CH 453

Standing on the wooden table on the 7th floor, Han Fei had the abyss behind him. This was the first time he was so cornered since he entered the memory world. The shadows were like rising sea water, attempting to submerge Han Fei. Soon the mall would lose everything that glowed.

“I know you’ve experienced something similar but if you don’t break this cycle, the tragedy will continue and no one can break the curse.” Pain came from his legs. Bloody fingers grabbed the edge of the table. Worms that crawled out from the rotten skin bit at Han Fei’s legs. There were too many scary things hidden in the dark. Even for Han Fei who had survived in the cryptic world for so long, he couldn’t describe the ugliness of the monsters at the mall. “Have you all lost your mind?” Han Fei could feel the shadows at the mall were imperfect. They were incomplete, they were missing parts of their soul or body.

Some of them had no brain and their heads were stuffed with wooden splinters; some were excellent chefs but they could only cook with human flesh; the customers on the 5th floor had retained their human shapes but they had lost their humanity. “What is wrong with all of you?”

The banners at the ceiling turned to black hair and giant eyeballs stared down at Han Fei, he was the only sane person at the mall. When the whole world was crazy, the sane person was the odd one out.

Darkness invaded and madness spread. Han Fei was forced closer to the edge!

Dong! The bell chimed inside the mall shrouded in darkness, it was like a call from hell. The jumpers on the first floor started to spread. Their expressions took on great sincerity. The old man whose head was filled with wooden chips knelt to the ground. He placed his hands before him and stuck his face to the ground; Beside the old man was a pretty-looking girl. She was tall but there appeared to be some problem with her brain because her expression was lifeless. Her limbs were tied with ropes like a puppet; behind the girl was a drunkard. He was covered in mud and his clothes were bound with long hair.

Dong! The giant advertisement banner strung in the middle of the mall started to bleed. As the blood froze to blackness, the banner which was about 40 metres large started to slide downwards like a black cloth covering the Earth!

Dong!

The moment the black cloth fell, a black altar appeared on the 1st floor of the mall. The altar was severe and intense. It ascended beyond all the darkness, no one dared to look at it.

Accompanied by the oppressive bell chimes, the wooden doors of the altar slowly opened. The screams and wails stopped. Behind the black doors, pairs of trapped arms reached out. Inside the altar was like a world made up from arms. Like a flower blossoming, enveloped among the endless palms was an arm carved with human faces. The human faces on the arm took on Han Fei’s appearance. When the arm lifted up, all the darkness rushed at Han Fei!

The mall trembled and Han Fei’s world collapsed. His soul and consciousness were grabbed by that arm. An invisible force was pulling him towards the abyss!

He couldn’t resist. When a person had completely fallen, any word was pointless. No one could save him, no persuasion or comfort was going to work, at that moment, death became the only salvation. His feet moved. He stepped on the edge of the rails. His body slowly tipped forward, he was about to fall with the world!

The hand that reached out from inside the altar held Han Fei’s heart and drilled into his skull. The fingers covered in blood and sin pierced into his soul.

Dong!

The bell shook people’s souls. As Han Fei felt like he was about to get dragged into the altar, the memory in his mind actively separated itself out. Perhaps it was his subconscious coming into being or it was his 3 souls, the split memory escaped from his mind carrying his most unfortunate and negative emotions. It slammed into the palm of the hand. An evil and cold soul was grabbed by the arm painted with human faces. As the bell chimed, the Evil Soul replaced Han Fei to jump down from the 7th floor!

Han Fei watched his other self fall down. The man’s eyes were filled with evil and madness, instead of saying he was being dragged away, it was more like he had volunteered to embrace the darkness and despair.

‘The altar has taken away one of my souls!’ Han Fei didn’t make any deal with the altar, but the deal was forced into completion. The Evil Soul was grabbed by endless hands. They tore at him madly, melting him into the endless darkness inside the altar. The crazy world was still mutating. The arms from the altar spread everywhere, none of the figures dared to raise their heads.

Just as the altar’s attention moved away from Han Fei, a light crack came from his chest. Han Fei looked down and he noticed the children’s wooden doll which he had hidden in his pocket was covered in cracks. The doll’s face was crying. The doll’s hand was pointing to the left side.

Turning to the left, a slender arm reached out from the darkness to grab Han Fei. It pulled him out from the endless shadows. “Uncle, keep on running down the left side.” The familiar voice said. The altar realized the problem and the endless arms started to crawl again. At that moment, Han Fei didn’t dare to slow down. He rushed down the left side like crazy. The shops beside him receded and the safety door of the 7th floor appeared before his eyes. Without any hesitation, Han Fei charged through the door!

