Han Fei walked down the quiet street, holding the black umbrella. “The black rain feels like the Unmentionable above me is shedding colors.” Han Fei was under a lot of pressure since he only had 1 Life Point. He was now certain that the rain cloud over the whole zone was a giant ghost. “The mirrors here are left behind by the Unmentionable, but how come the mirror will shatter whenever Mad Laughter and I show up inside the mirror? Is it because we’ve killed too many people? Or are the mirrors in the outer zone the low-quality products?”
Han Fei couldn’t enter the Red Orphanage. His only way to communicate with Mad Laughter was through the death mirror. However, that might break the mirrors. The rain silenced Han Fei’s footsteps. He looked like he was a part of this place. “I’m about to reach the other street, but I haven’t seen a single ghost.” Even in the Ziggurat zone where Han Fei had cleaned, there would be some straggling ghosts. There were ghosts in this black rain zone, but they were very good at hiding themselves. Han Fei continued to walk forward. He suddenly stopped when he reached the backdoor of a bun shop. Beside the trash heap near the backdoor, there was a man in disheveled clothes. His skin was exposed to the rain. His flesh had been severely corroded. If Han Fei’s Life Point was normal, he might go closer to take a better look and even helped the man, but he was not in that state.
“Rain…” The man noticed Han Fei. He tried to crawl towards Han Fei. As he moved, a wooden plank on the trash heap fell. It shattered the silence of the back alley.
“If you don’t want to be like him, you better leave.” A chilling voice rang out behind Han Fei. He didn’t notice the person’s appearance. Han Fei whipped his head around, and he noticed the backdoor of the bun shop had opened a gap. A bloodshot eye was looking at his black umbrella. Without any hesitation, Han Fei left immediately. If he didn’t have the black umbrella, he might be dead already.
“The blind elder at the clubhouse also walked without any noises. Are they humans or ghosts? How is it that they have no Yin energy but intense malice?” Ghosts were surrounded by Yin Energy, but there were good and bad ghosts. The intensity of the Yin Energy merely reflected the power level of the ghosts. However, the ‘people’ in this black rain zone were all covered in malice. They were pure evil. Han Fei walked out of the alley and sneaked a look behind him. The door of the bun shop slowly opened. A twisted arm covered in black thorns reached out. It pried open the man’s mouth, shoved something down the throat, and pressed the man back to the trash heap. The man with the rotten flesh couldn’t even speak now. He struggled, and the trash fell. It revealed his legs that were fixed to the ground. The man was the bait used by the monster at the bun shop.
“The ghosts at other zones wouldn’t do something like this.” Han Fei glanced at the arm again. He was confused. “Is he really human?” Han Fei became more careful. He knew that curiosity kills the cat, so he hurried on his way. “I better come back to explore after I finish my mission.”
Han Fei undid the top button of his shirt, and Big Sin’s presence oozed out. Han Fei only had 1 Life Point, but he managed to look oppressive. The edge of the black umbrella covered half of Han Fei’s face. As he walked down the street alone, he radiated a strong presence. “All the locals here hide inside their houses and don’t dare to make any noises. At this moment, only the scariest monsters will dare to move outside… like me.”
Han Fei slowly approached the skyscraper. The closer he got, the more he realized how unique the building was. The skyscraper appeared to be the center of the world. It sucked people toward it. Several minutes later, Han Fei noticed the buildings along the street had changed. The buildings became taller, and the architectural styles became more numerous. He had arrived at the inner zone.
“The rain appears to have gotten heavier.” Han Fei looked around. The strange sense of familiarity in his heart grew. It felt like he was back in Xin Lu's intelligent city. The inner zone was modeled after the intelligent city, or at least the intelligent city from 10 years ago.
“The Unmentionable here has once stayed at the intelligent city? His most memorable memory happened in the intelligent city, so he rebuilt it in the cryptic world.” Han Fei was shocked by the thought that appeared in his mind, but he shook his head. “No. If the Unmentionable has rebuilt the intelligent city here, that doesn’t explain the skyscraper in the middle of it. The skyscraper doesn’t exist in the intelligent city.” Whenever he looked up at the building, Han Fei felt dwarfed. “I remember Jin Sheng once placed a very unique curse on me. He said I’d one day enter the cryptic world’s tallest building. Is he talking about this?”
