My-Iyashikei-Game

“The lyrics of the song have to do with soul summoning and the dirge has to do with that as well. They both ring out on the Night of Resurrection, is that a coincidence?” Han Fei shivered when he considered the fact that his enemy might have foreseen this. How was he going to fight someone who could predict the future?

The dirge came closer to him in the stairwell. He resisted the fear and poked his head out the banister and looked up. On the 10th floor, there was a trail of white lanterns swaying. Intensely white pairs of hands settled on the rusted banister. They looked like the hands of paper dolls.

‘A paper doll funeral procession?’ The dirge was still a distance away from the 4th floor. Han Fei decided to rush to the 6th floor before the dirge arrived. It would be best if he could get into Room 4064 before then. Han Fei made his move immediately with no hesitation. ‘Since I can’t log out from the game for most of the night, I’ll have to be extra careful.’

The dirge got louder. Most residents were hiding inside their room but Han Fei ran towards the dirge, heading to the 6th floor. When Han Fei covered the last few steps, the dirge was already right about him, they were extremely close to each other.

‘Quick!’ He pulled on the safety door but before he entered the corridor, he looked up. Colorful paper faces looked out from above at Han Fei. The painted faces lit up due to the light from the lanterns. They were paper dolls but they looked so alive. Han Fei shivered being stared at by the dolls. He didn’t stay to make more observations and rushed into the 6th floor corridor.

‘Paper dolls! They are all paper dolls! They are similar to the paper doll boss at Yi Ming Convenience Store but they are also much larger than it was!’ The dirge was very close to him. Han Fei didn’t dare to turn back as he raced down the 6th floor corridor. But as he ran down the corridor, he noticed the corridor was not less creepy than the paper doll procession.

Each room at Ziggurat had a bowl of white rice before their door and around the bowl scattered burnt paper money. However, the strangest thing was, for a few families, they had paper ladders made from yellow paper and rope pasted on their doors. The ladder extended from the small window located at the top of the door.

‘Are those paper ladders meant for the ghosts?’ Han Fei remembered this old Chinese culture. This was called a spirit ladder. It was inauspicious for living humans and ghosts to share the same entrance so the living made spirit ladders and pasted it on the doors so that the ghosts would climb the ladders to enter the room through the windows, instead of using the doors.

Han Fei didn’t stay to study them, he ran all the way to Room 4064. By then the dirge was echoing between the 6th and 7th floor, the paper doll procession was coming his way!

An old paper ladder hung on the door of Room 4064. The rice in the bowl at the door had aged into dried balls. But most importantly Han Fei noticed 2 blurry footprints among the ashes of the burnt paper money, like someone had just stepped on them earlier. ‘My soul has taken the spirit ladder into the room?’

Han Fei grabbed the doorknob and turned. The door didn’t budge but the window above the door did open a small gap. ‘The window is not locked?’

The dirge sang in the 6th floor. Painted faces appeared on the glass window of the safety door. The dolls’ eyes slowly opened. Bad quality paint smudged the glass. It was hard to tell if this was a person wearing a paper doll costume; or if the paper doll had on human skin. ‘They have living eyes on their faces! The eyes are still moving!’

The fear overwhelmed Han Fei. The paper dolls moved incredibly fast. It didn’t take long for them to slide through the safety door and move towards Han Fei. Han Fei grabbed the edge of the door and climbed as fast as he could. He was going to enter the room through the window like a ghost would. Han Fei was a very thin and lean person but even so he was still too large to fit through the window. When he was at a loss, the previously locked door was opened.

The door opened for a small gap and a small boy appeared behind the door. The boy was clearly expecting someone else because when he saw Han Fei, he froze from fear.

Using this opportunity, Han Fei pushed the door open, slid in and closed the door. ‘It was too dangerous out there.’ To prevent the boy from making any noise, Han Fei closed his hand over the boy’s mouth.

The moment the door closed, the dirge entered the 6th floor corridor. The paper doll procession surged past Room 4064!

Han Fei hugged the boy tightly, leaning against the locked door. Through the mirror in the living room, he could see the window above the door. There were a few paper faces looking through but they didn’t enter the house, they merely leaned on the window and looked around. The dirge stayed for 4 minutes before it faded away.

A bad smell tickled his nostril and Han Fei lowered his head to notice the boy had peed his pants from fear. The boy’s eyes were filled with terror. He couldn’t speak. The stain spread on his pants and his hands were spasming.

“I’m sorry, I mean no harm.” Han Fei let go and when the boy got his freedom, he quickly ran away. He didn’t get far before he tripped and fell to the ground. He half-crawled and half-ran to hide behind the couch and poke his head out to look at Han Fei.

The child took a serious countenance. He looked at Han Fei for a long time before he said, “You’re not daddy. Mommy said daddy will come back tonight!” The combination of fear and disappointment caused the boy to bite on his lips and cry. He was clever, he knew not to make loud noises even when he cried.

“Your daddy will be home soon, I just saw him downstairs, he was purchasing a gift for you…” Han Fei looked around the living room, he noticed various toy car models stuffed under the television cabinet. “It’s the latest car model, the kind that can transform.”

Hearing Han Fei say that, the boy sobbed quieter. He rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands. “You really saw him?”

“Of course, an adult won’t lie to kids.” Perhaps it was the passive effect of Pied Piper, Han Fei realized the boy was no longer that fearful around him.

Chapter 362

362 What is Death?

Seeing as the boy put his guard down, Han Fei sighed in relief. Then he had the time to look around. The wall of Room 4064 was painted white. It was a unique kind of paint because as the light shone on it, it did not reflect the warmth of the light, but instead made the room cooler. The room had a lot of furniture and they were placed haphazardly. Other than that, there were plenty of mirrors. Just in the living room alone, Han Fei spotted 4 mirrors. They were placed near the living room door, behind the television, beside the dining table and behind the sofa.

“Did daddy send you?” The boy noticed how Han Fei kept looking around the house and as the temporary master of the house, the boy summoned his courage to talk to Han Fei. When he asked that question, the boy’s eyes shone with anticipation.

“No, I’m here to look for someone. Did someone who looks just like me enter the room earlier?” Han Fei knelt down before the boy. He tried to make the boy feel as comfortable as possible. Hearing Han Fei’s answer, the boy was quite disappointed. He shook his head, “I’ve been staying in the living room, I didn’t see anyone come in but you.”

“You sure?” Han Fei looked at the other closed doors inside the room. “Can I look into the other rooms?”

“Mommy is sleeping, you’ll wake her up.” The boy opened his small arms to block before Han Fei. He looked very cute, being mommy’s bodyguard.

“Your mother is at home too?” Han Fei knew that this was a room with two 4’s in its room number. The scariest ghost hadn’t shown itself yet, he believed that might be the boy’s mother.

“Mommy said tonight is the night of resurrection and daddy will return after midnight. She told me to go to bed because he would only come see me after I’m asleep.” The boy said innocently, he believed everything his mother told him.

“Then how come you didn’t follow your mother’s order and go to sleep? Instead you’re here, hiding in the living room.” Han Fei found the boy to be quite interesting. After he got the Pied Piper skill, Han Fei realized he hoped to interact more with children. He found children to be cute and innocent, and that childlike innocence was a slight reprieve in the cryptic world.

“I…” The boy stammered, “I don’t want to go to sleep, I can’t use words after I’m asleep, I still have many things to tell daddy.”

“Hmm? Like what?”

“In the past, no matter how busy he was, he would wake me up every morning. But now he only comes back once a year, I don't want him to be that busy anymore.” The boy, in his stained pants, said his simple wish.

“He comes back only once per year? Is that what your mother told you?”

“Yes.”

“Then did she tell you what is the night of resurrection?” While Han Fei held the conversation, he pushed open the door to one of the bedrooms, this should be the bedroom previously used by the boy’s parents. The double-bed had a new mattress, it had no wrinkle. Someone cleaned this room daily but no one slept in here anymore.

Creak… When Han Fei pushed open the bedroom door, something crawled past the dresser next to the bed. It sounded like a rat or some kind of bug. Han Fei knew the dressers at this place were not simple. Before the boy could get too close, he pulled the black dresser open. At the top layer of the dresser, there was a death portrait of a young man. The portrait was placed there so the boy couldn’t reach it. Next to the portrait was a bowl of white rice. Half a piece of yellow paper was buried in the rice, it had a name on it—Lai Sheng. It also had the various steps necessary for the soul summoning ritual.

“Lai Sheng?” The name immediately got Han Fei’s attention.

“This is daddy’s picture. Mommy stored it inside the dresser because she said she’d get sad whenever she sees it. But after she put it away, she would sneakily take it out to look at the picture.” The boy didn’t understand his mother’s action, he was still too young. “The neighbor's aunties and uncles told me that my father is dead. I asked them what they meant by that and they told me dying means going to a faraway place to work so he can only come back here once a year. I don’t get it, why would daddy get a job like that?”

The boy looked at his father’s picture inside the dresser. He was too small to get the picture himself so he hoped Han Fei could get it for him. After getting his father’s picture, the boy stared at his black and white father. Suddenly he lifted his head and the pair of clear eyes stared at Han Fei. “You said adults won’t lie to kids, but I felt like they were lying to me. Do you know what death really is?”

“Death?” Han Fei was not expecting such a question from a young boy. Han Fei didn’t brush him off with a common lie but instead thought seriously about it before answering, “I hear people say death is like water dissolving into water.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like they’ve really gone home, not this home but a home that belongs to all of us. We came from that home and eventually we will all go back to that home.” Han Fei had no idea why he was explaining these things to a child, perhaps it was because he never treated the citizens of the cryptic world as NPC but people just like him.

“Death is going home? Then why are so many people afraid of death? Why would mommy cry about it?” As if he finally found a person he could talk to, the boy desperately wanted to get the answers.

“Because after we leave home, we will pick a path, a path that you can’t even turn your head around. The end of this path will be our home. This is the only way to go home but along the way, we would encounter many different scenarios and lights. We would warm others and be warmed by others. We are like little lights, brightening the night sky as we make our way home.”

“Little lights?” The boy’s brows frowned. He gave it some thought before he pointed at the white ceremonial candle beside him. “I get it now, we are like candles. We start as wax, and then we burn with light before we end up as wax again. But our body is no longer the same, turning from a straight candle into a pool of wax.”

Han Fei was surprised by the boy’s comprehension. The boy was young but he was very clever.

“The analogy of candle is not that suitable.” This was also the first time Han Fei gave it such a thorough thought. “We were led out from home by our parents, but we are not candles, we are simply who we are.”

“Then how can a person give out light?”

“A person cannot, but each one of us will be given a torch handed down by our forbearer. This torch, that can chase away the darkness of the night, is called life. We feed the torch with our experience and memory. Life will then burst in flames. We will raise the torch high and carve our way through the dark.” Han Fei looked at the boy who was deep in thought. He smiled and ruffled his hair. “When you’re almost home, you will hand your torch to another person, that way, we will always keep the night bright.”

The boy looked up, his eyes filled with confusion, “But daddy didn’t give me any torch, only toy models.”

“Perhaps he has given it to your mommy and when you grow older, she will give the torch to you, so that your life can glow bright and warm.” Han Fei pulled his hand back. Perhaps it was an illusion, he felt some warmth from the boy. But even more surprising was the notification from the system. “Notification for Player 0000! Friendliness level with the owner of Room 4064 increases by 10! Your personal charm has won their approval!”

Turning around, Han Fei noticed the bedroom door, that the boy refused to let him enter, had opened a gap. Two pale faces were staring quietly at him. Han Fei took an involuntary step back. His body knocked into the bookshelf. A coloring book that belonged to Lai Sheng fell to the ground. The book fell open to a painting where there was the father and mother but the boy was conspicuously missing.

Chapter 363

363 Jin Sheng, Lai Sheng, Wang Sheng

The coloring book fell open, the simple color paintings described the boy’s pure thoughts and wishes. The boy painted many things about family like his parents cooking, gardening, and cleaning the house together. The lines were simple and the paintings were cute, there was warmth from them… or at least they did look that way at first glance.

“Is your name Lai Sheng?” Han Fei picked up the coloring book. He tried to make himself as calm as possible, ignoring the gaze coming from behind him. Han Fei had no idea how long the boy’s parents had been watching. Han Fei was thankful that he watched his words and didn’t do anything to harm the boy.

“That was my nickname but after daddy left, mommy rarely calls me by my nickname anymore.” The boy said in a tone that tried to make him sound older than he was. But the fact that he had just peed his pants just made the whole attempt too cute.

“So Lai Sheng is really your name…” Han Fei picked up the coloring book and then glanced at the black and white portrait which he had placed back on the top shelf of the dresser. The portrait and rice bowl were placed at a location where the boy couldn’t reach. So with the boy’s height, he could only see his father’s picture but couldn’t see what was inside the bowl.

Han Fei picked up the death portrait as an idea popped up in his mind. He turned the portrait around and realized there was a colored picture on the back of the black and white portrait. In the picture, the boy was smiling happily as he sat on the swing. Perhaps it was the wind or there was someone outside the frame, the swing swung high into the sky.

“I knew it.” Han Fei finally understood why the mother put the death portrait at a location where the boy couldn’t reach. The target of the soul summoning ritual was not the father but this boy. The boy’s picture was hidden behind the father’s portrait and the paper with the boy’s name was buried inside the rice bowl. The situation at Room 4064 was similar to Zhuang Ren’s family in Room 4144, it was the dead summoning the living. However, because the boy didn’t have the protective device for his memory like Zhuang Ren did, he was successfully summoned to the Ziggurat.

Perhaps for the boy’s parents, the boy was a ghost but in reality, the boy was a living human who was summoned to the cryptic world. His body probably still existed in real life, only his soul was pulled here. If the boy’s soul was stuck here for a prolonged period of time, then basically the boy’s dead parents would have inadvertently killed him.

“Can you still remember the last time you played the swing with your family?” Han Fei placed the death portrait back. He didn’t tell the boy the cruel truth.

“I believe it was when daddy was still alive. Mommy and daddy took me to the park. Daddy was very strong, he pushed the swing from right behind me and made me soar into the sky. Mommy was worried that I’d fall, she even scolded daddy for it.” The boy’s face turned up with a smile when he spoke of this, clearly these memories were deeply treasured.

Han Fei felt sad hearing the boy’s words. He probably dreamt this whole episode up, because in that colored picture, only the boy was featured. His father was definitely not standing behind him as he claimed. His accompaniment was the wind and the birds on the trees.

‘The Butterfly used Zhuang Ren’s family to drag him into the cryptic world because Fu Sheng’s memory can be found in Zhuang Ren’s mind, but why would the Butterfly drag Lai Sheng here?’ Butterfly might be mad but its action was never random. It would never waste time on meaningless things.

Han Fei studied the boy’s name written on the coloring book. Then he was reminded of Jin Sheng from Yi Ming Private Academy as well as Wang Sheng who had already morphed into Rest in Peace at Cattle Alley.

Lai Sheng, Jin Sheng, Wang Sheng, their appearance at the cryptic world were all related to the Butterfly and in Chinese, their names could also be translated as next life, current life, past life.

Jin Sheng was the most powerful and was sealed at Yi Ming Private Academy which was far from the Ziggurat. Wang Sheng’s family was obliterated, appeared at Spider’s domain and eventually became a knife that could slash through the Butterfly. Lai Sheng appeared the weakest, but he was summoned to Ziggurat so that the Butterfly could keep a close eye on him.

‘Could these 3 boys symbolize something for the Butterfly?’ Han Fei took out Rest in Peace. Wang Sheng became Han Fei’s blade, Jin Sheng used his blood to rewrite Han Fei’s future and now he ran into Lai Sheng. ‘Is Lai Sheng another back-up plan the Butterfly had prepared for itself? Would the Butterfly take over Lai Sheng’s body in real life and thus get its chance at rebirth? In that case, should I use Rest in Peace to kill Lai Sheng? To cut off an option for the Butterfly?’

When Han Fei took out Rest in Peace, the chilling presence behind him intensified. And this was when he didn’t show an active malice towards Lai Sheng, if he did, Han Fei probably would be deleted immediately. At a mere level 13, a Grade E Hidden Map was quite a challenge for him.

“Please don’t misunderstand, this is just a hilt, it can’t do any damage.” Han Fei explained to the boy but actually he was telling his parents inside the bedroom that he meant no harm.

“So this is called a hilt?” The boy didn’t even know what Han Fei was holding. He was about to say something more when the sound of mattress turning came from the other bedroom. The boy immediately held his hands over his mouth. He glanced towards his mother’s bedroom. The previously open door was now closed.

Seeing the door was closed, the boy sighed in relief and continued, “It’s the Night of Resurrection tonight, mommy said daddy will only come home if we’re all asleep. If she finds out that I’m still awake, she’ll scold me. She’s scary when she’s angry even my daddy is afraid of her when she’s mad.”

“Then why don’t you listen to her and go to bed?” When Han Fei found out the truth about the boy, he paid a lot more attention to him.

“Even though mommy has a bad temper, I know she loves me and daddy dearly. She just has trouble saying it. So I want to see daddy in person and tell him everything. I want to beg him to stay, and don’t go to such a faraway place anymore.” Han Fei already tried his best to explain death to the boy in the gentlest way but the boy still didn’t quite understand it.

“If your mother knows that is the reason why you’re still awake, I’m sure she will not be mad at you.” Han Fei had already made his decision. Be it for the mission or for personal reasons, he had to protect this boy and send him back to real life before dawn.

“Lai Sheng, has your mommy told you that if the soul who is summoned refuses to leave after a long time, then they will be forever trapped inside this world?” Han Fei’s voice was just loud enough to be heard by Lai Sheng’s parents. Han Fei knew that the couple loved Lai Sheng a lot so he wanted to get their help to send Lai Sheng’s soul back to the real world.

Han Fei believed Lai Sheng’s parents should be able to understand him, after all, sometimes, separation is also a type of blessing and love.

Chapter 364

364 A Man in Red

Walking out from the bedroom with the death portrait, Han Fei still had some questions but he believed those questions would be answered when he met with the child’s real parents. Han Fei believed Lai Sheng’s parents were still inside Room 4064. Han Fei returned to the living room and saw his reflections in the many mirrors. He walked towards the mother’s bedroom.

“Please don’t wake mommy.” The boy jogged towards Han Fei and stopped his path again. This boy was young but extremely stubborn. That stubbornness might be buried within him since he was young, if he was not given correct guidance and protection, the seed might grow into something scary.

