Han Fei’s fingertips touched the director’s door. At that moment, he heard a child crying, but the sound didn’t come from the director’s room but from another room deeper down the corridor.
“No. 2 told me to follow the crying and don’t be disturbed by anything else.” Han Fei pulled his hands back. He was not affected by habit and turned towards the crying. He hadn’t run a few steps before the director’s door opened. A giant arm covered in brown fur reached out from inside. His palm held the smiling faces of endless children! If Han Fei had opened the door earlier, he would have been grabbed by the big hand!
Han Fei turned and ran. He didn’t dare to stay a moment longer.
“The giant hand has brown fur, and the memory in the vats mentions it before! Does this hand belong to the director?”
Immortal Pharma wouldn’t hire a monster to be the director. Something else must have happened to this creature.
Han Fei felt energy surging from his heart. No fear could stop him. This was the biggest difference between Han Fei and the other members. The more anxious and fearful he was, the sharper Han Fei would become. He would never doubt himself. The giant hand almost grabbed Han Fei a few times. Han Fei finally saw a new painting at the end of the corridor. A newborn was painted on the cracked wall. It was very cute. However, the overall painting was very crazy. A pair of giant hands grabbed the baby’s leg and yanked him out of the cradle. Beside the cradle was many toys and a storybook—There’s the person mother and father are looking for.
The baby waved his hands wildly. One of his fingers appeared to be pointing at the corridor. The crying became shriller. Han Fei charged down the corridor. The tiles started to change. The wallpaper was torn down. The moment Han Fei entered the corridor, he sank into the director’s childhood fear. The smell of disinfectant was replaced by a horrible scent. The tunnel that led underground was covered in mold. Blood stained the slippery ground. Bone chips wedged between the stone gaps. This painting was very real like it was the most intense memory from the director’s memory. “Something is not right.” The crying morphed into tiny hands that wanted to grab onto Han Fei. They dragged him somewhere. The light dimmed, and suddenly, the door closed. The door disappeared, and Han Fei was trapped in this strange tunnel that headed down. Cold water dripped down his head. Han Fei stayed close to the wall and submerged in the darkness. He had no idea how long he went down the spiraling tunnel before he reached a room. The room was buried deep underground. The director’s secret should be hidden here.
Han Fei pushed open the door. Before he was a giant mirror. His reflection was inside the mirror. Han Fei had changed. He reverted to when he was about 4 or 5. His body was covered in wounds, and they were overgrown with brown fur. His head was shaven, and he had an ugly birthmark. “Is that how the director looked like when he was young?” No matter what, he didn’t look like a person. It was hard to imagine what he had gone through.
Footsteps suddenly came from behind Han Fei. Han Fei quickly hid behind the mirror. A burly man walked into the room. The man appeared to be looking for something. He was anxious and angry, like he had lost a part of his life. He growled and smashed the things in the room. He couldn’t find the ‘thing’ he wanted. The man gave up and sat on the ground. He opened a wooden cage in the corner of the room. The cogs turned. A poor child’s lower body was joined to a wooden cart. He showed a pleasing smile, but the man was not satisfied. He kicked the boy away. The wooden wheels fell from the boy’s body. He crawled away fearfully. The man’s eyes slowly filled with excitement. He liked to chase after running prey and tortured scared children.
The room was horrid. Han Fei slowly moved to the door. However, he noticed the crying was centered in the room. When he moved away from it, the crying became weak. He had to stay inside the room.
“What to do now?” The director’s ghost territory was insane. The exit was always hidden in the most unexpected places. The child had stopped struggling. He died in the man’s hands. Picking up the child’s body, the man opened the dresser in the room. The dresser was filled with various children. They were all deformed. The man admired his display case when he noticed a lower shelf was empty. One of the kids tried to run. The man’s face darkened. He radiated a terrifying presence and his body gradually expanded. Fear enveloped Han Fei. This had nothing to do with his consciousness. He was forced to sense this fear. His instinct compelled him to run. However, if he left, he wouldn’t be able to hear the crying anymore. “What choice did the director make back then? The nightmare’s exit lies in his choice!”
The man’s body slowly turned around. Han Fei gripped his hands. The monster’s presence radiated the power of Pure Hatred. Han Fei’s mind spun. He stopped hiding and moved out from behind the mirror. At that moment, the man saw Han Fei. His arms suddenly exploded with spikes as he tried to grab Han Fei. The man easily lifted Han Fei up. The man appeared to wish to see the fear in Han Fei. That was what he wanted. The spikes pierced through the skin. Blood flowed through the fur and the birthmark. Pain tortured Han Fei’s nerves, but he resisted it. To turn things around, he had to play along with the rules. When he gained enough power, he would turn from a pet into the monster. His face was cut again. The man got bored. He tossed Han Fei casually away. The giant body trundled out. The door closed. Han Fei slowly climbed up and listened to the crying.
“What was the man looking for? He looked anxious. The books on the paintings outside said that the thing mother and father are looking for is here…” Han Fei thought of a possibility. “The man was looking for his biological child, but that baby had been hidden by the director.” Han Fei held the wall and slowly tried to pinpoint the source of the crying.
“Am I the only one who can hear this?” Han Fei walked around the room before he noticed something startling. He stood before the mirror and finally confirmed that the crying had come from his stomach. As that thought crossed his mind, a child’s hand reached out of his stomach. A bloody stomach opened on his stomach. Looking at his reflection, even Han Fei was stunned.
“Is this… the exit?” Han Fei reached out to touch the mirror. The mirror’s surface rippled like water. The director’s stomach was still being torn open. The hole was widening.
“How crazy is this?”
Han Fei bent down and crawled into the director’s open stomach to find the murderous couple’s biological child. The world turned red. Han Fei felt his body being digested until all the pain disappeared. Han Fei’s eyes flew open. He realized he was back at the mental hospital, inside a strange room. Many dressers were placed inside the room. The dresser was similar to the one from the director’s memory. There were just more of them here. Han Fei opened the dresser door. The dressers were filled with various persona. The director peeled them off living patients.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve discovered the voyeur persona. This persona comes from a mental patient and has been stripped by Pure Hatred.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve discovered the daydreaming persona. This persona comes from a mental patient and has been stripped by Pure Hatred.”
The system kept pinging. At that moment, No. 2’s voice rang out again.
“Quick! It’s coming! Go deep into the room and shatter that jar!”
An intense sense of danger gripped Han Fei. He knew that the real hospital director was coming. He was at the core of the ghost territory. This was the director’s taboo. Actually, the director also didn’t expect any living human to walk out of his fear. To come to this room, one had to find the loophole in the illusion. One had to be extremely lucky to achieve that.
This person managed to weave through the illusions of endless nightmares. When did the center recruit someone like that?
When the director arrived, it was already too late. Han Fei had found the special jar. All the personas were connected to the jar. The brain inside the jar controlled everything.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve found the brain in the jar. Please bring it out of the Third Mental Hospital immediately!
“The world you see is constructed from endless memories. Everyone lives in their own jar. All the escaped souls will be crushed by fate. You are no different.”
