The blade fell on Han Fei’s head. The light slashed through his soul. The twisted face in the mirror slowly returned to normal. Rest in Peace didn’t harm Han Fei. The souls avoided his body so they couldn’t harm the thing inside Han Fei’s brain either. However, this did scare Fu Yi. The ugly face stopped expanding, and Han Fei could breathe normally again.
‘Fu Yi almost cost me my life. No matter how he exists in my brain, I’ll need to vanquish him even if I have to lure out the mad laughter.’ For the ranking of people Han Fei wanted to kill, Butterfly was first, and Fu Yi was now the second.
Han Fei held the sink and looked at the mirror. He could see the shadow of another person on him. As he weakened, the clearer the shadow was. Han Fei felt better as he left the bathroom. He told his wife and Fu Sheng to go back to bed while taking his place in the living room.
‘My ex-wife’s hatred towards me will continue to lower as Fu Sheng’s condition improves. I only have one mission left, which is to discover the hospital’s secrets.’
Han Fei wasn’t sleepy. He lay there in bed until morning. Han Fei got up at 6 am to prepare breakfast for his family. When his wife walked out of the bedroom and saw how busy Han Fei was, concern flashed in her eyes. “Why didn’t you sleep longer?”
“Today is my first day of work. I need to get to work early to leave a good impression.” Han Fei always had a faint smile on his face like nothing in the world could defeat him. However, when his wife saw that, she only felt heartache. Everyone had their own secrets. His wife didn’t ask who Han Fei was and why he was doing this. However, after what happened yesterday, she started to have second thoughts. If she didn’t ask these questions soon, she might not have the chance anymore.
“You…” His wife was about to say something when Han Fei’s phone rang.
“Wu San? Why are you looking for me?” Han Fei sighed in relief when he saw the caller was Wu San.
“Yesterday night, Inmate and two other players called me. They said they run into you at the hospital. They asked me for your contact and address.”
“You didn’t give that to him, right?” “Of course.” Wu San trusted Qiang Wei so he decided to side with Han Fei. “You need to be careful. Even though Inmate is impetuous and narrow-minded, he is very strong. He focuses on pure stamina and has a rare talent. Before Boss disappeared, he said Inmate and Qiang Wei were the strongest among us.”
“Compared to that, I’m more surprised that they could leave the hospital alive.” Han Fei walked to the corner and lowered his voice.
“I heard it’s because they haven’t been made official. Yesterday, they only did some cleaning. They didn’t discover anything weird. The hospital will probably expose its true nature after the trial period is over.” Wu San once entered the hospital to fetch Qiang Wei and Worm, he knew how scary the place was.
“You should stay outside to maintain the communication with all parties. Leave the rest to me.” Han Fei felt Wu San was quite reliable. If he was willing, he could give Wu San a ‘ticket’ to the cryptic world. If Wu San could pass the neighbor’s test, then he could rent a place at Happiness Neighborhood. He’d have the chance to understand the true meaning of bliss.
After hanging up, Han Fei walked to his wife, “I need to hurry to work, I’ll leave the rest to you.” He didn’t wait for the children to wait up. He had his breakfast and rushed out.
Once he stepped outside the front door, Han Fei felt the temperature drop. The lights in the corridor flickered. The pale light showered on the cracked wall. Whenever the lights went out and came back on, the cracks would become bigger. They looked like a person’s wrinkles.
He exited the building. The old electric wires criss-crossed above his head, they were like a giant spider web made from hair. The electric poles leaned slightly. The muddy holes around the poles were covered with shredded paper. It looked like someone had torn up all the small advertisements on the poles and dumped them on the ground. Han Fei moved through the mud. The path was the same, but it felt like it took him longer to exit the neighborhood than before.
He turned back to look. The old neighborhood was more deserted than before. Some were watching Han Fei behind the windows.
‘This world is mutating.’ Han Fei remembered his experience in the Mirror God’s memory world. The mutation was irreversible. The whole city would become hell, and no one could escape.
