Chapter 189: 15 Deaths and 15 Rebirths

Only by killing Ma Manjiang that Han Fei had the hope to clear this mission, coincidentally that should be Jin Sheng’s biggest wish as well. As the chill wind crawled into his sleeves, Han Fei stared darkly at Ma Manjiang’s monstrous face. Compared to Han Fei, Ma Manjiang appeared perfectly at ease since everything was within his control. Han Fei was like a bug caught in his palm, no matter how hard he struggled, he was not going to escape.

‘Using different faces, Ma Manjiang has managed to gain the trust of most people at this school. Be it physical strength or number of supporters, he has the advantage over me but…’ With bloodshot eyes, Han Fei stared daggers at his nemesis. Ma Manjiang could kill Han Fei as many times as he liked but as long as Han Fei still had shreds of his memory left, then he would have the chance to turn the table around. ‘I need to prepare adequately before I launch my attack because that single attack has to be fatal. I need to use every resource available to me to construct a stage that will leave Ma Manjiang dead!’

The fear faded away. The more Han Fei got to know Jin Sheng’s memory world, the greater Han Fei’s desire to kill Ma Manjiang. This bloody monster deserved this punishment. Footsteps came from outside the infirmary. Ma Manjiang was still staring at Han Fei from the 4th floor so it had to be someone else.

“Teacher Ma said that there is a thief hiding inside the infirmary! Guys, come with me! We have to protect our school! We mustn’t let him get away!” Lee Xun and a few students’ voices came from the corridor. After hearing that, Han Fei jumped out the window and slid down the pipe. This place was not safe anymore. When he landed on the ground and looked up, despite the grey fog, Han Fei was certain that Ma Manjiang had moved away from his post.

‘The manager mission requires me to locate Jin Sheng. To stop me from doing that, Ma Manjiang would definitely head towards the hostel and consume Jin Sheng first. Of course, that is if the hostel manager was not lying to me earlier.’ Han Fei ran away from the office building. He knew Lee Xun and the students would reach him soon. He gave himself about 10 minutes.

‘Chuxia should be still at the gym. To get there, I have to pass the back entrance. Perhaps I’ll run into Ol’ Lee this time.’ To confuse his pursuers, Han Fei leaped into the education block, raced down the corridor and came out from the other side. Then he headed straight towards the back entrance. This time Han Fei finally encountered Ol’ Lee. The gentleman was in his guard uniform. Despite his age, the guard was well-dressed and radiated warmth. ‘The Ol’ Lee in Jin Sheng’s memory is not much different from Ol’ Lee in real life, only this Ol’ Lee looks much younger. Considering Jin Sheng’s age, I guess every adult will look younger than their actual age.’

In the grey and dim world, Ol’ Lee’s appearance was like a ray of light.

“Sir, I’m a new transfer teacher at this school, I need your help.”

“What is it?” The guard stopped his work and turned attentively to Han Fei.

“Were you in the security room around 1 pm yesterday?”

“I was supposed to be there but Teacher Ma had me go and fix the school fence. Many students like to skip over it to head into the back mountain, it’s too dangerous.”

“Ma Manjiang was purposely sending you away. During that time period, he has assaulted a female student.” Han Fei told Ol’ Lee the truth directly, “You’ll understand once you take a look at the security recording of that time. Now, Ma Manjiang is looking all over for me to prevent me from telling on him.”

“Impossible! Teacher Ma will not do something like that.” Ol’ Lee shook his head vehemently. In his mind, Ma Manjiang was a very honest and upstanding human being.

“The girl cannot even summon her courage to return to her classroom now. She has to find a secluded corner because she doesn’t dare to face other people.” Han Fei dragged Ol’ Lee towards the gym. They soon discovered Chuxia, “Don’t say anything, just follow my lead.”

Without Zhang Guanxing around, Chuxia was conspicuously harder to approach but thankfully Han Fei had dealt with the girl before. Using his photographic memory, he repeated every word that he told Chuxia in his previous loop. He knew which terms to use to endear himself to the girl. They only conversed for a while but Han Fei’s every word seemed to land on Chuxia’s heart. The girl’s heart slowly opened but it was still difficult to retrieve the pair of scissors.

