CH 370

“When you’re still alive, why think about death?” A horror movie actor stood face to face with a comedy actor and saw themselves in each other’s eyes. Their futures were drastically different but the path they had chosen was so eerily similar. One became the manager in the cryptic world as a living person; the other became the pillar for patients with a sickened body and mind. Both of them stood in their version of darkness and became a fleck of light in their night sky.

“I will keep on living.” The young man said with a smile on his face. “I am a very good actor if I do say so myself, you’re the first person to know my secret.” He controlled the avatar left behind by Yan Zu and looked through the messages and pictures which remained of the boy. These were all evidence of his former presence.

“You must have many similar accounts. Don’t you ever feel tired guarding over them? One day, you might collapse.” Han Fei pulled over a chair and sat down beside the young man. He could sense the bad state the young man was in. The man had no channel to vent the pain in his heart so whenever there was a new source of pain, he would suppress it deeper into his heart.

“That is the positive part about my illness. I won’t be able to feel any emotions that normal people would. Things like happiness and despair are the same to me. My heart is like an isolated city, nothing can come in but nothing can go out either.” The young man didn’t lift his head as he continued to scroll through the boy’s life, “I never talked about these thoughts of mine with others but for some reason, I feel open around you, like… you can understand what I’m feeling.”

“A 52 Hertz Whale meeting another 52 Hertz Whale?” Han Fei knew the truth, he was conversing with his own soul. In a way, this was quite a saddening truth.

“Yes, even though this is our first meeting, I feel like I have been waiting for you. It’s like the reason I’ve lived for so long is for this day to arrive, for us to meet.” The man looked through the boy’s memory. After a long time, he said, “Can you help me with a small favor?”

“Help you keep your secret?”

“No.” The man’s hollow gaze gathered with light again. “I will try my best to make sure my profile is the last to blink out in the group chat but like you said, if one night I suddenly topple over…” The young man’s heart was extremely barren, he had created so many laughs and smiles for his audience but he took in all the pain for himself. During the process of conversation with Han Fei, his speech started to become more intermittent and his fingers started to shake like he was very cold. “I hope you can inherit the account of Firefly from me. Help me preserve the trace of their existence and guide the newcomers to the group.”

“Is that what the old man told you when he handed you the managerial position of the group?”

“Yes, for us, the night is endless. Even if the world disappears, the night will still be there. Compared to the endless night, we are like easily extinguishable fireflies. We can’t rival the night sky and we can’t bring light to anyone. But we can choose the way we would like to live so that we wouldn’t be consumed by the darkness.” The correct thing to do, the knowledge of the world, the young man knew everything but understanding and treating the problem were two different issues, the comedy actor had already tried the best he could. Compared to the other patients in the group, the young man was lucky to have run into Han Fei on that night, a person who could completely empathize with him and even resonated with his soul.

After saying all that, the young man moved his gaze away from the computer screen. He looked at Han Fei seriously, waiting for his answer.

The ghost in Room 4094 had not appeared. Han Fei didn’t even know if there was a soul-summoning ritual in this room. All he did after entering the room was to converse with his own soul and now he was reaching the turning point of the conversation. Han Fei needed to make his choice and his choice would affect the subsequent choice of the owner of Room 4094.

“I can, I will help you record your account and your past but I hope that day will never come.” After Han Fei gave his promise, the young man’s expression softened. For the man who could never feel any emotions, he had never felt so relieved in his life.

“Can you give me your contact number? So that we can contact each other more easily.” The young man took out his phone. His black phone was still pinging with new messages from the chat group. The chat group was the only thing that was meaningful in his life.

Han Fei listed out the number that he had used for years. At first, the young man didn’t react that much to it but as he was about to key in the last number, his finger froze over the phone. “This number…” The young man lifted his head with disbelief and looked at Han Fei with confusion, “How do you know my phone number?” The blood from his heart rushed to his brain. The man’s skin paled. The soul who was summoned would live according to their fixed memory, trapped in their own bubble. When they realized the problem, they would slowly awaken to the fact that they were already dead.

“Not only do I know the phone number that you’ve used for 7 years, I also know that you’ve always kept this axiom on your phone—the best actor is yourself going about life.” Han Fei looked at the transformation of the young man. The temperature of Room 4094 also started to drop.

“How did you know that? I have not told anyone about that before!”

“Because you are me. There is no 2nd 52-Hertz Whale in the world, but there are 2 souls who are willing to become fireflies in the dark.” Han Fei flashed a smile similar to the one on the young man’s face. It was a kind and gentle smile, the smile that could bring people around him comfort. But only the two knew that there was a soul that couldn’t smile behind that gentle smile. “I will help you fulfill your final wish and become the new manager and protect all the patients even if my profile is the only one that remains lit inside the chat group.” Han Fei laid his hands on the young man’s shoulder. “Your goal is something that I’ve been doing. We have never given up, haven’t we?”

