CH 679

The city during the day and at night represented two sides and two choices. Perhaps sticking to one was the right choice, but without knowing it, Han Fei had chosen the middle path. He moved towards the endless despair and darkness. His destination was one no one had trodden before. He had no idea what was at the end of darkness and despair. He was only following his instinct.

The radio in the car broadcasted the news about Han Fei and Lee Guo Er. The screens outside the car played the info and pictures of the eleven fugitives. Occasionally, there was a police siren. The pedestrians discussed this loudly. The city’s security became worse, and everything started to turn into chaos. The city’s morning had become different from before.

“One day, I might stand against everyone because I am not willing to submit to depravity or sink into despair. I want more people to be like me.” Han Fei had no idea what he was saying. His mind was muddled. All his memory was related to death. It was a miracle that he had not gone insane. The city was like an emotionless machine, chugging along. In comparison, Han Fei was so small. He had no right to resist. At least, that was the case in the eyes of many.

“We need to escape! Once we leave this city, victory is ours!” Xiao Jia had never experienced something like this. His eyes darted about. He took out the knife from the backpack and aimed it at his body. He was wondering which part to cut and hurt the least. He wanted to pretend to be a victim.

“Escape?” The taxi rushed down the street. Lee Guo Er was a very good driver. She reached the edge of the city after avoiding a few roadblocks. “Han Fei, all the roads out of the city are blocked! There are police blockages everywhere!”

“Run through them!” The light voice came from the passenger seat. The passengers couldn’t believe their ears.

“Are you sure?”

“They treat us as fugitives so we have to act like one.” Han Fei cut his arm and allowed his blood to drip inside the car. Strangely enough, his blood was sucked up by the human faces in the car. Han Fei pressed his palm to the faces of the victims. “This way, you can sense my location. After dark, try to find a way to me.” Han Fei talked to the taxi like he was crazy. “The blood you just drank contains the curse of the paper doll, the curse that killed Malice. I hope you can find me in the city before midnight. If not, we might not meet again.”

Xiao Jia quickly covered Fu Tian’s ears. He couldn’t believe the bad uncle was threatening a taxi. The human faces pouted before they faded away. When Han Fei did these things, Lee Guo Er was prepared. She gripped the steering wheel excitingly. She rubbed away the light make-up on her face and put the white mask on. Lee Guo Er’s eyes were focused on the road out of town and started to accelerate!

The black taxi burst into the sun. When the police noticed it, the taxi had already broken through the roadblock.

“I wonder where does this city end?” Lee Guo Er was different after they left the city. The lock on her soul seemed to have opened. She laughed shrilly. The crash not only ran through the blockage but also the chains of her destiny. Han Fei noticed this change, and then he turned to look at Fu Tian. After the boy left the city, the innocence on his face faded rapidly. He looked at the card with stamps with a frown. It was the card from the theme park.

“That city has bound everyone’s memory. For the citizens, the city might be the whole world.” The unshackled Lee Guo Er raced towards the edge of the city. She was like an uncaged bird. However, the real tragedy happened then. Other than Han Fei, no one in the car noticed that the scenery outside hadn’t changed. No matter how far they moved from the city, they couldn’t really escape. The endless world was actually the city repeating itself.

“Ready to stop. Xiao Jia, you’ll drive the car to distract the police. Lee Guo Er and Fu Tian will come with me on foot.” After Han Fei knew that Lee Guo Er and Fu Tian couldn’t really escape this city, he changed his plan. Lee Guo Er and Xiao Jia rapidly switched places. Han Fei and the rest got down from the car.

“The taxi is too big of a target. We have already promised to meet at midnight.” Han Fei took out Xiao Jia’s phone. After informing Xiao Yu of certain things, he memorized everything useful in Xiao Jia’s phone. He planned to toss the phone lest he was tracked.

“Shall we find a place to hide? We only need to wait for night to come.” Lee Guo Er was more experienced.

“This city is very special. It is a city where humans and ghosts coexist. The day belongs to the humans, and the night belongs to ghosts. All the chaos and tragedy appear to be caused by the ghosts, so the managers of the cryptic world want to seal up the cryptic world completely.” Han Fei walked toward Lee Guo Er. “If that’s the truth, I can understand them, but their perspective is short-sighted. The cryptic world is where endless despair and negative emotions accumulate. Separating the two worlds completely will only make the despair fester in the cryptic world. When the accumulation breeds an unwinnable terror, it’ll be too late.

“If we see the city as a mental patient, complete separation is not a valid treatment. It is more similar to using medicine to silence his mind and thoughts to turn him into a dummy with hatred inside his heart.”

“But do you have a better idea?” Lee Guo Er didn’t quite understand Han Fei, but she was willing to follow him.

“Perhaps that is the reason for our existence.” Han Fei held Fu Tian’s hand. “To make this city a better place.”

The three moved away from the city and the theme park. Han Fei used the time to check the update in the city. Many things had happened that morning. The wanted players started to fight back. In the documents given to the police, Han Fei included the frame job on F as well as the details of the death game organized by the theme park. Perfect Life Hotel was dragged into it, and none of the players was spared. Han Fei had his reason for doing this. He was afraid that F might contact the police and lead all the players to choose day over night.

