Chapter 249: Reunion at the House

Han Fei’s eyes never left Wu Zui’s back as he took out his phone from his pocket, the recording function had been left open. He repeated that statement by Wu Zui several times--“He said I am the Butterfly, I was the reason he couldn’t win the Butterfly and I was also the reason he won’t lose to the Butterfly.” Spider’s life was free of any ties until Wu Zui’s appearance. He both wanted to kill and protect this child, the complexity of schizophrenia was fully manifested in reference to this child.

“Wu Zui? My sin?” Han Fei had no idea why Spider would give the child such a name, in fact, there were still many things about the writer that he did not understand. ‘Looks like I’ll have to meet the writer in person in the cryptic world to get down to the truth. However, I did get some valuable information today, Spider did not lose to Butterfly, one of the biggest reasons was he stayed true to his principle. Spider’s life was incomplete, he lacked love and protection. Based on Wu Zui’s statement, Spider did not dare to love and had nothing to protect. He was like an observer standing at the crossroads of different worlds. He observed everything with detachment, it was how he managed to come up with books like The Cattle Alley. However, with Wu Zui’s appearance, Spider started to reassess himself. The scale that carried the two worlds in his eyes started to tip. It was because of Wu Zui that the House of The Butcher came into being. The first book is about the world viewed from without and the second book is the world viewed from within.’

Holding his script, Han Fei stared at the empty corridor. He tried to see things from Spider’s perspective. ‘Spider did not kill the Butterfly but he did not harm his own son either. Perhaps from the perspective of a father, not losing meant winning.’

When the wind chime rang, Han Fei put his phone away. Like Wu Zui, Han Fei stared at the wind chime silently. He was suddenly reminded of the writer’s room in the cryptic world. Just to give it a try, Han Fei pulled over a chair, stood up and his hands searched the part of the ceiling around the wind chime. Han Fei found a well-hidden compartment!

If not for something being hidden inside the writer’s room in the cryptic world, Han Fei never would have suspected something would be there in the real life variation as well. Removing the board, instead of a shower of dead butterflies, there was only a black and white picture inside the hidden compartment.

There were 10 chairs placed around the table and the table had 10 dining sets but there were only Spider and Wu Zui in the picture. They were seated at opposite ends of the table, looking at each other. ‘Can this count as a family portrait?’ In real life, Spider’s manuscript wasn’t found inside the hidden compartment but only this picture. Han Fei wiped away dust on the picture and he noticed each of the chairs was numbered. Most of the number was crossed out, the ones that were not were 3, 5, and 9.

‘Number 3 is the doctor, 5 is the teacher and 9 is the reader. Is this a hint that Butterfly is hidden among one of them?’ There was also another possibility, these could be the personas that Butterfly had not eliminated in their journey to eliminate Spider. In any case, Han Fei personally leaned towards the former. The picture was a huge clue for Han Fei. When he returned to the cryptic world, he would focus on these 3 personas.

Han Fei kept the picture with him. Han Fei returned to the set because the break was already over. As his understanding of Spider grew, Han Fei’s character became even livelier. His character was only a small one in the movie but the whole centre had started to move towards him. Han Fei, the actor, had something mysterious and alluring about him. When he was in the character, he presented not a one-dimensional persona that appeared before the camera as a whole world shrouded in darkness.

As the sun set, the wind chime on the 4th floor rang again and the tenants started to lock their doors. For them this wind chime was a sign of misfortune.

Han Fei, who never worked overtime, left with the police after notifying Director Zhang. On the way home, Han Fei asked Li Xue to teach him how to use a knife. However, in today’s society, even the police rarely used cold steel. Their training focused mainly on how to disarm the enemy so Li Xue couldn’t provide much help. Instead, she taught him more advanced fighting skills. With Soul-depth Touch, Han Fei could have physical contact with spirits so close-quarter combat skill was very useful to him.

Han Fei reached home at around 8 pm. He inspected every corner of his room. After ensuring there was no outsider, he locked the door and windows. After searching for knife-wielding videos online, Han Fei ordered a set of blunt heavy knives. They couldn’t be used to harm people, they were mostly for practice. With the fridge stuffed with water and compressed food, as well as various weapons stored around the house, Han Fei’s guests wouldn’t think this was the home of an actor but more like the house of an apocalypse prepper.

At midnight, after connecting all the wires, Han Fei laid in bed and put on the gaming helmet. Blood enveloped the world and Han Fei’s consciousness was yanked out of his body.

The delicious smell of meat woke him up. When Han Fei opened his eyes, he saw the bloody floor and several gazes turned to look at him.

“Boss!” Drake was sitting on the ground. The blood on the store uniform that he wore had turned from red to black. Bite marks and scratches were visible on his skin. Lee Zai laid down beside him and hugged Weep’s urn. His thin body had several new wounds. The blood on his body had dried, forming a thin layer of black armor. It was clear that these two had gone through many battles for the past few days, bloody was not enough to describe their state.

“How did you two reach this place?” Han Fei reached to hold Drake’s hands. He was worried about them. His original plan tonight included going out to find them.

“We were actually loitering at the outer limit of the alley but the number of monsters suddenly skyrocketed yesterday. We had no choice but to run deeper into the alley to escape from them. Just as we thought it was over, she arrived to help us.” Lee Zai nudged his lips towards the kitchen, as if warning Han Fei of the woman who called the kitchen her home. He was afraid of Xu Qin.

“She went out to find you guys after I left yesterday?” Han Fei was shocked. But then Xu Qin had also once rescued Meng Si’s grandson. So she was quite nice towards her neighbours from Happiness Neighbourhood.

“I initially refused to follow her but I was no match for her.” Lee Zai picked up the urn. “A lot of lingering spirits and negative spirits are collected inside the urn. Even though everyone has been injured, we’ve improved quite a bit as well. The monsters at the alley have some kind of unique negative energy on them, they’re extremely cruel and brutish. This place is like heaven for my younger brother, Lee Huo. He had feasted all along the way. I believe you wouldn’t be able to recognize him now.” Lee Zai and Lee Huo shared a body. The big brother was the brain, the younger brother the brawn.

Hearing that, Han Fei turned to Drake. The latter understood his meaning instantly. A beast aspect appeared in his single eye. With the buff from the beast aspect, the presence from Drake became more brutal and oppressive. Being stared at by the single eye for too long and one’s mind would be disrupted.

All of his colleagues and neighbours had increased in power level. Taking in Drake and Lee Zai’s new state, Han Fei felt much better. ‘Finally, it feels like I am playing an Iyashikei game.’