340 Zhuang Ren's Family

 

The dresser door was locked and sealed, as if the people outside also knew the dresser was extremely dangerous. “It looks like a normal bedroom beyond this dresser. There is no blood, dead bodies and strange items. It feels like… the real world.” Leaning on the dresser, Han Fei tried to take in as many things as he could while his heart raced. He waited for a long time and the room beyond the door was extremely quiet. There was no one there. “I wonder what is outside this door. I’ll have to take a look now that I’m here.” Han Fei didn’t leave on his own but crawled back the way he came to fetch the woman and the middle-aged man.

When Han Fei said he had found the exit, the woman refused to believe him, she even suspected Han Fei had been possessed. But when she saw the doors inside the dresser monster’s body, she had to admit that Han Fei wasn’t lying. “So the exit was inside the monsters all along, no wonder I was unable to find them.” The woman thought back to her experience and her fist around the knife tightened.

“Does that mean I can go back home?” The middle-aged man asked excitedly, he looked at Han Fei with appreciation. “My wife and child must be worried sick! We should open this door now!” The man looked at the door with anticipation but this time he had learned his lesson. Before he made any move, he asked for Han Fei’s opinion.

Han Fei didn’t have the heart to tell the middle-aged man that people who were dragged into the cryptic world were most likely already dead. Even if it was reality beyond this door, the middle-aged man would only return as a spirit which could disperse at any moment.

“I doubt it’s the real world beyond the door. A normal dresser monster only connects 2 places, among the many dresser monsters, only 1 will be able to lead us out from the nightmare.” Han Fei knew very well that the dresser which connected the cryptic world and this nightmare was most likely inside Room 4444. They only needed to look at the room number and they’d know if this was a normal dresser or not. Poking Rest in Peace through the gap in the dresser door, Han Fei slowly sliced through the tapes. If someone was outside, this must have been quite scary to witness. The lock was impossible to remove so Han Fei decided to destroy the hinge of the door.

Fluorescent light showered on their faces. The middle-aged man leaned beside the door, as if the light could bring him bliss. The woman though subconsciously turned her eyes away. After living for too long inside the dresser, she had gotten used to darkness.

“We’re back, the nightmare is finally over!” The middle-aged man jumped out from the dresser and kissed the ground. “I promise to live a good life and love my family dearly.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, the nightmare is not yet over.” After replacing the removed dresser door, Han Fei walked towards the windows and peeled back the heavy curtains. The night sky was oblique, there were no stars or moon, only endless darkness. The black mist blocked the visibility but Han Fei did make out the shape of 3 other buildings not far away. ‘We are still inside Ziggurat, we haven’t left the cryptic world.’ For some reason, Han Fei sighed in relief when he found out, ‘The dresser is definitely some sort of passage, I’ve moved from Room 1144 to another room inside the Ziggurat neighbourhood.’ His most important task was to find out his exact location. As Han Fei was about to exit the bedroom, the woman suddenly said, “What is this?”

The woman found a black and white picture beside the dresser. It featured a thin middle-aged man. It was a portrait of the deceased but the man was smiling so brightly. His face filled with bliss. He smiled at the camera, it looked like he had cooked a scrumptious meal, waiting for his family to come home.

“The victim looks even older than I am.” The middle-aged man commented and handed the picture over to Han Fei. When he saw the picture, Han Fei’s expression changed. “Zhuang Ren?!” The man in the picture looked younger than the man in real life but Han Fei was sure it was him. The portrait depicted Zhuang Ren at the happiest moment of his life. His family was still alive and he had an enviable life. ‘Zhuang Ren said his family is trapped inside the Ziggurat, am I at Zhuang Ren’s family’s house?!’ Han Fei took a deep breath. “Where did you find this picture?”

“Beside the dresser.” The woman pointed at the corner. There was a fire basin with remnants of ashes sitting there. Han Fei was familiar with this scene. When he challenged the Manager Mission at Happiness Neighbourhood, he had seen a similar fire basin but it was Han Fei’s own death portrait inside the basin then.

“There is something written behind the picture!” The middle-aged man gasped. He turned the picture around and noticed a strange human caricature was drawn on the back. Each part was labelled with ancient Chinese script and bloody symbols. “Can any of you understand these?” Han Fei shook his head. At that moment, he decided to study more on this script when he returned back to the real world.

“I can understand some. This seems to describe a ritual, a ritual to summon the dead’s soul.” The woman studied the words for a long time. Then her face paled as she stepped away from the dresser.

“What’s wrong?”

“Based on what is written here, the first step of the ritual is to salvage the dead person’s coffin and remake it into a piece of furniture that the living would use. The furniture is to be placed at home so that the presence of the living can mingle with the presence of the dead.” The woman said with a shiver. “This dresser is made from a coffin.”

“A soul-summoning ritual? What are the other steps?”

“After the furniture is placed inside a home for a certain time, you might hear strange footsteps and sounds at night. You have to be careful because the arrival might not be your family but something else.” The woman frowned, the rest of the script was too vague and complicated for her to translate anymore. Someone had taught Zhuang Ren’s wife this ritual but Zhuang Ren didn’t die but instead it was his family who died in real life.

Han Fei frowned with confusion, ‘What would happen to the living when a ghost conducts this summoning ritual every day in the cryptic world? Is this why Zhuang Ren’s body has been weakening?’

Han Fei memorized the symbols and characters behind the picture. When he exited the game, he would show them to an expert. If this ritual worked, he would try to use Spirit Farer himself. If he could summon something interesting at Ziggurat, things would get livelier here.

The eerie and scary skill became some sort of a Gacha game in Han Fei’s hands. After all, no matter what he ‘won’ from the game, it would be the Butterfly who had to pay for it. Any of the prizes would be good for Han Fei. If the worst happened, all he had to do was to find a corner and quit.

 

 

Merry Christmas to all.