However, the next second, his face paled. There was no staircase beyond the safety door, only an empty abyss!

The altar owner had trapped everything inside the mall, there was no exit at this maze, only death. Han Fei fell downwards but before he was claimed by the abyss, a weathered arm reached out from the other side of the abyss. Holding the arm with all his might, Han Fei looked up. The darkness was like falling snow as they cascaded around him. The scene that he saw from both of his eyes slowly overlapped. A wrinkled face entered his eyes. Pain came from all sides of his body. Han Fei widened his eyes and looked around. Half of his body was hanging outside the rails of the 7th floor. His right arm was dangling downward while his left arm was holding onto a slender arm tightly.

“I almost died.” Han Fei who regained his senses quickly pulled himself up. He leaped over the rails. Han Fei collapsed on the ground and gasped for air. He turned to study the senior beside him. The old woman’s face was covered in wrinkles. A tattered rucksack lay beside her and red sweaters could be seen from inside it.

Even though Han Fei was already safe, the old lady was still holding onto Han Fei’s wrist. Perhaps she was too scared to let go or she was afraid that Han Fei might do something stupid again. Neither of them spoke. After a long time, it was Han Fei who shattered the silence. “Granny, thank you.”

Han Fei thanked the old lady. However, the old lady appeared to be quite confused. She looked at Han Fei and kept shaking her head. Perhaps Han Fei had reminded her of her son. Before her son died, he had done many inexplicable things as well.

“I will not go near the rails again, don’t worry.” Han Fei tried to make the old lady let go but without hurting her, he couldn’t really do that. In the end, Han Fei stood up from the ground and helped the old lady get up. Letting her hold onto his wrist, Han Fei led her downstairs.

“Granny, why were you on the 7th floor earlier?” When they reached the 1st floor, the old lady finally recovered from her shock so Han Fei tried to communicate with her.

“I came to donate clothes, the sweater from when my son was 7 but there was no one in the shop… A boy said you were on the 7th floor, he was drenched, it was him who led me to find you…” The old woman’s hand trembled. She finally let Han Fei go.

‘It was the boy who came to buy the toys who helped me.’ Han Fei took out the wooden doll from his pocket. The doll was cracked and looked fragile. ‘The customers of this shop might be my hope of solving this conundrum.’

They entered the 2nd hand shop. Like usual, the old lady walked towards the fake altar. She mumbled something to herself and then handed the rucksack to Han Fei.

“Granny, actually this altar…” Before Han Fei could finish, the old lady staggered away. She left without turning back and disappeared into the darkness. The old lady would come every night and then leave after doing a good deed. She believed that her son would return after she committed 1000 good deeds but she had no idea the altar she worshipped was actually a fake one.

‘There should be more people like her, they have all been scammed by the mall boss.’ Han Fei saw the wounds on his left arm. He remembered he had lost a soul. ‘I need to expose this fake mall boss to everyone! This demon in disguise!’

Sitting behind the counter, Han Fei opened the menu. When he saw the old woman’s face, he had already escaped from the altar owner’s illusion. However, at the time, he was hanging outside the 7th floor, not really a good time to check the system notifications.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed a random mission—illusions.

“You didn’t succumb to the illusions as I had hoped but you have carved a path of your own. You managed to do something I couldn’t. Perhaps your answer is the right answer.

“You’ve rectified 45 percent of the altar owner’s regret! You’ve obtained a large amount of EXP and a free trade with the altar. You do not need to pay anything for this trade.

“Warning! Using your soul as leverage, you’ve obtained this trading chance. But a trade is always of equivalent value! Please consider the value of your soul and then accept a trade from the altar.”

After completing the mission, Han Fei realized he was getting close to the core of this world—the altar.

After completing the ‘me’ mission at western city, he gained the altar’s preliminary approval, and now he gained one chance to use the altar. All the missions were progressing forward, as they tortured him into a devil, they also fashioned him to become more like the altar owner.

‘My Evil Soul has been taken by the altar, without his help, I wouldn’t have escaped from the illusions.’ Han Fei leaned on the counter. He had no idea how much his Evil Soul was worth and honestly he didn’t even want to use his Evil Soul to trade for anything. He wanted to release his soul from the altar.

‘A very scary creature lives inside the altar. Can my Evil Soul leave the altar unscathed?’ This mission had provided Han Fei with some hidden benefits, it had allowed Han Fei to look into the fears within the altar owner’s heart; it also introduced him to the other workers at the 2nd hand shop. Perhaps Han Fei could find the mall boss’ weakness from them.

After overcoming the illusions, Han Fei turned his attention away from the job, he needed to start a counter attack, to use everything he had to shatter the mall boss’ false mask of kindness.