Han Fei took a deep breath and lowered his head. The skyscraper was like the divine’s body. Once one looked at it for too long, one would feel a sense of respect.
“I better finish the mission first.” If not for the mission, Han Fei wouldn’t have come here. However, this mission proved that the system was forcing him toward a more dangerous and despairing place. This was the only way to become an Unmentionable. Even though Han Fei was scared, he had to maintain surface control. He needed to act like he was a local here. The inner zone was more crowded than the outer zone. Once he stepped in here, he was targeted. He received a warning from Big Sin. The party could easily kill Han Fei before Han Fei could summon Big Sin. Han Fei knew that, but he didn’t panic. He glanced in the direction where the threat came from. The lips under the black umbrella smiled. “Do you dare to come to kill me?”
No one made a move. Han Fei held the black umbrella and walked down the streets. After a few minutes, Han Fei finally found the bungalow the elder mentioned. Different from the luxury described, the bungalow had been abandoned for a long time already. The outer walls were covered in ugly plants. The courtyard was eerie with the sound of running water.
“No. 14, Chao Hua Street? Is this the gardener’s home?” Han Fei’s eyes moved away from the plate. He moved the rusted gate and stepped into the house. Strange plants grew all over the yard. At every few meters, there was a soul-flower. The tiles were made from human bones. There was a large shadow swimming slowly inside the large pool. The décor of this courtyard was rather special with its focus on death. Han Fei walked past the small forest, pulled back the dangling hair, and avoided the shivering souls entering this maze-like bungalow. Han Fei only took about ten steps when Big Sin became so excited. Han Fei immediately stopped. Whenever Big Sin was excited, it meant that Death was coming for Han Fei. Han Fei slowly knelt and silenced his presence. He had reached the end of the garden. Before he was the abandoned bungalow.
“Is someone inside?” Han Fei perked up his ears, and he realized the gardener was talking to someone. “Gardener, I’ve given you three days. Have you considered it?” The person who spoke was a man. His voice was scary. His voice could make all the flowers wilt.
“I still can’t enter that building. My flower fields are outside.” The gardener’s voice was the same. Based on her voice, one would think she was a kind, old lady.
“Is that your answer?” The man’s voice chilled further. “The whole city of Xin Lu is a garden, and all the souls are flowers waiting to bloom. God is the owner of the garden, and you’re just a worker.”
“I know, but it was not easy for me to escape…”
“Do you want that blind guy to die? God has been looking for him.” The man didn’t want to negotiate anymore. His tone was firm. “I’ll give you one last hour. Think about it. Don’t cause the death of everyone in the outer zone for your own selfish reasons.”
“I’ve caused the death of everyone? It’s God you say that wants to kill everyone. It has turned all of you into monsters, but you still worship it as God. I want to change that, but you’re forcing me to turn back?” The gardener got angry too.
“It is about to wake up soon! We don’t have much time left!” The man tried to suppress his madness. “Do you think you still have a choice? When you’re being torn up here, the people in the outer zone might have found him already. The only way for everyone to live is for you to return to that building!”
The man kept threatening the gardener with the dancer’s life. The gardener’s only weakness was the dancer. The gardener fell into silence. It sounded like it was hard to leave once one entered the skyscraper.
“Now I understand why there is a time limit to this mission. If I came later, the gardener would have followed the man into the building already.” Han Fei walked out of the garden with a cough. The gardener and the man were not surprised by Han Fei’s appearance. They had both discovered him, but they didn’t expose him.
“You have the black umbrella but no death on you. Are you from the outer zone? How come I haven’t seen you before?” The man stared at Han Fei. The man had two heads. One of them was sleeping and slumped on the shoulder. The other head had glowing evil eyes.
“Two-headed man?”
“I’m asking you a question!” The man reached for Han Fei. The flowers around him wilted at once.
“If you want to fight, leave my place.” The gardener’s voice came from a pot. Currently, she only had her head left. Her large body was gone. However, even in her state, she managed to stop the two-headed man.
“I’m just here to deliver a letter. Continue your chat, and ignore me.” Han Fei looked calm on the surface, but his heart was pounding. He ignored the two-headed man and took out the blind elder’s envelope. Han Fei planned to drop the letter and leave, but the gardener no longer had her hands. After some contemplation, Han Fei decided to help. “Do you need my help? He’s worried about you.”