‘Every day can be my last day of work. It’s quite exciting when you think of it that way.’ It was still early, so Han Fei didn’t take the bus. He decided to walk to work and experience the changes to the city. The sun was rising. The mutation was chased away by the sun. The mutation would only happen at night until the day the sun wouldn’t rise again.
Han Fei arrived at the hospital around 7.20 am. The workers had to take the side door, the main door was for the clients.
Han Fei greeted the guard. As he was about to walk in when he noticed the guard was playing a game that was quite familiar. He leaned over to look. He saw a game character who looked like him collapse to the ground. The dining table was filled with food. Then a sexy and mature woman walked out in heels. She grabbed the man by his tie and pulled him underground.
“I die again! Where did I go wrong? Then again, who could reject the invitation of a boss who looks like that?” The guard was very focused in the game.
“Brother, what are you playing? The art looks interesting.” Han Fei looked for two minutes and the game was very familiar.
“I can’t really describe the game. But it’s very addicting. Even though you’d die every time, you want to be killed by them.” The guard glanced at Han Fei, “This is just a trial version, so only three female characters are unlocked. I hear there will be ten female characters in the official version! The most interesting is, this game is based on a real story!”
“Then can you give me the download link?” Han Fei took out his phone.
“You’d find their advertisement on any gaming forum. The players promoted the game everywhere.” The guard said and restarted the game. He was soon killed by a bespectacled female colleague. “The main character sure is pitiable.” The guard sighed as he controlled the main character to move to another death.
Han Fei downloaded the game and played it for a while. His emotions were complicated. “There are many Easter Eggs. For me, they are memories, some good and some bad. The real ending can only be achieved through real penance.” The game looked like a normal 18+ game, but its plot and creativity were better than most games of its type. The game started with seduction by one of the female characters, and then the main character had to face the intertwining relationship with all the female characters. The player could focus on increasing one character’s affection but doing that would attract the hatred from others. The only way to survive was to find penance, something that Han Fei hadn’t even achieved in real life.
Han Fei entered the hospital and greeted the front desk receptionist. He was surprised to find out the receptionist was still the same woman from the day before. She seemed to be always there. The female receptionist flashed a perfect smile at Han Fei. Her face seemed to have been modified only to show that smile.
Han Fei pushed open the door to the safehouse. He heard a strange noise as he entered, and then a scalpel landed beside his neck. “Zhang Zhuangzhuang?” Han Fein, in the suit, raised his arms. “What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry, I was too nervous.” Zhang Zhuangzhuang switched on the lights. He looked outside. “It’s finally daylight.”
“You’ve been here since yesterday night?” Han Fei closed the door. He had many questions for the man.
“Don’t tell anyone that.” Zhang Zhuangzhuang put the scalpel away. “This hospital will only show its true self after midnight. If you really want to know the answer, you can stay here for one night, but I don’t suggest that because you still have a family.”
“Can’t you tell me the truth?”
“It’s hard to explain because different people will see different things.”
Before Han Fei could say anything, Zhang Zhuangzhuang left. “Different people will see different things?”
Han Fei put on his uniform and entered Cao Lingling’s ward. A scent of blood lingered in the air. Cao Lingling was still in bed. She looked thinner than before. Her arms and cheeks were scratched. The bed was torn apart. There was food on the ground. “Why is she here alone?”
Han Fei walked to the bed and was about to bend over to clean up the mess when Cao Lingling suddenly opened her eyes. She grabbed Han Fei and screamed, “The red ghosts tear down faces! The white ghosts eat humans! The black ghosts stand beside my bed!
“Let me go!”
The straps tightened, and Cao Lingling shouted shrilly. The veins burst on her neck. Her eyes were bloodshot.
“I could release you but not now.” Han Fei touched Cao Lingling’s arm. He used Soul Depth Touch to examine Cao Lingling’s heart.