CH 509

After returning home, Han Fei rested for a while and started to read. This time, he read literature related to plastic surgery. Midnight arrived. Just as Thriller Novelist premiered, Han Fei put on the gaming helmet and entered the game. Blood froze the world. Han Fei looked down the city. The blood-red figure that emerged from the city stopped at a building. He seemed to have lost connection with his target. Opening his eyes, Han Fei hadn’t even looked around and there was already a new system message.

“Notification for Player 0000! Your pet Big Sin is dying. Please feed it fresh blood and help it share the curse!” After the notification ended, Han Fei immediately took out Firefly’s phone. He saw the message from Laughing and realized Big Sin was back!

This creature was bullied until it almost died. It couldn’t cause any more damage and thus allowed Bai Sinian to get close to it and carry it back to the Ziggurat. Based on Laughing’s message, Bai Sinian carried Big Sin on his back as they ran from the Lost Theme Park. That was truly a sight to behold. The two of them had been saved by Mirror God and were protected by a Level 3 Altar. “Who dares to harm my Big Sin?” Han Fei had no idea who the culprit was but he would remember this.

Calling his neighbors, Han Fei planned to head to the mall with everyone. But before that, he needed to do something else. Han Fei sensed Ironman and Yan Tang’s location through the mist. Han Fei silently found them and followed behind them to observe them. Ironman’s mental condition was at his limits. He was extremely helpless and defeated, he even thought about suicide to leave this hidden map. Yan Tang fared much better. He was still curious about everything. Despite the many failures, he didn’t give up. He was a real talent with deep potential. Other than a low luck point, he had no weakness.

Han Fei hid among the mist. When Ironman tried another door, Han Fei used Resurrection on him. Ironman was too numb to notice anything. He pushed open the door and left the cryptic world. ‘So only Yan Tang is left. Even Li Xue can’t find anything on this man. Can he survive in this despair?’ Because he valued him, Han Fei kept Yan Tang until the end. He felt like the hardship now would help Yan Tang greatly in the future. Huang Yin was proof that Han Fei’s style of training did work.

“Come, we need to head to the mall.” Avoiding the hospital, Han Fei’s group moved through the alley to the mall. When Han Fei arrived at the mall, he heard a strange noise coming from underground and a giant ball of darkness tore through the ground to slam into him.

Han Fei’s Life Points dropped to the danger zone and he was infected by Soul Poison. Han Fei held his crushed chest and looked at the excited ball of darkness. He coughed out blood. The familiarity of Soul Poison’s pain exuded from his chest. Han Fei collapsed to the ground and couldn’t get up.

“What is that?!”

The neighbors didn’t dare to get too close to the shadow. In the end, it was Xu Qin who held Han Fei up and passed him freshly-cooked meat.

“Building manager, I’ve brought Big Sin home.” Bai Sinian crawled through the hole on the ground. The guard uniform he wore was tattered and he was injured but the yin energy he gave off was much stronger than before. After consuming Xu Qin’s meat, Han Fei stood up after his Life Points recovered. He looked at the black shadow about 5 meters wide and he couldn’t recognize his pet anymore.

“Big Sin?” As his voice echoed, the black shadow nudged Han Fei as if trying to play with Han Fei. “How did you become like this?” Han Fei touched Big Sin’s head.

“Notification for Player 0000! You’re suffering from intense Soul Poison, please seek remedy immediately!” Han Fei ignored the system notification. He squatted before Big Sin and studied it closer.

They hadn’t met for a long time and Big Sin had grown to 5 meters. It didn’t look like a bug anymore. It was more like a demonic shadow crawling on the ground. Big Sin and Butterfly had gone in two completely opposite directions. Butterfly kept absorbing humanity to become human; Big Sin consumed the cruelest thing in the cryptic world to become a demon.

“I have no idea what it has consumed. It just has a breakthrough and now it looks like it’s approaching another breakthrough.” Mirror God walked out of the altar. He looked at the hole Big Sin made and he said seriously, “Han Fei, you better bring this thing away. It has been targeted by an Unmentionable. It’ll only be safe inside the mist.”

“Are you sure it’s not because you’re afraid it might destroy the mall?” Han Fei touched Big Sin to check its status. Big Sin’s talent, presence of death, and loyalty increased. “Bai Sinian, what have you two done that you and Big Sin have grown so much stronger?”