“Actually I came to your home to look for something I have lost. Don’t worry, I absolutely mean no harm, I promise to not wake up your mother.” Han Fei knelt down and said in a persuasive voice. “I will only push the door a gap to look. If the person I’m looking for is not here, I will leave immediately.” The boy didn’t budge and Han Fei’s smile picked up a trace of sadness. His acting was perfect, it was not overly saccharine but it was not fake either, it was just enough for the boy to sense the pain behind the smile, “You’ve been waiting for your father and I’ve been waiting for my child. You should be able to understand the pain of that waiting, right?”

Hearing Han Fei’s words, the boy’s outstretched arms slowly lowered, “Your child has gone somewhere faraway as well?” Taking in a soft breath, Han Fei still had a gentle smile on his face but anyone would be able to see the tortured soul behind that smile.

“As you said, tonight is the Night of Resurrection. My child is back too but I realize he has gone missing.” Han Fei was an adult but an adult’s helplessness would be able to touch a child’s heart even more.

The boy’s lips stretched into a thin line and in the end, he stepped away. “You have to promise me not to make any noise to wake up mommy. She has prepared a whole year for this day. If daddy fails to come home because of us, she will be very sad and angry.” The boy had something that was extremely rare at Ziggurat, kindness.

As if he was still worried about Han Fei, the boy sneaked to his mother’s bedroom door. He grabbed the door handle and eased it open with the lightest touch. Han Fei’s heart rose to his throat too. He was finally going to meet the real owner of Room 4064. He hoped that the increased 10 points in friendliness would come in useful. Lai Sheng and Han Fei stared transfixed at the door handle. Just as the door was about to open, knocking suddenly came from the living room door!

The sound frightened Han Fei. The boy quickly let go. His pale face colored with excitement, he cheered softly, “Is that daddy?!”

He abandoned the bedroom door, and pulled Han Fei back to the living room. The knocking wasn’t that loud, it echoed clearly mainly because the room was too silent.

A few seconds later, Han Fei noticed something unique about the rhythm of the knocking. The person first knocked using their fingers and then slammed with their palms. There was a squishing sound when they slammed against the door like their hands were wet with something. “Does that sound like your father knocking?”

“No, father rarely knocks, he often walks in directly, exclaiming he’s home.”

“Then this might not be your father. The ritual might have summoned something else.”

“Someone like you?”

“No, I’m not here due to the ritual, I already work at this building.” Han Fei had the boy hide behind him as he approached the living room door. “If we allow the person to keep on knocking, they’ll attract the attention of other tenants.” Han Fei leaned against the door and looked out through the peephole. There was a man who stood outside. He kept his head lowered and he wore all red!

‘A Soul Chaser?’ Han Fei had seen many strange people in red clothes when he played the Ziggurat game, he even took the same elevator booth with them.

“Let me see.” The boy requested with anticipation. Han Fei hugged the boy up to reach the peephole. Lai Sheng looked for a long time and the anticipation on his face turned into fear, “That’s not daddy!”

“Are you sure? His head is lowered, so we can’t really see his face.”

“I’m sure.” The boy nodded firmly.

“Then we shouldn’t open the door for him. We should hide in the living room for now.” Han Fei suggested when the knocking suddenly stopped.

“Has the man left?”

“Let me see.” The knocking had stopped but instead it was replaced by a softer yet more sinister sound. Han Fei looked through the peephole. The man in red had indeed disappeared, but Han Fei could see another clear set of footprints in the ash on the ground. The bowl of white rice had been messed with. The rice was dyed red like it had been mixed with blood or red paint.

“He seems to have left.” Han Fei sighed in relief. He was very averse to Soul Chasers. These people appeared to have been drained of all their humanity, they were completely dominated by the Ziggurat. Turning around, Han Fei was about to lead the boy back to the living room when he saw the boy was looking above him with his neck tilted up at an impossible angle.

‘Why is he looking up? The soul ladder!’ Han Fei instantly knew the problem. He looked above him and a man covered in blood was crawling through the window above the door. He was stuck to the ceiling like a giant lizard!

The face covered with Death Curse glared at Han Fei and Lai Sheng. His jaws unhinged and a bloody tongue lashed towards Lai Sheng’s neck!

“Go to your mom’s bedroom!” Han Fei pushed the boy away and cut at the tongue with Rest in Peace! The shining blade slashed through the man’s tongue easily. The whole process lasted not longer than the blink of an eye. The cut off tongue wiggled on the ground like an eel. The red clothed man’s face slowly turned around to look at Han Fei. He didn’t expect his tongue would be so easily disposed of by a blade. The wound that was made by Rest in Peace couldn’t be healed by the Death Curse either. While the red-clothed man was startled, Han Fei picked up the boy and ran to the living room.

“Go tell your mommy, the ritual has summoned something else! A ghost has entered your home!”

The boy was hoping to see his father but instead of his father, he saw a red-clothed monster. The boy rushed to his mother’s bedroom but no matter how hard he twisted the door handle, the door refused to open.

To buy more time for the boy, Han Fei stood between the boy and the red-clothed man. The ghost tattoo on his body radiated with yin energy and a giant cat monster with 9 lives surfaced on his back.

Chapter 365

365 Fight!

“Still can’t get the bedroom door open?” They were inside Room 4064, the room owner wouldn’t sit and watch their own child get injured. Han Fei was powerful enough to delay the man in red but not powerful enough to kill him. Normally, the first thing he’d do when he met a Soul Chaser at the Ziggurat was to run. Han Fei glanced beside him from the corner of his eye, the mother’s bedroom door was firmly shut like it was locked from inside. No matter how hard the boy pushed, it wouldn't open. ‘Is there something inside the bedroom that Lai Sheng can’t see? What are his parents hiding?’

The man in red didn’t give Han Fei much time to think. The Death Curse crawled on his face like bugs, they obscured the man’s face. Even his pupils were covered in black words. The remaining tongue lolled about in the man’s open mouth. Red blood leaked out from the monster’s mouth. The blood morphed into black decaying matter as it fell to the ground.

The monster’s target wasn’t Han Fei. Each Soul Chaser had their own prey and this man’s target was Lai Sheng. The Death Curse pulled at the skin and the monster’s face was forcibly yanked into two. The left face stuck to the man’s head while the right face evolved into a giant snake made of flesh. It lunged towards Lai Sheng.

This was the first time Lai Sheng encountered something so dangerous. Out of instinct, Lai Sheng called out his mother’s name. But he immediately closed his hand over his mouth, as if afraid that his mother would be harmed by the scary monster too. He wiggled the door handle repeatedly. With tears in his eyes, the boy wanted to get into the bedroom to warn his mother so that she could leave while she could. He had already lost his father, he didn’t want to lose his mother, at least that was what he thought.

“Nine Lives!” The ghost tattoo was branded into Han Fei’s skin. The cat-like monster trapped inside the tattoo growled. Its howl pierced through the ghost tattoo’s binding and echoed inside the room. Han Fei still couldn’t utilize Nine Lives’ power fully. All he could do now was have Nine Lives’ yin energy envelope his body. While he could raise his defense this way, it would mean that his body would also be constantly polluted by yin energy.

Han Fei’s body was already wounded so he couldn’t stay in this state for too long. If the owner of Room 4064 really refused to help, then Han Fei would try to bring Lai Sheng away from the room with him. Han Fei tossed the red paper doll at Lai Sheng. While the paper doll dealt with the snake-like creature, Han Fei turned back to deal with the Soul Chaser. ‘Ziggurat is a Grade E Map, it is for players around Level 35. Can I really fight the monsters here?’ Han Fei was uncertain but that uncertainty was soon replaced by other emotions.

Other games would provide the option for players to flee safely from a battle, but that was not possible in Perfect Life. It didn’t give the player the chance to start over either. There was no fight or flight, but fight or die. Save reloading? That was not a feature available either.

The Soul Chaser’s snake creature tussled with the paper doll. The other half of his face turned to stare at Han Fei. It was his first time encountering such a strange soul. Han Fei didn’t act like a ghost but not like a human either. He could see him but he was not afraid of him.

The man in red trembled as his spine creaked and cracked. Bones protruded out of the man’s flesh like needles. The red shirt was torn open, exposing his body covered in Death Curse.

‘Just how many transformations can this thing manage?’ Every Soul Chaser appeared to have a different ability. Han Fei didn’t waste time. Before the thing on the man’s back could grow into giant spikes, Han Fei charged forward with his knife. Han Fei knew it was not the time for him to be cautious, especially when he had Rest in Peace with him. The blade was extremely sharp because every ‘person’ that followed Han Fei believed that the blade could cut through sin and injustice. Han Fei had the sharpest weapon, in other words, he lacked everything but attack damage.

The man in red just had his tongue cut off so he knew that Han Fei’s knife could harm him. He shrunk away from Han Fei!

The Death Curse injected into the man’s fingers, changing them into claws. They looked sharp. ‘The power of this man is different from the other Soul Chaser that I’ve met. The madman who chased after me only needed to touch me to haul away my soul, but this man in red appears to need to rely on the Death Curse to activate his abilities.’ All these pointed towards the fact that Han Fei did have the chance to win this battle.

“Wang Sheng!” Han Fei suddenly picked up speed. The brilliance of humanity lit up the entire Room 4064!

At that moment, the boy appeared to see the life torch that Han Fei told him about. Han Fei was using his own experience, memory and life to fuel that torch. Han Fei rapidly closed the distance between him and the man in red. Each cut was targeted at the Soul Chaser’s vitals.

The man stared closely at Han Fei, evading his attacks with ease. Its power allowed him to morph any part of his body as he wished. He grew out several more arms and slithered all over the ceiling. The white ceiling started to surface with red handprints. The meat spikes launched themselves at Han Fei; tentacles whipped towards Han Fei’s neck as well.

Han Fei was already very fast but he was not faster than the monster. He barely avoided the meat spikes and tentacles. Han Fei hadn’t even crawled up from the ground when the man’s head suddenly turned 180 degrees and his neck elongated. The head shot at the back of Han Fei’s heart like a bullet. The Death Curse tore open the man’s mouth and his teeth sharpened into jaws.

The creature was too close for Han Fei to avoid the attack. In his desperation, Han Fei took out the can of wishes he obtained at Yi Ming Private Academy. The broken tongue shot into the can. The paper notes with the student wishes fell out from the can. The wishes all disappeared as they were replaced by the word, Death. The can which helped Han Fei block the attack instantly cracked. A harrowing scream echoed inside the can as well. The ghost hidden inside the can was already injured. It was plotting revenge on Han Fei after it recovered, it didn’t expect to be wounded again so soon.

The can trapped the broken tongue. The man in red couldn’t shatter the can so easily but then again his target was never Han Fei to begin with. Every Soul Chaser had their own prey and the man in red was tasked to bring Lai Sheng away that night!

The attacks fulfilled their purpose which was to force Han Fei back. The man in red crawled rapidly on the ceiling towards the boy!

It moved so fast that even though Han Fei already charged as fast as he did towards the door, he was still too late. The claws covered in Death Curse were already above the boy’s head!

“Get out of the way!” As he shouted, Han Fei tossed out Rest in Peace. The blade dimmed after it left Han Fei’s grasp but before the light fully faded, the blade pierced into the man’s palm and pinned it into the wall. The Death Curse on the man’s face boiled. The pain enraged him and it yanked off the pinned arm. He raised his other arm. Death Curse curled around his fingers. The boy was shocked into place. No matter how mature a boy was, he would be frightened when he saw something like this.

The sharp nail came at the boy. Just as the claw was about to pierce into the boy’s eye, the man in red suddenly crawled backwards. The boy who had his eyes closed didn’t feel the pain, so he opened his eyes again. The scene that he saw would stay with him forever. Han Fei was pulling on a red chain stuck with animal fur. The chain was tightly wound around the man in red’s neck. Han Fei was yanking on the chain as hard as he could. A living human was stopping the Soul Chaser with pure force!

“Don’t just stand there! Go and hide!” Even after giving everything he had, Han Fei’s strength was lesser than the man in red. The fact that he struggled until this stage was already a miracle. A spike grew from the man’s back and pierced through Han Fei’s arm. Another limb extended out from the man’s monster. It grabbed Han Fei and threw him against the bedroom door.

Han Fei’s arm was heavily injured, but he still tried his best to stand up. He used his arm to reach towards Rest in Peace. Voices of humanity came from the hilt as if responding to Han Fei’s summon. The dim blade shimmered again but Han Fei was too far away from the man in red.

The claws reached towards Lai Sheng’s head again. Just as the fingers were about to touch Lai Sheng, the bedroom door suddenly opened and an arm similarly covered in Death Curse reached out to grab the man in red by his wrists!

The hand pinched and the man’s wrist was shattered. As the man screamed, an extremely oppressive presence floated out from the bedroom.

Turning back to look, Lai Sheng realized there was a large figure standing behind him. His entire body was written with the Death Curse. He too was dressed in red. At that moment, only one of his eyes was sentient. Staring at the monster that just walked out from the bedroom, Lai Sheng’s focus eventually landed on that one eye. Then the word basically tumbled out from his mouth.

“Daddy!”

Chapter 366

366 Passing the Torch

The door that Lai Sheng couldn’t open finally did when the boy was in mortal danger. It was his father who walked out the door. Technically it was Lai Sheng’s father who had completely transformed into a monster. The man didn’t want Lai Sheng to see him like this so he had been hiding. It was not until the claws almost reached his son that he put down his reservation. Even if he might be feared by his son, he had to do something.

The single eye colored with pain. He knew how helpless he was, he couldn’t even leave behind a wonderful impression for his son. But to his surprise, Lai Shang managed to recognize him immediately despite his current appearance. The boy showed no fear, no matter how much his father had changed, he was still his father.

His mouth was sewn together by the Death Curse. The man tried to speak but he only made the Death Curse on his face spread further. There was like an invisible wall between the father and son. Both parties tried their best to shatter the wall, but it was fruitless.

“You’re really home, mommy wasn’t lying! She said if I don’t go to sleep, I won’t be able to see you…” The boy claimed as his eyes reddened. Only before his father could he put down his guard. In that moment, all the suppressed fear exploded and the boy cried. For a boy, the cryptic world was too scary. Lai Sheng wanted to get closer to his father but the father who had already morphed into a monster didn’t dare to let Lai Sheng touch him. His Death Curse rushed out from the bedroom like a shadow, a black mist billowed around him.

The man in red didn’t expect there was another Soul Chaser hiding inside the bedroom but even more surprising was the fact that this Soul Chaser appeared to have abandoned his job of chasing after souls, but instead showed up here to stop him from doing his job. The pupils with black characters turned with confusion, and then a fist covered in Death Curse landed heavily on his face!

The head caved in. Blood mixed with the Death Curse and sunk into the skull. Lai Sheng’s father was like a thick tree, his roots had spread through Room 4064, his small movement could shift the shadow inside the room. The lights flickered. When the lights went off, the man already appeared behind the man in red. His hand reached for the man’s head, lifted him up and then slammed the head heavily on the ground. Picking up the man by his wrist, the father twisted the man’s elbows and then dragged the defenseless Soul Chaser out of the room. The father had decided to kill. The Death Curse around his body pierced into his skin, this appeared to be a warning for the Soul Chasers when they strayed from their job. Pain and torment didn’t change the man at all. Death Curse poured out of his one eye while his other eye reflected the image of Lai Sheng.

The boy stood where he was. He had no idea that he was his father’s only hope in the cryptic world. The front door closed and the sound of slamming and tearing came from the corridor. It sounded like a gunny sack filled with treasures was being slowly torn apart. Several minutes later, when the dirge reappeared on the 6th floor, the father returned to Room 4064.

Anger, hatred and Death Curse, they circulated around the monster but his left eye was a pool of gentleness. His mouth was zipped and his ears were stuffed with Death Curse. He couldn’t communicate with his son, he couldn’t even hear his son clearly but he could sense what Lai Sheng was feeling at that moment. Blood leaked out from his lips, the man tried his best to open his mouth. The black threads made from the Death Curse were torn apart. The father tried to call his son’s name but he couldn’t even do that. The lights inside the room dimmed. The father’s power appeared to be related to shadow, wherever he was, the light would be consumed.

The father and son met at the Ziggurat. The ghost who did the soul summoning finally met the son he couldn’t forget. Lai Sheng reached out towards the man. Seeing how desperate Lai Sheng was, even Han Fei wanted to give him a hug, much less his father. The man’s arms slowly lifted but as Lai Sheng was about to touch him, he put his arms down and took a step back. He didn’t want his child to see him in this ugly state. If possible, he wished for his son to remember him for who he was and not what he was now.

“Aiz.” The bedroom door slowly opened. A woman covered in layers appeared at the door. She looked at the father and son in the living room and her eyes filled with sadness and gentleness, “Lai Sheng, you mustn’t get too close to your father.” However, the boy didn’t listen to his mother, he insisted on moving forward. “Lai Sheng! Stop!” The woman’s voice became sterner but she too didn’t dare to come close to Lai Sheng.

Seeing the woman’s arms which were hidden inside her sleeves, Han Fei appeared to understand something. He walked to Lai Sheng’s side and gently stopped Lai Sheng. “I think it’s better if you tell the child the truth, even if tonight might just end up being a dream for him.”

Lai Sheng struggled in Han Fei’s grasp. Before his parents, he finally acted like a normal child. The woman inside the bedroom and the man who had turned into a monster looked at Han Fei. They stared at him for a long time before the mother said, “I know where your lost soul is hiding. I can hand him to you but I hope you can do us a favor.”

“What favor?”

“Bring Lai Sheng away from here.”

Lai Sheng’s young face filled with disbelief when he heard that. How could his beloved mother say something like that?! The small boy froze in the living room. Lai Sheng wiped away the tears on his face. His plain helplessness was pitiable.

“Lai Sheng, mommy has been lying to you.” She addressed the tearful Lai Sheng and her face was set in pain, “Your daddy left your world a long time ago. I thought I could take care of you alone and give you double the love, to make you the happiest child in the world. That is where your memory stops. You forgot about what happened later. I fell ill. You leaned against my bedside and accompanied me but in the end, I left.”

“I…”

“As your parents, we couldn’t let you go and that memory of ours was taken advantage of by someone nefarious. It is why you are here. All the soul-summoning rituals are meant for you.” The woman said as she pulled up her sleeves. Death Curse crawled on her arms like vines. “We were told that as long as we were willing to transform into monsters, we would be reunited with you. But when you were really here, we realized the truth. The thing’s target was you all along.”

“Was the thing that took advantage of you the manager here? What kind of person is this that he’d target even a child?” Han Fei hoped to get the help from his couple so he was already laying the foundation for that.

