CH 440

The mall was dark and creepy after midnight. “Aren’t you two going to follow me?” Han Fei chided after he noticed the 2 guards hesitate. “I’m going to the 3rd floor.” The two loansharks hesitated for a long time before they decided to follow. Han Fei was confused by their hesitation because these 2 didn’t work here, they shouldn’t know about the scary things that happened here.

He turned back and saw the man with the scar used his single arm to pick up the sunflower seed shells and collect them inside a plastic back. The spot they occupied earlier was spotless. The newspaper they sat on was cleared away and not one sunflower seed could be seen. “You loansharks are quite principled.” Perhaps because Han Fei had taught them a lesson they didn’t dare to dirty his place.

“Stop mislabeling us.” The fatty shook his cast. “We are in the financial business, offering aid to small businesses and individuals…” The fatty was interrupted by the other man. He glared viciously like a lone wolf in the snow but then the swaying plastic bag ruined that illusion.

“Temporarily, I won’t be able to return you the money so if you insist on following me, then we would be spending some time together.” Han Fei waited for the 2 loansharks. That way, if there was danger, he could push them forward. “What are your names? It’s best that we get to know each other.” The man with the scar’s forehead pounded but there was nothing he could do.

“My name is Lee Hu, and he is my big brother, Lee Long. We are orphans and grew up on the street.” The fatty answered. He didn’t think sharing their names would pose any problem. The young man wouldn’t be able to kill them with just their names after all. The man with the scar coughed and stared sternly at Han Fei. “Kid, I know you are a good fighter but if you don’t return the money, we will follow you forever like a pair of ghosts! Even if you return home, we’ll disturb you. No matter what you do, we will not let you out of our sight.”

“My rental place is rather cursed, if you’re not afraid, then sure. By the way, do you have more members? I saw from movies that gangs like yours often have large groups.” Han Fei asked sincerely but Lee Long thought he was mocking him. Lee Long scoffed and then stopped talking.

With the 2 brothers accompanying him, Han Fei wasn’t that nervous anymore. Previously he needed to run faster than the ghost to survive but now he only needed to run faster than these two. With this in mind, his mood points slowly rose back to normal. The elevator was out of service so they walked to the 3rd floor. This was the first time Han Fei entered the inside of the mall. The shopping area of the mall appeared so deserted at night. He took out his phone and the 3 of them appeared deserted in the darkness.

‘Why would Huang Li come to the 3rd floor and where are those 2 guards?’ Han Fei didn’t forget about the strange looks those two guards had yesterday night. They were probably not humans anymore. ‘The two guards hurried to check on the sound yesterday night. When they returned, something had changed within them.’

Han Fei had no idea where Huang Li went so he moved towards the direction of the sound earlier. On the 3rd floor, every shop had mannequins showcasing the latest fashion. As Han Fei’s group walked past, it felt like the mannequins were looking at them.

‘I must be careful, perhaps not all are mannequins.’ The flashlight hit the window, lighting up the plastic mannequin as well as Han Fei’s reflection.

“Aren’t you a worker at the 2nd hand shop, why are you doing the job of the mall guard? Can you just mind your own business?” Lee Long whispered. One of his arms was broken, he felt very insecure.

“I also don’t want to take on extra work but have you seen the guard around?” Han Fei walked ahead. Lee Long used his hand to pull on the fatty’s shoulder and they slowed down. Noticing this, Han Fei frowned. “I am curious. Did you two work here before? You seem to be afraid of this place. Do you know something?” Han Fei was very sensitive. Just from their small actions, he could see the problem. He grabbed Lee Long and asked with a smile.

“The both of us lived on the streets so we do know some legends about this place.” Lee Long glanced at the centre of the mall. “When the mall was being built, a woman fell from the 3rd floor, she was impaled by the exposed steel pipes. She died horribly.”

“Was it an accident?”

“I heard from the aunties that the dead woman was the mall boss’ ex-wife. The boss and his wife were not locals. They had a business along the coast when they were young, the boss had a 2nd hand shop while the woman had a fashion business. The boss’ shop had very little business but the woman’s shop was very popular. In fact she managed to open several chains.” Lee Long looked unapproachable but he knew quite a bit of gossip.

“What happened next?”

“The boss pursued the woman and then they got married. However, after the marriage, the situation turned around. The woman’s chain stores started to close one after another due to various reasons. In contrast, the man’s 2nd hand shops became more and more popular. He also became luckier and his business expanded. After they divorced, the man brought his money home and opened up this mall.” Han Fei was surprised that the mall had such a deep history. He slowed down and listened carefully. “After the project for the mall started, strange things kept happening but the boss had suppressed all of them, including the woman who purposely came to the mall’s construction site to kill herself. According to rumors, she sneaked into the site after midnight wearing all red and very thick makeup.

“No one knew what happened between the two but after the boss found out about the woman, he hurried back from another state. The woman was sent to the hospital but it was already too late. Based on what the doctor said, the boss was very sad. He hugged the cold body and started to weep. The boss was a philanthropist so everyone consoled him, telling him to look towards the future.

