169 One on One Lesson

 

With Han Fei’s current condition, he could barely walk much less go and find Jin Sheng. So he waited for his health to heal. He’d wait for the 3 hours to pass first. Pulling up the menu, Han Fei added all the skill points into Soul-Depth Touch, making it Beginner Level 4. During the brawl, Han Fei discovered the accidental usage of this skill. It lived up to its potential of a skill provided from completing a Grade F Hidden Mission. Han Fei believed that there was still room for this skill to grow. Perhaps at max level, he could move parts of spirits as easily as pieces of puzzle.

With that favourable hope in his mind, Han Fei inspected his inventory and skills. Eventually he took out Su Mengting’s diary from his inventory. According to the item description, if used well, it would greatly increase Han Fei’s friendliness level with Su Mengtong.

The diary had a light red cover and the pages seemed soaked in water. The entries were blurred out due to water spots. Han Fei read on as best as he could with a frown. The diary recorded everything from Su Mengting’s perspective. After she was ostracized, she felt abandoned like she was inside a maze. There were paths leading away from her but none led to the exit. She was troubled by pain and despair. In that moment of darkness, someone reached out to her. When she entertained the thought of self-harm for the first time, she ran to hide in the mountain behind the school. She wanted time away from the world to cry herself out. It was there that the school security guard found her.

The security guard was an aged gentleman the students called Ol’ Lee. It was he who accompanied Su Mengting back to school. Ol’ Lee knew that people were bullying Su Mengting and he tried to help the girl by reflecting this issue to the staff. Unfortunately, the staff he approached was Ma Manjiang.

After the man knew about Su Mengting’s problems, he promised to help her but in reality though, he only made things worse. Su Mengting got increasingly fearful for her life. Ol’ Lee only realized his mistake when it was too late.

‘The security guard is the first victim in the case of the Foretold Deaths. Perhaps he’ll know more secrets about this school.’ Han Fei got to know the guard uncle better through Su Mengting’s diary. For one, he found out about the uncle’s usual haunts. Han Fei believed this security guard was a ‘good person’ he could make into an ally. After finish reading Su Mengting’s diary, Han Fei turned to Zhang Guanxing.

The previous manager was too singular in his goal, he refused to really accept and understand ghosts. However, Han Fei was different. Ever since the start of the game, Han Fei has tried to befriend every kind of ghost. As he gained help from them, he’d help lessen their pain as well. Han Fei had not gone far enough down his journey to tell whose approach was better. But just from efficiency alone, Han Fei’s was markedly better.

Han Fei studied Zhang Guanxing’s closely. It was extremely rare for a Lingering Spirit to retain their rationality. After all, Wei Youfu had to give up all of his power and become an Animated Regret just to keep his humanity. The deeper the resentment, the stronger the ghost but the harder it would be for them to grasp onto their humanity. Han Fei would have a hard time conversing with them as well. Therefore, Han Fei came up with another solution. He would cultivate them from when they were still weak.

Both Drake and Zhang Guanxing were Lingering Spirits with great potential. But more importantly, they trusted Han Fei unconditionally. It was hard to find a friend like that in the real world much less the cryptic world. Zhang Guanxing’s murky eyes filled with confusion as he noticed Han Fei’s scrutiny on him. “Sir, is there a problem?”

“Since I’m your teacher, I feel a responsibility to teach you something.” Han Fei said after some thought. “So I hope you’ll remember these lessons.”

“Okay.” Seeing how serious Han Fei had gotten, Zhang Guanxing became solemn as well.

“I’m not going to lecture you on actual subjects, instead what I wish to impart on you are lessons on how to be a better person and how to survive in this world.” It had been some time since Han Fei landed in the cryptic world. Different from the natives who were dominated by pain and despair, Han Fei spent every moment thinking about how to survive. When survival was hard, one’s potential would be activated. Han Fei shed his old self and grew into a realer version of himself in the cryptic world.

In the next 3 hours, Han Fei helped counsel Zhang Guanxing, and then using his own experiences as examples, Han Fei described in detail how to face danger and how to identify hazards within a situation. In this world filled with ghosts and monsters, blind kindness was no different from suicide. To survive, one had to arm that kindness with cunningness, logic and ruthlessness. However, these were just armaments. To survive in this world, one needed an unshakeable heart, a heart that contained light and the basic values of humanity. No one had given such lessons to Zhang Guanxing before.

After Zhang Guanxing understood what a man was and how to be a man, Han Fei analyzed for the young man some acting skill and trickery so that he would not fall so easily for them. Zhang Guanxing picked them up quickly. Even though the young man was a drop-out, he was actually incredibly clever. At that moment, Han Fei was like a real teacher. He planned to train Zhang Guanxing to become an independent individual.

As Han Fei’s plan included a continued expansion of his influence, he would need reliable and trustworthy partners to help him manage them in the future. Zhang Guanxing learned a lot from Han Fei and the murkiness in his eyes cleared. Even though Zhang Guanxing still did not believe in hope in the cryptic world, at least it was no longer a world of pure darkness. An educator was like a candle burning himself to bring light to others. Perhaps one day, after Han Fei perished in the game, Zhang Guanxing would remember his light and share that light with others he met.

After 3 hours, the Yin energy in Han Fei’s body finally dissipated and his Life Points slowly returned to normal.

“In a while, I will have to leave this room. Remember what I’ve told you. I’ll come back to find you tomorrow midnight.” Han Fei was ready to go offline. Even though his Life Points were recovering, his mind was too exhausted to continue.

“Sir, I don’t think you should leave in your current state. If you have something that needs done, I can do it for you.”

“It’s okay. Just promise me to stay inside this bedroom.” Han Fei massaged his limbs and slowly sat up from bed. He had the black anaconda hide inside the room while he opened the bedroom door. There were more blood stains out in the corridor. The sound of children’s argument and dull footsteps came from upstairs. A stench lingered in the air. Han Fei did not stay for long. He silently closed the door behind him and opted to leave the game.