“It is not a human, not even an animal. It is the real devil, representing pure evil.” The woman was slowly changing into a monster but she was not worried about herself, all she cared about was Lai Sheng, “Our deaths were not an accident. All the coincidences were its way to kill us, and it did all that to draw Lai Sheng into the Ziggurat.”

“You still did the ritual knowing that it would harm Lai Sheng?” Han Fei probed.

The woman smiled sadly, “The child’s father has been turned into a monster and my memory has been touched. I once thought this place was real life and we were still alive. It was not until the ritual succeeded and I personally summoned my child to this dirty and scary world that the memory which was tempered with was returned to normal.” Her knuckles were white. “It did it on purpose, it wanted me to know without suspicion that I was the person who murdered my own son.” Leaning against the door, the woman lost all energy. Just the thought of what she had done drained her. She had personally killed the son she cherished and missed the most. That was going to be her lasting torment.

“The manager here hates everything good about humanity, it likes to torment people to prove the fragility of humanity. But this also exposes its weakness because it has never tasted any love and care from others.” Han Fei knew the things Butterfly had done. Since it didn’t believe in the good of humanity, it would show the ugliness of humanity to others as well. Misery loves company.

When Han Fei conversed with the woman, the boy struggled endlessly. Finally their whole family had reunited, he couldn’t understand why everyone was so sad. Seeing the Death Curse appear on his mother’s face, Lai Sheng was desperate. He pleaded for Han Fei to let go and begged his parents to not leave, but no one was there to answer his begging and pleas.

“Why are you doing this? Didn’t you say adults won’t lie to children? I am not afraid even if you have turned into monsters, I am not afraid of turning into a monster too as long as we can stay together.” Even if this was a nightmare, as long as his family could be together then he would be willing to keep on living in this nightmare. The soul who was summoned would forget that they were souls. They would live in the bubble of their memory and habit.

“Lai Sheng, mommy and daddy can’t hug you anymore but we will always be with you. We’ll be the wind, the rain, the bird in the sky and the squirrels on the trees. We will always be there for you.”

“You lie, you are lying to me again!”

“There are only 3 hours left until 4.44 am. Lai Sheng, you should go. We are already very lucky to be able to see you on this last day.” The woman didn’t waste any more time, she signaled for Han Fei to let go. The moment Han Fei did, the boy charged towards his mother. He ran very fast like if he was any slower, his mother would dissolve into bubbles and disappear. The small boy charged at his mother but he couldn’t close the distance between them.

When the boy passed the mirror beside the sofa, the silent father took out the colored photograph from his death portrait. He looked at his own laughing son and then shredded the photograph. The pieces of photography fluttered to the ground and shadow surged out from the mirrors in the living room. Then the entire Room 4064 changed.

Mold and dust covered all the furniture. The ceiling cracked bit by bit. Yin energy coalesced. Paper money appeared on the ground. There were white candles everywhere. This was what Room 4064 was supposed to look like. The shadow covered the room and then surged towards Lai Sheng. As the candles were blown off one after another, Lai Sheng’s consciousness wavered as well. After the shadow retreated, a boy was lying on the sofa. He was enveloped in a soft shell of Yin energy, softly asleep.

“There’s no more time, you have to bring him and go.” Death Curse appeared on the woman’s neck but she didn’t care, her eyes lingered on the child. “If you can’t leave before 4.44 am tonight, then you’ll be trapped here forever.” Before he lost his soul, Han Fei couldn’t see the Soul Chasers. However, both Lai Sheng and him saw the couple clearly, so it meant that Lai Sheng was in the same living undead state as he was. They were both halfway into the coffin.

“Will the manager’s soul return at 4.44 am?” Han Fei knew the significance of timing, perhaps he might see the real Butterfly tonight.

“Yes, so you have to figure out a way to leave before it returns. After it returns, all of our eyes will be its eyes, our ears will be its ears. Our love for Lai Sheng will be the blade that kills him.” The woman’s face was darkening.

“We didn’t dare to have Lai Sheng leave before this because he would die without our protection. It made use of that to keep our family together. But we are lucky to have run into you. I will return your soul to you and hopefully you’ll keep up your end of the bargain and bring Lai Sheng back to his real home.

“I like what you said, it is time for me to hand over the torch of life to Lai Sheng. Leaving him will be our last love for him.” After she said that, she walked to the sofa. Her face was now dominated by the Death Curse. She leaned down to kiss the boy on his cheek. “Mommy and daddy didn’t lie to you, we really do love you.”

Death Curse crawled over her lips. The woman stopped resisting. The Death Curse went fully out of control and obscured her face. The blood leaked out from her skin and dyed her clothes red. She used her last shred of rationality to say, “Your soul with your childhood memory ran into Lai Sheng’s consciousness. We were unable to stop it. Actually the Lai Sheng earlier was not fully Lai Sheng, he has a part of your personality.”

“My soul has gotten into Lai Sheng’s consciousness?” This was something Han Fei didn’t expect.

“Your missing souls contain the memories from your past. They should have been sucked into different people’s memories. I have no idea whether this is something the manager planned or it is something unique to your soul.” The woman’s voice came intermittently, her body was slowly evolving into the Soul Chaser.

“To locate your souls, you need to find living humans compatible with them and bring them away from this place.” The woman’s head slowly fell. The blood capillaries on her skin bulged. When she lifted her head again, her pretty face was already gone. Before Han Fei could speak, the woman already lost her mind. Her sharp nails pierced towards Han Fei’s heart.

Just as Han Fei was about to be impaled, the shadow in the room protected him.

The father with just one sentient eye blocked before Han Fei. He moved to hug his wife who had joined the ranks of Soul Chaser silently.

Chapter 367

367 The Comedy Actor

Death Curse swallowed the young couple. The man used the shadow inside the room to shield his wife. He didn’t get close to Lai Sheng but merely looked at the sleeping boy from afar. The single eye was heavy with regret but he had no other choice. The father in the red clothes slowly bowed at Han Fei. When Han Fei picked up Lai Sheng from the sofa, the father’s single eye flashed with appreciation.

The men didn’t say much as one picked up his wife and dragged all the shadow inside the room towards the mirror while the other picked up Lai Sheng and headed out the room. The separation came earlier than expected.

As the front door closed, Han Fei could feel the boy in his embrace tremble. He lowered his head and realized the boy’s face was wet with tears. Perhaps he had dreamt of the separation or he had not fully fallen asleep.

“I will bring you back to real life and I will also save your parents so you’ll have the chance to reunite again. Of course, the premise is that I can become the new manager of this place.” Tears slid down the boy’s face. His small fists tightened.

The door to Room 4064 closed. Han Fei didn’t stay for long. He had to find all of his lost souls before 4.44 am. ‘I remember all 3 of my souls have escaped upstairs, I’ll have to start the search on the 7th floor.’

There were many rooms at Ziggurat, searching through every single one of them on the Night of Resurrection was no different from committing suicide. ‘Or should I go to Room 4144 first? Since the Butterfly is still not here, I should have Zhuang Ren meet his family. After I get his family to help me, I’ll use Resurrection to send Zhuang Ren back.’

Spirit Farer was Han Fei’s trump card and Resurrection was his biggest secret, it was these 2 talents that made it possible to summon Zhuang Ren to the cryptic world. Han Fei meant to hit 2 birds with one stone, it would satisfy Zhuang Ren’s lifelong dream and he would get necessary aid at Ziggurat. However, when he really thought about it, Han Fei hesitated. With Butterfly’s cunning nature, it would have done something to Room 4144. Perhaps Zhuang Ren’s family had already been turned into monsters. After seeing the tragedy with Lai Sheng’s mother, Han Fei had the feeling the moment Zhuang Ren saw his family, it would be the moment his family turned into monsters. Every tenant at the Ziggurat had a Death Curse planted on them. Before finding out about the Death Curse on Zhuang Ren’s family, Han Fei decided not to take things too rashly.

Walking through the safety door, Han Fei left the 6th floor. As he stepped on the stairs to the 7th floor, the boy’s eyelids flickered like he was waking up. Seeing this, Han Fei started to understand Lai Sheng’s father’s silent love. With the father’s power, he could have put Lai Sheng fully to sleep but he didn’t. He trusted his child so he only put a temporary spell on Lai Sheng so he could hear or feel everything around him. He didn’t want his son to run away from the truth forever and wallow in sadness. He hoped that his son could learn to overcome the pain, or at least face it.

“Actually I quite envy you. Your mother is so gentle and has planned everything. Even though your father isn’t much of a talker, he is silently protecting you.” Lai Sheng’s father didn’t follow after them but Han Fei had a feeling that if they ran into mortal danger, the father would appear. Perhaps he was in the shadows watching over them at this moment.

“My childhood is happy too, I think…”

Han Fei scanned the ashes of paper money on the ground as he entered the 7th floor. If a soul had been called into one of the rooms, then their footprints would be left among the ashes. The dirge was like a constant threat. If Han Fei stayed at a spot for too long, it would head his way. To prevent himself from being ambushed by the paper doll procession, Han Fei moved very quickly. He glanced around cursorily. If none of the rooms had footprints, then he would figure out another way.

7th floor, 8th floor… When Han Fei came to the 9th floor, he noticed this floor was different from the others. Since he was too busy running for his life earlier, he didn’t have the time to observe the corridor.

Even though each family also had the red couplets, firepots and paper money, the corridor was extremely clean. The burnt ashes were inside the firepot, and the floor was spotless. It was like someone cleaned this place daily. ‘I doubt Ziggurat has a cleaner, but it would have a group of people who are professional at hiding traces of gore.’

Other than these, Han Fei spotted many hand-painted drawings on the wall. There were green trees, sun, playing children and smiling adults. There were also slogans to stop theft and fire prevention. These were a stark contrast to the eerie atmosphere of Ziggurat. Even for Han Fei, he’d feel more comfortable if the drawings were all painted red.

‘Vandalizing the Ziggurat’s walls with drawings? Who would be so daring?’ The dirge sounded in Han Fei’s ears again. This time it came from downstairs. He didn’t hesitate and moved immediately.

When Han Fei passed by room 4094, he noticed there was no firepot before this room. It looked perfectly normal. That was why it was so abnormal. Every tenant was in the middle of the ritual so why not this tenant?

The dirge was getting louder, the paper doll procession was heading upstairs. Han Fei decided to take a gamble and knocked on the door of Room 4094. “Is anyone home?” He knocked a few more times. On the 8th time, the door suddenly opened. A young man in pajamas opened the door. “Who is it?” The young man was about Han Fei’s height and size. He was quite handsome but his hair needed some cutting. He had heavy dark circles and his pajamas were not even buttoned up fully.

Han Fei scrutinized the man before him, trying to find something strange about him like a lack of shadow, a knife hidden in his pocket, blood stains on his clothes. However, Han Fei realized with a shock that this person really did appear to be a normal person.

“You look familiar, are you one of my neighbours? Why are you carrying a child in the middle of the night, is he sick? I get it now, you’re here to borrow my car, isn’t it? The boy needs to go to the hospital?” Before Han Fei said anything, the man already provided the explanation for himself. “Wait a minute, I’ll go change now!”

The young man didn’t even close the door as he turned to run into the living room to grab a jacket, shouldered it on and prepared to leave.

“The boy is not sick but I have something to discuss with you.” The dirge was coming closer. Han Fei carried Lai Sheng and entered the room. “Let’s go in and talk.” Han Fei had a sense of familiarity with the young man, it was like their souls were attracting each other. When the young man recovered, Han Fei was already inside his room and he even closed the door for him.

If a strange man barged into one’s room with a child at midnight, it was something worth worrying about, but perhaps it was Han Fei looked too harmless or Lai Sheng looked too pitiable, the young man in Room 4094 didn’t chase them away but showed concern for them. The young man was so kind that Han Fei was unsettled by it. Han Fei was prepared to face all kinds of strange monsters at Ziggurat but he was not prepared for a completely ‘normal’ person. In real life, this young man would definitely be seen as a Good Samaritan but Good Samaritans wouldn’t last long at Ziggurat. Kindness often could be a beautiful shell to hide a rotting heart. Han Fei shielded Lai Sheng and carefully watched the young man and his room.

The layout of Room 4094 was different from Room 4064. The living room was large and it had a big television. Under the screen was a black cabinet, where a collection of movie literature and cds was stored.

The wall facing the tv had posters of many comedy movies. Under the posters was a large sofa. Currently a blanket and remote control were placed on it. The young man probably fell asleep watching the movie. “You seem to like watching comedy movies?” Suddenly it hit Han Fei. ‘Wasn’t this exactly how I dreamed my life would be when I was just starting out in the acting business?’ A large television to play his own movies, a soft sofa to plant himself in and a large living room for him to exercise. So many things had happened since then that Han Fei had already forgotten about this former dream of his.

“I don’t like movies.” To Han Fei’s surprise, the young man shook his head.

“Then why are there so many comedy posters on your wall?” Han Fei never heard these movies before but the style of the posters showed that they were all comedies.

The young man ruffled his messy hair shyly. “Actually I’m a comedy actor, these are my works.” The young man was extremely shy, especially after he mentioned his career. Like he was afraid that he was unable to live up to his on screen persona.

“Please take a seat.” The young man didn’t have many guests. He tossed the blanket and some clothes to the side. When the blanket was moved, several bottles of medicine hidden underneath it rolled to the ground, there were sleeping pills, anti-depressants and so on.

The flustered young man picked up the bottles and apologized profusely. He hauled up all the bottles and moved them to the bedroom.

“How is your child faring?” The young man awkwardly tried to change the subject. Rummaging sound came from the bedroom like he was looking for something. When the young man was cleaning up the bedroom, Han Fei saw the screen of the phone the young man left on the coffee table light up. The screen wasn’t locked, he was probably using it earlier.

With curiosity, Han Fei leaned towards the screen. The search column had this written on it—how to leave this world painless…

The question was not finished as the therapy intervention and emergency number appeared below the search column. Following the number was the statement—Honey, you are not alone, because we will always be with you.

Chapter 368

368 Firefly

Han Fei found himself unable to move his eyes away from the phone screen. He couldn’t understand why this comedy actor would search for things like that. From his perspective, the man already possessed everything Han Fei once wanted, to become a good comedy actor, have many famous works, live in a big house and have a luxurious life. The man in Room 4094 was Han Fei’s former ideal self, but when Han Fei met the person, he realized the man was not only not happy, he was extremely unhappy.

‘Why is that?’ After their brief interaction, Han Fei could see that the comedy actor was a kind and gentle person. When Han Fei approached him in the middle of the night with a child, the man didn’t react with caution and alertness but instead assumed the child was sick and needed help. ‘He shouldn’t end up like this, a man like him shouldn’t end up like this!’ Han Fei saw himself in the comedy actor. He repeated this statement, perhaps convincing himself.

The phone suddenly vibrated, and a new message came in. Han Fei touched the screen subconsciously, it was a private message.

Meat Hodgepodge, “Can you contact Yan Zu? I’ve sent him many messages and made many calls, but there is no reply.”

Meat Hodgepodge, “He has deleted everything on his profile page. I clicked into it and it was empty.”

Meat Hodgepodge, “Are you there? Firefly? You’ve been showing up less and less lately too, please don’t scare me!”

The person called Meat Hodgepodge sent many messages. The comedy actor who was busy inside the bedroom quickly rushed over when he heard the endless vibration of his phone. He picked up the phone and scanned through the messages. Then he called a number but it was not picked up. He called several times and the call didn’t go through, it was like his calls had gone into a dark hole. “Why aren’t you picking up your phone? Haven’t we already made the promise?”

The calmness on the young man’s face completely disappeared. Han Fei had no idea what was the relationship between the young man and the person he was calling but he could feel the anxiety from the young man.

The young man opened a group chat and private-messaged many people. He got their replies one by one. As he read through the replies, he stood in the living room. He was unmoving, his eyes glued to the screen. After a long time, when Han Fei came over to look at the phone, the young man finally reacted. The young man forced a habitual smile. He didn’t hide the content on his phone, instead he said with forced levity, “A friend of mine has left.”

“Left?”

The young man turned to look at the night sky out the window, “He has returned to the sky.” Those two sentences appeared to exhaust the young man. He slumped to the sofa like a broken doll. He picked up the blanket as if looking for his pills, forgetting that he had already moved them to his bedroom.

The black phone vibrated again. The messages kept coming in. The young man checked them before Han Fei. The young man was different from before, he answered the replies seriously. Then he clicked on a group chat called Happiness Neighbourhood. He looked at one of the profiles which was forever greyed out. He wanted to say something but he didn’t know what.

Meat Hodgepodge, “@everyone, it has been confirmed that the youngest of our group left 3 hours ago. His account data will be handed over to Firefly as per our custom.”

Laughing all Day, “Yan Zu is gone? Are you sure? You’ve gone to the hospital to check? He is the most optimistic among us. Even the doctor said that he was recovering well! We have already made a date to go online and beat up some foreigners!”

Fish and Water, “2 days ago, the kid showed me his homework. He said he was preparing to go back to school. How can this happen?”

Reading the messages, the young man finally keyed in a few words. Firefly, “It’s true, I’ve contacted his stepfather. Unfortunately, until the end, I was unable to persuade him to mend the bridge with his stepfather, I’m sorry.”

Meat Hodgepodge, “Why are you apologizing? You don’t owe anyone an apology!”

Fish and Water, “This is hard on all of us but do not let the emotions beat you. Everyone, please remember to take your medication on time. If Yan Zu’s stepfather is not willing to take over his account, then we will follow the set rules and leave it with Firefly.”

Laughing all Day, “Firefly, thank you.”

An account detail and password were sent to the young man’s phone. He looked at the account for a long time before he opened his computer and used the kid’s account profile to log into a virtual game on a social platform. This was a management style game. The kid’s avatar was tall, muscular and handsome. His IGN was Xin Lu Yan Zu, but in real life, the kid was small and thin, he was often bullied and slandered. He was not good at interacting with people. His farm was left unattended for a long time already, he last logged in half a year ago.

The game was tied to the social platform so it was bound to a person’s social account. It recorded the person’s history on the internet. The game had a memory theatre, book of joy, negative emotions management centre and so on.

The young man controlled Yan Zu’s avatar and walked into the house. The only thing purchased using real money in the small house was a large and rare photo frame. A group picture was placed inside the frame. There were more than 10 people and everyone was in their avatars but part of the avatars had been greyed out. Looking at the group picture, the young man lowered his head slowly before finally moving his eyes away.

Walking to the young man’s side, Han Fei patted the man on his back.

