“They are not sacrifices. They are my students.” Han Fei winked at the black merchant. He didn’t know what to say. He was not as shameless as No. 2.
“You haven’t brought new sacrifices in a long time already.” The head looked disappointed. It didn’t sense that danger was close.
“I’ve met some things. Shall we go in to chat?” Han Fei still had two mental patients at the merchant’s place. When he investigated Xin Lu’s Third Mental Hospital, they would be helpful. A slender arm reached for the shelf. The black merchant looked at the five students greedily. It resisted the urge to grab them.
“Come in.” The door that led underground opened. The black merchant ushered them to the basement where the ghosts were trapped. The black merchant had found more rare ghosts and kept them in cubicles to be sold.
“I have a question. Why do you like to trap these ghosts and use them as trading items?” Han Fei felt like the black merchant was a slave trader from the olden days.
“They serve a different God from us. I use them as sales items because the God I worship believes in trade.” The human head frowned. “Why are you asking this?”
“Us? Are there many black merchants in the city?” Han Fei astutely caught the information.
“There are not. Plus, once we’re discovered, we’ll be hunted by all the ghosts.” The black merchant stopped moving. It slowly moved around. “Good and evil are opposites. If I am captured by the other ghosts, they will sacrifice me to their God. We are ghosts, but we’re enemies because we worship different Gods. Isn’t it the same for you?”
The slender arm opened the door of the prison. The two mental patients Han Fei rescued were still there.
“Take them away. I anticipate our next trade.” The black merchant urged them to leave. If Gao Cheng weren’t such a good client, it wouldn’t let them leave so easily.
“Human life is a cage, changing from one to another.” The young man with the hat walked out of the room. He was still in a hallucination.
“Actually, I’m not here today for them.” Han Fei said with difficulty. “Can you bring me to see the altar? I’ve discovered some secrets. The God you believe in seems to be related to me. Our fates have once intertwined.”
The underground altar was the black merchant’s taboo. It didn’t promise Han Fei anything. In fact, its fingers started to grip so hard that the rotten human head was about to break. The black merchant was a ghost from the tragedy. Han Fei’s request had crossed its bottom line.
“Let me persuade it.” No. 1 walked out. Even if the storm was coming, he was able to give those close to him comfort. No. 1 walked towards the black merchant. At the same time, he raised his right hand. He held his fist. Before the black merchant and Han Fei reacted, immense pressure came from No. 1. Standing opposite him felt like one was fighting against the world. He was fearless. As he walked forward, all the evil involuntarily retreated. This was not an issue of strength. The 99 tests caused No. 1’s soul to change. No ghosts or Gods could shake his mind.
The fist raised and fell!
The black merchant’s black robe was torn apart. It wanted to stop it, but it couldn’t. No. 1’s target wasn’t the merchant’s soul but its resentment, the reason it became a ghost. The sound of mirror cracking came from deep inside the soul. The black merchant’s giant body started to shrink.
“The powerful is the one in charge.” No. 5 nudged Han Fei. “If you don’t consume it soon, it’ll disappear.”
“I thought you guys always try to win with brains.” Han Fei didn’t expect that these kids would be so ruthless. He walked to the merchant, and the black mist engulfed it. “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve trapped the giant lingering spirit—Black merchant.
“Black merchant (Unique Lingering Spirit): It had retained most of its memory from when it was alive. It has immense learning ability. It doesn’t come from the cryptic world. It is a native that is born after the tragedy.
“Ability 1-Soulborn: It has no fixed shape. It is immune to most damage and curses.
“Ability 2-God of Study: It will learn everything around it to keep completing itself.
“Ability 3-Brain Territory: It’s trying to build its own ghost territory.”
Han Fei only knew that the black merchants were a very unique group. They were all mutated ghosts that retained most of their living memories after they died. They were not willing to rear humans with the ghosts of the cryptic world, but they were too powerless to resist. Therefore, they resided in dark corners of the world and placed their hope in other Gods.
“Bring us to that altar. These kids are not lying to you. The God you worship is indeed related to us.” Han Fei and the black merchant entered the underground. The broken altar was there. Different from the fully broken altar at the center, even though this altar was old, it could still be used. After seeing the altar, the few children, including No. 2, became excited. This was the first time Han Fei saw them with such expressions.
