346 Soul Chaser

 

The old elevator ascended quickly, the red number of the panel changed unusually fast. The dirge echoed around his ears, underlined by the fleeing song. There were 2 forces now looking for Han Fei. After living in the cryptic world for so long, Han Fei’s senses had been highly trained. While the number on the panel was still changing, he had already run to the landing between the 13th and 14th floor.

‘Compared to the 13th floor, 14th floor is more dangerous, do you dare to land on the 14th floor?’ That was Han Fei’s thought but to his consternation, the elevator did stop on that floor! After the number 14 flickered several times on the panel, the silver doors slowly opened.

At the same time, the Soul Poison on Han Fei’s arm started to spread. He was consumed by intense pain, this seemed to be Big Sin’s way of warning Han Fei. Based on Big Sin’s personality, it would only do this if Han Fei was in extreme danger.

Holding his poisoned arm, Han Fei rapidly retreated and ran down the stairs. As  he started to move, heavy footsteps travelled out from inside the elevator, but strangely enough, the footsteps soon disappeared and were replaced by the rustling of scuttling bugs. Han Fei had no idea what it was but he knew it was coming after him. Suddenly, the robotic voice rang in his mind.

“Notification for Player 0000!  You’ve triggered Grade E Main Mission, Night of Resurrection’s Preliminary Mission—Soul Chaser!

“The most important day at Ziggurat every year is April 4th and tomorrow, it’ll be the 14th April 4th after a new manager took over Ziggurat! It is its Night of Resurrection! Are you ready to welcome its arrival?

“Soul Chaser (Grade E Main Mission’s Preliminary Mission, Grade F Difficulty): From now on, you have 5 chances to turn back, you have to make use of these 5 chances to identify who your Soul Chaser is. If you fail to see your Soul Chaser; unable to identify your Soul Chaser after turning all 5 times around; or you were killed within the next 10 minutes, then your soul will be taken by it!’

The system notification came abruptly. Han Fei wasn’t even ready but his mind was inundated with information. ‘Tomorrow is the 14th yearly Night of Resurrection after the new manager took over? Who would be resurrected?’ Han Fei didn’t have the time to ponder about these things. He had accidentally triggered a Grade F Mission, if he didn’t complete it within the next 10 minutes, he would die.

‘What is a Soul Chaser? The thing that took the elevator to the 14th floor is probably one!’ Han Fei only had 5 chances to turn his head around so he had to use them wisely. If he didn’t see the Soul Chaser after using all of his chances, then his soul wouldn’t be his anymore. When a person was given a limitation, there was an innate eagerness to test the limit and now Han Fei was resisting the urge to turn around.

‘There are essential differences to Grade F and Grade G Missions, but this is the first time I’ve encountered a Grade F Mission that is only 10 minutes long.’ Processing the information alone took up 10 seconds. Han Fei had now arrived at the landing between 13th and 12th floor, the footsteps behind him became louder. ‘Why would the footsteps change? The Soul Chaser has no fixed state? And why did the system only give me 5 chances? Why the fixation with this number?’

Han Fei also had to ensure that he didn’t die before he saw the Soul Chaser. The missions in the cryptic world were bloodier than the missions in other games. In other games, you’d only die after you were caught up or trigger some kind of condition; but the missions in the cryptic world weren’t so kind. The system tried its best to kill the player, to train them with extreme conditions.

The footsteps behind him slowly approached, even running at full speed, Han Fei couldn’t shake the thing off. The encroaching unknown placed a lot of pressure on Han Fei. He had no idea what the thing behind him was, he tried to picture it based on the sound of the footfalls, but the sound kept on changing. Fear tied around Han Fei’s neck like a rope.

‘What is chasing after me?’ Han Fei tried to analyze it. Among the footsteps, there was the sound of something being stuck to the ground and then torn off. The bottom of the Soul Chaser’s shoes appeared to be stuck with meat pieces and blood. It squished when the thing stepped on the ground.

The system was basically forcing the player to slowly examine the terror, applying both actual and imagined horror on the player. This would amplify the player’s anxiety. Han Fei could log off already but he was having second guesses. If it was a demon carrying a saber chasing after him, Han Fei would be dead the moment the demon got close enough, he wouldn’t have the time to leave the game then.

His greatest danger now was that he couldn’t look behind him freely. At Building 4, he had to deal with the ‘ghosts’ that were both behind and before him. That was hard even for Han Fei. That night, he had gone through a lot, if this continued, his mind would eventually break.

Various thoughts flashed across his mind, but before he could figure out a solution, Han Fei felt an extra weight on his back. He could hear the rustling again and fell many stingers crawling rapidly and intensely on his back, the sharp appendages threatening to pierce through his skin!

Under that circumstance, Han Fei’s bodily instinct took over and his neck turned slightly around. He looked behind him from the corner of his eye. There was no ghost, no demon and no strange insects, there was only the dark corridor and deep anxiety. ‘Impossible, there has to be something or else Big Sin wouldn’t have warned me!’

Han Fei also could feel something chasing after him so while he turned back, his feet didn’t stop running.

The dirge and the song were still continuing. Han Fei’s nerves were like a spring pulled taut, the noises wanted to crawl into his ears, everything was targeting him. The dirge became louder. More paper money appeared and the couplets looked brighter like they had been slathered with blood.

Time was ticking. When Han Fei turned back the first time, he didn’t see anything. In such an intense moment, he could barely find time to think. Before he recovered from the previous shock, the heavy footsteps returned and this time, it was closer. It sounded like it had an extra something on its hands like it was dragging along a dead body.