The man kept his head lowered and his hands pressed against the table. He suppressed the choking in his voice and said in a voice as steady as possible, “I knew this kid from an Iyashikei game. The people in that Happiness Neighbourhood are all people with illness, we have gathered together due to certain reasons. We are each other’s support group but as time passes on, more and more profiles become greyed out.”

“Did you set up the group yourself?”

“It was an old man who gave it to me, I am the group’s only manager now.” The young man was a good actor so emotional control was basic for him. When he lifted his face again, most of the pain was gone. He tried to present himself as optimistically as possible no matter how wounded he was feeling.

From a locked drawer, he took out a diary. The young man flipped through it slowly, every page recorded a different account detail and password. He turned through them slowly, like each page was extremely heavy. When he reached a blank page, the man carefully jotted down the kid’s account details and password. He triple-checked the details. After ensuring there was no mistake, he placed the diary back into the drawer.

“I really didn’t expect the kid will leave before us.” The young man stared dumbly at the boy’s avatar. The boy’s virtual account, all of his memories were left in cyberspace, these were all that remained of a living person. “He was the most optimistic and happy person in the group, he encouraged everyone daily and kept us updated on his daily improvement…”

“But no matter how good one is at acting out optimism, one will never find true happiness.” Han Fei had no idea why he said that, he couldn’t even tell whom it was meant for. Perhaps it was for the dead boy, the young comedy actor or even himself.

Chapter 369

369 A Talk

No matter how good one’s acting was, there was someone whom he could never fool and that was himself. After one got used to play-acting at happiness, the optimism would become like a set of clothes, only by putting it on that one would have the courage to leave the house. The young man was surprised by what Han Fei said, it resonated deeply with him.

As a rather famous comedy actor, he had to act happy always before the public but no one knew that while he had managed to make everyone laugh, he was unable to make himself smile. “Have you seen the messages inside my phone?”

Han Fei knew what the man was talking about so he nodded. Noting the admittance by Han Fei, the young man sighed in relief. It was as if he could finally shed the disguise. It was getting too tiring for him too. “A comedy actor who brings the world happiness thinks about ending himself every night, it is quite ironic.”

The young man looked at the few medicine bottles that were left on the coffee table. He didn’t want to hide anything before Han Fei anymore. It was a strange feeling. It felt as if this stranger had a similar experience as he did and they were kindred spirits.

Neither of the men said anything until the dirge sounded outside the room. The chilly wind blew into the room through the half open window. The young man shivered but he didn’t move to close the window. Instead he looked out at the night sky as if the boy was there winking at him.

“I have a question, I hope you don’t mind me asking.” Han Fei looked at the comedy actor who was way too similar to him.

“Go on.”

“You have already gained everything you ever dreamt of and fulfilled all of your dreams so why can’t you smile?” Han Fei was really curious. The comedy actor in Room 4064 was like another version of himself, the version who had not encountered Perfect Life and had succeeded in life based on hard work.

“I lost my smile when I was young so I believe smiles are the most important thing in the world. It was why I wanted to make the world smile, seeing their smiling faces, perhaps I too can regain my lost smile, or at least that was what I thought at the start.” The young man adjusted his emotions. “But that was unfortunately not the case. I was an extra for a very long time. I have no outstanding appearance or hefty connections so to shine among the many competitions, I have to work harder. I tried many jokes and comedies but people refused to laugh, it was like they could see through me and know that I am a boring person inside.”

“Then how did you catch your big break?”

“It was a complete accident when I was in a play. The prop team made some mistakes and built the stage smaller than it was written on the script. No one told me about the change and I acted according to the script. I was moving backwards and before I knew it, I slipped off the edge. The stage was 7 metres off the ground but thankfully I was wearing a safety harness so the injury wasn’t serious. However, the audience found it quite dramatic that a serious actor suddenly disappeared from the stage. I was strung in the air like a tortoise and that was the first time someone laughed watching my performance.” Looking at the movie posters on the wall, the smile on the young man’s face froze.

“I knew the audience didn’t mean any malice at the time, so I thought it was not bad being a weeping clown. That was what I told myself, but it only got me even more anxious. Every night I stayed up late thinking about new ways to make people laugh. Gradually it affected my sleep. It was like someone had flipped a switch in my mind. Starting from that night, the world was shrouded in a grey mist.” The young man was used to maintaining a smile before another person. His facial muscles had remembered that feeling so even if he was not happy, he was smiling.

“Perhaps you should consider becoming a horror actor.” Han Fei suggested sincerely but the young man shook his head. In a way, he was as stubborn as Han Fei. “I didn’t become a comedy actor because I like to act. It is because I like to see people smile that I train so hard to be a comedy actor.”

While they conversed, the young man’s phone kept vibrating. The members from the Happiness Neighbourhood group didn’t chat in the group, they didn’t want the chat group to be leaden with negative emotions. Instead they pm-ed the young man to ask about him.

The light from the screen lit up the young man’s face as he patiently replied to the people one by one. Han Fei stood beside the young man and observed him. It felt like he was looking into a mirror. With the guidance from the previous manager, Han Fei became the building manager for Happiness Neighbourhood Building 1. Even though his life was constantly at risk, he tried his best to save the tenants at Happiness Neighbourhood. The cryptic world was forever engulfed in darkness. In the endless darkness, Han Fei was like a barely noticeable firefly.

“I’m sorry, there are too many things to deal with today.” The young man apologized to Han Fei before he returned to his phone. Perhaps people would think that he was doing something that was totally meaningless. But at the same time, it was because there were people who were insistent on doing these meaningless things that those who were close to choosing to leave the world would have second thoughts. This was not an issue of right or wrong. They merely understood something that most could not because they had been touched by the same problem.

Certain people, you were meeting them for the last time, you merely didn’t realize that.

The young man used 20 minutes to reply to all the messages. He was sincere with everyone inside the group. He didn’t show any sign of impatience, it was like the words that he saved in real life, he poured all of them into the chats with the people in the group. “The members of the Happiness Neighbourhood chat group are mostly patients. They are hiding in this corner of the world and lean on each other for warmth to survive the chill in their hearts. The only thing I can do for them is to help them secure this little piece of the world.”

“Is that the reason you used to convince yourself to keep on living?” Han Fei’s words were not gentle. Actually this was the first time he used this tone to talk to a ‘ghost’ inside the cryptic world.

“The reason to keep on living?” The young man shook his head. “I am not afraid of death and I do not need a reason to keep on living.”

“Death is not scary, the scary thing is not living. The saddest thing in the world is seeing someone already preparing to die before he even has the chance to really live. Opportunities in life do not come that often, once you miss them, they will never return. You won’t even have the time to feel regret.” Han Fei looked at the man. He was persuading the comedy actor but it also felt like he was conversing with himself from the past. He never had a chance like this before, a chance for him to face his own soul, the chance to have a heart-to-heart with his own self.

With regards to whether Perfect Life was really an Iyashikei game, Han Fei thought he had already decided on an answer but now his mind started to change again.

Chapter 370

370 Ziggurat’s Tenancy Right and Tenant Support Group (2in1)

“When you’re still alive, why think about death?” A horror movie actor stood face to face with a comedy actor and saw themselves in each other’s eyes. Their futures were drastically different but the path they had chosen was so eerily similar. One became the manager in the cryptic world as a living person; the other became the pillar for patients with a sickened body and mind. Both of them stood in their version of darkness and became a fleck of light in their night sky.

“I will keep on living.” The young man said with a smile on his face. “I am a very good actor if I do say so myself, you’re the first person to know my secret.” He controlled the avatar left behind by Yan Zu and looked through the messages and pictures which remained of the boy. These were all evidence of his former presence.

“You must have many similar accounts. Don’t you ever feel tired guarding over them? One day, you might collapse.” Han Fei pulled over a chair and sat down beside the young man. He could sense the bad state the young man was in. The man had no channel to vent the pain in his heart so whenever there was a new source of pain, he would suppress it deeper into his heart.

“That is the positive part about my illness. I won’t be able to feel any emotions that normal people would. Things like happiness and despair are the same to me. My heart is like an isolated city, nothing can come in but nothing can go out either.” The young man didn’t lift his head as he continued to scroll through the boy’s life, “I never talked about these thoughts of mine with others but for some reason, I feel open around you, like… you can understand what I’m feeling.”

“A 52 Hertz Whale meeting another 52 Hertz Whale?” Han Fei knew the truth, he was conversing with his own soul. In a way, this was quite a saddening truth.

“Yes, even though this is our first meeting, I feel like I have been waiting for you. It’s like the reason I’ve lived for so long is for this day to arrive, for us to meet.” The man looked through the boy’s memory. After a long time, he said, “Can you help me with a small favor?”

“Help you keep your secret?”

“No.” The man’s hollow gaze gathered with light again. “I will try my best to make sure my profile is the last to blink out in the group chat but like you said, if one night I suddenly topple over…” The young man’s heart was extremely barren, he had created so many laughs and smiles for his audience but he took in all the pain for himself. During the process of conversation with Han Fei, his speech started to become more intermittent and his fingers started to shake like he was very cold. “I hope you can inherit the account of Firefly from me. Help me preserve the trace of their existence and guide the newcomers to the group.”

“Is that what the old man told you when he handed you the managerial position of the group?”

“Yes, for us, the night is endless. Even if the world disappears, the night will still be there. Compared to the endless night, we are like easily extinguishable fireflies. We can’t rival the night sky and we can’t bring light to anyone. But we can choose the way we would like to live so that we wouldn’t be consumed by the darkness.” The correct thing to do, the knowledge of the world, the young man knew everything but understanding and treating the problem were two different issues, the comedy actor had already tried the best he could. Compared to the other patients in the group, the young man was lucky to have run into Han Fei on that night, a person who could completely empathize with him and even resonated with his soul.

After saying all that, the young man moved his gaze away from the computer screen. He looked at Han Fei seriously, waiting for his answer.

The ghost in Room 4094 had not appeared. Han Fei didn’t even know if there was a soul-summoning ritual in this room. All he did after entering the room was to converse with his own soul and now he was reaching the turning point of the conversation. Han Fei needed to make his choice and his choice would affect the subsequent choice of the owner of Room 4094.

“I can, I will help you record your account and your past but I hope that day will never come.” After Han Fei gave his promise, the young man’s expression softened. For the man who could never feel any emotions, he had never felt so relieved in his life.

“Can you give me your contact number? So that we can contact each other more easily.” The young man took out his phone. His black phone was still pinging with new messages from the chat group. The chat group was the only thing that was meaningful in his life.

Han Fei listed out the number that he had used for years. At first, the young man didn’t react that much to it but as he was about to key in the last number, his finger froze over the phone. “This number…” The young man lifted his head with disbelief and looked at Han Fei with confusion, “How do you know my phone number?” The blood from his heart rushed to his brain. The man’s skin paled. The soul who was summoned would live according to their fixed memory, trapped in their own bubble. When they realized the problem, they would slowly awaken to the fact that they were already dead.

“Not only do I know the phone number that you’ve used for 7 years, I also know that you’ve always kept this axiom on your phone—the best actor is yourself going about life.” Han Fei looked at the transformation of the young man. The temperature of Room 4094 also started to drop.

“How did you know that? I have not told anyone about that before!”

“Because you are me. There is no 2nd 52-Hertz Whale in the world, but there are 2 souls who are willing to become fireflies in the dark.” Han Fei flashed a smile similar to the one on the young man’s face. It was a kind and gentle smile, the smile that could bring people around him comfort. But only the two knew that there was a soul that couldn’t smile behind that gentle smile. “I will help you fulfill your final wish and become the new manager and protect all the patients even if my profile is the only one that remains lit inside the chat group.” Han Fei laid his hands on the young man’s shoulder. “Your goal is something that I’ve been doing. We have never given up, haven’t we?”

The temperature from Han Fei’s palms gave the young man some warmth. The shock on his face slowly turned into serenity and acceptance. His skin was losing all color. A deep strangulation mark appeared around his neck. The man had no make-up on his face but a scratch mark surfaced at the corner of his eye, giving him the appearance of a weeping clown. As more things entered his mind, the growl of a stranger erupted from the young man’s throat. His rationality was being consumed. Blood vessels bulged on his face. The young man’s appearance was starting to differ from Han Fei as his body started to shrink like he was being sucked dry.

Room 4094 morphed alongside the young man. The luxurious furniture was replaced by old and simple ones. Cracks appeared on the wall, the ceiling sunk as if it was about to crush the young man and Han Fei standing in the middle of the room. Everything only stopped when the light from the sinking ceiling almost reached the young man’s head. Room 4094 became dilapidated. The young man before Han Fei turned muddled, the glow in his eyes was gone.

The sound of cracking startled Han Fei. He whipped out his knife and turned around. He only then noticed the door of the bedroom had been pushed open and a student about 10 plus stood at the door. There was a white can placed beside his feet. The can contained white rice and yellowed paper. The yellow talisman had the name Firefly on it.

‘This student is the owner of Room 4094?’ Han Fei guarded the young man behind him and regarded the student with alertness. The boy’s head slowly lifted. He was hugging a book and a picture frame in his arms. Different from the other soul-summoning ritual, the boy didn’t use a death portrait for his ritual, instead the frame contained the picture of a gaming avatar, it was probably Firefly’s avatar.

“It was you who summoned Firefly to this place? You don’t even know his real name and appearance, why would you do this to him?” The soul who was summoned to Ziggurat was mostly living humans. In other words, the person who had the avatar of Firefly was half-dead in the real world.

“I wouldn’t be able to complete the ritual on my own.” When the boy spoke, several human faces appeared in his mouth. The faces gushed forward like waves. The torrent also caused Han Fei to fall. If they didn’t purposely avoid the young man behind Han Fei, Han Fei would be sent out the window already.

“I’ve not seen Firefly, I don’t even know his real name but he is someone very important to me and to us.” The student spoke. Han Fei saw the dead bodies in his mouth. They hid inside the darkness of the body, surrounded by shadows. Flesh and skin, they were a layer used by these people to avoid interaction with the outside world.

“Us? Are you the users from the Happiness Neighbourhood chat group?” Han Fei’s brain spun quickly, “Are you Yan Zu?”

“The group is not called Happiness Neighbourhood, there was a problem with the ritual. One of your souls has mixed into Firefly’s memory. Two memories mixed together and thus the worldview changed with it.” The student’s voice was cold like a dead body but Han Fei was thankful that the boy didn’t show direct hostility.

“You’ve seen what happened earlier. Firefly is still doing his best to fulfill his promise. My soul is someone like Firefly, we will protect this precious treasure as best as possible.” Han Fei’s soul of kindness and understanding entered Firefly’s consciousness. As Firefly’s own consciousness was about to collapse from the pressure of the ritual, it was Han Fei’s soul which saved him. Firefly was ready to accept death but Han Fei who had been in the cryptic world for so long was different. His survival spirit was strong as iron and came as a timely support for Firefly.

“If you still care about Firefly, then let me leave with him. Firefly has been searching for death but his experience here might change his perspective on things. He has been guarding the traces of your existence, so I hope you will give him the second chance to approach life.” He had to bring Firefly away to save everyone inside the building.

“We never wanted to hurt Firefly. We didn’t expect the ritual to work. Each of us has tried summoning him for the past 14 years but it never worked. But today it did. He has held onto the promise for 14 years. And today he has arrived because of you.” The boy appeared to misunderstand something. The ritual succeeded tonight because of the Butterfly and not Han Fei.

“Really?” Han Fei said to himself, “He told me something curious earlier, he hoped that I would become the new manager.” The term manager had a unique meaning in the cryptic world. When Han Fei said that, the boy’s brows twitched. But interestingly enough, the boy didn’t correct Han Fei and he didn’t continue this conversation. Instead he had Han Fei pick up Firefly’s phone. After the transformation began inside Room 4094, Firefly’s phone changed too. It became old and the broken screen was stuck on the chat group’s page. The name of the chat group was no longer Happiness Neighbourhood but a row of ‘Death’.

“This is the thing Firefly has been protecting. A whole group of us who have already been greyed out…” The boy lowered his head. Before he could finish, Firefly’s phone vibrated. The boy then saw the name of the chat group had been changed. The row of ‘Death’ had been edited to—Ziggurat’s Tenancy Right and Tenant Support Group.

When he saw the change to the name of the group, Han Fei was surprised. He looked shyly at the boy. “I was just giving it a try, I didn’t realize that the manager can edit the name directly.”

Chapter 371

371 Fear of Myself [2in1]

The group name that hadn’t changed for 14 years was edited just like that, it was not that the new name, Ziggurat’s Tenancy Right and Tenant Support Group was that bad, it simply didn’t fit the overall despairing atmosphere of the group chat.

Blood leaked out from the cracked screen. The profiles of the dead typed out bloody red messages. When Han Fei’s finger touched those strange messages, the sound of ghost wailing could be heard in his mind. The pained wailing contained an undercurrent of confusion. The souls who had been drawn into the darkest night opened their eyes and suddenly realized something had changed in the endless night sky of despair.

Holding the phone with both hands, Han Fei was flustered. He was only checking the extent of the manager’s power, he did not expect for something like this to happen. “The previous name of the chat group was too depressing, I just feel like we should learn to look forward. Furthermore, it is not our fault that this happened to us. A pair of invisible hands was manipulating our lives from the dark. Perhaps by cutting off that pair of hands, we will all find salvation.”

Han Fei looked at the blood that was about to leak out from the screen and the ghostly profiles in the chat group. He was unsettled. In the cryptic world, a phone was invaluable but the function of this phone couldn’t be used casually. Every time Han Fei touched the phone, he would have to pay a certain price.

“Erm… Is it possible to close this chat group?”

The male student was like a zombie. He opened his mouth wide and the human faces inside his body spoke at the same time. “It’s not possible. The phone is Firefly’s deepest obsession and the connection between us and him. Also there is something we have to tell you. We have noticed that after we move into this building of despair, new tenants would often join in the chat group even though we didn’t invite them. Unlike us, they will not be so caring and cautious around Firefly.”

The boy in Room 4094 didn’t expect Han Fei could change the chat group’s name either. Before he could add something else, the phone in Han Fei’s palm suddenly vibrated. “Laughing all Day is requesting a video call!” Han Fei remembered this name from Firefly’s memory. The person was making a video call probably because they wanted to see and confirm certain things.

This was the first time Han Fei had a video call in the cryptic world, he had no experience at all. He freshened up and fixed his appearance because this might be the last recording of him alive.

He clicked the accept button. Before he understood what happened, the phone screen was dragged into a live video of a living room. The room was dark and a single chair was placed in the dim living room. A young man was seated facing away from the camera.

