Chapter 261: Home Sweet Home

Han Fei’s professional resume was so atrocious that Han Fei did not know what to say. He tried his best to hide his title but it always floated to the top. It felt like the system was proud that it had awarded Han Fei with this title. Looking around, the House of the Butcher where he unlocked the profession had been levelled. Cattle Alley was a lot less crowded than before as all the filth and sin were washed away by the blood waves. The hidden profession ended in Han Fei’s hands. On top of that, his profession speciality made him extra dangerous to other butchers, in a way, Han Fei had all the tools he needed to turn the butcher profession into a non-physical cultural heritage. To be fair, Han Fei wanted to have a good relationship with his colleagues, but his colleagues all wanted to kill him.

“In the future, if you’re being chased by the Butterfly and you have nowhere else to go, come here to find me. At least when you’re inside Cattle Alley, I can keep you safe.” Spider promised to protect Han Fei but at the same time, he was telling Han Fei to leave him alone unless it was literally a matter of life and death. After removing the curse from everyone, Spider strode alone back into the Cattle Alley. He seemed to plan to reconstruct this place with a new ideology.

Actually Han Fei still had many questions about Spider but Spider was in too weak of a state and he needed time to recover so Han Fei left Spider to heal. He carried Xu Qin, led everyone else and followed the direction given to him by Spider. Even though his trip to Cattle Alley this time was extremely dangerous and he almost lost his life several times, the rewards were lucrative. Han Fei not only completed his main goal of obtaining the Midnight Butcher profession, he even gained a Grade F butcher’s knife. For now, that was more than enough for Han Fei.

Other than that, he also gained a friend in Spider and found a safe house for his neighbours at Happiness Neighbourhood. The neighbours who accompanied Han Fei on this journey had great personal breakthroughs as well, among them, the change in Weep was the most obvious. After the cleansing in the blood pool, Weep was forced to face his past. His cries now could easily influence all the ghosts within 17 metres. Weep was a mini version of the Singer, Han Fei had great expectations of the boy.

Moving through the smelly alleys, Cattle Alley felt strangely homely to Han Fei after he gained the title of the Last Midnight Butcher. He didn’t feel uncomfortable traipsing through the alley, if anything, he felt at ease, like a predator prowling his hunting ground. Han Fei’s group did not leave in a hurry, they worked together to hunt down the straggling pig-faced monsters.

Compared to when Han Fei first entered the Cattle Alley, the role of prey and predator had completely inverted. The scary pig-faced monsters were now EXP bags for his neighbours, their resentment could also help them recover their wounds. Other than that, their malice could sharpen Rest in Peace and their lingering blood could be fed to the black snake. With the principle of no wastage, Han Fei left no stone unturned and turned all of his colleagues into fresh fertilizers.

During this period, he collected a lot of butcher’s knives. He’d break all of them and release the trapped souls inside. Most of the souls would escape but a small part would enter Rest in Peace. After dispatching many butchers, Han Fei realized something. Rest in Peace appeared perfectly harmless normally, it did not even look like a blade. But in reality, this blade was intensely sharp and it would only show its danger at the necessary moment. ‘The spirits of the cryptic world are once people too. With this blade, more and more people will join my ranks.’

Cattle Alley was a turning point for Han Fei. With a weapon in his hand, he had turned from defensive to offensive. When not one ‘Animal’ could be found at Cattle Alley anymore, Han Fei left unwillingly. Based on Spider’s direction, Han Fei’s group successfully left the place.

The stench in the air immediately cleared and the walls were no longer stained with blood. Han Fei looked at the beheaded stone lion at the alley entrance and he sighed to himself, “The outsiders bought by the Doctor fled at the first notice of danger, the negative energy they had would be immensely useful to us.” He might have said so but Han Fei had actually memorized the features and ability of each of those outsiders. His photographic memory meant that he would take revenge should the opportunity arise.

After exiting the alley, Han Fei looked to the roadside. The lights at the dumpling shop were all out, the doors were closed as well. “Why would the boss abandon such a good business spot?” Han Fei shoved open the closed doors, the lingering smell of meat wafted out. The utensils were left uncleaned on the table. The red lanterns on the wall looked like eyes in the dark. Han Fei walked behind the front desk and discovered an account book. The book was listed with names, they were both the customers and the food ingredients.

Then he pulled back the curtain and entered the kitchen. Han Fei saw the packets of meat which were processed at the meat packing plant in Cattle Alley. The filling of the dumplings here was made from these meat. The cursed meat would turn the eater mad with gluttony. The more they ate, the hungrier they would get until they died from having their stomachs literally burst.

“This is a consumer trap, if there ever was one.” Han Fei looked around the place for a long time before he found the warehouse used to store food items. In the warehouse, other than many strange, unidentifiable dead bodies, there were many resentment-filled objects. The most valuable items would have been taken by the boss already, but these were already good enough for Han Fei.

“I have no idea the food business can be so lucrative.” Turning back to Xu Qin, Han Fei said softly, “This place is close to Cattle Alley and relatively safe. How about we come and open a shop here after we deal with the Butterfly? With your cooking skill, it’ll be a famous eatery soon.”

Brightness crossed the red eyes. As if imagining that image, Xu Qin nodded with a smile. The neighbours sucked away the Yin energy and the leftovers were given to the snake. When it was done, it was now even larger than the anaconda.

“There are still some secrets at Cattle Alley and some of the pig-faced monsters have managed to escape, however they should be of no threat to us now. Our next focus shall be the Ziggurat.” Based on the map left behind by the previous building manager, Happiness Neighbourhood was between Cattle Alley and Ziggurat, it was still a long way to reach the Ziggurat. “I still have at least a week to prepare. I should try to reach level 15 before then.” Han Fei had no idea what the previous manager was doing at level 15 but he planned to challenge the most dangerous building in this area when he was level 15.

Due to the poor state Xu Qin was in, Han Fei did not stop to visit the other shops along the way. Using the same route he used, Han Fei took one hour before he returned to Happiness Neighbourhood. All the neighbours, including the ones from Building 2 saw Han Fei carry Xu Qin back. To save the tenant in danger, Han Fei led those willing to follow him into the abyss. He was fearless before death and managed to rescue Xu Qin even though he knew he’d be faced with the risk of dying. The tenants of Happiness Neighbourhood had been lied to many times but Han Fei now had proven with actual actions that as the building manager, he meant everything that he said.

“Notification for Player 0000! Your action has gained the approval of all the tenants at Happiness Neighbourhood! Friendliness level with all the tenants increases by 3. Hopefully, you’ll keep on working to improve and advance the standard of living at Happiness Neighbourhood!”