Due to the circumstances the ghosts at Happiness Neighbourhood and Yi Ming Private Academy met, it was hard for them to accept and befriend one another, thankfully, they had a shared enemy—the Butterfly. Han Fei actually was not born with the gift of the gab. The reason he gained everyone’s approval was because the things he planned were able to meet everyone’s requirements. The tragedies that happened at Yi Ming Private Academy was thanks to the Buttterfly. The first thing Han Fei did when he arrived at the school was to heavily injure Ma Manjiang and snip down the Butterfly’s wings, avenging everyone. This greatly earned him the respect of the natives at Yi Ming Private Academy. He did not need to use words to convince anyone to side with him because his actions spoke louder than words.
There had been no interaction between Happiness Neighbourhood and Yi Ming Private Academy. A sudden interaction would inadvertently result in war. But what if they were given a shared goal?
The Ziggurat was the most dangerous building in this district. For the people at Yi Ming Private Academy, the blue butterfly might have returned to the Ziggurat. Only by killing the butterfly that they could really end all the pain and despair. For the tenants of Happiness Neighbourhood, the Ziggurat might contain a gap that led to the surface world. If they could leave through it, they could see their killers being punished in person and migrate to a safer environment. The Unspeakable, the Singer appeared to have targeted Happiness Neighbourhood. Exploring the Ziggurat meant securing a back-up plan for themselves. Their hope for survival was hidden at the Ziggurat. Both parties had the same goal, Han Fei only needed to have them see that.
He did not lie or omit anything. He used the most direct and sincere tone to explain everything, he showed that he was doing things for everyone’s benefits. His understanding was soon reciprocated. The tenants from Happiness Neighbourhood and natives from Yi Ming Private Academy stopped their conflict, in fact, they had started to work to accept one another.
“I will share my thoughts with Jin Sheng. To deal with the Butterfly, cooperation is the only way to go.” Han Fei stood in the eerie corridor, surrounded by ghouls but he showed no fear. His mind was clear and his words flowed cleanly. A normal person would have a hard time imagining this was someone who suffered from severe social anxiety just weeks ago and would have breathing difficulty at crowded places. After Han Fei clarified everything and ensured that there would be no problems, he dragged Ol’ Lee to the side.
Su Mengting’s diary mentioned Ol’ Lee, he was the only person to have helped her when she was alive. Su Mengting appeared to have retained her last kindness thanks to the night security guard. Jin Sheng’s class teacher had a good impression of Ol’ Lee as well. It was after Ol’ Lee’s death in real life that she started to harbour suspicion towards Ma Manjiang. They were all kind people before their deaths.
Without knowing much, Ol’ Lee stood forth to back Han Fei. Then they all entered the infirmary on the 2nd floor of the office building. Han Fei opened the cupboard door to summon Jin Sheng. Covered in strange words and radiating intense curse energy, once Jin Sheng appeared, none of the ghosts, including the ones from Happiness Neighbourhood, dared to say anything. This went to show how scarily powerful Jin Sheng was. Unfortunately, he could only maintain his sanity 1 minute each day. After accepting Ma Manjiang’s lingering spirit and taking his revenge, Jin Sheng’s state was better than before.
His eyes were still filled with cursed words but underneath those words, there was a barely discernible clarity like the boy was slowly reconstructing his true self. Han Fei summarized his plan for Jin Sheng. After Jin Sheng nodded his agreement, he tossed out a piece of paper from inside the cupboard. “These are the info I got from Ma Manjiang, they should be able to help.” The cupboard door closed and everything returned to normal. Only then, the ‘people’ behind Han Fei dared to speak.
“Sir, what did it say?” Zhang Guanxing leaned over curiously to look. He noticed the lack of color on Han Fei’s face so he lowered his head to read the paper. On the wrinkled white paper, it said, “Do not enter any room with Door Number 4 at the Ziggurat.
“The people at the Ziggurat will never visit Cattle Alley.
“The butterflies that reside in people’s hearts come to this world via the Ziggurat. They know the way through.
“The cowardly ones are the first to die at the Ziggurat.
“All tenants at the Ziggurat are not allowed to leave after midnight.
“Whenever a ghost enters the Ziggurat, they will be deposited at random locations.