“Laughing lives in Room 4174, he has this illness where he will always laugh no matter his emotions. He could be sad or in pain but he would keep on laughing, he won’t stop. Because of this illness, he was always bullied. In one instance of school bullying, his mind broke. He pounced at his bullies like a mad dog. As he laughed madly with tears streaming down his face, he grabbed a nearby compass and aimed the pointy end at the bully’s eyes.” The student knew about Laughing’s past. “Laughing managed to pull himself back at the last moment. The compass didn’t puncture the bully’s eye. However, Laughing’s whole demeanor, how he was laughing and crying while doing something this crazy, was recorded by the other students. It was uploaded to the internet. After that, not only his bullies, but also his friends, teachers and strangers on the internet thought Laughing had mental problems. Later, Laughing was expelled after the school authority had a meeting with Laughing’s family. From then on, Laughing rarely left home anymore. His illness became more and more serious. His neighbours would often hear laughter filled with pain at midnight.

“To not disturb his neighbours, Laughing insulated his room with soundproof boards. His laughter was no longer able to escape. He too was forever trapped inside that room.”

When the male student told Han Fei about Laughing’s past, the young man who sat alone in the video slowly turned his head around to reveal half of his face. He had a creepy smile. The smile caused the blood capillaries to bulge on his face. They were branded on his face like a curse. However, different from the smile was the spirit in his eye, or the lack of. His pupil was grey, dim and lacking in mirth.

It was a quick look, it was less than 1 second but the face twisted by involuntary smile had seared itself into Han Fei’s mind. Any other person would be frightened by that horrifying, smiling face but not Han Fei.

“I am not Firefly but I am someone just like him. He has created a warm sanctuary for all of you in real life and I intend to create a real home for you in the cryptic world.” Han Fei saw himself as a professional actor. Sometimes, he couldn’t even tell whether he was acting or the habit had become his second nature that his calmness had become part of himself. He thought he would be afraid but when he saw the twisted and pained smile on Laughing’s face, the fear in his heart was replaced by something else. “The forever greyed out profile pictures have all lit up. How much longer do you plan to stay inside your room?” After knowing about Laughing’s past, Han Fei was determined to help him. This was not only because he needed aid from the young man but also Han Fei was sincere about helping the individuals inside the chat group.

Looking into that eye, Han Fei moved the camera to include Firefly. “He has protected your past so let me help you lead you into your future. Tonight is a vital night and it is the only chance for all of us. I do not need you to place your full trust in me. I only hope that you will give yourself a chance and give Firefly a chance.

“Firefly who is the pillar of your community has completed his promise, he is the last person to leave the group. He has guarded all of you until the very end, until his soul is wounded and his spirit is broken. Are you really going to sit back and watch him sink into darkness?”

Han Fei gave Laughing some time to think while he manipulated the phone. “One of my souls has entered Firefly’s consciousness. One of my habits was retained by Firefly. Whenever I feel defeated and need a booster, I would read the words that I have left for myself on my phone. The advice that my soul left for me was, the best actor in the world is you going about life; but Firefly has left another advice for himself.” Han Fei only noticed this when he got the phone and logged into Firefly’s account. Firefly had a post that was viewable only to himself—“I cannot forget about them, their hearts can no longer warm themselves so I have to hold onto them tight. If I let go, their hearts will forever be frozen in ice and sink into the bottomless depth of darkness.” Han Fei recited the words written down by Firefly, he didn’t inject too much performance element into it. The purity and sincerity of the words were the power behind it.

“Firefly has thought about death many times. For him, death is not difficult, the real difficulty is to keep on living. I know you will be able to identify with that. Resisting the torture of the soul and combat the negative emotions in the mind before finding the courage to keep on living.

“Firefly has warmed you and in return, you all have provided him with support. But now you have been used by the manager to pull the man who carried everyone’s spirit into Ziggurat.

“Do you know? If you let him die now, it is not a release for him but you would have destroyed everything that he has worked for. If you are really sincere about helping him, then you have to let him go, let him return to the place where he belongs. Allow him to carry on with all of your hope and anticipation, then he will truly become the existence that proves that hope is real!”

When Laughing saw Firefly’s profile lit up, he sent the video call invitation immediately. Throughout the process, he said not a single word. Sitting alone before his phone, he was the perfect listener. Laughing couldn’t even remember why he made this call in the first place, his mind was just echoing with Han Fei’s words. At the Ziggurat, no one was like Han Fei. His face froze with yet another smile but this smile was slightly different from usual. Gradually the smile turned into a guffaw as blood tears leaked out from the man’s eyes. Underneath the maddening laughter, Han Fei believed he heard, “Firefly will not perish in the eternal darkness.”

After the video call ended, Han Fei had more confidence regarding the plan that night. He turned to look at Firefly beside him. He leaned over to help Firefly ease more comfortably onto the couch but was surprised to find that Firefly’s expression was no longer as numb as before. He stared at the screen. It was as if after the conversation with Laughing, Firefly’s weak consciousness was triggered and the memory inside him was awakened. Perhaps by chatting with more of Firefly’s chat group friends, Firefly could slowly return to normal. Han Fei instantly put that to the test and realized it was true. Thus Han Fei started to reach out to those profiles with familiar IDs from Firefly’s memory. Like Firefly used to, Han Fei consoled and encouraged these people. He approached them one by one and shared with them his thoughts. This masterful actor was also an experienced patient. He had done a lot of research into psychiatry so he knew what he was talking about. Han Fei soon gained the approval of some tenants. His role as the manager was accepted by more and more people. After he chatted with most of the group managers and was arranging their information in his mind, the phone vibrated again. “No. 4204 is requesting a video call!”

“Those who have received help from Firefly would have an actual id. The tenants who joined the group chat after would use their Room number as their id.” The male student warned Han Fei. “You better think twice before answering this call.”

“Since they have joined this group, it means that they too wanted to change.” After giving it some thought, Han Fei decided to answer it. Most of the tenants here only had one 4, other than the male student and Laughing, they were quite weak.

“Room 4204? This person is living on the 20th floor?” Based on Han Fei’s experience from Building 1, tenants from beyond floor 20 were generally scarier. The call was connected. Before he could say anything, blood splattered on the screen. Then he heard a familiar voice say, “Soul-summoning? But I am not your family, I don’t even know you. However you do not dare to harm me and will even listen to my every word. For me, you’ve committed murders and dismembered bodies. Looks like my speculation is correct. My soul has infiltrated your family member’s body. This is interesting. You are supposed to be ghosts but you are as cowardly as a man.” The voice was leaden with madness and a desire for destruction. Han Fei gawked with disbelief when he heard the voice. He was certain that the voice belonged to himself. ‘My own soul is in Room 4204?’

Han Fei had lost 3 souls, and they formed 3 consciousness, 1 for Han Fei’s childhood, 1 for his kindness and hope, and the last was closest to the memory of redness, it probably represented the evil and cunning within Han Fei.

Chapter 372

372 Technically Not My Fault

The blood blotted most of the screen, only a man’s voice could be heard. The man was a soul made into being by the Soul Chaser but it was perfectly comfortable at the Ziggurat. Through small clues, he managed to guess his own identity and status in a short amount of time. He made use of the connection between the room owner and his host to easily win the upper hand. To be frank, the ‘soul’ would require sharp observational skill as well as a very crazy and smart mind to accomplish this.

“Since I can assume your family’s consciousness then I should be able to do the same to you. Why don’t you come and eat me? Or perhaps let me control his body to crawl into your stomach, then you’ll be together forever and I won’t need to worry about my own safety anymore.” The maddened voice was similar to Han Fei. Han Fei outside the screen stared at the phone, he had a feeling his Evil Soul was going to rock Ziggurat tonight.

The blood slowly beaded together and slid down the screen. Han Fei could barely see what was inside Room 4204. The whole room was covered in blood. The walls of the rooms constricted and expanded like a heart. In the middle of the room stood a monster about 3 metres tall. Its head was almost touching the ceiling. Its arms laid weakly by its side, there were tattoos of chains on them.

The monster’s spine was made up of protruding skulls. The monster’s wrinkled face stared at his own stomach. The stomach had been slashed open. There was no blood but instead plenty of hair. The hair was knotted together to form knots of resentment. The thing that caught Han Fei’s attention though was, he saw a young man about his size standing in front of the monster’s stomach and he was using an impossible speed to undo the knots.

The monster who had killed so many people could have wiped out the young man easily but he didn’t do that. Eventually all the knots were unmade and the young man crawled into the monster’s stomach.

At the same time, the monster’s muddled eyes turned red and a new skull grew on his spine. Unlike the other weathered faces, this face was extremely young and devilish.

“You have such a cool power, why didn’t you use like? You still mind the rules at Ziggurat? What rules are there at this dark and despairing place? If you’re strong enough, you make the rules.” The monster’s body expanded, yin energy filled up his guts. As the knots on the stomach were undone, the seals on the monster were lifted as well. Room 4204 pounded like a living heart. Just as the walls were about to crack, the large monster squeezed through the front door and stormed into the corridor.

“What kind of monster is that?” Han Fei watched the senior monster walk away through the screen. When the monster left the room, the young man turned to glance at the spot where the phone lay like he knew all along someone was watching him. As the footsteps disappeared, Room 4204 slowly returned to normal. Several minutes later, all the blood receded. They gathered in the middle of the room and became a blood red shadow. This shadow was the true owner of Room 4204, it was forced to fake death earlier to escape actual death.

“4204? Are you alright?” Han Fei had many things he wanted to ask. The bloody shadow was still recovering from the intrusion. He stood before the camera and studied Han Fei. In the end, he seemed to sense something from Han Fei and ended the video call.

“There is a rotten, bleeding heart residing in Room 4204. No one knows where he comes from and people rarely interact with him. But why was the senior monster from Room 4234 rampaging around Room 4204 earlier?” The male student was confused.

Han Fei was already in battle mode. He fired off a series of messages in the chat group. He warned everyone to stay in their room and be prepared for the worst. The message was received with suspicion, after all, Han Fei was new to the job. In fact, even the male student didn’t quite get it. “The senior monster from Room 4234 is the earliest tenant at Ziggurat, he is extremely powerful but there is no need for such a warning, right?”

Other tenants also thought Han Fei was overreacting. No matter how powerful the senior monster was, he wouldn’t dare to openly violate the rules of Ziggurat and charge into another tenant’s room. Han Fei was quite desperate and angry seeing how innocent these ‘people’ were.

If it was just the senior monster, then indeed there was nothing to worry about, there were still many tenants who were more terrifying than him at Ziggurat, like the headless door guardian, the figurines in Zhuang Ren’s family’s home. But everyone missed an important detail. The senior monster was literally not himself at the moment. It was Han Fei’s Evil Soul who was controlling him.

Han Fei at level 13 didn’t have any offensive ability but he had already cleared Yi Ming Private Academy, ruined the meat packing plant, burnt down the security company, collapsed the Cattle Alley and now he was inside a Grade E Hidden Map. The senior monster looked as powerful as the female livestreamer. In other words, Han Fei’s Evil Soul was now in control of a Large Lingering Spirit!

Just the thought of it feared Han Fei. What would a completely evil version of himself do after he acquired the power and ability of a Large Lingering Spirit?

One of the tenants said in the chat group that the senior monster wouldn’t violate the manager’s rules but for Han Fei, rules were made to be broken. These tenants should be thankful if the senior monster only broke into their rooms, Han Fei worried that there would be a bloodbath instead.

For a splitting moment, Han Fei believed this was the plan of the Butterfly all along. It made Han Fei’s Evil Soul cleansed all the tenants. That way he would walk the path of the tester and slowly lose himself to become a bloody butcher.

“Don’t be so worried, do you really think he’ll destroy this whole building?” The male student consoled Han Fei. “Tonight is the Night of Resurrection where there is a paper doll procession and every family is conducting the soul-summoning ritual. The manager will intervene if the senior monster steps out of line.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t count on Ziggurat’s Manager, it is the kind of evil that you can’t even begin to fathom.” Han Fei didn’t know how to convince the boy. He frowned in thought. Then he opened his menu and started to recite from his professional resume. “Everything I said is true, I’ve done many jobs before but because of the presence of that Evil Soul, everything is ruined.”

“Ruined?”

“Not in the sense that you might understand it.” Han Fei elaborated on his professional history, when he was a teacher, he killed the discipline teacher; when he went to interview at a convenience store, the interviewer died after half an hour; after he switched a career path, all of his colleagues died; he joined the security company and incidentally attracted the Singer, the company was now covered in curse, and not even one employee remained.

The male student was shocked after he heard Han Fei’s resume. He stared at the Ziggurat guard uniform Han Fei was wearing and his pale face started to twitch.

Chapter 373

373 Chaos

No matter if Han Fei was lying or not, the male student panicked seeing the security guard uniform Han Fei was wearing.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine to be around me. All the tragedies are the handiwork of that escaped soul. That’s why I can’t guarantee he won’t do anything crazy, so you have to watch your own safety!” Han Fei said seriously. At this moment, he had a renewed understanding of himself.

“But at the end of the day, he is just a summoned soul, it should be fine.” The male student’s conviction was shaken.

“Have you seen a soul manage to take over a senior monster in less than half an hour after he was summoned? If this continues, the consequences will be unimaginable!” Han Fei was desperate. There were still 2 hours plus until 4.44 am. He had to find all of his missing souls before the Resurrection of Butterfly. Han Fei was worried that his own soul would become like the door guardian. Not only would he refuse to return, he would also figure out ways to kill the main host.

It was why Han Fei was so panicked after he saw the Evil Soul. However, Han Fei soon calmed down. Everything had two sides to it. The combination of his Evil Soul and the senior monster was scary but if he manipulated the situation well, they could be immensely helpful to Han Fei.

“The tenants inside Firefly’s group are communicable, they can be considered allies. If my Evil Soul wants to cleanse the Ziggurat, I should remind all the tenants in the group to go into hiding. That way, only the tenants who are completely dominated by the Death Curse would be eliminated by my Evil Soul.” At that moment, saving others was saving himself. Han Fei convinced the student and then had him persuade the other tenants with him. The tenants who were once aided by Firefly could end up as Han Fei’s aid so Han Fei didn’t want anything to happen to them. The previously silent group chat suddenly became so busy. Han Fei was like a harbinger of doom, he was the siren that told everyone to go into hiding.

“Do not fight him head on! Do not converse with him! It’s best if you go and hide, do not interact with him at all!” This was a living human telling all the ghosts to be careful of their safety in the middle of the night, it was strangely comforting.

The users who had been aided by Firefly before did listen to Han Fei’s advice as deference to Firefly. However, the users who had their room numbers as Id refused to heed Han Fei’s advice. From their perspective, it was already very kind that they didn’t kill Han Fei directly. To have them follow Han Fei’s orders? That was impossible.

Before Han Fei could say anything more, he heard the sound of glass breaking coming from the top floor. The last time he heard something like that, it was when the jumper woman appeared. He rushed to the window and tried to open it but he was stopped by the student. “One mustn’t open the windows at the Ziggurat. The neighbourhood is surrounded by Mist of Death. The monsters hidden inside the mist might crawl into the building if you open the window.”

“Then what will happen if you shatter the window and no one goes to fix it? Would the mist from outside continue to billow in?” Han Fei asked curiously.

“You’re just here and you don’t know many things. Ziggurat has its own life. After part of it is destroyed, it will heal and rebuild itself over time. It is like a human body, the wound will automatically scab and then heal.”

“The Ziggurat is alive? Speaking of which, the whole neighbourhood is surrounded by this strange mist. Before I entered the place, I was already curious, where did the mist come from?” Han Fei voiced the question he had been carrying. Ziggurat was the most dangerous building in this area, the whole neighbourhood was shrouded in mist. In the beginning, he thought the mist was just a prop. It was not until the Unmentionable, Singer also lost its direction in the mist that Han Fei realized how scary this mist really was.

“Pure Hatred is above Lingering Spirit and Unmentionable is above Pure Hatred. With Butterfly’s power, it shouldn’t be able to summon such a thick mist. Does the mist exist before Butterfly took over the managerial position here?”

“I don’t know either. But I do know that the grey mist, Death Curse all originate from the underground of the Ziggurat.” The student answered honestly.

“Underground? Have you been there?”

“No, the underground can only be accessed through the elevator and I do not like cramped spaces so I have never taken the elevator.” Hearing the student’s answer, Han Fei was reminded of a scene from the Ziggurat game. All those Soul Chasers appeared to have come from the underground using the elevator.

“What is hidden underground?” Han Fei had just asked that question when the sound of glass shattering came from the top floor. It was mixed with brazen laughter. The glass shards rained down like crystal. They fell into the mist and disappeared like they were swallowed. The windows were shattered floor by floor. As the mist gushed into the building, the song outside the building became clearer. It numbed Han Fei’s skull.

“It is very close to me! The person who is shattering the window intends to bring the Singer into the building?!” Hearing the familiar cackle, Han Fei knew who was behind this. His Evil Soul’s plan was not bad. However with just the power of a Large Lingering Spirit, what could it do to an Unmentionable? Why was he taunting the Unmentionable? Had he lost his mind?

Han Fei assumed his Evil Soul would target the other tenants, he didn’t expect him to shatter the windows on every floor instead. His Evil Soul was as unpredictable as the man himself.

“Is it me or the song outside seems to be calling your name?” The male student asked. Han Fei was not in the mood to explain the situation to the boy. His brain was filled with everything he knew about the Singer. The Evil Soul was crazy and adored chaos. One more uncertain factor would be added into the Ziggurat.

‘The Evil Soul is clever to let the Singer into Ziggurat, the Singer will kill me on sight! However, the Singer will kill him too!’ The windows were still breaking. When Butterfly arrived, the Ziggurat would be unrecognizable to it already.

The sound of the dirge, the Song and the glass breaking mixed together. The endless grey mist permeated the Ziggurat. Han Fei who stood beside the window witnessed everything. This scene was eerily spectacular. Yin energy was everywhere.

Chapter 374

374 It'll Be Fine [2in1]

The grey mist poured into Building 4. The windows couldn’t repair themselves faster than the speed by which Han Fei’s Evil Soul was destroying them. The tenants had not encountered something like this before. There had been fights between tenants but they would never harm the building itself. After all, if the building collapsed, it brought no benefits to anyone. It was no different from suicide.

However, this new soul was different from the others, he saw the rules at Ziggurat as something to be broken. It did not matter that he wished to die but he aimed to bring everyone else down with him!

This action finally convinced the male student of Han Fei’s warning. Only someone that crazy would commit to the things Han Fei had described. The Evil Soul’s actions were so illogically crazy that most of the tenants found them inexplicable.

