329 Death

 

The Death Curse on the red dress travelled onto the livestreamer but she didn’t let go of the woman in the red dress. Rumours and horrible comments turned into knives and pierced out from the red dress woman’s skin. The female livestreamer was heavily cut but she still didn’t let go. The incurable disease became a poison and seeped into the livestreamer’s body. Her beautiful face paled and her skin shriveled like a wilted flower. She lost her health and beauty but yet she didn’t let go.

“Nothing will make me let go. I know I have an incurable disease, my parents and doctor never told me when I would die so I was born in the company of despair. But it was also these people who gave me hope to keep on living. I wish to share this hope with more people, to have them see the light!” The wilted bodies melted together. The patterns on the red dress came alive as they washed away the Death Curse. “Even if I am doomed, I will use my own blood to paint out the world’s most vibrant red dress. I will keep my head held high, as I walk through the darkness to embrace the dawn!”

The red dress was like the brightest flower blooming in the dark. At that moment, all the red in the world paled in comparison. Resentment, pain and despair were blinded by hope and positivity. The Death Curse was cleansed. The red dress appeared to have shattered something inside her, her body and presence were madly growing. Red dress was slowly approaching Little Eight’s state but different from Little Eight, she had absolute control of her own resentment!

The red dress fluttered among the weakening Death Curse, the woman wearing the dress turned to Han Fei who was fending off the jumper woman. A temporary yet impactful image appeared in her mind. The scattered red dress pieces were picked up one by one, and then the man’s kind face slowly faded away as she was dropped to safety.

‘How could you leave me here all alone?’

‘Wait for me, I’ll go fetch you.’

‘You’ve saved us earlier so now I’ll help you stop her.’

‘If I survive this, I hope we can be friends.’

“You were in the trenches of despair yourself, but you insisted on bringing home to others. You… remind me of me.”

Hugging the little girl, Han Fei was cornered. When he found himself backed against the wall, a set of footsteps echoed from the other side of the corridor. Before he could turn to look, his sight was dominated by the red dress. An unimaginably large Lingering Spirit rammed into the jumper woman, almost shattering her body!

The Death Curse was knocked away before they crawled out from the jumper woman’s body again. As long as she was still alive, the Death Curse would keep on coming. The red dress was rapidly approaching the limit of Large Lingering Spirit, she was now different from the other ghosts.

While the jumper woman was distracted by the red dress, the divorced mother and the syringe woman approached Han Fei. They shared some kind of connection. They could feel each other’s emotions but couldn’t bind with each other. It was as if there was a needle stuck in their hearts which prevented that from happening. “Why won’t this work?” Han Fei turned to the girl in his embrace, “Can you turn them back to normal?” The girl shook her head.

“They treat you as their child, meaning humanity is still very important to them. They should be able to understand each other but there are some problems in the way.” Han Fei frowned. ‘Zhuang Wen’s actual child is dead and it was buried on the balcony in real life. This girl is manifested out as a replacement to that child, so who is currently buried in the balcony of Room 1244?’ Han Fei locked onto the key problem. When he was playing the Ziggurat game, he would die instantly if he dug out the dead body on the balcony. With the red dress buying him time, Han Fei carried the little girl and ran back to the top floor. Pushing open the balcony door, everything he saw was sticky blood and scratch marks.

Han Fei took out Rest in Peace to pry open the brick slathered with guts and blood. A wooden box covered in talismans appeared before Han Fei. The box looked the same as the one in real life so much so that Han Fei had a fleeting suspicion that he was back in real life. Carefully taking out the box, Han Fei removed the layers of talisman and eased the lid open. What he saw made Han Fei speechless. The wooden box housed a dead baby. Its entire body was painted with the Death Curse. Other than that, there was a piece of broken butterfly wing in its heart. All the Death Curse originated from that butterfly wing. “This is the source of Zhuang Wen’s pain and hatred. The Butterfly went after even a dead baby?”

The soul of the baby had already departed, it was now only a vessel to cultivate the butterfly wing. “Perhaps destroying it will help Zhuang Wen’s bodies reunite.”

Holding Rest in Peace, Han Fei glanced at the girl beside him. He had no idea whether this was the right solution or not but he didn’t have other choices.

“Wait a minute.” The girl suddenly stopped him. She grabbed the box. “Show this to them, they will understand.” The girl represented Zhuang Wen’s lingering humanity. Before Han Fei said anything, she picked up the wooden box and ran. When the talismans on the box were peeled off, the bond between the jumper woman and her other consciousness started to shift.

Han Fei and the girl returned back downstairs. Ignoring Han Fei’s warning, the little girl ran towards the berserk jumper woman with the box.

“Give me back my child!”

“Your child is already dead.” The girl stumbled between the blood and despair, a reflection of Zhuang Wen’s childhood in the exorcist’s home. “It is here, it is dead, it won’t be coming back!” The girl’s words attracted the jumper woman’s attention. As the jumper woman turned to her, she picked up the dead body from inside the box. “You have to stop acting like this, it wouldn’t want its mother to do these crazy things in its name! You should know this better than anyone because you’ve lived through that horrible experience yourself!” Zhuang Wen’s own mother was blinded by a ghost and brought Zhuang Wen into the exorcist’s home.

As the girl pleaded, the syringe woman and the divorced mother slowly calmed down. The jumper woman was the opposite, she became even crazier instead!

She kept repeating the promises of death and murder. She would kill everything she saw, she would drag all the happy people and fall down the building with her. “If I touch you, you’ll die! Die!”

The jumper woman’s Death Curse intensified. She refused to acknowledge her other consciousnesses, in fact, she started to regard them with hatred too!

“You won’t be able to persuade her with words.” Han Fei walked to the girl’s side.

“After you destroy the body and we still can’t bind together, then she’ll chase after you until you die.” The girl made a difficult decision and opened her palm towards Han Fei, “Give me the knife, I’ll chop up this poor dead body.”

Han Fei looked at the girl in shock but he didn’t give her Rest in Peace. After she carried the girl out from Room 1244, the system already told him that the jumper woman would chase him forever. “Let me do it.” Shaking his head, Han Fei raised Rest in Peace, “You wouldn’t be able to wield this knife.”