The temperature from Han Fei’s palms gave the young man some warmth. The shock on his face slowly turned into serenity and acceptance. His skin was losing all color. A deep strangulation mark appeared around his neck. The man had no make-up on his face but a scratch mark surfaced at the corner of his eye, giving him the appearance of a weeping clown. As more things entered his mind, the growl of a stranger erupted from the young man’s throat. His rationality was being consumed. Blood vessels bulged on his face. The young man’s appearance was starting to differ from Han Fei as his body started to shrink like he was being sucked dry.

Room 4094 morphed alongside the young man. The luxurious furniture was replaced by old and simple ones. Cracks appeared on the wall, the ceiling sunk as if it was about to crush the young man and Han Fei standing in the middle of the room. Everything only stopped when the light from the sinking ceiling almost reached the young man’s head. Room 4094 became dilapidated. The young man before Han Fei turned muddled, the glow in his eyes was gone.

The sound of cracking startled Han Fei. He whipped out his knife and turned around. He only then noticed the door of the bedroom had been pushed open and a student about 10 plus stood at the door. There was a white can placed beside his feet. The can contained white rice and yellowed paper. The yellow talisman had the name Firefly on it.

‘This student is the owner of Room 4094?’ Han Fei guarded the young man behind him and regarded the student with alertness. The boy’s head slowly lifted. He was hugging a book and a picture frame in his arms. Different from the other soul-summoning ritual, the boy didn’t use a death portrait for his ritual, instead the frame contained the picture of a gaming avatar, it was probably Firefly’s avatar.

“It was you who summoned Firefly to this place? You don’t even know his real name and appearance, why would you do this to him?” The soul who was summoned to Ziggurat was mostly living humans. In other words, the person who had the avatar of Firefly was half-dead in the real world.

“I wouldn’t be able to complete the ritual on my own.” When the boy spoke, several human faces appeared in his mouth. The faces gushed forward like waves. The torrent also caused Han Fei to fall. If they didn’t purposely avoid the young man behind Han Fei, Han Fei would be sent out the window already.

“I’ve not seen Firefly, I don’t even know his real name but he is someone very important to me and to us.” The student spoke. Han Fei saw the dead bodies in his mouth. They hid inside the darkness of the body, surrounded by shadows. Flesh and skin, they were a layer used by these people to avoid interaction with the outside world.

“Us? Are you the users from the Happiness Neighbourhood chat group?” Han Fei’s brain spun quickly, “Are you Yan Zu?”

“The group is not called Happiness Neighbourhood, there was a problem with the ritual. One of your souls has mixed into Firefly’s memory. Two memories mixed together and thus the worldview changed with it.” The student’s voice was cold like a dead body but Han Fei was thankful that the boy didn’t show direct hostility.

“You’ve seen what happened earlier. Firefly is still doing his best to fulfill his promise. My soul is someone like Firefly, we will protect this precious treasure as best as possible.” Han Fei’s soul of kindness and understanding entered Firefly’s consciousness. As Firefly’s own consciousness was about to collapse from the pressure of the ritual, it was Han Fei’s soul which saved him. Firefly was ready to accept death but Han Fei who had been in the cryptic world for so long was different. His survival spirit was strong as iron and came as a timely support for Firefly.

“If you still care about Firefly, then let me leave with him. Firefly has been searching for death but his experience here might change his perspective on things. He has been guarding the traces of your existence, so I hope you will give him the second chance to approach life.” He had to bring Firefly away to save everyone inside the building.

“We never wanted to hurt Firefly. We didn’t expect the ritual to work. Each of us has tried summoning him for the past 14 years but it never worked. But today it did. He has held onto the promise for 14 years. And today he has arrived because of you.” The boy appeared to misunderstand something. The ritual succeeded tonight because of the Butterfly and not Han Fei.

“Really?” Han Fei said to himself, “He told me something curious earlier, he hoped that I would become the new manager.” The term manager had a unique meaning in the cryptic world. When Han Fei said that, the boy’s brows twitched. But interestingly enough, the boy didn’t correct Han Fei and he didn’t continue this conversation. Instead he had Han Fei pick up Firefly’s phone. After the transformation began inside Room 4094, Firefly’s phone changed too. It became old and the broken screen was stuck on the chat group’s page. The name of the chat group was no longer Happiness Neighbourhood but a row of ‘Death’.

“This is the thing Firefly has been protecting. A whole group of us who have already been greyed out…” The boy lowered his head. Before he could finish, Firefly’s phone vibrated. The boy then saw the name of the chat group had been changed. The row of ‘Death’ had been edited to—Ziggurat’s Tenancy Right and Tenant Support Group.

When he saw the change to the name of the group, Han Fei was surprised. He looked shyly at the boy. “I was just giving it a try, I didn’t realize that the manager can edit the name directly.”