Initially the tenants in the chat group didn’t take Han Fei’s warning seriously, some of them even wanted to exit their rooms to check out the situation themselves. It was not until the windows started to shatter and the Song echoed in their ears that they started to panic!

Standing beside the window, Han Fei took in the chaos created by the Evil Soul and he pondered how to control the man. The grey mist at Ziggurat surged towards Building 4. The mist was like a sea and the Singer was like a leviathan hidden in the depths, ramming against the building.

‘When Butterfly returns, it will find the place leveled.’ Han Fei was not kidding. The Singer noticed that there was something cooperating with it from inside Building 4. The Unmentionable focused its aggression on Building 4, trying to enter it through the grey mist. Its idea was good but it still couldn’t break through the last layer of defense. It had been prowling outside the Ziggurat for days already, and throughout that period, its hatred and rancor towards Han Fei grew. It had decided to destroy this neighbourhood and spread its curse everywhere. The singer howled like it was bleeding!

The dirge inside the building was instantly suppressed. A giant shadow materialized in the mist. It appeared to be the Singer trying to squish its large body into the Ziggurat!

The Unmentionables were scarier than Pure Hatreds. The Ziggurat was having trouble resisting the Singer’s attacks. Furthermore, it had the Evil Soul’s support from inside. The whole building shook and cracks appeared on the walls. Just as the building was about to collapse, billows of grey mist came out from the underground!

The mist contained a heavier Death Curse, it was almost black in color. A normal person would be affected by the curse within the mist by just looking at it. The black mist gushed out from the underground to try to stop the Singer. Even with the aid from the Evil Soul, the Singer wouldn’t be able to access the Building in a short amount of time.

‘Why is there so much mist hidden underground? Is there a giant cemetery underneath? Whose bodies would be buried there?’ Han Fei was shocked by his own speculation. A normal mass grave couldn’t produce such a unique mist. He suspected there was not a mass grave underneath Ziggurat but instead a ‘unique’ body was buried there. ‘Could it be Fu Sheng?’ Han Fei couldn’t confirm, he only knew that there was a big secret hidden underneath the Ziggurat. ‘Perhaps this is the opening for me to go underground to check it out.’

The glass kept shattering. The senior monster had become the scariest and most cunning presence at Ziggurat. He couldn’t be reasoned with and no one could defeat him.

“We better find a place to hide. Based on his speed, your Evil Soul will reach this floor soon.” The male student stared at the security uniform Han Fei was wearing and the cracks that appeared on the wall. He assumed Han Fei’s soul might massacre the tenants, now he realized the soul intended to bring the whole building down with him!

“I doubt hiding will be of any use. When he is close to me, he will sense my presence.” Han Fei said honestly. “Kid, what is the chance of you winning the senior monster?”

“Absolutely zero.” The student was afraid. He knew the man before him for less than 30 minutes but now their lives were tied together.

“Then you better come with me. Bring along Firefly and Lai Sheng, we’re heading underground.” Han Fei didn’t make this decision out of panic. Lai Sheng’s father was a Soul Chaser, he would know the layout of the underground better. When Han Fei was discussing the solution with the male student, the sound of windows shattering suddenly stopped.

“It sounds like it stopped on the 13th floor. Is there a scary tenant on that floor?” The Evil Soul was not going to break the windows in every room. He was not going to challenge all the tenants. He was only going for the weaker ones. He needed to tear out the biggest opening at the Ziggurat in the shortest amount of time.

“I don’t think so.” The male student was confused. “Does that mean we can stay?”

“Don’t leave your life in the hands of others, you should come underground with me.” Han Fei and the male student carried Firefly and Lai Sheng out of the room. By then, the paper doll procession was too busy to care about them anymore.

…

“This is bad, this is bad! The sound of glass shattering is coming to this floor! We’re going to die soon!” Inside Room 4134, 2 males and 1 female hid behind the couch. They were the people Han Fei saved from the dresser world, the mother and Feng Ziyu’s unlucky neighbor as well as the original tenant of Room 4134, Hua Kui, the security guard at Ziggurat.

“In the end, I’ll die at this horrible place!” Feng Ziyu’s neighbor was a fat uncle. When Butterfly captured Feng Ziyu, the uncle was at Feng Ziyu’s place to complain about the noise. He was accidentally captured by the Butterfly and was abandoned in the dresser world.

“Stop fidgeting like a woman. You’re making it hard to focus!” Hua Kui in the only set of clean uniform was ready for a battle. He grabbed the flashlight and rubber baton tightly.

“We should just run.” The middle-aged man crawled up from the ground.

“Bai Sinian told us to wait for him here.” The silent woman finally spoke. “He will return, he promised to help him find my missing child. Also, didn't you think that the laughter outside sound just like him?” Hua Kui and the middle-aged man were too nervous to notice. The woman stopped speaking. She examined the picture in her palm. It was her son. He was cute, and innocent. He wore a pyjama with a little bear print.

“Shush! Something is coming!” Hua Kui was nervous. He stared out the window. The windows above his floor had all been shattered. The wind howled into the building. “It’s here…”

Strange noise sounded inside the corridor, it sounded like limbs crawling on the ceiling. The scariest thing was the sound stopped when it passed by Room 4134!

The 3 survivors looked at each other. Their eyes filled with terror. They didn’t dare to make any noise and prayed that the thing outside would leave them be. Perhaps some kind of evil God did hear that prayer because after a few seconds of silence, the anti-theft door started to grow with black blood vessels. The decomposing black blood seeped into the room.

Bang! The locked door was cracked open violently. Crazed laughter echoed into the room. Segments of skulls extended out from the spine. Two bloody arms slammed through the door. The curse swept through the security guard uniform in the living room and surged towards the spot behind the sofa. The 3 in Room 4134 were no match for the senior monster. The wave of yin energy gushed at them. They would not even feel the curse’s pain before their souls were grounded into smithereens.

“The two of you need to go! Try to survive!” Hua Kui was extremely virtuous. He held the baton and guarded the woman. The woman and the uncle backed away but they couldn’t open the window which was sealed by the Ziggurat’s curse.

‘There has to be a reason why such a weak ghost manages to survive for so long.’ A human face opened his eyes on the senior monster’s spine. The face looked just like Han Fei but deviousness etched between his forehead and his lips were curved in madness.

The Evil Soul was extremely clever, he saw something hidden in Hua Kui. Instead of crushing the man with yin energy, he tried to inject the senior monster’s curse into the man. If he succeeded, it was a good thing; if he failed, he lost nothing. The Death Curse morphed into a rope to drag Hua Kui to the back of the senior monster. Hua Kui saw the faces on the monster’s spine.

“Wait, it’s you, Bai Sinian!” When Hua Kui almost fainted from fear, he saw Han Fei’s face, he refused to believe his eyes! “The fuck! We haven’t seen each other for only a few nights, what happened to you?”

The Evil Soul’s eyes swept over Hua Kui, he instantly realized something. “There were some accidents when I tried to combine with my family. I lost part of my memory. Do you know me?” Han Fei’s Evil Soul was as cunning as Han Fei. He knew what to say at any occasion.

“Of course! You are Bai Sinian, the new security guard hired by Ziggurat. You led both of them here.” Hua Kui sighed in relief, he didn’t expect to still be alive. “Bai Sinian is back, there’s no need to run anymore.” The woman stopped running. The middle-aged man hid behind the woman. His legs were shaking. He didn’t even dare to look at the monster.

“You two also know me?” The Evil Spirit’s voice was laced with danger, only a few people dared to lie to him.

“You saved both of us. You’re a very kind person.”

“Kind person? Me?” The hatred on the face deepened. ‘It is as I expected. No wonder when I tried to let the powerful ghost from outside into the building, there was a resistance from my heart. So it is due to my kindness. But shouldn’t kind people go to heaven, why am I in hell instead?’

“You helped us escape from danger and even helped to search for my missing boy. We are at fault that you’ve become something like this.” The woman looked at the monster and felt pained and saddened.

“I can sense pain from you. Are you feeling sorry for me?” The Evil Soul controlled the senior monster to grab the woman and placed her before him. He sniffed the woman and looked into the woman’s face. “Tell me everything about my past and personality. Include every word that I have told you! Perhaps that way I can change back from being a monster, and find the past me.”

The woman’s body was bound by curses. She looked into Han Fei’s handsome and dark face. She didn’t hide anything and told him how kind and precious Han Fei was.

“Such a good person is sent to hell? Is that fair?” The Evil Spirit mobilized the senior monster’s arm and locked the trio on the monster’s back. He then grinned wickedly at the window. “I’m running out of time so we’ll talk as we move. Don’t stop talking, tell me more!” He focused the yin energy on the window, it was the only way to break the seal on the window.

After all the windows were shattered on the 13th floor, the black mist underground exploded again. The black mist gushed towards the Singer.

“Old man, the grave that you mentioned has been activated. The curse from the grave is now tussling with the Singer outside. That means it would have no time to stop us, right?” The black mist floated into Room 4134. The Evil Soul opened its arms. “Since the world is not fair, then what is the point of surviving? Don’t worry, I will shatter all the chains on you. Who dares to stop me, I will crush them into pieces!”

The voice chilled the room. Amidst the echoes of crazed laughter, the senior monster left Room 4134 carrying the 3 hostages with him. The Evil Soul whistled to sense the location of the Singer. He rapidly arrived at the first floor. The window at the corner of the 1st floor corridor was furthest from the Singer. Currently all the black mist at the Ziggurat was gathering towards the Singer. The Evil Spirit finally found the opening he was looking for.

“Old man, your family has been carrying the Death Curse for dynasty. After your family dies, they will come to this place. Do you really wish this curse on your grandson?” The Evil Soul looked at the boarded up window at the corner. “Your juniors have all been embedded into your spine. Your back is supported by the heads of your family. It is time to end this horrible life.” The character Death appeared on the thin arms. The senior monster’s muddled eyes reddened with blood.

“My appearance is a coincidence and a necessity! I can feel the anger and hatred you’ve been suppressing for decades. Bind yourself to me, instead of being kept like livestock, why not use this opportunity to fight back?!”

The senior monster grabbed at the wooden planks on the window. The hatred within him was fully ignited by the Evil Soul.

Chapter 375

375 The Curse

Building 4 had 24 floors and the senior monster lived on the 23rd floor. He was the ghost closest to the top floor and was the oldest tenant here. The tenants here had never seen him murder or lose his patience. The senior monster stayed in his room and was surprisingly nice for someone of his strength. If someone accidentally entered Room 4234, they would be pushed out by an unknown force.

If the 24th floor was the most dangerous floor then the 23rd floor could be considered the safest. Every tenant knew of the senior monster, but like the male student, none of them was frightened of him. But their impression was going to change that night when the senior monster met with Han Fei’s Evil Soul.

The senior monster’s only blood relative was summoned to Ziggurat and his only living legacy was corrupted by an evil spirit. If he didn’t want his legacy to end, he had no choice but to cooperate with the evil spirit.

Initially, the senior monster was only playing along until he could find the chance to yank the spirit out. But as they spent more time together, the senior monster realized the spirit seemed to be more familiar with the rules of Ziggurat than he was. In fact, compared to his own grandson, the senior monster started to hope that the evil spirit was his own blood kin instead.

His seemingly crazy and lawless actions were carefully calculated. His madness was controlled by an absolutely rational mind. This kind of person was born for the cryptic world. If the evil spirit stayed on his own grandson, perhaps the blood curse which had been troubling the senior monster’s lineage could be stopped.

In the endless darkness, the senior monster saw the hope given by the spirit. Therefore, he decided to fully cooperate with the spirit, to grasp this chance to escape. His thin skin surfaced with black and red tattoos. Death Curses were forced out from his body. The ‘heart’ that had been hibernating within the senior monster’s chest had been awakened!

Scabs covered with curses fell. The black heart pumped with unimaginable yin energy. The blood of his entire lineage flowed through his body! The human faces on the spine howled. The senior monster’s falling hair was dyed red. His thin body rapidly expanded and his wrinkles smoothed out.

The Deaths inside the monster were forced out. His black heart awakened with blood. When the first bead of blood dripped, the black heart cracked. Hatred that had been suppressed for generations exploded!

His people would never have eternal rest, they had all been turned into monsters, how could he forget such deep-seated resentment?

The arms which had plumped up several times peeled off the wooden boards. The senior monster stopped hiding his hatred. He became the first tenant at the Ziggurat to challenge the manager. His eyes were crimson. The monster crushed the windows sealed up by the manager. As the grey mist rushed at him, the senior monster walked out from the Ziggurat without any hesitation!

The moment he did, the faces on the monster’s spine wailed in pain. The word Death repeated itself endless on his children and grandchildren’s faces. The Death Curse left behind on the senior monster had been triggered. He would die if he left Ziggurat!

The blood from the black heart coursed through the body. The grey mist was unable to stop the senior monster. At that moment, a wisp of song came from the black mist.

“Why are you still hesitating? Give all your hatred to me!” All the faces on the senior monster’s spine were twisted from pain… except one. The face glared with vindication and shouted madly!

The surface of the black heart completely shattered. The hatred buried inside the senior monster burned through the old man’s veins like fire. The senior monster’s blood exploded in the grey mist, like a red firework falling into the black sea!

The senior monster used his arms to tear away the mist. While most of the mist was distracted by the Singer, he punched his way through the weakest point of the Ziggurat. An opening appeared in the mist. After the senior monster walked through the opening, he and his family would gain freedom. The senior monster had imagined this for generations. He resisted the pain from his body, fought them with his hatred and dragged his body towards the opening.

As the mist regathered, the senior monster definitely was quick enough to escape but when he was one step away from leaving, the senior monster suddenly stopped. Inside the monster’s heart, buried deep inside the monster’s source of hatred, a cocoon covered in Death started to break open.

Perhaps because the butterfly was forced to surface ahead of time, it was extremely ugly. Its tattered wings were imprinted with the faces of the senior monster’s later generation. It was born from the hatred of the senior monster’s lineage. It was connected to the entire bloodline of the senior monster. Once it flapped its wings, the senior monster’s children and grandchildren would all die. The Death Curses on the body were merely the smokescreen, the cocoon inside the heart was the reason Butterfly allowed the senior monster such freedom at Ziggurat.

“Old man, have you no idea that your heart has been tampered with? Someone wanted to use you and your whole lineage to cultivate a bug!” The Butterfly had lied to the senior monster all along. The thing would never leave a threat by his side. Since it chose to keep the senior monster, then it could only be that he served some kind of purpose. Blood tears flowed out from his eyes, reddening his face.

The Evil Soul controlled the senior monster’s arm to pluck away the heart of hatred. The senior monster was surprised by this as well. When his fingers approached the heart, the butterfly’s broken wings flapped. Instantly the senior monster’s spine broke. The skulls crushed. They looked fragile like they could disintegrate at any moment. Without the heart, the senior monster would die immediately. The family that the senior monster carried literally on his back would perish as well, but Han Fei’s Evil Soul might survive.

With the exit just a step away, the Evil Soul could have easily escaped out from the Ziggurat alone. The hands covered in curse reached for the heart but stopped above it. The Evil Soul hesitated and put the hands away. “I can’t do it, I am a good person after all!”

The opening narrowed. The Evil Spirit glared viciously at the mutated butterfly inside the monster’s heart. “The real curse has always been inside you. Your deepest secret has long since been exposed to the manager. You’re so pitiable that I can’t even bring myself to kill you. But worry not, as long as it is a curse, there is a solution, for example, killing the person who planted the curse.” The Evil Curse rambled on fearlessly. “You’ve been thinking about making an escape but the thing never intended for you and your family to live from the beginning. You should know what to do now, right?”

He was one step away from the exit but he couldn’t reach it. Facing such a despairing situation, the Evil Soul didn’t look disappointed, it was as if he had predicted this outcome. If anything, his eyes burned with even greater rancor.

“I’ve already told you, power is only meaningful when you use it. Since the manager never intended for you to live, then why live by its rules anymore?” The Evil Soul’s voice echoed in the mist, penetrating every soul.

“Kill! Murder! Destroy!” He shouted without care. “Use everything the manager has left behind to strengthen yourself! Once you kill enough, we’ll become the Death Curse no one dares to go against anymore!”

Chapter 376

376 Child Recovery Service

The senior monster stood at the opening. He looked at the world outside the grey mist before he slowly turned around. His red eyes were no longer confused. Hatred and resentment weaved in his eyes. The senior monster used action to inform the Evil Soul of his choice.

The spine extended and the human faces were polluted by hatred. Their blood bond amplified the hatred! The senior monster’s body expanded further. The hatred in his heart was boiling as he stomped his way back into the Ziggurat.

Without the senior monster, the grey mist rapidly recovered. As it was about to close, a blood red table knife sliced through it!

The red lips moved and a female voice echoed in the mist, “His laughter came from this way, I am sure that was him.” Bloody dress stuck to her skin, her every step radiating with arresting beauty, sickening beauty, maddening beauty.

Multiple hands kept the opening from closing. The sounds of sobbing appeared. A boy holding an urn followed behind the woman. There were tears on his face and spikes of despair protruded out from his body.

“It does sound like him.” One tall and one short figure exuded a heavy air of misfortune. After they entered the mist, the tall one ate the small one. “To lure the Singer to the Ziggurat and while the Singer is dealing with the grey mist, he hit the weakest spot of the mist. He then laughed to signal to us his location, only he will do something like that. But how would he know that we’d come looking for him?”

“Just get in! The boss’ laughter sounded different from before, I suspect he might be in danger.” A man in a convenience store outfit rushed towards the Ziggurat. His only eye glinted dangerously.

As the mist closed around him, black eyes opened in the mist. Beside the single-eyed man was a young girl. Her eyes were closed and she held a screaming girl doll in her arm. These people shuffled into the Ziggurat from the opening. The man at the back of the group lifted his head. He wore a cap and a normal windbreaker. He looked fragile but no one wanted to stay too close to him.

There was a rumor at Happiness Neighbourhood, 8 people had died inside a room and their bodies were pieced together haphazardly. Because the creation was too strong and its resentment too heavy the manager was forced to cut them apart and keep their body parts at different spots of the neighbourhood. The death in the grey mist pierced through the skin. The weak man looked at Ziggurat and slowly removed his cap. He had a very normal face and his name was Wei Youfu. “Han Fei, we’ve come to fetch you.”

The group of people didn’t waste any more time. They walked in the shadows, hid their presence and slipped into Ziggurat through the opening!

