“Does the briar and dandelion represent Ah Nian’s two kids? Are the flowers his family and friends?” When Han Fei recovered, the memory was gone, and he had two wilted flowers in his hands.
“I saw a blank book, and Ah Nian held a photo album. His family is the flowers in the ghost territory.”
Han Fei flipped to the page with 5 am and placed the two flowers inside. The crying weakened. The flowers slowly disappeared into the pages.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve found the special item—the Book of Life.
“Book of Life: Every book is a person’s life. Everything you’ve experienced has been written into the book.”
Han Fei continued to walk down the garden. Every flower hoped to be taken by Han Fei. So many souls were trapped here.
Honestly, Han Fei wanted to take out Rest in Peace and pull all the souls into the abyss but it was too risky. Han Fei focused on finding the other flowers. A few minutes later, he found hops. When he picked the flower, he saw another one of Ah Nian’s memory. It was the first day Ah Nian went to work at Immortal Pharma.
The department leader was his teacher. His colleagues approved of him. This should be a good story, but as the experiments continued, Ah Nian realized he was a part of some crazy plot to create some kind of drugs. Tormented by conscience and lured in by money, Ah Nian slowly fell.
The years passed. One day at 3 am, his teacher participated in an experiment and died. The hops bloomed. Ah Nian took over his teacher’s job. He became the person responsible for the new experiment.
The hops contained part of Ah Nian’s teacher’s soul. This flower was also a part of Ah Nian’s memory. Han Fei slowly collected the flowers, and Ah Nian’s past became more complete. This tester caught in time was not a normal bystander. He was someone who was deeply involved in the experiments. When he was young, he was honest and dull. He was very lowkey as well. After joining Immortal Pharma, he became a respected scientist. He was silent and hardworking. The reason he was so focused was his two kids. They had a kind of very rare illness. He wanted to save his kids. He even volunteered to be the experiment subject. After many experiments, he noticed that his mind started to have problems. He believed everyone around him was crazy. To ensure that he didn’t lose his job, he kept this a secret. He acted like a normal person. The project continued. He also approached the core of Immortal Pharma. His family and friends started to die. Even his neighbors moved away. It felt like there was an invisible hand guiding the latter half of his life. In the end, he managed to come into contact with Immortal Pharma’s darkest secret, the black box.
“It feels like Ah Nian has been used by Gao Xing and the Butterfly. There are signs of mental control in every facet of his life….” The flowers Ah Nian told Han Fei to pick always had butterflies around them. After spending a lot of effort and time, Han Fei found most of the flowers. He only needed to find the moonflower.
“That last flower should represent the last thing Ah Nian saw.”
The path had been swallowed up by the flowers. Flowers and butterflies surrounded Han Fei. The flowers begged Han Fei to save them; the butterflies fluttered around Han Fei like they were watching him.
Han Fei felt uneasy. The ground trembled. He paused for a few seconds and then whipped his head around. The ground behind him bulged up like there was a snake underground moving toward him!
Han Fei jumped away. The ground erupted as a thick root drilled out of the ground! It was more than 10 meters wide. Strange patterns covered its skin. Smiling human heads were strung along the root. The ground softened, and Han Fei started to sink. He found it more difficult to move.
“I can’t sink!” Han Fei knew that he had been discovered. He could come back, but only if he was still alive.
The thick root chased after him. More roots crawled out of the ground!
“I still have Longevity’s blood on me. These things will attack their ally too?” Han Fei continued to have Longevity give out more blood. As fresh blood was spilled, the monsters hidden underground became more excited. However, Han Fei also found the way back with the blood. Seeing Han Fei trying to leave, the flowers latched onto him like crazy. One or two flowers wouldn’t affect Han Fei, but when it was all of them, Han Fei’s mind was filled to the brim. Human selfishness was evident here. The flowers were not evil, but if Han Fei didn’t bring them with him, they wouldn’t let him go either.
“I can’t just deny them!” Han Fei gritted his teeth and opened the greed abyss. “Since you insist on coming, then I’ll have to accept.”
The black mist stopped hiding. It instantly swallowed a lot of soul flowers!
The ghost territory was triggered. Han Fei basically challenged the Pure Hatred there. Timeflow changed. White hair appeared on Han Fei’s head. He couldn’t back away now. A few gardeners appeared at the edge of the garden. They had no faces, only tree rings. Their lower bodies were caught in the sea of flowers. Their upper bodies became like bugs. They had organs specialized in cultivating flowers.
Using Cursed Words, Han Fei intended to leave before the gardeners surrounded him. However, when he passed by the gardeners, he noticed each of them had a flower on their hearts. The flower was white and pure. It was like moonlight.
“Moonflower?”
That was the flower Han Fei was looking for. “They bloom at night and wilt in the day. They represent the ephemerality of things. They are the last flowers.” Han Fei immediately changed direction. He raised the black mist to swallow one garden. At the same time, he grabbed the flower.
Ah Nian’s most intense memory appeared in Han Fei’s mind. He stood in the sealed-up underground building. Many treatment chambers were located there. They housed dying people. The people had vessels stuck to them. The vessels were connected to a black room. It was like a giant black box.
The label on the bed marked every participant’s information. Some of them were millionaires presumed to be dead, others were patients with untreatable illnesses. There were also employees of Immortal Pharma as well as Ah Nian’s two kids. These people had signed the contract to hand their bodies over to Immortal Pharma after death. Their bodies had been separated from their souls. The machines barely kept their organs functioning.
“The immortal plan?”
A non-moving clock hung in the mysterious black room. Ah Nian inspected the chambers like usual when he heard knocking. Other than him, no one should be able to enter this space. Ah Nian looked up. The knocking came from the black room. Just as he thought he had heard wrongly, the clock started to tick again. The participants in the chambers started to bleed. The shrill siren rang out. The red light shone on Ah Nian’s face. Then he saw the black room being pushed open by bloody hands. Endless ghosts crawled out!
Nightmare descended. Ah Nian’s mind was blank. He subconsciously ran towards his children’s treatment chambers. He lay down beside his children. The memory ended there. The moonflower was made using Ah Nian’s soul.
All the flowers were collected. Words appeared in Ah Nian’s book of life but Han Fei didn’t have the time to read.
After the gardener died, Pure Hatred’s roar came from under the sea of flowers.
“Run!”
Han Fei rushed back to the security room as fast as he could.
“Brother, I’ve tried my best.”
Han Fei placed the book of life on the security room table. Ah Nian, in the window, did the same and placed the photo album there.
The past and future overlapped, and a miracle happened. The pages started to flip on their own. The wilted flowers bloomed on the pages. Laughter and cries came from the book. The people in the book came alive. They entered Ah Nian’s body, and he became more real. When his body became solid, the window cracked. The two clocks overlapped. The next second, both clocks ticked.
The security room’s glass window shattered. All the objects rapidly aged. A man in Immortal Pharma uniform escaped from the time prison!
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed the altar mission, Ah Nian. You’ve gained a lot EXP, a unique item, a caretaker Id, Ah Nian’s friendship, and trust.
“Caretaker Id: When you wear this Id, you won’t be attacked by the other caretakers and the elders. However, you still need to be careful of the doctors who have lost their minds.
“Ah Nian (Owner of the Memory Persona): God has lied to him. When he tried to awaken for the seventh time, the past memories forced him into madness. He was trapped in the past and became a toy for Pure Hatred.
“After the same minute repeated itself for 30 years, you’ve shattered that cycle. You’ve helped him achieve his seventh awakening!”