The gardener knew who wrote the letter based on the envelope. She signaled for Han Fei to get closer to her. Han Fei opened the envelope and placed the yellowed letter before the gardener. Out of respect, Han Fei didn’t read the letter.
A few seconds later, the system notification and the gardener’s angry roar came at the same time.
“Why would the mirrors break for no reason? It must be you! I’m warning you! If he’s dead, I’m going to bury everyone in the outer zone in flower pots!” She glared at the two-headed man.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve completed Grade E Normal Mission. You’ve delivered the letter within one hour. You’ve obtained double EXP and 1 friendliness point with the gardener! You can take one flower from the gardener’s home!
“Warning! The gardener has extremely rare flowers at her home! Please choose carefully!”
Hearing the old lady’s voice, the man and Han Fei had completely different expressions.
“Extremely rare flowers?”
“Have they made their move?”
MIG - Chapter 771: Past
9-11 minutes 23.04.2023
The twin-headed man didn’t know what had happened in the outer zone. He saw Han Fei come to deliver the letter, and the gardener exploded in anger. He intended to use the dancer’s life to threaten the gardener, so he subconsciously thought that it was his people who had made a move. “Since we’re at this stage, I won’t hide it anymore. You have to return to the building and sacrifice your own flower to God, or we’ll torture the dancer.”
“How dare you?!” Even if she only had a head left, the gardener was imposing. Blood vessels leaked out of her neck. The whole bungalow was now her body and every plant was a part of the gardener.
“What power is this?”
The flowers in the yard wailed in pain. The power of their souls was absorbed by the gardener. The strange plant moved to trap the twin-headed man like a cage. “The owner of the garden is God, and you’re just the worker who borrows his power. If he knows you’re stealing his power, you’ll end up worse than the dancer! There’s nothing God hates more than those who betray him!” The man woke up his other head. The eyes opened. He had a pair of pure black eyes. Everything he saw would be consumed by death. The twin-headed man spoke harshly, but he knew he wasn’t a match for the gardener. He cut through the plant cage and escaped from the bungalow. “Gardener, you have one more hour to think!”
Various plants that Han Fei hadn’t seen covered the sky. Not even a single drop of black rain could enter the bungalow garden. Even the sound of the twin-headed man was filtered out.
“He sure talks a big game.” Han Fei stood still, afraid that the thorns of the plants would hurt him.
“Come here.” The gardener’s head moved. “Other than telling you to deliver this letter, what else did the dancer say?”
Han Fei could hear the concern in the gardener’s voice. He thought about how the dancer looked when he mentioned the gardener. He said, “The elder is worried about you and hopes that you can return soon. It doesn’t matter where he lives as long as he’s with you.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?” The gardener sounded mad, but the wrinkles on her face smoothed. She hadn’t heard something like that for a long time already.
“It’s true.”
“Why would the mirror in the clubhouse break? Other than you and the dancer, did someone else enter the clubhouse?”
“Didn’t the elder explain the reason in the letter?” Han Fei glanced at the letter. The letter only mentioned that God’s eyes had cracked and that he had found the twin flower. He hoped that the gardener would look after it.
“Nothing related to God can be written or spoken.”
“Actually, I was the one who accidentally cracked the mirror. The elder thought it wasn’t good, so he sent me to look for you.” Han Fei said embarrassedly.
“So, Xi’s people haven’t been there?” The old lady sighed in relief. Her vessels stopped pulsing.
“Is that the name of that man? What a strange name.”
“Everyone here has a strange name. You better stay away from them.” The gardener moved her neck and chanted something at the pool. A body made from bodies and plants crawled out of the pool. “My body hasn’t recovered. I temporarily can’t leave.”
“Then, I’ll stay to accompany you. If that man stayed around, I wouldn’t be able to fight him anyway.” Han Fei said honestly. He grabbed a chair and sat in the creepy garden. “Teacher, you should have lived here a long time, right? What does this zone originally look like? Has it always been covered in black rain?”
“Teacher?”
“You taught me gardening, so, of course, you’re my teacher.”
“As you please.” The old lady did prefer being called a teacher to a gardener, “The dancer and I are the locals here. Back then, no one has become God.” Han Fei became serious when he heard God.
“His memory silently changed the city, turning this place into his memory,” The gardener revealed some important secrets. “Before that person became God, it once lived in the abandoned city. It was old, abandoned, cold, and decrepit. The construction of the intelligent city absorbed many populations, energy, and power like that skyscraper.”