…

The purest death from the underground was triggered by the Evil Soul. Endless death tussled with the Singer. The building’s shell started to crack. It was getting destroyed faster than it could heal. “A building named by Death but it is somehow alive, this is just disgusting!”

The Evil Soul controlled the senior monster to smash through the wall. The inner part of the wall started to bleed like actual human skin. “The manager will return at 4.44 am, we still have plenty of time.”

Standing inside the corridor, small black blood vessels crawled out from the senior monster’s body, they were like roots of an ancient tree. They crawled into the rooms through the cracks and gaps. The roots were black before they entered the rooms but eventually they would turn red. The red blood was heavy with pain and hatred, they would all become the senior monster’s food. To prevent himself from being targeted by the manager, the senior monster locked himself up inside his room. He thought that way, he could somehow survive at the Ziggurat but the manager never intended for him to live in the first place.

The hatred in his heart exploded and no one at the Ziggurat could stop the senior monster!

He moved up the floors, massacring everything and everyone in the way! The tenants who didn’t hide well were all food for the Evil Soul. To save time, the senior monster didn’t stop. But when he reached the 3rd floor, he slowed down.

The Evil Soul’s face slowly turned to glance at Hua Kui and the woman on the senior monster’s back. The duo shivered under the Evil Soul’s gaze. The senior monster stopped moving. His roots-like vessels rushed towards Room 4034.

…

“It doesn’t sound too quiet tonight, the 4 of us better be careful.”

“It is never peaceful on the annual Night of Resurrection. But as long as we have control of this Soul Chaser, the other Soul Chaser will not come after us.”

“Correct, the situation outside has nothing to do with us.”

Room 4034 had a table in the middle of it. 4 gamblers were playing mahjong. Their death portraits were placed in the middle of the living room and the table was scattered with paper money.

“Are we sure it’s fine for us to trap this Soul Chaser like this? We’ve tricked quite a few wandering spirits this year.” The gambler to the west of the table said as he played a tile. His eyes glanced towards the boy trapped behind the 4 death portraits. The boy had his head lowered and he wore a bloody pyjama with a little bear print. He was like a broken doll that had no self-consciousness.

“Don’t jinx it. We’re fine every year so why would it be different this year? When the other Soul Chasers sense that there is a Soul Chaser in our room, they will not come inside, that is the rules of the Ziggurat.” The gambler to the south said.

“Why did both of you play the tiles of West Wind?” The gambler to the east also played the same tile. He glanced around casually. “There is a rumor that if every person at the table plays the tiles of West Wind, they will all die and head towards the western nirvana. Dare to try?”

“We’re already in this state, why would we still fear death?” The gambler to the north pulled a West Wind. As the 3 other gamblers stared at him, he ultimately decided to keep the tile. “But I’m not superstitious like you people, Yi Tong!”

When he put down the mahjong tile, the man realized he lost control of his body. Sensing something, he looked up. The ceiling was covered in intertwining black blood vessels.

“What, what are those?!”

The front door cracked. Before he could get an answer, his chest was punctured by a hand. Red blood burned through his body. His broken body was tossed to the side. The Evil Soul wiped away the blood from his palm. His eyes swept the mahjong table.

He swiped his palm down and the black vessels on the ceiling pulled down the wall. There were screams as the Evil Soul cackled. He flipped over the 4 death portraits on the table and single-handedly picked up the Soul Chaser boy.

“Hey, look, is this your child?”

Chapter 377

377 Nothing I Won't Kill

The senior monster’s nails were covered in endless curse. Just the sight of it was horrifying. The monster’s nails pierced through the boy’s red clothes. They hooked through the boy’s collar but not his skin.

A large and imposing senior monster was capturing a boy in a set of pyjamas, this looked very surreal. Blood was everywhere. Curse slammed at the walls. The cracked walls hid broken limbs and meat. But under that circumstance, the scariest voice slowed down.

The woman locked onto the senior monster’s back sobbed openly when she saw the boy. She shouted at her unconscious child, “Where have you been? I’ve been looking so hard for you!”

The woman’s injured arms wrestled with the chain on her body. The Evil Soul’s blinked and the cursed chains on the senior monster’s back loosened instantly. The woman ran towards her child. She had never cried this hard even when facing death. With his nails pinching the boy’s collar, the Evil Spirit placed the boy before the woman.

Finally this was the reunion she had been waiting for. The woman opened her arms to hug her boy but when the woman got close, the boy who was unresponsive to the world suddenly lifted his head. There was no human emotion in his eyes. His small hands reached out from the sleeves and stabbed at his mother’s heart. The hands stopped 1 inch away from the woman’s chest. The boy was held back by the senior monster, he was unable to move a step forward.

“Your child is a Soul Chaser and you’re his target. The first instinct when he sees you is to kill you.” The Evil Soul stared at the distance of 1 inch and confusion flashed in his eyes. He did grab the boy’s collar but he didn’t use much strength. So technically, the boy could have crossed the distance of 1 inch quite easily. To the Evil Soul’s surprise, the boy had stopped on his own. This Soul Chaser managed to go against the order the manager had inputted in him.

Butterfly liked to toy with humanity. In its eyes, having loved ones murder each other was ‘art’. It had ordered the boy to harvest his mother’s soul but due to various factors, the boy didn’t fulfill that order. The boy was unwilling to kill his mother. Even after he became a Soul Chaser, he would not claim his mother’s heart.

The woman studied the boy before her with tears on her face. The worry that she carried for so long melted. She had so many things to tell her boy. But the boy could no longer give her any response, it was like he couldn’t even understand her.

As the woman called her boy’s name, the Evil Soul appeared to be communicating with the senior monster, “Didn’t you say all the Soul Chasers are the manager’s puppets? Aren’t they supposed to be emotionless and senseless? So why did this boy stop voluntarily? How could a puppet have their own emotion?”

“Human soul is complex? Old man, I’m helping you, I hope you won’t give me wrong information again, it will affect my assessment.” The evil gaze wandered between the mother and the boy. In the end, the Evil Soul used the cursed chains to bind the woman and her child to the monster’s back. “Stop crying! After the manager is killed, all the Soul Chasers will return to normal.”

The Evil Soul studied the woman and her child. There was something invisible between them, and that was something the Evil Soul was lacking. This was the first time he felt incomplete.

Agitation colored his madness. The Evil Soul slammed his fists repeatedly on the gamblers in Room 4034. He only stopped when the floor was cracked.

The angered senior monster and the Evil Spirit continued their rampage. Everywhere they passed, all the walls would be dyed red. The couplets shed themselves from the door.

“4044?” The corridor changed and the walls started to twist. Paper money fluttered everywhere and blood pooled on the ground. They appeared to have arrived at the edge of hell. The Evil Spirit unlocked the people on the senior monster’s back and his eyes stared at one of the rooms. A headless door guardian slowly walked out from a blood red door, he dragged a sharp guillotine knife with him.

Heavy footsteps echoed inside the corridor. Decapitated heads rolled out from behind the door. Their mouths were repeating the same thing—No passing through here!

The headless door guardian stood among the heads. It turned its body around to face the senior monster.

“That’s the door guardian you speak of?” The Evil Soul didn’t seem apprehensive. His lips cracked open to smile brilliantly. Seeing that, the door guardian lifted the guillotine blade. The human head beside him slowly morphed to take on Han Fei’s appearance. Then the face said, “I’ve already let you go once, don’t push your luck.”

Noting the face beside the door guardian, the Evil Soul chuckled, “Not everyone is supposed to have my face. Since you have used my face, then I’ll have to crack your door.” The Evil Soul’s tone was sharp and threatening. When the headless door guardian heard him, he readied his blade. The blade reflected the Evil Soul’s pale face. The 4th floor corridor started to change again. The human heads morphed and twisted, they all started to look like Han Fei. They chanted something as blood vessels crawled out from their necks to gush towards the door guardian. As the blood collected before him, the door guardian raised his arm. The blood vessels constructed a puppet of the Evil Soul. The guardian slashed the blade at the puppet’s forehead!

Large amount of yin energy exploded from the senior monster, the walls on the 4th floor caved in. Blood mist evaporated from the puppet. When the mist dispersed, the door guardian still stood where he was, but the senior monster’s arms were on the ground.

The door guardian aimed to kill the Evil Spirit but at the crucial moment, the senior monster stepped in to block the fatal blow.

Fresh blood oozed out from his forehead, dyeing half of the Evil Soul’s face. His eye opened the blood despite the blood and he allowed the blood to flow into his mouth.

“The manager’s watchdog is so weak?” The crimson lips parted. The Evil Soul’s bloody face stared at the door guardian. He uttered, “Give me all your hatred, let me use your lineage.”

The skulls on the senior monster’s spine screamed. The hatred in his heart was unlocked. Black flames burnt through the corridor. The doors bent from the flame. The senior monster’s red eyes glowed with the shadow of the Evil Spirit. The senior monster’s lips opened and the Evil Soul’s voice spoke, “A door guardian without a head doesn’t deserve to be a guardian.”

Chapter 378

378 Old Habits Die Hard

Hatred burned like black flame from the heart and spread through his whole body! To use hatred, one had to suffer bone-breaking pain. Only by burning oneself could one burn others.

Before the guillotine knife fell for the second time, the senior monster used an impossible speed to charge at the headless guardian. The disfigured feet cracked the ground. The senior monster stormed ahead. As his hatred tore apart the bloody puppet, the guillotine knife fell on his shoulder. The blade cut through his body easily but it was unable to slice through the senior monster’s hatred.

The blade was stuck inside the hatred. The senior monster didn’t pull the blade out but used this opportunity to close the distance! The Evil Soul had a natural instinct for fighting. He was more familiar with close-quarter combat even though he had gotten immense power. The chopped arms regrew from hatred. The arms of despair plunged into the headless guardian’s neck. The senior monster laughed as he tore apart the door guardian. All of his family was trapped inside the Ziggurat and they were turned into monsters by the curse. Now all of his hope had been extinguished so only murder and death were left in him.

“The kindling of hatred?” While the senior monster fought with the door guardian, a gasp came from inside Room 4044. Someone appeared to be watching everything from inside. “The flame of hatred has started to burn, if this continues, this Lingering Hatred will eventually be dominated by hatred. With another Pure Hatred, there would be another factor to consider at the Ziggurat.”

The whole 4th floor was shattered and broken from the fight but the door to Room 4044 was spared. The voice inside the room was soft. Suddenly, there were footsteps behind the door and then someone knocked on the door of Room 4044 from inside.

When the door guardian heard the knocking, he instantly pulled back all of his blood vessels. The heads on the ground became unrecognizable again as they chanted something incoherent. Normally speaking, a fight between ghosts and monsters would not end until one party was dead. However the headless guardian was different from a normal ghost. After he heard the knocking, even if he might be heavily injured, he moved towards Room 4044.

The Evil Soul which controlled the senior monster used this opportunity to introduce more wounds on the headless guardian. Unfortunately the guardian was too close to the door. When he was close enough, the headless guardian abandoned all the heads in the corridor by detonating all of them, creating a blood mist. At that moment, he returned to the door.

The Evil Soul stared at Room 4044. During the fight, he heard the whispering and knocking too. It made him even more curious about this room. “The higher the number of 4 at the Ziggurat, the more dangerous the room is. There is someone else living here?”

Blood dripped from his chin. The Evil Soul slammed the arms burning with hatred at the door but it didn’t even budge. “Do you think you can hide forever?”

Since the frontal assault didn’t work, the Evil Soul turned to the rooms beside Room 4044. He easily cracked his way into them. The walls that were adjacent to Room 4044 though also refused to yield. It was like Room 4044 existed in a completely different dimension from the rest of the Ziggurat.

“Tsk.” The chilly gaze glared at the blood red door. The Evil Soul’s ghastly smile and the blood on his face made him look like a demon from hell. The manager would be resurrected at 4.44 am. The Evil Soul didn’t forget about that. He didn’t linger at Room 4044 for too long but instead ran upstairs. “Escape? No, I simply have a better idea. Old man, just stay in there and don’t move, I will massacre everything in our way!”

He locked the few people back on the monster’s back. The senior monster clobbered his way upstairs. He cleared the floor one by one. He feasted on all the useful ghosts and soon arrived at the 14th floor.

“This room also has three 4’s, I wonder what adventure we’ll find here.” Stepping on the paper money, the senior monster used the Soul Ladder and climbed into Room 4144, the room of Zhuang Ren’s family. Instead of strong opponents, the room was eerily common. This was a very normal family, it made the large senior monster look out of place.

“They’re conducting the ritual too? Who is Zhuang Ren, why does that sound so familiar? But I can’t remember it… This family know me as well?” Ever since he saw that something between the mother and her Soul Chaser son, the feeling of incompleteness grew within the Evil Soul. He desperately wanted to know what he had lost.

Dragging the impossibly large body, the Evil Soul opened one of the bedroom doors. Zhuang Ren’s eldest daughter was sleeping in bed. She seemed to be in some nightmare. Her brows were creased together as she mumbled things like, “Father, save me,” and so on.

“Father?” The Evil Soul’s cursed hand lingered over the girl’s head. Mercy came easier to him after it was given for the first time. The Evil Soul spared the daughter and turned away to try another bedroom room.

Inside the bedroom, a girl stood on tiptoe on the bed. She faced away from the door and it just looked creepy. Her head slowly turned. When the Evil Soul tried to approach, a figurine rolled out from underneath the girl’s bed. The figurine was about the size of one’s palm. The face was roughly hewn but it looked like it was smiling.

“Room 4044 has a door guardian, Room 4144 has a holy figurine. These are a bunch of ghosts, why the insistence on religious images?” With a slam, the Evil Soul crushed the figurine. The ghost inside the figurine didn’t even have the chance to show itself before it was shattered. The figurine cracked and left behind a paper note and a strand of half white hair.

The giant sound had awakened everyone inside the room. The door to the main bedroom opened. Zhuang Ren’s wife stared at the Evil Soul with a wintry gaze as she held a Soul Bell in her hand. She immediately rang the bell but the next second her body was slammed into by the Evil Soul. Strangely enough, when her body shattered, the woman’s skin started to whiten. Instead of blood, she disintegrated into a mound of paper. This woman was a paper doll!

The Soul Bell fell to the ground and rolled to the Evil Soul’s side.

Small noises came from under the second daughter’s bed. The figurines opened their eyes. They crawled out from the bed.

He stomped and crushed the Soul Bell. Seeing the cascade of figurines, the Evil Soul had a bright idea. He would lure all the figurines to Room 4044. Even if he was to destroy the figurines, he would do it around that room. He wanted to mess up the balance between the two rooms and then murder the two ‘figures of religions’ inside those two rooms.

“That thought came so naturally to me, have I been doing things like that often?”

Chapter 379

379 Reunion [2in1]

The Evil Soul didn’t fear the ‘guardians’ at Ziggurat. In his eyes, there were only 2 kinds of people at Ziggurat, the type he could kill and the type he would kill with outside help. The space under the second daughter’s bed appeared to be connected to another world. Countless figurines crawled out. They were of varying sizes and had different expressions.

Using his left leg, the Evil Soul stomped the figurines that came close to him. The hair that was trapped inside the figurines floated into the air. “The hair is hidden inside the figurines. Were the figurines worshiping the owner of the hair or the owner of the hair is the master of the figurines?”

The yellow papers with various Death Curses were torn apart. After the figurines were shattered, the Death Curses bound themselves around the hair. Even after destruction, they would stay with the hair forever. Waving his arms, the Evil Soul slammed at the bed with a wicked grin.

The bed collapsed. The figurines crawled out from the broken bed frame. They gushed out like waves. “Each figurine has a strand of hair inside them? Human beings have around 100000 hair, are there 100000 figurines under the bed then?” The Evil Soul’s bloody lips curled. “How cheap can you get?”

A singular figurine was unable to affect the Evil Spirit. But when faced with hundreds of them, even the senior monster started to wound. The ghosts hidden inside the figurines were very unique. Perhaps they had spent a long time with the hair, the presence of the hair’s owner rubbed off on them and they became immune to most of the Death Curse. There was constant shattering. A yin energy storm swept through the room. There were broken figurines everywhere.

However, the owner of the hair appeared to be an Unmentionable. Even the senior monster’s black flame of hatred couldn’t burn through the hair. As the figurines shattered, the Evil Soul collected the hair. He had no idea what they were for but his instinct told him the hair was very dangerous. He planned to send them inside Room 4044. After ensuring he had been made the target by all the figurines, the Evil Soul escaped from the room with a taunting laugh.

The senior monster’s large body crawled on the wall and endless figurines trailed behind him.

“Come! Let your hatred burn through my body!” The senior monster’s arm yanked off the door to Room 4144 and he scurried away with it. He had the figurines trail down the building with him. That way, the tenants could share in his pressure by helping him butcher the figurines. The figurines crawled or ran as they followed the senior monster. At Ziggurat, no one dared to approach Room 4144. Since every tenant here was conducting soul-summoning rituals, none of them dared to desecrate any holy or religious symbol. When they saw the figurines, the tenants would burn a joss stick for them.

But now the Evil Soul and the senior monster had fully challenged the Ziggurat’s taboo. They had not only smashed the figurines, they planned to murder all the ‘guardians’ inside the building.

As time progressed, the figurines that came out of Room 4144 became more alive. Their expressions became more human. The strangest thing was some of the figurines started to possess body temperature like living humans.

In the dark corridor, the senior monster slithered through like a snake. The blood trail he left behind was immediately dominated by the figurines. The dirge was congregating at the spot where the Singer was. The dark mist was also attracted by the Singer. This gave the Evil Soul a perfect opportunity to unleash himself.

Listening to the Song, even the senior monster would show feelings of fear. ‘Which madman brought such a scary thing here? Without the Singer, I wouldn’t be able to convince the old man so easily.’ The Evil Soul raced to the 4th floor and slammed through the safety door. He let the hatred burn down the walls and lured the figurines to the door of Room 4044.

The ghosts inside the figurines were incensed by Evil Soul and the latter wished to crush them as well, but the location had to be carefully picked. It had to be in front of the door guardian. The shattered figurines fluttered through the air. The Evil Soul used various methods to push the cursed paper and hair towards the door of Room 4044. Initially, he didn’t think much but soon he and the figurines noticed something. When the hair inside the figurines were about to touch the door, the blood red door would consume the hair directly. The door where the door guardian was would surface with human figures and strange words. The color of the door guardian would become faded, like its power was slowly being absorbed by the curse and hair.

The Evil Soul also noticed that the hair inside the figurine appeared to be able to phase through the seal of Room 4044 easily. In other words, the hair perhaps came from Room 4044 originally. The owner of the hair was the original owner of Room 4044.

