “I can understand your feelings. Do you want me to give my body to you so that you can talk to her in person?” Han Fei was not joking. He jumped into the endless abyss. Han Fei received the mission hint that after completing Gao Cheng’s wish, Gao Cheng might fully disappear. “Appreciate the last moments you have with your mother and leave the rest to me. I’ll destroy the altar and kill God.”
Han Fei had experience because he had handed his body many times over to Mad Laughter. Despair and greed consumed his consciousness. Han Fei handed his body over. Gao Cheng’s memory fragment didn’t react.
“Since you’re not willing to appear, then I’ll have to act as you.” Fingers reached out of the murky water. “I’ll transmit your emotions, pain, memory, and experience to her.”
The time in the altar world and the real world was different. Decades had passed in the real world, but centuries might have passed here. Gao Cheng struggled in endless despair, tortured by Gao Xing. He didn’t die, but he couldn’t live normally either. “We hold hope in our hands. Since God doesn’t want you and your mother to meet, then we’ll use our fists to punch him in the face.”
Han Fei opened his heart to Gao Cheng. He needed a friend by his side that shared the same goal!
The coin turned. Han Fei and Gao Cheng’s faces turned in the air. Their fates mixed. Han Fei accepted Gao Cheng’s pain and saw some of his hidden memories. None of the memory was filled with warmth. It was filled with torture and murder.
“Even if you have sinned, you’ve paid more than enough penance.”
The cruel images were far more than Han Fei expected. Even he, who had seen so much cruelty in the cryptic world, was shocked. “I will help you kill Gao Xing!” Han Fei’s consciousness didn’t exit the abyss. He looked at the star above him and allowed the black water to flood over him. Opening his eyes, Han Fei revealed an innocent smile. The murderous intention in his eyes was solid. He took out Rest in Peace. He hummed the lullaby Ghost Mother used to sing to him and walked upstairs. The human head flower in the kindergarten had been uprooted. The walls cracked. The teachers had been mummified.
“Gao Xing, your mother is being bullied by these trashes. You can’t even protect your mother. What kind of God are you?” Han Fei touched the pounding capillaries on the wall. “Why don’t you let mother follow me so I can protect her?”
Du Niao’s voice echoed in his ears. A man holding a chain appeared at the junction. He stepped on Du Niao’s wings. “What is this?”
“It’s called Du Niao, a bird made from paper and has no legs. It is like my hope, always flying.”
The blinding light made the man’s eyes blink. He raised the chain to block but Rest in Peace cut through the chains easily. Blood splattered on the wall. The man’s shadow expanded. His persona was related to hiding. This persona was a famous stalker and voyeur among the ghost cards. He was not good at fighting, but he was impossible to find.
“Hope City’s team is on a mission! Don’t interrupt!” Perhaps the man saw the black band Han Fei was wearing, he shouted. He did this to buy time and to tell his teammates that Han Fei was there.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you die quickly so that the mission is not interrupted.” Wu Chang appeared behind Han Fei. The terrifying presence stunned the man. His shadow tried to escape but ran into a red paper doll standing behind him. Curses entered the shadow. The shadow bled.
“Paper doll, headmaster, the abandoned girl, there are many ghosts in my abyss, but it’s not enough.” Han Fei had awakened six times. So normal persona user was not his match. Han Fei stood in the black ghost territory and held the broken nightlight. He gently switched it on. The weak light shone on Han Fei’s face and lit up his soul. This nightlight had always been placed on Gao Cheng’s bedside table. His mother was afraid that Gao Cheng would have nightmares or he would want to wake up in the night. The nightlight was always on so she could see her child every time at night. His mother knew that Gao Cheng was always living in the dark, so she tried to let him feel light. When Han Fei opened the nightlight, the ghost territory became brighter. All the ghosts led the way for Han Fei. Even with his eyes closed, he could find the mother.
The voice in his heart called. Han Fei moved up the stairs to the gym on the 13th floor.