“Bring me there.” No. 2 was placed by No. 5 beside the altar. No. 2, who lost both of his legs, had no fighting power at all. However, Han Fei knew that he was the scariest of all the children. The small palms pulled back the black cloth that covered the altar. The faceless figurine stood in the middle of the altar. It was wounded, but the scariest thing was after one got close to it, there was barely-discernible laughter. The laughter was maddening, like a devil dancing in hell.
“Found him!” No. 2 smiled. He resonated with the smile on the figurine. “I knew it wouldn’t be dead.”
“The faceless figurine is Mad Laughter?” Han Fei was curious. “In the future, directed by Gao Xing, he should become an Unmentionable. After he died, everything about him in the world would be eliminated.”
“Yes, that is the price to pay for usurpation.” No. 2 looked at Han Fei and explained it, “But No. 0 has placed some of his consciousness in real life. That should be part of your contribution too.”
“Me?” Han Fei didn’t remember that he had done anything.
“In any case, things are more optimistic than I thought. After the usurpation was successful, No. 0 sacrificed himself, but he hadn’t fully disappeared. There’s still a chance to turn this around.” No. 2 looked at the altar. “If we succeed and become the altar’s new owner, then No. 0 can come back safely. However, if we fail, then everyone will be trapped inside the altar, and we’ll be tortured inside here forever.”
“The risk is quite high.”
“The risk is high, but I don’t get it. Why would No. 0 choose you?” No. 4 glanced at Han Fei. “Our original plan was to have No. 0 sacrifice you and us so that he can usurp the position of God. But he has changed the plan himself.”
“he is indeed a better choice than No. 0. In the city where monsters wander around, we need someone real.” No. 2 signaled for No. 4 to stop. Han Fei was reminded of how Mad Laughter stood together with 30 monsters when he left the bloodred orphanage.
“No. 0’s presence is still there. His presence is there at the junction of fate. We can make use of that.” No. 2 reached out to grab the black merchant’s black robe. The black merchant’s body shrunk until its true appearance was revealed. It paused at the moment where his memory was the strongest. The black merchant under the black robe wore a uniform with Immortal Pharma’s logo. It was carrying a child in its arms. Using Soul-depth touch, Han Fei saw the heart of the black merchant. The man was once a worker at Immortal Pharma. Before the tragedy, he just became a father. After getting the news that both the child and mother were fine, he left the company at midnight. He came to the hospital, and that was how he survived the first massacre.
“I think… I saw the future. The source of the tragedy was the intelligent city! It’s from inside Immortal Pharma!” Han Fei just wanted to comfort the black merchant. He didn’t expect this.
Everyone wanted to know the truth behind the tragedy. Plus, the tragedy was about to happen in real life!
Han Fei picked up the head and handed it back to the merchant.
“Do you remember what happened at Immortal Pharma the night your daughter was born? Why is that place the source of the tragedy?” The founder of Immortal Pharma was Fu Sheng. Fu Sheng suffered the pressure of the last century to wipe out the trace between the cryptic world and the real world.
“I know that one day I’d be eaten by you, but I didn’t expect the day to come so soon.” The black merchant looked at Han Fei with disdain. “You can use the dominating power to control my body, but I’ll never help you.”
“You worship him. The reason we’re here is that we heard your voice.” No. 30 held the black merchant’s hands. “Gao Cheng is just a shell. Now, it’s God who is inside Gao Cheng’s body.” No. 30’s power was very special. She could make someone put their guard down and confirm that someone wasn’t hostile.
“Eating you is for your own good.” No. 2 had Han Fei touch the figurine. The five children cut their wrists and dripped their blood on the altar.
The figurine started to heal after absorbing the blood. The blank face started to adopt a face. Even more crucially, there was a minute bond between Han Fei and the figurine.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve obtained part of the power from Manager 0000! You’ve triggered special power—Twin flower!
“Twin flower (Unknown level talent): User unknown.
“Notification for Player 0000! You will gain a random attribute upgrade after sacrificing to the figurine!’
Han Fei was thinking about a problem. “The system’s Manager 0000 is clearly Mad Laughter. Does the manager also need to level up? Does that mean that I have such difficulty leveling up because Mad Laughter has absorbed part of my experience?”
Han Fei shared his question with No. 2. No. 2 didn’t answer but pointed at the black merchant. “Pull it into the greed abyss. Let it see your soul.”
“Do you mean I was right?” Han Fei didn’t press. He followed No. 2’s instructions. He had the black merchant see his soul, which was similar to the figurine.