“To clear away the cancerous cell, one has to eliminate everything and start over.” The night and day didn’t affect each other, but Han Fei had shattered that rule. He would face the forces from both ends alone. It was quite dangerous. It was why he took the risk to cooperate with Mad Laughter.

After getting the latest update, Han Fei deleted all the info inside the phone and tossed it into a lake. The three walked along the outskirt of the city until it was 4 pm. They passed by a school. Lee Guo Er suggested they move away from it lest they were discovered. However, Han Fei was dragged along by the red threads. He turned and saw a girl in school uniform sitting on the roof of the admin building. Even though it was far, Han Fei could see that the girl was sad. She waved behind her as if asking the person behind her to join her on the roof.

“Wait a minute. We have to go there.” Han Fei pointed at the girl.

“Do you plan to save her?” Lee Guo Er didn’t expect Han Fei would choose to help an unrelated pedestrian while he was being hunted. “Earlier, you told me to run through the roadblock, but now you want to save someone?”

“If we leave just like that, she might fall in a few minutes.” Han Fei removed the mask and took out some make-up from Lee Guo Er’s bag. He did some touching-up on his face. Then, with some excellent control of his expression, his presence changed completely. Now, he looked like a scholarly teacher.

“Go and hide in that abandoned home. I’ll be back soon.”

“What if the girl doesn’t want to listen to you?” Lee Guo Er still thought it was too dangerous.

“Simple. I’ll knock her out and drag her to the classroom door.” Han Fei walked away.

“But if you can’t get to her in time and appear at the crime scene, people will think it was you who killed her! You are a mad fugitive in their eyes. They will pin this on you!” Lee Guo Er wanted to stop him, but Han Fei told her not to worry. “It’s fine. That will not make things worse. Plus, I want to save him, not because I want to clear my name. It’s because I’ve seen her.”

Han Fei moved very fast. Han Fei leaped over the wall into the school. To prevent the tragedy from happening, he ran all the way. Han Fei followed the stairs and came to the roof. Without alerting anyone, he opened the wooden door to the roof. The sound of crying came from the edge of the roof. There was only the girl on the large roof.

“There’s no one else? Then who was she waving to earlier?”

The girl was acting very strangely. She appeared to have an invisible friend beside her. She cried and told her friend stuff. Han Fei moved along the shadows. He could slowly hear what the girl was saying.

“I will kill her. I will push her from here.”

“And that Qi Yan. I will strangle her and press her head down the toilet.”

“Why do those kinds of people have friends? Why do they have happiness?”

“I have nothing. Only you are willing to listen to me. They are purposely ostracizing me!”

Han Fei stopped, but soon the girl’s tone changed completely.

“I wasn’t like this at first. Why did I become like this? Are you still listening? Can you sit beside me?

“I can tell you the things I saw in the dream, but you have to promise to be my friend forever.

“Since you didn’t say anything, I’ll take that as a yes. I saw everyone living inside a black box. The ceiling of the box is the night sky, and the floor is the ground. The walls of the box are the city. Our hearts are open, and we leave our most precious thing inside the small box, allowing it to fester.

“It’s a strange feeling straddling life and death. I can’t describe it. Mom didn’t expect the Resurrection ritual to succeed. She suspects it has to do with the paper doll we found. The paper doll’s heart contains lingering emotions.

“Can you talk to me about something else? Am I being too greedy? They said I’m a jealous woman. But I… who’s there?”

The girl whipped her head around. The hatred in her eyes instantly disappeared. Before she reacted, Han Fei had already grabbed her arm. The Bluetooth phone fell to the ground. The girl fell to the ground. Her elbow was bruised. ‘The ragdoll acquired hatred from abandonment. The girl appears to acquire hatred due to jealousy.’

Han Fei detained the girl. “Treasure your life. Don’t jump.”

“I wasn’t jumping.” The girl couldn’t shake Han Fei off. She was too weak.

“Who are you talking to earlier?”

“I was talking on the phone!” The girl took out her phone. The call had ended. The person was a black profile.

“This person again.” Han Fei looked through the phone. The black profile slowly guided the girl to despair by offering to ‘help’ her.

“Do you know him?” The girl wiped away her tears. “When I was in pain, he was there to comfort me.”

“What kind of comfort is that? He just wants to turn you into a monster.” Han Fei looked around. There was no one else on the roof. The girl was really talking to herself earlier.

“No one cares what I say. Only he can understand and trust me.” The girl climbed up from the ground. There was no hatred in her eyes at all.

“I can be your listener. What happened to you?” Han Fei actually wanted to leave after saving her. But the appearance of the black profile changed his mind.

“You’ll be scared off.” The girl raised her head. “I died a few days ago. Mom resurrected me. Do you believe that?”

The dusk shone on Han Fei and the girl. After a temporary silence, Han Fei nodded. “I’ve resurrected a boy who died in a fire. At the time, I prepared ten items, and I did…”

Han Fei listed out the ritual details. He memorized them better than the black profile.