All the doors had been broken. The blood slithered toward the indoor pool. The man with the club tattoo had morphed into a beast about 3 meters tall. He was more animal than man. Other than him, the other criminals also activated their persona. There was vengefulness, madness, desire, and so on. Normally, they were no match for Ghost Mother, but Ghost Mother was in a special situation. She held the old shirt. The cracks on her body grew. Just recovering would take up a lot of her time.
The criminals on the ghost cards were the cruelest people in the world. They trapped innocent souls and living humans in the building and used them to threaten Ghost Mother.
“What an absurd world. In the future, people can bully ghosts?” Putting down the nightlight, Han Fei stood among the greed abyss. The balance maintained between Brother Chou and Ghost Mother was broken by Han Fei’s arrival.
“Tragedy Investigation Center?” The short guy discovered Han Fei and the black band he was wearing. “The Hope City is hunting Pure Hatred. If you’re not here to help, leave now!”
“So cold. I thought you were here to celebrate my birthday.” Han Fei looked at the bloody pool with a smile. Ghost Mother’s presence weakened. She was worried about Gao Cheng.
“What? What birthday?”
“I’m born on the same day as God. Our fates are bound. The things he hates are the things I like. Since he wants you guys to live then, I have to kill you. I need to burn all the sins into ashes.” While Han Fei distracted everyone with Cursed Words, the paper doll moved to a criminal who was torturing one of the survivors. Paper crawled into his wounds and the curses exploded.
“Do you want to incite a war between the two bases?”
“Even at death, you want to talk about wars. Violence is human nature.” Han Fei glanced at his mental corruption. He sent the coordinates to the center and then tried to release the little girl. The two blood reservoirs he saved were still hanging around Zone A because Han Fei was worried that no one could carry him away after he fainted.
“When I was young, you protected me. Now it’s my time to protect you.”
Han Fei didn’t want to waste time talking to these people. After saving the survivors, the mist spread. The weak black flame ignited. The black water boiled. Fishes leaped out of the water and swam in the mist. All the people appeared to be dragged into the ocean. The fish swam around them.
“Don’t leave me behind. I’ll be quiet…” The girl walked out behind Han Fei. Her body was repaired by starlight. The black flame burned again.
“Pure Hatred? How could someone from the Center have Pure Hatred?” The man with the club tattoo found part of his rationality back. After the altar was destroyed, they were weakened. Now, another Pure Hatred appeared!
“Thank you for coming to my early birthday party. I’ll keep you in my abyss, so you’ll accompany me forever!” Two Pure Hatred’s ghost territory covered the sky. In the pure darkness, only Han Fei’s nightlight shone. “Since it’s dark, I better put away my new toys.”
Han Fei unleashed all the ghosts. He was at Zone A. He needed to finish this fast.
The giant axe crushed their formation. When everyone fought Ghost Mother and the girl, the headmaster melted one of the criminals silently.
“Another Pure Hatred? There’s another Pure Hatred hiding in the mist!”
Unknown was fear. Han Fei destroyed their constitution to fight. The criminals were scared. They had no idea how many ghosts were still hidden in the mist.
Screams echoed in the building. This massacre was very successful. The criminals had one big difference from the Center’s team. When the criminals were cornered, they would never cover for each other. They only cared about themselves.
“Notification for Player 0000! Blood feast completed! Wu Chang has feasted enough!
“Wu Chang (Large Lingering Spirit): Everything in life is unpredictable. I don’t believe that everything is fated. You’re the weakest regret, but I’ll make you the strongest ghost in the city! This is Gao Cheng’s promise to you!”
Wu Chang was Goa Cheng’s first ghost he got through the greed abyss. Its fate was changed by Gao Cheng and Han Fei. The bodies were sacrificed, and Wu Chang evolved. Its body was the same, but its presence was not weaker than Executioner. It was very stranger and hard to describe.