“The strange thing was, after his ex-wife died, the construction of the mall became so smooth and the accidents ceased. Slowly people forgot about it. However, the people here said that the boss made the 3rd floor the female fashion floor in memory of his ex-wife.

“After the death of his ex-wife, the boss became an even bigger philanthropist. He even became famous for it. He started his own foundation and donated many things to help the orphans. Everyone had good things to say about him.”

After Lee Long was done, Lee Hu added, “After you’re on the streets long enough, you’ll know that you shan’t ever target the mall’s boss. Even the seniors of the underworld told us to stay away from this mall.”

“Huh? Why would they say that?” Han Fei was intrigued. “Do they know some secrets about this mall?”

They walked forward when the light from Han Fei’s phone flickered. At that moment, Han Fei saw a person standing not far ahead. “Huang Li?” Han Fei called out softly. There was no answer but it frightened the two loansharks. “Did you see someone?”

“I believe so.” Han Fei slowly moved towards the spot where the figure was standing. Suddenly his body froze! He slowly turned his head around. Han Fei looked from the corner of his eyes and then his face colored with shock. He whipped his body around and aimed the light from his phone on the window of one of the shops.

Between 2 mannequins stood Huang Li in a red dress. She leaned against the window! Her face was pale which highlighted her bright red lips. Her eyes were round and wide!

As the 3 men staggered backwards, their hearts raced.

“Sister Huang? Sister Huang!” Han Fei screamed. Huang Li appeared to have just woken up from sleepwalking when she heard Han Fei’s voice. She fainted to the ground. Han Fei approached with his phone but at that moment, there was a sound from the shop next door. It sounded like the curtains of a dressing room being yanked off.

“Look after her!” Holding his phone, Han Fei rushed into the next shop. Out of the 4 dressing rooms, only 3 of them had curtains. Han Fei raised his phone and slowly inched into the shop. The curtains of the dressing room fluttered like there was someone behind them. The darkness thickened. The light from the phone could only reach so far.

Han Fei’s hand went into his pocket to grab the bladeless blade. He slowly moved towards the 4th dressing room, there was no one inside but a bunch of new red clothes. Han Fei took a step back because his mood points started to drop for no reason. And then it really started to plummet. He had not encountered something like this before. Without any hesitation, Han Fei ran out of the shop. As he ran, Han Fei glanced at the mirrors on the walls.

In the darkness, other than Han Fei, the mirror also reflected dressing room 4. Among the pile of red clothes stood a woman facing away from Han Fei. Her chest was hollow and her finger kept on writing the character death inside the dressing room.

As he rushed out from the shop, Han Fei shouted, “Quick, we need to head downstairs!” However, the two loansharks didn’t move. “What’s wrong?”

“I… think she’s dead…” The fatty stammered. Even though he was a loanshark and often got into fights, he had never seen an actual dead person before!

“If she is dead, she wouldn’t be able to stand up alone earlier.” Han Fei sounded very professional. He didn’t abandon Huang Li. He grabbed her and ran out of the shop. The 3 of them raced downstairs. Han Fei could feel Huang Li’s body temperature dropping and her heart was weakening.

“Do you guys come in a car? Quick, we need to send her to the hospital!” Han Fei’s mood points was only 20 plus. He couldn’t leave the mall so he had to rely on the two loansharks.

“How do you expect us to drive?” Lee Long shook his broken arm.

Han Fei carried Huang Li to the back of the mall. Han Fei called the emergency number. About 10 minutes later, an ambulance drove through the darkness. “I need the 2 of you to send her to the hospital, I will return you the money as soon as possible!”

After getting Han Fei’s promise, Lee Long had his brother accompany Huang Li to the hospital while he stayed to watch over Han Fei. After the ambulance left the mall, Han Fei received a system notification.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve triggered a random mission—Money.

“Money: If one day you can use money to buy a person’s life, what choice will you make?

“Mission requirement: Reach the Third People Hospital before dawn and make the right choice.”

Han Fei didn’t rush into action but instead pulled over a chair to sit before the shop. “Lee Long, if we cycle to the Third People Hospital, how long will it take for us to reach there?”

“About half an hour. Why did you want to know?”

“No reason.” Han Fei temporarily didn’t mean to leave the mall, he needed to wait for his mood points to rise back to 50 first. ‘The altar owner’s mother is at Third People Hospital. Looks like I’ll have to be prepared.’ Han Fei stared at his character profile. While he waited for his mood points to recover, lights suddenly came on the 5th floor. Then it was followed by Lee Daxing’s voice, he was shouting his partner’s name. ‘The man is still alive?! Then where was he when we were on the 3rd floor?’

Soon Lee Daxing ran down from the 5th floor, his face was filled with fear and anxiety. When he saw Han Fei, he said, “Did you see Ma Yang? The guard who worked the shift with me yesterday.”

“No, what’s wrong with him?” Han Fei shook his head.

“He has gone missing! We were patrolling the 5th floor and he was suddenly gone!” Lee Daxing’s face was pale and there was blood on his lips. His hand that held the flashlight was clammy.

“Don’t panic.” Han Fei held Lee Long and took a step back. “I’m sure he’s still around the mall somewhere, probably using the toilet.”