‘The Unmentionable has once lived in Xin Lu intelligent city! He lived there when the intelligent city was being built, and the countryside began to dry up.’ Ever since Han Fei entered the black rain zone, he felt like the place was similar to the intelligent city. He finally understood why.
“The person was once a very good person. But for some reason, he changed. He still looked the same, but he had become the founder of the killer’s chat group.” The gardener looked uncomfortable, and her wrinkles deepened. “He is the evilest person I’ve met. And then…”
“And then what?”
“Then, he can’t be called a human anymore.” The gardener’s head trembled. “He’s the reason I’m a gardener. He has many ‘creations’ like me.”
“Can I find his info in real life? I mean, will the police have a case file on him?” Han Fei’s breathing became heavy. He didn’t expect to get this info from the gardener.
“I believe you can. A long time ago, an officer entered the garden to look for Butterfly. He accidentally saw the owner of the garden. I believe the officer’s name is…” The gardener’s mouth opened, but she couldn’t say the name. The skin on her face peeled off. “No. I can’t say it!” The gardener’s eyes filled with fear. “God has seen me! I need to leave!” The flowers in the garden started to wilt. The strange plants shattered, and the black blood flowed into the pool. The ground shook like the bungalow was about to collapse. The gardener forced all the energy into the ugly body. She planned to leave this place and never come back.
“Aren’t you being a bit rash?” Han Fei didn’t expect this to happen. They didn’t mention the Unmentionable’s name, but bad things were already happening. Han Fei hurried and left. When he passed by the garden, he saw a pure white flower blooming at the edge of the pool. White was a rare color in the cryptic world. Everything was corrupted, after all.
“The mission reward told me that there are extremely rare flowers here. Is this it? This system is ridiculous. Why can’t it just give me the reward directly?” Han Fei suddenly changed his route as the bungalow collapsed. When he reached the flower, he realized the white flower petal was human skin, and a sleeping child’s soul was inside the flower bud. “The garden is going to absorb the power of all the flowers. She’ll crush all of you. I’ll bring you out.” Han Fei used Flower Language to convince the flower.
“Notification for Player 0000! You’ve obtained an Extremely Rare Grade E Flower—Mother and Son.
“Mother and Son: God killed her and her family when her child was born. God was happy. The kind gardener stole this creation and hid it in her room.
“The flower has an extremely rare power of life. Consuming the flower will permanently raise your Life Points by 10! But you might be targeted by the flower’s creator!
“Warning! Please ingest the flower as soon as you pick it! The soul will disappear within three minutes! If you choose to cultivate it, there’s a chance that the flower might bloom into a color the cryptic world has never seen?”
“Eat it?” Han Fei glanced at the soul of the child. He couldn’t do it. Raising the maximum Life Points was very good, but Han Fei wasn’t callous enough to do that. “It’ll die if I pick it. I need to carry it with the soil.” However, Han Fei didn’t have time to do that. He grabbed two wooden planks to cover the flower, and then Han Fei quickly exited the bungalow. The walls collapsed. The gardener rushed out of the bungalow. Her face was filled with fear. She kept glancing at the skyscraper, like she was being chased by something invisible. She ran towards the outer zone.
“Is this the real power of the Unmentionable? Just its presence when it’s slumbering can scare the gardener that much?” Han Fei walked out of the corner holding the black umbrella. The gardener forgot about him in her extreme fear. Now he was at the bungalow alone. “The commotion here was huge. Soon, other things would come. But if I leave now, the pure white flower will be eaten by the other ghosts.” The locals of the black rain zone were corrupted. They’d do anything.
At that moment, Big Sin gave Han Fei a warning. Han Fei turned around and saw the two-headed man looking at him from across the street. His heart seemed to freeze. Han Fei felt malice slither up his spine. Han Fei licked his dry lips. He checked his menu, and his most powerful active skill, exit the game, had lit up.
The nervousness in his eyes was gone. Han Fei used Soul Mist to cover everything. After doing that, he raised the black umbrella.
“What is in the letter you gave the gardener?” The man’s voice was hard. His eyes were sharp.
“Do you want to know?”
“Tell me!” Two different voices came from the man’s heads. He gritted his teeth angrily.
“Because you told me to?” Han Fei walked forward. The ghost tattoo on his body was triggered. The presence of tragedy poured out. “Why should I listen to you?”