“We didn’t do anything.” Bai Sinian scratched his head and explained what happened. “You told me to look after Big Sin and don’t lose it so I tied myself to it. At first, it was normal but after we left the Ziggurat, Big Sin discovered something and strayed from the group. I wanted to stop it but as you can see, I was more like its pet.”

“And then?” Mirror God was intrigued too.

“Big Sin was very into the altars. It has the special power of stealing from altars. So it led me to find the altars along the way. Whenever we spotted one, it would crawl into it to steal from it. We soon made our way through the plastic surgery hospital and the theme park to go deeper into the city.

“The place was scarier than the zones we occupy now. Emotions and resentments had become ghosts. I was so afraid but Big Sin was so excited. We ran into 5 altars and Big Sin stole from 4. When it was working on the 5th, it was seen by the eyes of the Unmentionable.” Big Sin pulled on his ruined uniform. “Then we started to run. First, we ran deeper into the city but then we took a long detour and came back here. Big Sin was very fast, almost no ghost could catch up to it but perhaps it had eaten something off the Unmentionable. The presence of death on it grew and the Unmentionable’s curse on it started to trigger.”

“You two sure are courageous. You dared to destroy altars and 5 of them consecutively?” Mirror God numbed just thinking about it. “Why would you eat something inside the altar? They might contain the Unmentionable’s memory, it is their most precious thing.”

“Since Big Sin has already consumed them, it’s too late to talk about that now.” Han Fei decided to bring Big Sin back to the Ziggurat. The Soul Mist would block the senses of the Unmentionable.

“You have underestimated the importance of the altars to Unmentionable. That Unmentionable is coming over. I can sense its eyes.” Mirror God persuaded. “Before the curse on Big Sin can be suppressed, you better don’t leave the Ziggurat and find trouble with the plastic surgery hospital. At least wait for this trouble to tide over first.”

“Okay, we shall keep a low profile. When we’re ready, we’ll take down the hospital once and for all.” Han Fei glanced at Big Sin. Even though it had consumed Unmentionables’ things, it had gained many benefits from it. After Big Sin digested the Unmentionables’ things, it would become huge assistance to Han Fei. A few neighbors worked together to carry Big Sin. When they left the mall, Big Sin burned with black flame. The flame couldn’t be extinguished and it only burned Big Sin. Soon its body was scorched. They didn’t dare stop and everyone hurried to send Big Sin back to the Ziggurat. Strangely enough, once they entered the mist, the black flame extinguished on its own. Big Sin looked at Han Fei innocently and it became more obedient. “I don’t think I’ll be able to save you if you continue to act like this.”

The curse on Big Sin came from an Unmentionable. Even Xu Qin couldn’t do anything, Big Sin had to slowly digest it. After settling Big Sin, Han Fei left the mist with a few neighbors, he found a Grade G Mission in an area near the hospital zone. “It’s getting harder to trigger the mission around this place even though I’m only level 19 and haven’t even triggered my second profession.” Midnight Butcher had proved very useful to Han Fei so he anticipated his next profession. “Level 20 is a threshold but it’s so hard to level up.”

Han Fei returned to Ziggurat. He studied Yan Tang from the shadows. After ensuring the young man was still mentally stable, he found a safe place and logged out. Han Fei looked at the blood-red city, he realized with a shock that the blood-red figure had moved closer to them! “Is he lured over by the curse on Big Sin?” Eating the things inside the altar would improve one’s ability quickly but there was a price to pay for it. “Big Sin could enter altars freely, it can be a great help when I have to do inheritance mission! After I survive this, things will be a lot easier in the future.”

Han Fei opened his eyes. He removed the gaming helmet and slept inside the hub. After who knew how long, the sun shone into the room. Han Fei crawled out of the gaming hub and took out his phone. There were more than 50 unread messages and equally numerous unanswered calls. “What’s going on? The secret of the cryptic world has been exposed?”

Han Fei woke up immediately. Li Xue, Huang Yin, Director Jiang, those who had his number had messaged him.

Huang Yin, “I almost forgot you’re an actor! Are you sure you didn’t get possessed by Spider?!”

Zhuang Ren, “You are a born horror movie actor. I’ve been a director for 30 years, I haven’t seen such brilliant performance before.”

Li Xue, “I always thought movies can’t be more real than real life but you prove me wrong. By the way, when you’re free, come to the station. Our superior has watched your movie and called me yesterday night. He is worried that you might suddenly turn rogue. If you do, you’ll be the scariest supercriminal Xin Lu has ever faced.”