“It is confirmed that there is at least one tenant at the Ziggurat which has already placed a curse on you. It might take as short as 7 days or as long as a month for the curse to take effect and you’ll die without warning.”
Most of the information on the paper was about the Ziggurat. Han Fei’s face was dark because he read the last 2 paragraphs. Entering the Ziggurat would teleport and drop one at random locations, that meant that no matter how many help Han Fei brought with him to the Ziggurat, they would be separated once they stepped into Ziggurat’s grounds. However, Han Fei found a loophole. ‘Ma Manjiang only mentioned the rules working on the ghosts but he did not mention it affecting cursed objects as well. In fact, the bride probably came to ask the paper doll for help because the doll was itself a cursed object. Sister Xu Qin is a curse amalgamation, so she won’t be separated from me if I bring her with me. Oh right, there’s also that Can of Wishes and the Mirror God at Happiness Neighbourhood.’
The second problem though was much harder to tackle than the first one. Han Fei had no idea how to deal with the curse which was supposedly already on him. There were so many cursed objects in the cryptic world that it was not surprising that there would be ghosts who specialized in curses. He just did not expect someone had already targeted him without him even realizing it.
‘I’m only at a mere level 9, in other games, I would be killing slimes around the starting village!’ Han Fei felt that he was not even playing the same game as the previous manager. If the previous manager had the hard difficulty, he had the hellish difficulty. The info Jin Sheng got from Ma Manjiang was immensely helpful. Han Fei knew he did not have much time to waste. His goal was to collect as many cursed objects as he could to find out the level delineation among cursed objects in preparation to head towards the Ziggurat.
After leaving the infirmary, Han Fei led the tenants of Happiness Neighbourhood on a tour of Yi Ming Private Academy. After knowing he had been cursed, Han Fei needed to do everything within his power to get stronger as fast as possible. With his title of Patrolling Teacher, he searched through the school ground carefully and he accepted any mission that he could find. After completing the Grade F Manager Mission, he had tripled the experience. However, he was still quite a way from reaching level 10.
Currently, he still had another active Grade F Hidden Mission—Jin Sheng’s Tales of Horror. Grade F Missions were for players between level 10 to 20 so if he completed the hidden mission now, he would gain extra experience as well. Han Fei made his calculation as he checked the experience bar. If he could complete that Hidden Mission that night, he should be able to reach level 10. With that in mind, he no longer felt that nervous. For players of Perfect Life, level 10 was a dividing boundary. After gaining a profession, the player would enter a new stage of life.
With more than a few lingering spirits following him, Han Fei was a completely different person from when he first entered Yi Ming Private Academy. A normal Grade G Mission was nothing for him now. 3 hours later, Han Fei successfully finished the 3 remaining ghost stories at Yi Ming Private Academy—the Red uniform, the library book loaned from the dead, and the hand in the cafeteria counter.
After he had Lee Zai and Drake forcibly yanked the hand out from the cafeteria counter, the system voice finally arrived. “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve successfully challenged all 7 ghost stories at Yi Ming Private Academy! You’ve obtained 1 free skill points! Friendliness level with Jin Sheng increases by 10, you are the only person who knew Jin Sheng was not lying!
“Hidden Mission completion rate is over 90 percent! Congratulation for completing a mission beyond your current level, you’ve gained triple the EXP and a unique mission title, Ghost Stories Challenger
“Ghost Stories Challenger (Unique Grade F Title): Gain 1 Stamina Point! Maximum mental threshold increases by 10! Resistance against ghost stories-based cursed objects increase by 10!
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve reached level 10. You’ve obtained 1 free attribute point. You’re one step closer to achieving your perfect life!
“Notification for Player 0000! The tab for life profession system has been officially unlocked! Please select a suitable profession for yourself as soon as possible!
“Warning! A player can have many side professions but only one main profession! Only by setting the choice profession as the main one that all of its talents and ability will be applied to the player!”
The moment Han Fei reached level 10, it felt like something had been unshackled within his mind. His brain could move quicker and his five senses became more sensitive. These were changes beyond the menu. Han Fei was now in a very curious state, a state that he had not experienced before. He felt like he had full control of things, the world was his oyster!