When the hair was first stuffed into Room 4044, there was no response from inside the room. The owner appeared to have decided to keep on watching like they usually did. However as more hair melted into the door, some of the broken figurines started to pry at the door as if they wanted to crawl through the gap to get into the room to retrieve the hair. Gradually, the figurines crawled all over the door of Room 4044. The blood red door started to change. The terrifying image of the door guardian was fading!

Seeing this, the Evil Soul’s eyes glinted. He exploded the hatred on his body and raised a tsunami from it! All the figurines were slammed against Room 4044, the hair inside the figurines disappeared into the door. As the redness of the door lightened, the Evil Soul who was covered in figurines slammed into the door.

Bang! The crack spread from the centre of the door. The door was like a broken heart. Under the repeated slamming by the senior monster, it trembled anxiously. At that moment, the dirge sounded inside the building. The dirge who was fighting with the Singer seemed to sense something and hurried back to the Ziggurat. The dirge echoed in his ears but it was unable to drown out the Evil Soul’s cackle. He studied the crack on the door and became more violent!

His eyes opened behind the curtain of blood. Murderous intent poured out from his pupils! One after another slamming, the Evil Soul intended to tear through the Heart Room of Room 4044!

Countless numbers of figurines had been shattered, the senior monster’s body was wounded but the black flame of hatred burned brighter, like he was close to breaking through a threshold. The door had loosened. The cracks spread from the centre and connected to the walls of Ziggurat. With a final slam from the senior monster, the door of Room 4044 was finally blasted open!

Room 4044 was the home of many dressers. Each dresser had a pair of blood red doors! This room appeared to be the intersecting point of all the dresser worlds, it was one of the hearts of Ziggurat. “The door guardian on the door has completely disappeared, why has the manager’s watch dog gone into hiding?”

The Evil Soul poked his head into Room 4044 with figurines hanging on his body. Initially the figurines chased after the Evil Soul due to hatred but after the door to Room 4044 was open, the figurines were attracted by something else and all of them crawled towards one of the dressers. The 4th floor slowly returned to silence. At the corner of the stairwell, a red high heel stepped on the broken figurine.

“Is that our building manager? How did he become uglier than you?” Lee Zai slowly walked out from the shadows. He looked at Drake beside him with uncertainty.

“I don’t know, I haven’t noticed this kind of presence from the boss before. He has always been a gentle person. He is a light that can warm others.” Drake carried a board-like object that was covered under a black cloth. The thing was very heavy, even for the Medium Lingering Spirit Drake.

“That is his voice but it is not his taste.” The blood red table knife sliced through the Yin energy in the corridor. Xu Qin’s expression was terrifying, like she was ready for a massacre.

“Then should we follow him? That room looks dangerous. We currently do not have any information. Running into the room might land us in a trap.” While they were discussing it, the black cloth on Drake’s back suddenly slipped off on its own. He was carrying a huge mirror. The moment the black cloth fell, everyone near the mirror scattered. Those who were too late immediately closed their eyes to not see their reflection in the mirror.

“The man who has joined with the giant ghost is indeed the person we’re looking for, but that is not the complete him. That is just one of his 3 souls.” A male voice came from the mirror. After he spoke, everyone else was silent. After a while, it was Drake who carried the mirror that asked, “What do you mean by 1 of 3 souls? Mirror God, you have to be clearer than that! The man’s behavior is somewhat different from the boss I know…” Drake looked at the broken corridor and the smashed figurines… Wasn’t this something Han Fei would usually do?

“The reason humans became ghosts is because they have lingering resentment. But the most unique thing about human beings is their soul. Every person’s soul is different, they possess the essence of a person.” Mirror God is the oldest tenant at Happiness Neighbourhood, no one knew where he came from but the man inside the mirror seemed to know a lot about souls. “The thing that has joined with the large ghost is Han Fei’s Evil Soul. He represents the man’s most basic desire. To put it simply, what you see is the man’s most authentic self without any constraint.”

“The most authentic self? The building manager is so dangerous?” Lee Zai glanced at the Mirror God. After he realized his reflection was not in the mirror, he became more courageous.

“This version of himself will not hide his thoughts and doesn’t care for the rules, but then again he has the power to do so. When a normal person loses their soul, they will become muddled and lost. The missing soul will also soon disappear but Han Fei’s soul is clearly different. They are very special.” This was the first time the Mirror God had said so many words.

“Since he is Han Fei’s soul then I’ll have to help him.” Xu Qin stepped over the pieces of figurines. Without a glance at their faces, her fingers caressed the human doily on one of her table knives and she strode into Room 4044. The other figures followed behind her wordlessly.

The dresser doors inside Room 4044 were all open. They were filled with blood stained clothes. Most of the dressers were like a split-open stomach, they kept leaking blood. Following the trail of the broken figurines, Xu Yin and the others from Happiness Neighbourhood entered the bedroom of Room 4044.

This bedroom did not have a bed, but instead it had a giant dresser. Currently all the figurines had entered this dresser. The door of the dresser opened to reveal endless bloody clothes. The clothes echoed with weak pleas and begging.

“I am a curse so the thing here can’t hurt me. I’ll go in to take a lot, the rest of you should wait here.”

“I’m carrying the Mirror God, we can help.”

“Despair and Death are my least feared things. Even though my tears are dry, my crying can still help you. I’m going with you.” In the end, everyone entered the dresser. Pulling away the clothes, the group from Happiness Neighbourhood soon realized something strange. Every figurine that entered the dresser, whether they were broken or not, had on shrunken bloody clothes. The figurines inside the dresser looked even more human-like. They appeared to be coming alive under the influence of some kind of power.

“Such a place is hidden inside Ziggurat?”

Most of the bloody clothes had been worn by the figurines so their sight cleared. Soon they arrived at the centre of the dresser world.

The senior monster controlled by the Evil Soul was fighting the headless door guardian. The monster bit on the guardian’s arm. His body was almost chopped through by the guardian but he didn’t mind it. The whole dresser world could hear his unhinged laughter.

As the wounds appeared on the senior ghost’s body, the brighter his fire of hatred burned. After another battle, both the senior monster and the door guardian crashed to the ground.

This time the senior monster didn’t get back up to fight, instead he turned his head around. Evil Soul was a perfectly rational madman. He saw the group from Happiness Neighbourhood through the gap in the clothes. “You’ve come through the opening in the mist, right? People here try their best to escape but you’ve wandered in on your own? Do you wish to find death?” The Evil Soul appeared to have sensed them when they entered the dresser.

Blood rain drizzled. Xu Qin walked out from the bloody clothes. “We’re not here for death, we’re here for you, to bring you home.” The neighbours walked out. They looked at the senior monster but instead of fear, their eyes shone with worry.

“Home? You’re my family?” The Evil Soul’s lips cracked open with a smile. His evil gaze stared at Xu Yin. “Why do I feel hunger around you, the fiery passion makes me want to swallow you into my stomach. Were you my love? Were you my wife before I died?”

Chapter 380

380 Middle of Nightmare

‘Love? Wife? Passion? Swallow you whole?’ This was the first time Xu Qin had such declarations made to her in the cryptic world. They were brusque and untouched, but she didn’t quite mind them.

‘The Evil Soul is Han Fei’s most authentic self without any constraint.’ The Mirror God’s words echoed in her mind. Xu Qin’s fingers closed around the table knife. Even as a Curse Amalgamation, one that was powerful enough to face a Large Lingering Spirit, Xu Qin had to stop for a double take when she heard what the Evil Soul had to say. ‘I saw you as a cute neighbourly boy, I have no idea you harbor such thoughts about me… Why didn’t you say anything earlier?’

The world was silent after the Evil Soul made his proclamation.

“Well, this is surprising.” Lee Zai snickered. His face was bright with gossip as well as misfortune. “Do you think the manager has purposely split out this soul to voice things that he normally wouldn’t dare to? After all, I can totally see him do something like this.”

“We are…” Weep had grown a lot after digesting his pain at Cattle Alley but before he could say anything, he was pulled back by Drake. He looked at Drake with confusion, as if asking, ‘Why are you always pulling me back?’ Counting the time at Cattle Alley, this was the second time already.

The Evil Soul was very clever. He derived much info just from the tenants’ expressions. He could have manipulated them but he didn’t or rather he was too lazy to. “All of you feel familiar to me, you must know me!” The Evil Soul turned around, the senior monster’s large body placed a lot of pressure on a normal Lingering Spirit. “Tell me, what kind of person was I! Why would I be summoned to this place?!”

The Evil Soul was confused. Based on what the senior monster said, only those toeing the line of life and death could be summoned to Ziggurat. In other words, he should still be alive before his soul was brought here. If he was alive, how could he have so many ghost friends? What was the explanation behind it? The more the Evil Soul got to know himself, the more he wanted to know the answer. The feeling of forgetting oneself was horrible.

“You are the building manager of Building 1 at Happiness Neighbourhood. You are the kindest, most trustworthy, reliable person I know.” Xu Qin who had been silent, finally spoke, “Every ghost here has been saved by you. It is why we would risk everything to come to Ziggurat to bring you home.”

“Gentle, reliable, trustworthy?” Blood covered half of the Evil Soul’s face. His mind chewed over these few descriptions.

The fact that the tenants from Happiness Neighbourhood had entered Ziggurat was the truth, the fact that he could sense familiarity from them was the truth, so they were probably telling the truth.

“I’ve saved so many people, so I am really a good person.” The Evil Soul slowly accepted that truth. His fiendish eyes turned towards Xu Qin and that sense of hunger returned. It was like a habit he couldn’t shake. The more he looked at her, the hungrier he got. Just as he was about to comment on that, the headless guardian on the ground slowly crawled up. He dragged the body which was infiltrated by the black hair and ran deeper into the dresser world. There was something calling the door guardian. Even though the Evil Soul wanted to know his real identity, there was no time. Compared to finding himself, consuming the door guardian, for the senior monster to accomplish his breakthrough was more important.

Opening his arms, the senior monster controlled by the Evil Soul was like a dragon surging through the dresser world, surrounded by black hatred. The local resident of the dresser world quickly went into hiding. The poor dresser monsters were unable to move had their mouths all torn open by the Evil Soul. Strangely enough, these dresser monsters’ stomachs had been stuffed, there was no exit within them.

The senior monster and the people from Happiness Neighbourhood passed by endless bloody clothes before they reached the centre of the dresser world. None of the dressers was connected to this place. This centre could only be reached via the dresser in Room 4044.

“The door guardian disappeared here?” A pool filled with bloody clothes appeared before them. Every clothes had a name on them, like each of them represented a living person. Wading through the pool, the senior monster found a dresser at the bottom.

The dresser looked absolutely normal. There was a large lock on the doors. Rancid smell came from within. Someone had dug out in nails the following on the door—‘I have had special power since I was born. Without closing my eyes, the world I see is black.’

This dresser was used to imprison someone. The dresser reeked with the smell of human refuse. Even after so long, the stink remained. The stench came from the decomposition of soul, even Lingering Spirit felt discomfited being around it.

“We reached this place through the dresser in Room 4044. So if this dresser is another path, then which room would it lead us to?”

There were various footprints around the old dresser. Over the decades, many people had wandered here in their nightmares, some were lucky enough to leave, others were forced to stay forever. The door guardian had disappeared, the pieces of the figurines also were last seen around this dresser.

“The dresser is like rotting meat, filled with pus. The smell is disgusting.” The Evil Soul controlled the senior monster to grab at the dresser lock. The black flame of hatred burned through the chain and he yanked the door open with all his might!

…

The number on the elevator panel kept changing. As the number turned to the negative, Han Fei’s heart raced.

Ziggurat was already crumbling from within. The Singer, the dirge, the Evil Soul, they were all crazy. The building shook like it could tumble at any moment.

“I hope everyone is hiding properly.” Using Firefly’s phone, Han Fei used the chat group to maintain communication with the Ziggurat tenants. ‘The Evil Soul appears to know about the thick Death Curse hidden underground. He broke so many windows so the black mist from underground would be distracted by the Singer. If I was him, I would have used this moment of chaos to leave and hide. When both parties are properly weakened, I would return to reap the reward.’ Han Fei didn’t know the Evil Soul but he did know himself. He could easily guess the Evil Soul’s goal.

‘The madman has indirectly helped me. Since the Singer has drawn away all the black mist, the underground should be relatively safe now.’ Han Fei touched Lai Sheng’s head and then looked at the numb Firefly. Compared to the immensely powerful Evil Soul, Han Fei had nothing but he would not stop because of that.

The number on the panel soon reached -4. Han Fei didn’t press any button but the door of the elevator opened on its own.

Chapter 381

381 The Underground Boy

“I’d advise that we stay inside the elevator, the world inside and outside the elevator might be completely different.” The male student, Yan Zu stood at the corner, he was a very introverted boy. He rarely spoke to others. He was so chatty around Han Fei because if he didn’t say anything, he might not have the chance to anymore. The man before him was like the child of tragedy. In less than 30 minutes since they met, the whole Building 4 was shaking from its foundation.

“We didn’t come here to hide but to find the reason why the Ziggurat is in the state that it is in now.” The Soul Chaser took the elevator to head upstairs but Han Fei went against the grain. When the building was in chaos, he used the elevator to reach the underground.

“There is a tenant in the chat group who has been here before, I’ll let him talk to you.” Yan Zu opened the chat group and had one of them pm Han Fei. Han Fei was familiar with this ID. “Fish and Water is requesting a video call!”

Fish and Water, “I’m now hiding inside an urn, so the lighting is not that good. Just bear with me.

“The Ziggurat always has the habit of conducting soul-summoning rituals. Every few days, there will be a ritual and every 4th of each month, the ritual will happen too. One day, I was curious, where did the summoned soul come from? So during the 4th of April last year, I sneaked behind a Soul Chaser and came to the underground. I discovered something terrifying.

“The manager was taking advantage of the spirits inside the building. It used the connection between the resentment of the dead and the memory of the living to thread a rope, making knots in the depths of nightmare. Then it had the dead conduct the ritual to send the living into the dream, to complete the so-called ritual.

“This way, the dead souls would be able to see the living individuals that we missed but after dawn, all the living souls would not disappear, guess where they’ll all be taken to?”

Lee Yanzu, “Underground?”

Fish and Water, “That’s right. Other than extremely powerful tenants like the senior monster in Room 4234, the souls summoned by the other tenants would be trapped by the manager in the underground. It worked on these souls and used them to cultivate something.”

“Then would the living that lost their souls die in real life?” Han Fei asked.

“Death is the best result. If they survive but their souls are no longer inhabiting their bodies, do you still consider them living?” Fish and Water’s words reminded Han Fei of his Resurrection Talent. One of its usages was for Han Fei to kill the summoned soul and then pour his own consciousness into the target’s body. Since the power was too macabre, Han Fei had not used it before.

Fish and Water, “The Manager’s power is related to nightmares. Its power allows it to pull the living’s souls into the Ziggurat through some kind of method but the limitation to its power is very big. Just look at the various decorations at Ziggurat. Based on what I know, the success rate of the ritual is very low as well, it requires high resentment from the dead and intense memory from the living.”

“As low as it might be, Ziggurat must have summoned quite a bit of souls over the past decade.” Han Fei still remembered his mission. If he ran into any living soul, he would have to save them.

“That is the other point I have to tell you, if you run into another soul underground, do not get close to them and do not talk to them.” Fish and Water’s voice trembled, “When I headed underground that time, the elevator suddenly stopped at the negative 4th floor. I waited for a long time until a child poked his head in. He said he lost his way and needed my help to bring him home.”

“So did you help him?”

“Since I ran away from home myself, his words resonate with something inside my heart. So I did help him. But slowly I realized something was wrong. The 4th floor basement didn’t have rooms like he mentioned, there was no way home, the underground was a giant grave!” Fish and Water said desperately, “The boy wanted to drag me into the grave!”

The light in the elevator flickered. While Han Fei was on the phone, a dirty hand reached out from the corner of the elevator door. Then a boy’s head poked into the elevator booth. He looked at the people inside the elevator with open curiosity.

“Is this the boy you met?” Han Fei slowly turned the camera around. The phone, which was tainted by the presence of more than 10 Lingering Spirits and Animated Regrets were unable to capture the boy’s full image. Instead the phone started to crack like it had taken videos of things it shouldn’t.

“Run! Stay away from him!” The screen darkened and the call ended.

‘Looks like this child is quite interesting.’ Han Fei put away the phone and walked towards the boy. He didn’t feel fear but quite intrigued like a biologist finding a new species. It was not that Han Fei had no fear but he understood fear would not solve any problem, instead rationality and calmness would. “Little boy, why are you alone here so late at night? Where are your parents?” Han Fei hid his hands behind his back. If the boy acted aggressively, he would pull out Rest in Peace immediately.

“I live here but I can’t remember which door leads to my home…” The boy said between sobs. His clothes didn’t fit him like he had picked up a random shirt and put it on.

“There’s no need to rush, why don’t you stop and think about it slowly?” Han Fei said gently and his eyes were warm. Then he used the arm where Big Sin was hiding to pat the boy’s shoulder. Soul Poison dripped on the boy’s clothes. Big Sin suddenly came alive.

“I can only remember that my home’s door has no lights. It is very dark, but all the rooms here are dark.” The boy then broke into tears.

“Do you want me to walk you home?” Han Fei pulled back his arm and a small red paper shred slipped from his fingers and fell into the boy’s collar.

“I have to return before 4.44 am. My parents told me that if I don’t, something scary will happen.” The boy cried as he walked out from the elevator. He appeared to be afraid of the dark.

“It’s fine, I’ll walk you home.” Using Soul-Depth Touch, Han Fei held the boy’s hand. He could feel the stink that radiated from the boy’s soul, it was the smell of the soul’s decomposition. Han Fei had used this talent on many ghosts before, but this was the first time he actively wanted to let go.

“Kid, what’s your name?”

“I don’t have a name, my parents said I don’t need a name.”

“Then how do they call you?”

“They normally won’t, they don’t speak to me. They are very unresponsive, it is like having dead bodies look after me.” The stench from the boy’s soul thickened but his eyes remained pure and innocent.

“Such an interesting family dynamic.” Han Fei noticed Big Sin, who was fidgeting in his arm, and he noticed something strange. When Big Sin got close to the boy, it would become extremely agitated like it had met its nemesis. ‘Big Sin’s nemesis is the Butterfly, that is defined by the system. Is this boy related to Butterfly? He was here 1 year ago, which means that he can move around this place freely. That is extremely strange.’