316 I Have Nothing to Do With It

 

Han Fei kicked several times at the lock, hoping to use brute force to gain entry but that was not possible at Han Fei’s current power level. The steel door didn’t budge, but Han Fei’s leg did feel the pain. He had no key and the door remained locked but Han Fei did gain some progress. As he kicked at the door, a begging sound came from inside the room. “This is all my fault, all my fault, please let me go. I’m begging you!”

‘There’s someone inside?’ Han Fei’s hope was ignited when he heard the voice. “We’re the building’s security guards, please open the door!”

“I will compensate you, anything that you want as long as you do not come back again. I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” There was indeed someone inside but it appeared to be someone mentally unhinged. He only knew how to repeatedly apologize and plead like a wind-up toy. Han Fei had no key so his only hope of gaining entry into Room 1244 was the madman inside the room. “I’m here to help you! If you open the door, we will help you, and the thing that is haunting you will never return again!” No matter what Han Fei said, there was only pleading and no footsteps.

“Open the door!” The scent of smell was approaching, Han Fei turned to Brother Hwa, “Have you been to Room 1244 before? Who is the tenant staying here?”

“I know there are people staying here because occasionally I’d hear sounds of conversation coming from inside at midnight but I’ve never seen them before.” Brother Hwa’s eyes were red and his face was carved in despair. His back bent over and he gasped hungrily for air.

“What kind of conversation?”

“They were doing some kind of activity. I couldn’t hear them clearly but I remember hearing the term spirit summoning, something to do with being a Spirit Farer.”

“A Spirit Farer?” Han Fei’s eyes narrowed.

“When the old guard retired, he did bring up the family living in Room 1244, apparently they are all crazy, but they didn’t start that way. They weren’t particularly well off, but they were doing fine. However, one day, for some unknown reason, their oldest daughter jumped down from the top of the building.”

“And they did the summoning to call her back?” Han Fei looked at the door of Room 1244. There was burnt paper money and some pictures on the ground. They scattered the dark corridor.

“Yes, the whole family appeared to be involved in the daughter’s death. Due to guilt, they turned to this kind of alternative ritual. But I believe they might have summoned something else instead.” Brother Hwa spoke as fast as he could. “Actually, that monster which is chasing after us looks like the oldest daughter mixed with something else.”

After hearing what Brother Hwa had to say, his brain spun quickly, he was reminded of the tester who was forced insane inside Perfect Life’s surface world. Based on Feng Ziyu’s statement, the tester first noticed the problem when he was conducting a mission related to spirit-faring and summoning. The mission involved an old man who missed his wife too much and thus conducted a spirit summoning ritual. Similarly, he summoned something else and that something murdered his whole family. It was through this mission that the tester came into contact with the cryptic world and ended up massacring an entire neighbourhood. Coincidentally enough, the neighbourhood that he massacred was the counterpart of Ziggurat in the surface world. The spirit-farer mission was like a thread that bound the surface and cryptic world together.

Incidentally, Han Fei himself had Spirit Farer, this extremely rare talent that allowed him to bridge the connection between the surface and cryptic world. The tester who was made mad by the spirit summoning mission massacred a whole neighbourhood; Han Fei now who had the Spirit Farer talent was forced into Ziggurat, and his goal was also to destroy the Ziggurat. Everything was interconnected and this made Han Fei question, ‘Based on the map, one of the previous manager’s memory fragments is here, could this all be part of Fu Sheng’s plan? What kind of secret is still hidden inside the talent of Spirit Farer?’

Han Fei obtained the Spirit Farer talent when he inherited the managerial position of Happiness Neighbourhood, in other words, Fu Sheng would have this talent as well. ‘Room 1244 is the scariest room at Building 1 and this room is related to the talent of Spirit Farer. Could the other 3 buildings have rooms that are related to this talent as well?’

Han Fei believed he was slowly approaching the truth. If he managed to survive Ziggurat, then many of his questions would be answered. The people inside refused to open but Han Fei didn’t know that was because they were unwilling or they were unable. For all he knew, they could have been tortured until they couldn’t move anymore.

The glass on the 24th safety door cracked and blood dripped in the corridor like rain. Framed in the empty pane, the face of the jumper woman appeared. Her cheeks were sunken and her eyes bloody. Her protruding eyeballs stared at the 3 guards. The hatred within her intensified!

The wooden safety door slammed against the wall. The door was covered in blood. The jumper woman’s slanted body slouched forward. This was the first time Han Fei saw her in person. Her clothes were mixed with her flesh and blood. White bones protruded out from her skin, but the thing that attracted Han Fei’s attention the most was a black key that was pierced into the woman’s heart. The number written on the key was 1244.

The key represented home but clearly it didn’t represent warmth and belonging to the woman, instead it was like a sharp knife that punctured her flesh. It was her source of constant pain, powering her resentment and curse. Han Fei didn’t expect the game system to be so incredulous, the most difficult part of this mission was not to escape the jumper woman and locate Room 1244 but to remove the room key from her heart, which in essence, would be to defeat the woman or to alleviate her pain!

After knowing that, Han Fei cursed under his breath. “This sure is an Iyashikei game alright!”

While the 3 guards were stunned by her appearance the woman crawled into the corridor. Shredded pieces of red dress littered around her. “Let me touch you, we will fall together!” Her body dissolved into a bloody web. As she charged at them, the scattered red dress stitched back together but different from before, the redness of the dress became even more intense. Among the sea of redness, a pale arm reached out without warning to grab at the jumper woman’s neck. The red skirt carpeted the long corridor.

The angry red dress and jumper woman dominated by hatred lost control at the same time, the battle between the 2 impossibly strong spirits continued!

All the doors and windows inside the building buzzed. The corridor was instantly dyed red. Han Fei could feel the earth moving. He looked at the walkie-talkie that still dangled from the skirt of the dress and his face was blanched. “This has nothing to do with me!” Backing away, Han Fei had the sense to realize that the Grade F Mission, Night Patrol should be easier. He decided to hurry to finish that mission while the 2 spirits entangled with each other.

“What are you standing there for?” Han Fei tapped Brother Hwa on his shoulder as he carried Xiao Fang and raced down the other side of the corridor. “Run!”