“Ol’ Lee, is there any place that is good for hiding at this school? Everyone at this school has gone crazy. They all fell for Ma Manjiang’s trick and we can’t let them harm this girl any further.” Only by gaining access to Chuxia’s scissors that Han Fei had the chance to injure Ma Manjiang. To do that, he needed more time.

After meeting Chuxia in person, Ol’ Lee finally believed Han Fei. “How about you leave the school grounds for now? It’s unwise to stay around.”

“Leave the school?” Once Han Fei heard that suggestion, even his tone changed.

“But Teacher Ma has confiscated the key to the back entrance. The key to the front gate is with another guard, I can go help you get it from him.” Ol’ Lee claimed like this was nothing big, but it had gained Han Fei’s great attention. ‘Something’s not right. Jin Sheng views this school as a prison. He only chose death because he found no other way to escape the Butterfly’s torment.’ Then it dawned on Han Fei. The manager mission was built on the manager’s memory. To complete the mission, the player had to fulfill the manager’s wish and undo their regret.

The building manager’s mission required Han Fei to kill all the ghosts and rescue all the humans, that was the building manager’s biggest wish when he was young. Jin Sheng was trapped inside Yi Ming Private Academy and placed under the Butterfly’s constant torment. His biggest wish was to tear off all of Ma Manjiang’s fake faces and deliver punishment onto this monster. After that, he yearned to leave this horrible place behind. ‘I believe I understand how to go about this manager mission now.’

After meeting all the victims, a complete plan formed in Han Fei’s mind. The key to this plan was on Chuxia. Only after he retrieved the scissors that the rest of the mission could carry on. ‘Ma Manjiang thinks everything will go smoothly after he consumes Jin Sheng and stays guard around the hostel building. However, I will make use of this confidence in him to undermine his plan from within.’ Han Fei turned to Ol’ Lee. “Sir, can you go and get the front gate’s key first? I’ll bring Chuxia to go hide for now. We’ll meet around the front gate after another half an hour.”

“Okay.”

After Ol’ Lee left, Han Fei led Chuxia to the school cafeteria. He revealed his gentlest side to Chuxia and tried many different methods to provide Chuxia with strength to heal the wounds on her. The psychology books that he read finally came into good use. Han Fei was able to empathize deeper with Chuxia as they conversed further. However, soon the other students arrived.

From Ma Manjiang’s perspective, he was the king at this school. He was free to do anything he wanted to here. He had no idea there existed something at this school that could harm him. To ensure that Ma Manjiang was not made privy to the secret within Chuxia, the moment they were in any kind of danger, Han Fei would choose his own death to end the game.

His 3rd death was because they were surrounded inside the cafeteria by the students.

His 4th death was because Han Fei was captured by Lee Xun when the latter was patrolling around the school.

His 5th death was because the students’ parents were persuaded by Ma Manjiang to hunt down Han Fei. They eventually found Han Fei among the bushes.

His 6th death was because Han Fei was captured by Ma Manjiang’s sons.

His 7th death was because Chuxia and Han Fei had accidentally come across Ma Manjiang, and Chuxia screamed. To protect her secret, Han Fei had to kill himself.

His 8th death was because Han Fei got his leg broken by another security guard when he was trying to save Ol’ Lee who was in trouble…

The deaths brought with them intense and real pain. But after each death, Han Fei would reappear before Chuxia like a guardian angel. He’d smile at her like he had all the time in the world for her. His every rebirth was like a repeat counselling session with Chuxia. Death and rebirth had never walked so close before!

After the 15th death, after experiencing 15 heart-rending pain, Han Fei once again appeared before Chuxia. He was still as kind as ever, but even his body started to crack now.

“Chuxia…” Every single word that came out from Han Fei’s mouth was carefully chosen. They were washed in blood and death. After 15 different attempts and intensive counselling, Chuxia finally was ready to face the ugly truth. Self-abasement, despair, pain and weakness were slowly replaced by hatred. The cracks around Chuxia’s heart started to fall off. In a gesture of faith, she reached into her heart to pull out the scissors and handed them to her personal guardian angel.