Zhan Yueyue, “Congrats, boss!”

Director Jiang, “You are one step closer to your dream, I know you can do it!”

The messages warmed Han Fei’s heart. He had no idea so many people cared about him in the human world. After checking the message, Han Fei checked the unanswered calls. There was a call from Bai Xian and Director Zhang 5 minutes ago. “The sun is already up, they didn’t sleep yesterday night?” Han Fei thought about it and called Director Zhang. The call was soon picked up. “Han Fei, why are you only waking up now? Come, we need to celebrate!”

“Why celebrate?”

“Look at the box office ranking, the movie review, and the internet’s review on your acting! You are destined to become our future best actor, I will swear my life on it!” Director Zhang was a veteran director, he only attended important events or private meetings. He rarely drank through the night with his cast members. Han Fei clicked on the app to check the box office ranking.

It was now 9.30 am. Thriller Novelist sat at the 2nd place for box office sales with 51,000,000 tickets sold, which had broken the record for horror movies! 2/3 Comedy which had 10,000,000 more presale tickets than Thriller Novelist, currently only had 4,000,000 tickets sold more than Thriller Novelist. But the key was the movie review. 2/3 Comedy started with a rating of 9.9 but it had dropped to 9.1 and it was still dropping albeit slowly.

Thriller Novelist’s review was impossible to achieve. Even after a whole night, the rating was still 9.9! The movie won both box office and good reviews!

Han Fei gained 500,000 new fans. He contributed a lot of classic scenes in Thriller Novelist. The terms Han Fei and Spider went trending overnight. The movie had a huge influence. Even though Han Fei was only playing a supporting character, he was the character that connected all the other 9 characters, he was the center that held up the movie! Han Fei’s acting was approved by everyone and through his movie, he had a transformation.

When compared to the other nominees on the category for the best new actor, it was a joke. Not only Bai Cha, no one of Han Fei’s age could rival him in acting. If they were in the same shot, Han Fei would eclipse them easily. Truth spoke for itself. The acting ability between Han Fei and the rest was so wide that even the public could see it. Under the original threads where people discussed the nominees for this year’s best new actor, there were a lot more posts.

“I’ve seen both of their movies, really, it’s not a fair match.”

“I wanted to say good things for Bai Cha but after watching the movies, I can only say, better luck next time.”

“Han Fei gave me the feeling that he was the character himself. Only he could play this character and no one else.”

“Bai Cha is okay in his role as a student, but just okay. I suggest everyone watch Thriller Novelist. This movie will shock and awe you, especially the last scene!”

“How can I ever think that they are on the same level? I am ashamed to call myself a movie critic. I know you will not believe me so I will provide a small example without any spoilers. In both movies, there are scenes where both actors are required to show the emotion of anger. For Bai Cha, he merely threw things about; but for Han Fei, the fury burned within him, you could feel the fire through the screen. His emotions were deep, yet could scorch you through the screen. When he explodes, it’ll be like a bomb!”

Bai Cha was not that bad but in comparison, he was much worse than Han Fei. There were people who hadn’t seen Thriller Novelist and they thought these people were exaggerating, they still supported Bai Cha, but Bai Cha’s team didn’t say anything. Some of the netizens went to leave comments on Bai Cha’s page, asking his opinion on Han Fei’s acting. The admin on Bai Cha’s side was busy deleting posts.

On the online voting for the best new actor, Han Fei’s votes were rapidly increasing. Strangely enough, when Han Fei was about to pass Bai Cha, the website went down due to a technical issue. Then again, everyone knew who the real best new actor was.

Han Fei’s fans were still rapidly increasing and so did his ranking on the actor popularity ranking. Soon he’d be a C-list actor. Seeing the endless discussions online, Han Fei could understand Director Zhang’s feelings. Several movies went live at the same time but the discussions for Thriller Novelist had surpassed the rest.

This was Director Zhang’s first time attempting a horror movie and not many people had high hopes for him. During presale ranking, it was ranked 2nd. Most people thought it would be a small hit. But after the premiere, the movie was slowly catching up to 2/3 Comedy. Horror movies were more niched than love comedy but these two movies were neck-in-neck in terms of ranking.

“Han Fei, come celebrate! Based on how things are working, it’s no problem for us to break a hundred million ticket sales on the first day! And it’ll only get better from there!” Director Zhang hadn’t made any movie in 3 years but this one shot out like thunder in the dark.